With the FA Cup quarters settled and a potential double gameweek coming in GW34 here’s a fantasy premier league GW32 wildcard tips article where a few of the FFGeek contributors supply their first draft wildcard teams
fantasy premier league GW32 wildcard tips – the FFGeek contributors supply their first draft wildcard team
Background
You may have seen my tweet which confirmed that the FPL site had removed those fixtures from GW35 that clashed with the FA Cup semis. The GW31 fixtures that clashed with the quarters have yet to be rescheduled. If the pattern of previous years is anything to go by they will be put into GW34 and GW37. The PL announced a while back that the rescheduling would be done in the week of the 19th March so should get confirmation soon.
Here’s my theory on the teams and the fixtures from GW34 for those that have double gameweeks wither in 34 & 37 but no 35 or those with a DGW34 and a fixture in 35 but no DGW37. Here’s the link to the google spreadsheet if you’re struggling to read it.
Here’s the GW35 fixtures in total
Joseph Crilley
You can also see Joes GW31 review here
Joe has his free hit intact which he intends to use in GW35.
I placed plenty of emphasis on the blank GW31 which allowed me to line-up with 11 players; unfortunately, this means that my team isn’t in the greatest shape now. A triple-up on Huddersfield, two Bournemouth attackers and the injury to Harry Kane are a few factors that have led to the decision to activate the wildcard. I feel that we will have gathered sufficient information about the upcoming blank and double gameweeks by the end of the international break to put together a solid team to take me to the end of the season. It also means that I won’t be priced out of any players due to rises that will inevitably occur during the break. I should also state that I will be playing my free hit in GW35 so I don’t have to worry about players who blank in that week such as Spurs and Chelsea assets.
I have created my first draft over the weekend and for the purpose of this write-up, I have grouped the majority of the players into two categories; certainties and to be decided. The former will in all likelihood appear in my final team, barring injuries or similar before GW32, and the latter are players for whom a final decision is required.
Certainties
Starting at the back, I feel that United defensive cover is crucial with their promising schedule until the end of season and two strong double gameweeks. The best access to their defence is De Gea who is expensive for a keeper, but the combination of clean sheets and save points has meant that he has been fantastic value all season. In all honesty, it will be a relief to finally have him in my team after not owning him all season. My second keeper will be Fabianski who should have strong fixtures in DGW34 facing Everton and Southampton at home for when I play my bench boost. He also has the added bonus of facing bottom side West Brom when De Gea has a daunting trip to Man City.
Defence is where I have the most decisions to make as the only certainty is Alonso who’s not provided great returns recently, but he continues to play very high up the pitch whenever I watch him play. I’m convinced that he will provide plenty of points in the final weeks and owning him makes watching Chelsea a much easier proposition.
With the injury to Kane, managers have plenty of money to spread and I have elected to spend it more in midfield as I believe there is plenty of value there. Even without a double gameweek, Salah is essential for me – the real question is whether to captain him in those doubles! The absence of Kane makes Son a tantalising option as he should continue to fill the striker role for Spurs so he’s a great prospect at 8.2mil. Willian has shown some fine form lately and is emerging as a key player for Chelsea; 7.0mil is a decent price, though I do have déjà vu after his disappointing returns as part of my GW1 team. I will also be selecting Mahrez who has provided consistent returns all season – impressively, he is already part of the ‘double double’ club with 10 goals and 11 assists.
Further forward, I have chosen Aubameyang as my luxury striker due to his history of goalscoring and cheaper price compared to Lukaku. In addition, he should be one of few Arsenal players immune to rotation as he is cup-tied for the Europa League. The Gunners have had a poor season, but they have performed well against the weaker sides at home and they have several of this type of fixture before the season end.
To be decided
I mentioned my preference to cover the United defence and, ideally, I would double-up there. Currently, I have selected Smalling who has started the last 8 in the league, but there would always be a potential rotation risk with the other options that Mourinho has at centre back. I could elect to bring in a defender from Spurs, Arsenal or City instead but there would be similar issues with any of those besides Vertonghen. Burnley have been a great source of defensive points and I like the look of Lowton as a cheap defender with his low price and the strong remaining schedule for his side. It’s a similar story for Leicester and I have currently chosen to splash some cash on Maguire who consistently shows good attacking threat; he had 7 shots in GW29 alone.
Liverpool have been in wonderful attacking form recently which is why Firmino is still in my team as well as the factor of his continued high ownership. He faces Bournemouth at Anfield in the first double gameweek so I could even keep him for that game, though there will be temptation to bring in a forward with two fixtures such as Vardy. My budget striker is Barnes who has been leading the line well for Burnley lately though my preferred option had been Ayew until his red card at the weekend.
Other players
I have held onto two of my GW31 players mainly because I hope that they will rise in price again which will give me an extra 0.1 to spend. Robertson has been great to own over the last few weeks and, similar to Firmino, it is tempting to keep him in my wildcard team despite the lack of double gameweek. I could do the same with Stanislas, but he is hindered by the fact that he travels to Liverpool in the double gameweek though I have been impressed with him lately. Other cheaper midfielders that are on my radar include Gudmonssen, Gross and Kenedy.
Summary
The main decisions left to be made revolve around my defence and the budget attackers in the 5th midfielder & 3rd striker slots. The biggest worry in this team is the lack of City players, but I feel that mass rotation is inevitable once the league is wrapped up which will likely happen in GW33, so I have avoided for now. There is some protection as I will able to free hit their players in when they have a great fixture against Swansea at the Etihad in GW35. Overall, I’m pretty happy with this squad and I hope that it can help me to crack the top 10k by the time that GW38 concludes!
Rob Reid
Rob also has his free hit intact
I’ve pressed the Wildcard button in preparation for GW32 and with 2 weeks before the next round of fixtures there is plenty of time to prepare. Here’s a very loose first draft, initially I’m playing around with funds to produce a first up balance team and to see what my budget is capable of achieving. I’ve spread the funds fairly evenly here, a premium goalkeeper with probably the best gametime security for any City player, 3 premium defenders, 2 budget, 3 premium mids, 1 mid price and 1 budget and a premium forward, a mid-price and a budget. This is comfortably achievable.
Make no mistake, this won’t be my final team and I’m just getting ideas at the moment. The next step will be to analyse the fixtures over the next 6 weeks more closely and start to formulate a plan. Note I still have my Free Hit, Bench Boost and Triple Captain chips intact. The plan is to use Bench Boost in GW34, Free Hit in GW35 and Triple Captain in GW37 so I need a plan that’s going to carry this through.
Mikael L. Danielsen
Mikael has his free hit intact
Here’s his current WC draft
Daren Chew
Daren has his free hit intact
Stocking up on the DGW34 and BB. Did early transfer as team was loaded with EVE,CP and Liv. Might do some changes.
Follow us on twitter and facebook for article updates and news.
GEEK LEAGUES
Fantasy Premier League: 5379-1967
Sun: FantasyFootballGeek SGDKX9Y3
TFF: FantasyFootballGeek PIN 8000919 Passcode 1159
Sky: FFGeek 8310511
