Here’s our fantasy premier league wildcard GW9 article where FFGeek Contributor Rob Reid talks through his wildcard.
fantasy premier league wildcard GW9 – Rob Reid activates his wildcard
I outline my FPL strategy along with 10 other FFGeek contributors in our new EBook.
A reminder of the additional Patreon content
$2 plus Vat per calendar month
* Weekly podcasts with myself and the FFGeek Contributors
* All the articles on www.fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk advert free
$3 plus Vat per Calender month (plus the above)
* access to the FFGeek Contributor tracker team incl live transfers (52k OR in 19/20)
*access to Joseph Crilleys transfer planner and points projection tool
* access to the the Patreon Planner team runs from Joe’s planner projection tool incl live transfers (32k OR 19/20)
* Imaginary wildcard articles
*Bandwagon and Sinking Ships articles
*Slack Channel access
*access to private FPL leagues
No Commitment beyond 1 Calender month
https://www.patreon.com/fantasyfootballgeek
Introduction
Rob’s last 5 seasons overall rank were 148k, 94k, 22k, 4k and 7k
You can follow Rob on twitter here
GW8 Review – 74 pts (GW average -55 ); GW Rank -591k ; Overall Rank – 695k (367k green arrow) ; OTV – £102.2m
First up a brief review of GW8. A good week with 8/11 returns with the shine taken off slightly by going for Son over Kane for Captain. It started well on Friday with a double clean sheet for Saints which included a full rack of bonus points for Walker-Peters. 3 more returns on Saturday from Calvert Lewin, Ziyech and the Soucek late show. Dier and Kane returned in the Spurs game on Sunday and there was a penalty for Mo, leaving blanks for only Trent, Jimenez and disappointingly captain Son. A good gameweek to sign off for the international window and a nice way to end the first block of fixtures for this season.
You can see my last weeks Contributors Article here
Here’s my GW8 points:
Wildcard thoughts
So I guess this begs the question. You’ve just had a great gameeek – why Wildcard? For me, this week has papered over a few cracks and I’ve got some fires to put out in my team. First up, I’ve got triple Spurs going into a nasty fixture run for them and it looks like their early season form has dropped off slightly. This could be down to a bit of fatigue from the combination of domestic and Europa League duties or could be that Mourinho has deployed a more conservative style, but they aren’t posting the crazy attacking numbers of the first few GWs. I need therefore to change out probably 2, possibly all 3 of these.
Next up, I’ve got some other changes I need to make in defence. I’ve ridden the rollercaoster of double Saints since GW1 and I think now is the time to hop off at least one. Trent is also problem now – he was actually pretty unlucky not to return in the City game, but my decision to sell has been made easier by him hobbling off with what looked like calf injury. So it’s goodbye for now, but I’m sure we’ll see either him or Robertson in my team again later in the season.
Moving up top, it’s clear there are plenty of options in midfield and it looks like I need Fernandes for GW9 at the least for United’s fixture versus West Brom. On top, I’m also going to need some CIty cover, so I need to shift my funds around so I can move away from having 2 budget midfielders. What I’ll probably do is take some funds out my strike force. Calvert Lewin is staying for the moment, but Jimenez has been disappointing, so I’ll downgrade here. I’ve then got a decision to take on whether I keep Kane or possibly switch across to another premium option with Vardy, Jesus, Aguero, and even Martial and Richarlison all options looking at their fixtures. I’m also quite keen to cover Villa’s run of good fixtures up front with Grealish and Watkins both looking good options here.
Then there’s Captaincy options. Looking at GW9-16, I can see a lot of weeks where I don’t own a potential captaincy favourite (starting with next week!) City assets look like they could feature heavily in this fixture block and I can’t see myself captaining a Spurs player until GW16 at the earliest, thus reinforcing my thinking that I need to dumb down my Spurs coverage.
Finally looking more broadly, I think this is a good window of opportunity on 2 other fronts. First up I should be able to add a bit of team value over the 2 weeks of the international window which should counter the funds I’ll lose by selling Spurs attacking assets. And secondly this is a great opportunity to get ahead of the game for Man City and Aston Villa’s incoming good fixture runs among others.
First Draft
First up – who’s staying from my current team and there’s between 4 and 6 players I’m planning on keeping. Keeper McCarthy looks like he’s staying as he looks the best of the 4.5m options and I’ll switch my reserve keeper to Forster so I’ve got any injury to him covered. In defence, I’ll probably keep Mitchell as placeholder, but it will depend on injury news and the fact he might of lost his place. If he has, I’ll bank the 0.1m gain in funds and downgrade to a 3.9m who’ll sit on position 3 every week – probably Bernardo of Brighton or Branthwaite of Everton. In midfield, Salah and Ziyech are staying as is Soucek though he’ll become a true 5th mid now. And up front DCL is staying for at least the next 3 weeks, possibly longer.
On the Radar
So here’s on my shopping list for the other spots.
Defenders
Chilwell is definitely in. At the moment he’s looking like this season’s Trent or Robbo or a new Marcos Alonso if you like. He’s pretty fixture-proof and seems to be able to get attacking returns fairly easily. It’s no surprise his price is rocketing. I’m going to add Man City cover in – this will be likely either Dias or Cancelo. The latter is the more exciting I guess in terms of attacking potential but less gametime secure so a decision to be made here. Laporte of course gives ultimate gametime security (or as close as you can get under Pep!) but I’m not keen to pay the 0.5m more. It’ll then be 2 x 4.5ms and 1 cheap bench fodder – at the moment I’m liking either Coufal or Masuaku for one then I’m not sure for the other but Targett is my favoured option initially.
Midfielders
3 slots here and around 18m to spend. I think Fernandes will be in for GW9 and he could easily be switched out for KDB or Sterling with some planning in GW11. For the other, I’m leaning towards one of James Rodriguez or Grealish. I like James’ GW9-11 fixtures, but Grealish’s stats are just insane at the moment.
Forwards
1 premium and 1 budget spot. The budget spot could be one of Watkins, Adams, Bamford or Wilson if he’s fit. For the other spot I’m not sure. I think Kane could still do ok through Spurs trickier fixtures and he does afford you some rank protection. I’m also liking Vardy for GW10 but he’s at Anfield in GW9 which is the trade-off. A fit Aguero would be great in GW11, if not then Jesus is a nice option. I could also be tempted by some fixture punts – Martial and Richarlison for exmaple have great fixtures in GW9 as well. Lots to think about!
Captaincy Thoughts and Schedule
To aid my thinking with premium players, I’ve put together a simple schedule of where I think the best Captain fixtures are from GW9-16.
GW9 – Man United (WBA); Everton (ful); Chelsea (new)
GW10 – Man City (BUR); Leicester (FUL); Liverpool (bri)
GW11 – Man City (FUL)
GW12 – Liverpool (ful); Leicester (BRI)
GW13 – Man City (WBA)
GW14 – Split week – possible Villa (wba) or Man United (LEE) but bear in mind these are fiesty fixtures, Liverpool (cry) or City (sou) alternatives
GW15 – Liverpool (WBA); Man City (NEW)
GW16 – Spurs (FUL); Liverpool (new)
It look pretty clear that I’ll need City coverage from GW11 at the very latest with United cover also helpful then.
So with all this in mind, here’s a first draft with some places to fill. I’ll keep you posted as my thinking progresses through the fortnight!
Follow FFGeek on twitter and facebook and instagram for article updates and news
