Here’s our fantasy premier league wildcard tips GW12 article where Yaniv and I pretend we are using our wildcard. It gives player suggestions with more longevity than just for the up coming gameweek. As I said above, there’s also a guest imaginary wildcard team from last season 8k OR finisher Yaniv Salomon
fantasy premier league wildcard tips GW12 – the FFGeek and Yaniv’s imaginary wildcards
This article brings together the various earlier articles in the week.
In this article Yaniv and I are pretending were using our wildcard’s to give you player picks with more longevity than the next game.
I’ve given links to articles below with all the detailed stats you’ll need if you want to investigate a player in more detail.
In this article there’s some narrative on each selection. There’s stats in the player ranking articles which can be found here using the links below
Player rankings defence and GK
There’s also our fixture ease article which gives player suggestions with good fixtures. You can also see who the popular transfers are in our bandwagons article .
The FFGeek imaginary wildcard team
My value at the moment is a fairly low £102.4m and the team is slightly above that at £102.8.
Structure
The team is flexible with all the outfield team capable of collecting points as opposed to having players who are CDM 2 pointers with a yellow card possibility.
The outfield players are more than likely to set up like this
Mendy – Luiz – Alexander Arnold – (1 of Doherty or Femenia)
Salah – Hazard – (1 of Barkley-Brooks-Murphy)
Aguero-Vardy-Arnautovic
There’s also the possibility of 5-2-3 or 3-4-3 in that depending on fixtures
Who is the teams core?
In my 10 top FPL managers article I define a player to be thought about as potentially essential as one who is owned by 7 of the 10 managers or one who is owned by 70% of the top 10k. It’s only my definition for my use so no need for a debate on the merits of players being essential.
These are:
Aguero, Salah, Hazard, Alonso , Doherty and a Liverpool defender. I’ve downgraded Alonso to Luiz as a £1.5m gap is enough compensation for the odd 11 point rank battering I’ll inevitably take. I’ve chosen Alexander Arnold as the Liverpool defender on the basis that everyone will be rotated so I may as well go for the cheap end of the options even though he was pretty poor v Red Star but Gomez and Lovren are also doubts so any cheap option comes with risk.
Wan Bissaka also meets this definition but given the fixtures and the fact that he will occupy the bench for a decent proportion of gameweeks then I’ve decided he’s expendable.
Richarlison also meets that criteria but with Chelsea and Liverpool in the next 3 and add Manchester City in the next 6 I’ve decided to take that risk.
While Kane and Sterling are making their premium cases I’m still not ready to jump ship from the 3 of Aguero, Hazard and Salah which I would need to do accommodate either of them.
Goalkeeper
Fabianski
West Ham have a great run of fixtures and only Joe Hart has more saves than Fabianski so he has points potential either for clean sheets or save points
Huddersfield (A)
Man City (H)
Newcastle (A)
Cardiff (H)
Crystal Palace (H)
Fulham (A)
Button is my cheap non playing reserve.
Defence
Mendy
The best defence in all categories in my view is Manchester City and I’ve therefore gone for Mendy. I think the attacking premium over the security of Laporte at £0.5m is worth it. While the attacking potential has been pretty muted in the last 5 games with only 6 key passes the potential is definitely there and gives you the confidence for him to play in every game
Man Utd (H)
West Ham (A)
Bournemouth (H)
Watford (A)
Chelsea (A)
Everton (H)
Luiz
Chelsea are the 3rd best defensive side for me behind Man City and Liverpool. I would much prefer Alonso but for £1.5m to spend elsewhere I’ll have to take the odd 11 point beating unfortunately. 5 key passes and 1 assist in the last 2 and ok xA means Alonso is back in business. Unfortunately Luiz’s lack of attacking ability means he is a potential benching in some games which you don’t have with Alonso.
Everton (H)
Spurs (A)
Fulham (H)
Wolves (A)
Man City (H)
Brighton (A)
Alexander Arnold
Liverpool are the best defence bar Man City. The only way to get relative certainty in the Liverpool defence is to get Van Dijk or Alisson but again budget doesn’t help that. So I’m sticking to the cheap end of the options and will just take the insecurity.
Fulham (H)
Watford (A)
Everton (H)
Burnley (A)
Bournemouth (A)
Man Utd (H)
Doherty
Conceding 3 goals to a Spurs team that could only score 1 v Cardiff was a bit of an eye opener and the xG conceded was bad at 2.41. However it was still only a 10 shot conceded game which is more than respectable so I’ve no where near lost faith yet. Arsenal will be interesting. Doherty has good attacking potential and was robbed of an assist v Spurs
Arsenal (A)
Huddersfield (H)
Cardiff (A)
Chelsea (H)
Newcastle (A)
Bournemouth (H)
Femenia
I’m sticking with my faith in the Watford defence as the next best cheap defence after Wolves and the hope that Femenia can hold his place
Newcastle (A)
Southampton (A)
Liverpool (H)
Leicester (A)
Man City (H)
Everton (A)
Midfield
Salah
After the Fulham game there could be a big division of FPL managers who sell for Mane and take the cash. However the Fulham game could be a turning point one way or another. Personally I’m a believer while he continues to produce the underlying stats and shot volumes. Finally returning with 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 3.
Fulham (H)
Watford (A)
Everton (H)
Burnley (A)
Bournemouth (A)
Man Utd (H)
Hazard
Ticks every box with penalties, great bonus potential, great underlying stats and shot and key pass volumes. He also now plays 90 minutes and told not to bother defending. He even took a set piece last week which would be the double layer of icing on the cake. Returning in 5 of his 7 starts, playing 90 minutes in his last 4 and 10.3 points per 90. It’s all dreamland stuff.
Everton (H)
Spurs (A)
Fulham (H)
Wolves (A)
Man City (H)
Brighton (A)
Barkley
Has alot of negatives with minutes given to Kovacic and his CM position plus lack of history to call upon. However lets not forget he’s £5.9m with attacking potential in a Chelsea team that can potentially contest the title and look a good possibility for the top 4.
Everton (H)
Spurs (A)
Fulham (H)
Wolves (A)
Man City (H)
Brighton (A)
Brooks
An attacking midfielder putting in some strong underlying stats and 3 goals in his last 5 games. Has competition, when King is back, from Stanislas but has shown an ability to get into the box past the front 2 which is a strong asset. Little history to know how sustainable his performances are but he is only £5.1m which mitigates the risk alot.
Newcastle (A)
Arsenal (H)
Man City (A)
Huddersfield (H)
Liverpool (H)
Wolves (A)
Murphy
Another player with attacking potential at a price just above the CDM bench sitting yellow card hoarding brigade. 2 goals in his 5 games since he got back into the side isn’t to be sniffed at and his underlying stats in 3 of those games were exceptionally good
Brighton (H)
Everton (A)
Wolves (H)
West Ham (A)
Southampton (H)
Watford (A)
Forwards
Aguero
Monstering all stats except minutes and the shock of him playing 90 at the weekend said alot. However the flip side of that is that of the attacking players only Bernardo Silva has played more minutes and no attacking player has started every game other than Aguero. This is and his returns/stats are why he’s the default City captain option.
Man Utd (H)
West Ham (A)
Bournemouth (H)
Watford (A)
Chelsea (A)
Everton (H)
Vardy
No returns in his last 4 belies the fact that in my mind he’s been very unlucky as he’s pretty consistently been producing very good underlying stats. He also has pens. The fixtures couldn’t be much better and Burnley along with Fulham seem to be the optimum entry point for a transfer.
Burnley (H)
Brighton (A)
Watford (H)
Fulham (A)
Spurs (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Arnautovic
After 2 blanks he was back at it with a goal and assist vs (you guessed it) Burnley. Good underlying stats and shot volumes, consistent returns and good minutes are all an excellent recipe for the very favourable fixtures ahead.
Huddersfield (A)
Man City (H)
Newcastle (A)
Cardiff (H)
Crystal Palace (H)
Fulham (A)
The FFGeek “Cover” Team – just out of interest
There’s theory in FPL about a cheaper team mate ” covering” the returns of a more expensive one. This enables you to strengthen the team elsewhere in the hope of compensating for the inevitable damage. Just for fun and only for the brave to consider I did a bit of tinkering to see what you could do if you think that Mane could cover Salah and Morata could cover Hazard. It’s interesting but only for those with alot of room behind the sofa they once viewed TV on. Too ballsy for me.
It fits easily within my £102.4m budget
Yaniv’s imaginary wildcard team
Here’s guest FFGeek contributor and 8k OR finisher last season Yaniv with his imaginary wildcard team.
Hi guys,
Here is my short imaginary WC – Go big on top team with 4-4-2.
Team value is little tight budget with £102.8m you can downgrade Mendy to Laporte to help the budget.
Goalkeepers
Ryan has the form and fixtures (until GW17), then you need to swap him to another GK, Leno in 4.8 with nice run of fixtures from GW16 is the best replacement.
Defence
After a GW that each of the top 6 teams conceded goals (+Wolves and Bournemouth), I think it is the time to save money here especially when you got non-top 6 teams with great fixtures and some players that can score too…
So, 2 premium Mendy and TAA plus Doherty that plays in very advanced rule in a very strong defensive team, and I added Dunk and Yedlin with a very nice run of fixtures
Midfield and Forwards
Big premium 4 hitters(+1) – Salah + Mane + Sterling +Kun , nothing to explain and each one of the 4 can score no matter who they are facing.
Richarlison is another premium player for me just in a cheap price but can easily outscore players that cost much more. He has started start to prove this fact to everyone, he is a rising star, and I think it will be his last season in a non Champions League club. So for me in his price he is a must have even more than the aforementioned players.
Arnie is in good form and again has great fixtures and can score big in each of the upcoming matches, Success and Camarasa are the bench warmers.
Good luck if you’re on your wildcard
See also the popular and not so popular forwards in the bandwagons and sinking ships article plus also who the 10 top managers I follow have in their team. Also who I have or maybe interested in getting in the early thoughts on the FFgeek team article
Also see who Andrew Ferguson has in his team. He finished 715 OR last season. Paul Williams who finished 412 last season has some differential suggestions in his article
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