Here’s our fantasy premier league GW7 wildcard article where Joseph Crilley outlines his thought process on activating his wildcard and the team selection that follows. Joseph’s last 3 seasons OR were 28k, 7k and 13k
fantasy premier league GW7 wildcard – Joseph Crilley activates his wildcard
I have decided to hit the wildcard button in GW7 which is considerably later than when I have played the chip in recent seasons and I will be sharing some thoughts on why I have activated it now and the current selection!
Green arrow last weekend – why wildcard now?
On the face of it, it may seem strange for me to play the chip this week as I picked up 68 points last time out for a green arrow of around 315k – indeed had the vice-captain been on KDB instead of Salah, it could have been an outstanding week.
Here’s my team from GW6:
However, there are several reasons which I will quickly highlight:
– During the last two gameweeks, I have been unable to field 11 players due to various reasons
– KWP is out of favour, Lanzini has picked up an injury and Greenwood is yet to start a game so that theme could continue
– There are better options than Digne, Montoya and Barnes in their price brackets
– My team could do with a change in structure
– I am not convinced that Cantwell is a suitable 4th midfielder, especially away from home given Norwich’s away form so would prefer to have him as my first sub
– There are currently no Chelsea players in my squad which I would like address for their imminent upturn in fixtures
– My rank is 455k and I’m ready to do something a little different in order to move up the ranks
– Finally, 6 gameweeks of data is sufficient, in my view, to have seen the trends this season (value of forwards, lack of consistent clean sheets, struggle to find budget mids etc.)
Wildcard team
Therefore, I have gone for the wildcard and below is my current choice of squad!
Key Players
A City triple-up remains an obvious tactic and I will continue with Otamendi following his monster haul at the weekend as he looks secure for the near future and I’m happy to cover their defence. De Bruyne is still great value while I have elected for
Sterling over Aguero as my primary captain choice – his weekend benching was frustrating, but I’m hoping that his rest is out of the way now. I still believe that he will be the top FPL scorer this season, so I am happy to stick the armband on him for most weeks, especially with the continued strong fixture run for City.
I will also be tripling on Chelsea for their promising upcoming schedule as I think there is great value across the positions. Mount and Abraham have stepped up well from Championship, proving their doubters (which included me) wrong by being the key men for Lampard’s young side. Many managers have picked up one of the pair, but I am selecting both as a differential tactic in the hope that I can take advantage of the expected goals for Chelsea over the coming weeks. Additionally, I have brought in Tomori as a cheap defender who has performed well since coming into the team and surely Kante’s return to the team will help with clean sheet prospects.
There are a few other obvious choices in my team as the attacking pair from Norwich of Pukki and Cantwell remain, though as mentioned earlier I am looking for the latter to become my 8th attacker now. At the back, Alexander-Arnold and Lundstram look the best value options, though at opposite ends of the price list while Pope remains in goal as my favourite cheap keeper with 4.0mil Stekelenburg as back-up.
Remaining slots
That leaves one space to be fill in each outfield position with around 23.5mil to spend so there is plenty of cash to splash around. When I first hit the wildcard button, Son was straight into my team as an alternative captain option with his OOP prospects and explosive nature. However, the form of Spurs is a concern following the midweek cup exit and there seems to be some underlying issues at the club, so I am wavering on him. He stays for now and selecting him allows me to bring in another strong striker in Wilson who has returned in every game, though there are number of potential options here including Vardy and Firmino.
The other premium asset under consideration is Aubameyang who has provided consistent points over a tough start and the fixture list is unbelievable for Arsenal until GW17. He would be supplemented by a cheaper midfielder possibly from Leicester or maybe McGinn, so I need to decide what I think the better combination is.
Whichever North London attacker I go for, the final defender will remain similar as I will be looking to a Leicester defender for their fixture turn. The choice is dependent on funds – by picking Son and Wilson, I have money to spend so have gone for Pereira who has very good attacking potential, but I’d happily select Soyuncu if I needed the funds elsewhere.
Transfers outlined
Woodman out Stekelenburg in
Digne out and Ricardo Pereira in
Montoya out Lundstram in
Walker Peters out Tomori in
Salah out and Son in
Lanzini out Mount in
Greenwood out Abraham in
Barnes out and Wilson in
Players unaffected. Pope, Alexander Arnold, Otamendi, De Bruyne, Sterling, Cantwell, Pukki,
Where are the Liverpool attackers?
It’s time to address the obvious hole within my wildcard squad and that is the lack of representation from that Liverpool front line. Last week, I wildcarded the alternative Patreon team which is based off the projection model seen on our Patreon site and that team also had no Liverpool attackers. There are two reasons for this – the difficult fixtures for Liverpool and the easier run for City. When looking at the potential captain choices for the upcoming gameweeks, I struggle to see a time where I would captain a Liverpool attacker over one from City. Therefore, I have then questioned their value for my wildcard, so I am backing a pair of strong players for my starting XI (e.g Son & Wilson) to outperform a Salah/Mane and bench fodder combo.
An obvious concern is the upcoming gameweek as Liverpool arguably have the best fixture for captaincy against Sheffield United, so I am prepared for taking a hit from Salah and Mane returns this weekend. However, I am looking long-term with this wildcard and I will be sticking by my guns, although I will be ready to make the swap back if it is desperately required.
Summary
So that’s the current team and I am looking to go a bit different in order to make some moves up the rankings which essentially is removing Salah in order to bulk up the rest of my team. I am hoping that jumping all over Chelsea can help me get ahead of the curve while I feel that I have made significant improvements to the fringes of my squad as well. Similarly, players like Son and Pereira look great potential differentials to assist in climbing the rankings – better captain choices would help as well!
That’s all from me for now and I will provide a final update in the contributor’s articles later in the week including captain and bench selections!
Other posts
GW7 analysing 10 top FPL managers
Early thoughts on the FFGeek team
Defender and GK player rankings
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