Here’s our fantasy premier league wildcard tips GW25 article where I pretend I’m using my wildcard. It gives player suggestions with more longevity than just for the up coming gameweek.
fantasy premier league wildcard tips GW25 – the FFGeek imaginary wildcard
A short article this week due to the short gameweek.
A bit of blank and double preamble
See my latest article on the blanks and doubles
I would say firstly that I wouldn’t wildcard now. Here’s my current thoughts on what I’m planning with the chips. There’s also a Yaniv Salomon strategy which I’ve also added. There’s no place for the Triple Captain Chip at the moment due to worries over Man City rotation in GW25. I talk about it separately below the schedule.
Now Man City rotation are the reason why I’m a little unsure over the triple captain chip in DGW25. The alternative for the triple captain chip in options 1 and 2 are Salah vs Huddersfield in GW36, Chelsea getting through to the semis of the FA Cup and needing another double gameweek to house it, the weather creating postponements or using it in GW35 and using the bench boost in another gameweek.
If you’ve already used your wildcard then you’ll be in the same position as Rob Reid who’s done an excellent article on the the blanks and doubles without your 2nd wildcard
The FFGeek imaginary wildcard team
My value at the moment is a fairly low £102.4m and this team is higher at roughly £105.0m
I’ve written this on the basis that you would navigate your way to GW31 to set up for both blanks, free hit in GW32 and do the best you can to get to DGW35 using the bench boost or triple captain.
Here’s the team:
Double GW25 players and Blank GW27 players
I’ve only gone for 3 here and all Man City Aguero, Sane and Ederson. Note this has been written before Pep’s Friday press conference although history would suggest he won’t be enlightening us greatly.
It’s difficult to predict who will play 2 consecutive games for Man City at the best of times but 2 in 4 days with a game against Chelsea 4 days after that is impossible. It all depends on your attitude to DGWs and whether you think the potential rewards outweigh the risk. Personally I would roll the dice.
Ederson is probably the only player that you could guarantee will play both games and although the fixtures could be easier and he’s not exactly known for save points I thought it was worth a go.
Aguero is likely to be a captain favourite for the gameweek and will even be triple captained to some extent. Even with the rotation threat I think he’s worth the gamble for the double gameweek. The idea would be to flip him for Aubameyang after the double gameweek.
With Mendy out of the squad for Newcastle but apparently close to fitness Sane maybe worth a gamble on the basis that Pep knows he can give him a decent rest once Mendy is fit. De Bruyne is the player who has played the least minutes due to his injury but whether Pep will gamble with him after the injury is the question.
The players with fixtures in the blank weeks of GW31 and GW33.
In this scenario I’m preparing for the blank GW31 transfers.
There are 5 teams with games in both gameweeks guaranteed with the pool of players I was thinking of:
Bournemouth, Burnley, Leicester, Liverpool and Huddersfield
So for me with 5 gameweek transfers to go from GW27 before the first blank of GW31 I’ve gone for 7 players from those teams to give me plenty of options.
The first 3 are all Liverpool with Robertson being the defender in the absence of any cheaper alternatives.
Salah and Mane for me are the next obvious choice and Liverpool have a pretty decent run of fixtures which makes doubling up far easier
Then I’ve gone for 3 cheapies who will probably spend most of the time on the bench to GW31. Those being cheapie GK Boruc who will hopefully hold his place over Begovic who has been pretty error prone to say the least.
The 2nd is Mee of Burnley. Burnley have improved defensively recently with the 4 fixtures before Man Utd all having an xG conceded of under 1 goal. They also have some decent fixtures if he needs to come off the FPL bench up to GW31
I’ve then gone for the Huddersfield bench warmer and £4.2m cheapie Jason Puncheon. He at least played 90 minutes in the new managers first game but obviously carries some risk due to that appointment.
Lastly there’s the 2nd Burnley player of Barnes who’s been in pretty good form for the price with 3 goals and an assist in his last 7. All of which has been backed up by pretty good underlying stats although his shot volumes could be better. You could put in Wolves player Jimenez as an alternative. To be of use for GW31 Wolves would either need to lose the replay to Shrewsbury or the 5th round tie to Bristol City away.
The Key players
The players I see staying to GW31 and being on the bench for that game are Pogba, Rashford and Aubameyang (after the Aguero Flip). All 3 are in excellent form with pretty good fixtures until then
The Rest
The 3 unmentioned players so far are Kolasinac who has excellent fixtures after City away and seems to have the strongest attacking underlying stats of any defender.
Doherty who similarly has excellent attacking stats with Wolves having good fixtures.
Lastly there’s Wan Bissaka who’s a cheap player in a good defence where you have a decent clean sheet chance for any home game as well as bonus points
It’s worth noting that Wan Bissaka will have a fixture in GW31 and or GW33 should they go out of the cup in either the 5th round or quarters respectively. Doherty if they go out to Bristol City but otherwise they need Man Utd to lose for GW33.
Kolasinac has a guaranteed fixture in GW33 and will in GW31 if Wolves lose to Bristol or Shrewsbury as mentioned above
Sorry for lack of stats
Doing the rankings and stats is difficult with a 2 days to prepare when you’d normally have 5.
However here’s the link to the GW24 player rankings below which are still pretty relevant and the underlying cumulative stats up to GW23
The official FPL fixtures schedule
See also our 10 top FPL managers article
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