So although I should have activated it on Saturday real life got in the way and so I’ve only activated the Wildcard for double gameweek this morning. That cost me £0.1m as Cambiasso went up over night. Anyway here’s my first go at the wildcard team although there are a couple of placeholders there with their value going up in the near future in case I do want to hold on to them. I suspect this will be the first article among a few this week.
fantasy premier league double gameweek 34 – Wildcard activated
Just to give a bit of context. DGW34 has double gameweeks (or 2 games in normal language) for Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool and Hull. The only other potential DGW is GW37 where Arsenal and Sunderland have a DGW. That makes DGW34 an obvious choice as the time to activate the wildcard.
Anyway, given that short introduction to the reasoning here’s the team. I’ll then give a bit of narrative around the choices but as I said there are some placeholders in there at the moment which I’ve left as their values are soon to go up and I’m keeping them in case I do want them in my team. As I’ve said while I’m a pretty conservative FPL manager, looking to protect my ranking and aware of ownership DGW’s are fair game and I generally will look to load up as much as reasonably possible. However I am pretty happy with my ranking and it’s definitely not an all or bust strategy
The non double gameweekers
The above team only shows 7 double gameweekers. Thats probably ultimately where I will end up as I won’t play 3-5-2. I’ll be looking for 3 DGW defenders. 3 midfielders as I will play Silva and 1 attacker as I will play Kane and Aguero as you’ll see from the narrative below.
The Goalkeepers
So despite saying that I believe in loading up there are some players I’m keeping despite them not having a DGW. I’ll go through those first. Firstly the 2 goalkeepers. Both are just great value having started the season as reserves and then seeing the first choice out for the season. Myhill the WBA GK is £4.1m and Davis of Southampton at £4.5m. They are just too good not to be the 2 GKs even though I’m very tempted by the save points of other GKs with double game weeks. I did think of a combination of the Arsenal GK Ospina and Leicesters GK Schmeichel to both have 2 DGWs but I’ve gone for the quality and value of the 2 GKs. Remember the top 4 clean sheets this season are Southampton, Chelsea, WBA and Liverpool which further accentuates the value of these 2. Having said all that the double save points of Ospina and Schmeicel are tempting and I may change my mind even given that but at the moment I’m under no price rise pressure to force the decision
Silva, Aguero and Kane
Add Hazard who obviously has a DGW and you have the 4 highest owned players among the active and leading managers. All 3 above have had some questions over form especially Kane but with his sell price for me being £6.0m and his buy price £6.5m he’s not going anywhere. Silva and Aguero are also home to Villa in DGW34 and while they may have had their struggles at home City still have the potential to score anything.
Van Aanholt, Alderweireld and Murray
Van Aanholt is good value at £4.1m, I can only play 3 defenders in DGW34 and with Sunderland having a DGW37 it seemed worth holding onto Van Aanholt
Murray is going up in price soon so I’ve left him in for the moment but it’s very unlikely he’ll be in the lineup come Saturday. Remy would be my ideal choice but will he be fit and even if he is will Costa be fit to take his place anyway. Who knows?
Alderweireld is another player who is great value as a Southampton defender at £4.9m. With Southampton having ok fixtures and great defensive home form then he’s too good not to have in the team even though I’m generally fairly wary of double ups in defence on the 2 many eggs in 1 basket theory.
The Chelsea double gameweekers
Hazard is player of the season and the likely captain option for everyone in DGW34 except those desperate for a last throw of the dice in a game of mini league catch up.
A Chelsea defender is essential so I can’t afford Ivanovic then Terry is probably the safest choice for 2 games. He doesn’t come without problems though as if Chelsea win the next 2 and are champions then he maybe rested even with 4 games to go. With Arsenal in the mix I’m not really sure about 2 Chelsea defenders. Then it’s a straight choice between Fabregas and Remy. Remy depends on his and Costa’s fitness. Given that Mourinho gave us the impression that Remy would play against United I’m not sure that even at the end of the week any news that comes out can be trusted. Thats why I’ve put Fabregas in as a placeholder plus he looks due a price rise soon. Whatever I do I want 3 Chelsea players in my team but if it eneds up with Fabregas thats alot of money spent for a player I’m not that wild on who will limit other options.
The Liverpool double gameweekers
Again I would like to have 3 players in my team especially as they are home to QPR in GW35. A defender is worth it given their defensive form and 13 clean sheets. I would ideally go for Skrtel but at £5.9m he’s too expensive so I’ve gone for the next best of Moreno at £5.3m who’s started 13 of the last 14.
Sterling is my next choice at £8.5m. I think he’s more of a scoring threat than Coutinho although he does have positional risk. The FA Cup semi will be interesting from that perspective. After that it’s probably Henderson or Coutino. I’ve been a little sceptical of Henderson due to his box to box role rather than an advanced role but he does have pens and is at least good value at £6.7m. Ideally he would replace Fabregas and a allow a fit Remy into the team who is likely to play 2 games if Costa isn’t fit. Remy would would replace Murray.
The Leicester double gameweekers
Definitely not as compelling as Chelsea and Liverpool. I’ve gone for Schlupp and Cambiasso although it’s unlikely I will need Cambiasso as I will play Silva and 3 DGW midfield players. The Leicester midfield is quite frustrating given that Cambiasso is more than I would like to pay for a 5th midfielder at £4.8m but such is the selection rotation he seems the only safe pick. Schlupp again is a tricky one. He has attacking potential which is the only reason for having him in especially with Chelsea part of the DGW and Leicesters defensive record. However it does little harm to gamble especially as Davis will be my Southampton coverage in case they get a clean sheet.
The Hull double gameweekers
Or the lack of them should I say. I did think what would be the harm of having £4.0m Bruce in there as a defender but the fixtures are just too tough. With Liverpool Arsenal, Man Utd and Spurs 4 of the last 6 games there really seems little point
Thats it. There will definitely be changes as I go through the week. I probably wont do an article each time but I will at least tweet any changes so make sure you follow us @fantasyfoot20 if you’re interested in seeing them. I will oviously round it up with an article near the end of the week.
The Arsenal DGW37 factor
With Arsenal having a DGW37 then there are 3 transfers to get 3 players into the DGW37 team. So whoever is my 3rd striker I will be leaving enough money in the bank to immediately buy Giroud after the DGW37. Then it will be a case of 2 transfers to get 3 players in. Another reason why I may plump for the Ospina, Schmeicel GK option as part of the wildcard. I could do the same for Sanchez with Fabregas/Henderson as another option
If you’re playing your wildcard, hopefully you found it useful
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fantasy premier league double gameweek 34
fantasy premier league double gameweek 34
