Here’s our fantasy premier league GW31 wildcard tips where we pretend we have a wildcard to use. It gives player tips with more longevity than just for the up coming gameweek
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GW31 WILDCARD TIPS – OUR IMAGINARY WILDCARD
So just a reminder that I’m personally not planning on using the wildcard just yet. As I said last week, there is alot of debate about this. It’s definitely true that we do know the double gameweek fixtures to come and can make an educated assumption as to when. At this stage of the season we also probably know the players that we want in those teams. All good reasons. However for me the plan to wildcard the week before the potential DGW37 and then use the bench boost gives a more tangible reward than doing it now. It also minimises the injury risk and selection risk. It isn’t an exact science though and depends on how you want to play the game. You’ll see that 1 of the top 10 FPL managers I follow wildcarded last week. Use this link to see his team in that article. According to the excellent site FPL discovery, as of GW30, 51% of those in the top 10k had played their 2nd wildcard
The imaginary wildcard team fits within my meagre £102.4m budget
Also our recent double gameweek article for a wider context of the fixtures.
I’ve put together some basic stats to help you assess the players as the short week doesn’t give enough time for the player rankings articles
This is the team:
PLAYER STATS
The stats table is fairly obvious. Just remember that of the DGWs only DGW34 is confirmed. Arsenal and Southampton will most likely play their postponed game in GW35/36. There are also a number of games which are likely to be put into GW37. Again see my double gameweek article for the full explanation
COMMENTS
GK
In goal I’ve stuck with De Gea as the least rotatable of the Man Utd backline in the hope that Romero plays the Europa League fixtures. Pickford is a cheap alternative with a potential DGW37.
DEFENCE
There’s a load of value in defence at the moment created by injuries to others and I haven’t even found room for £4.0m Everton cheapie Holgate. 4 of the 5 players are under £5.0m and all apart from Cedric play for teams challenging for the top 4.
However firstly dealing with the player who’s cost stands out like a sore thumb in Alonso. The Chelsea defence to me remains the top defence and will surely return to clean sheets. Alonso gives alot of attacking potential too as a hedge.
Stones is great value in the City defence that has alot of positive stats even if clean sheets aren’t one of them. Speaking of which the same could be said of the Arsenal defence especially without the injured Koscielny. However £4.8m Gabriel is great value which reduces the risk of his choice. Spurs are a defence in form though and with regular LWB Rose having all sorts of issues coming back from injury Davies is a good replacement with good fixtures
MIDFIELD
I’ve gone for a 5 man midfield albeit with 2 rather cheap players involved. Sanchez is likely to be the captain favourite this week. Even though recently his underlying stats have fallen off a cliff and he looks like a toddler denied sweets at the supermarket till there’s just no doubting his world class ability. The fixtures and double gameweeks mean it’s a brave man who’ll go without him.
Alli is another player in great form who’s a goal scoring threat from midfield with great fixtures.
Coutinho is a short term pick with a great fixture next and 2 reasonable ones after that. With Mane injured and Firmino likely to move aside from the striker role Coutinho’s underlying stats make him the pick for me.
Ward Prowse is the cheap pick but with the 2 DGWs. I would have Tadic with more funds all day long though. Zaha again is a cheap option with a DGW34.
FORWARDS
Ibrahimovic is the natural captain pick for DGW34 and is now back fresh from suspension. Lukaku was rightly criticised for his performance in the derby match at the weekend. However you can’t just ignore the context of his current form and with a couple of tasty fixtures after this week he’s still a pick for the wildcard team. Lastly there’s Barnes as the filler. To be fair to him he does have some good recent underlying stats and at the weekend Gray was the man as the Vokes substitution sacrifice
GW31 FIXTURES
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