FPL chaos & Wildcards: here's what to do
Stay for Preston breaking football in a very boring way
***GAMEWEEK 8 DEADLINE: FRIDAY - 18:30 GMT***
It was meant to be the season that FPL got back to normal after the covid chaos, but it’s not turned out that way. Last weekend’s games were ditched after news of the Queen’s death - and some are now off this weekend. I sent out an emergency email on the Gameweek 7 postponement and the FPL rules around it here.
People were already hitting the Wildcard button - as our Wildcard Special last week pointed out - but not surprisingly, the Wildcard this week is now insanely popular given the cancelled fixtures. Using the Wildcard, it is quite easy to navigate this week and have a decent team for the weeks ahead. BUT as we’ll see, it’s not essential.
This week: Why a Wildcard this week is now huge, when to wait, the best players to target for a free transfer this week, which bad teams will now get better, Wildcards galore… and Preston break football.
REMEMBER THE FRIDAY DEADLINE THIS WEEK!!!
Questions? Know any jokes? Email me: fplislife@substack.com
Here’s where we are…
Some games have been called off, including some big FPL teams. So Gameweek 8 is now a *Blank Gameweek* - meaning, there’s no games for Liverpool, Chelsea, Brighton - three big FPL teams so far - and Man United, Leeds United & Crystal Palace. Here are the games that *ARE* going ahead:
Gameweek 8 Wildcard is insanely popular
There is a big fixture swing next week anyway, with teams like Arsenal and Liverpool (who blank this week) having terrible fixtures - while Brighton (another popular FPL team) are now without Graham Potter and their games also get harder.
To get up to or near 11 players this week, some people would need to play players like Dasilva at Brentford. If you’re playing bad bench players on top of taking a points hit, it’s time to hit the Wildcard button.
Reasons to wait until next week…
If you can get a decent 11 out this week without any points hits, or even get a good team with a -4, there is a case for waiting. The benefits are:
Gameweek 9 comes after the international break, so you have more time to think and wait for injury info
If you still rate Salah, you can take him out this week for De Bruyne or Son and bring him back next week on the Wildcard.
If you have many Arsenal players and fancy keeping them vs Brentford this week, you can hold fire and Wildcard them out next week.
You can take a punt on a player you fancy this week and replace them next.
We have to decide which bad teams will get better
Whatever you’re doing with the chips, your job as an FPL manager is to decide which underperforming team is going to turn things round now they have better fixtures. Look below at the fixtures over the next few games, sorted by difficulty. Newcastle are the obvious strong team - so Pope, Trippier, Botman, Isak will all be super popular. But other than that, it’s bad and underperforming teams that come top.
Leicester, Aston Villa and West Ham are the obvious ones to look at - if you think either will improve with easier games, it’s time to consider them. Maddison, Bowen and Bailey/Digne are worth a look - I also like Gibbs-White at Forest, but their stats are awful. Mitrovic looks a must.
Let’s get into some Wildcard drafts
First, here’s a pretty template one from the FPL Harry YouTuber. We’ll see that Salah is really going out of fashion - but he has De Bruyne, which makes switching to Salah if need be no too hard - Liverpool’s fixtures get better after Gameweek 12. Notice he’s betting Maddison will keep scoring FPL points in a poor team, and Bowen will turn things around. Picking Toney over Isak is a big decision here.
You may want to keep Arsenal players
This draft, from Let’s Talk FPL, is for those who fancy Arsenal to keep doing well and like this week’s Brentford fixture. Martinelli is such good value, especially if you had him from the start, he is hard to drop. Meanwhile, this draft goes for Kane over De Bruyne. The Spurs fixtures are mixed, but Kane is performing - overshadowed by the Norwegian Robo-beast. Two “premium” (top priced) players still seems the way to go.
Here’s a “Threemium” Wildcard, for fun
The FPL Raptor account made this team with three Premium players - Kane, Haaland and De Bruyne and it’s… pretty good. A gamble on the bench though, and we are heading into heavy fixture/rotation territory. The odd decent bench option could be needed.
The top predicted points players for this week
If you’re already in good shape for this week and just want a regular old free transfer or two - or you’re Wildcarding next week and fancy a high upside player this week - here’s the top players for predicted points according to the free model built by FPL Review… the best team for a one-week punt in my view is Spurs - Son has been out of sorts, but…
Cheap lads to make your Wildcard work…
A good list of cheap options. Andreas from Fulham, a #10 who looks great, is basically a gift. If you go for Emerson, be aware he could be a minutes risk. I love the Solanke pick - yes, really.
What the Champions League tells us on rotation
Perisic played 90 minutes in Spurs’ loss last night - so beware this weekend. Kulusevski missed out again - is he being rested, or is his absence for a few games now a sign he’s not first choice? Unclear, but a risk. Look out for Man City minutes tonight - Haaland hasn’t been rested yet, but he seems to play 70-odd minutes a game (and hauls points anyway). Walker still seems to be injured - but Laporte is back. As always, WAIT UNTIL FRIDAY to do your transfers (if you can).
Preston appear to have broken football
Siri: show me an “outlier”.
This graph shows some defensive stats on teams in the Championship. That dot at the top is Preston North End. Basically, Preston are going on a mission to score and concede as few goals as possible. Spare a thought for Preston fans. Results in the league this season: 0-0, 0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0, 1-0. There was relief last night though, as fans were treated to a goal-fest vs Burnley. It was 1-1.
Please get in touch with any FPL dilemmas or general football internet gold. Remember the DEADLINES and see you next week! I’m on Twitter here. Please help me grow FPL Is Life by sharing… thanks!