Thread by @FPL_Calle

GW31 Wildcard (Thread) 🧵

With a lot of fixture swings for many popular FPL teams, plenty of managers are activating their wildcard this week.

Here is a deep dive into what my current wildcard draft would be, which players I recommend for each position and why ⤵️

Let's get into the players that would be absolutely locked in my wildcard team 🔒

TAA
Jota
Salah
Bruno
Forster
Rudiger
Kane
Son
Shaw
Holding

There are quite a few as you can see and here is why...

LIVERPOOL x3⃣

TAA is top for key passes and big chances created per start among defenders and 2nd behind only Son when it comes to xA over the last 5 GWs. Not only that, Liverpool’s defensive stats have improved massively, having the 2nd best xGC per game over that same...

period only behind Chelsea. So you could make an argument to double up with Phillips for 4.0 but that blocks you going for Salah and Jota which I think you almost have to do on a wildcard. Jota is just an incredibly underpriced asset compared to what he provides when he plays.

I am a bit more unsure about Salah because of only one attacking return in his last 6 games. No midfielder has a higher xG than Salah during these games though. The choice also becomes easier going Salah over KDB because of the rotation risk for the Belgian.

SPURS x2⃣

Not much to say here other than that Kane and Son feel essential in a wildcard team with that double gameweek coming up. I think they are the only viable Spurs assets atm so I wouldn’t be tripling up.

MAN UTD x2⃣

Bruno and Shaw have been Man Utd’s best players this season and both of them are the highest scoring FPL players at their position since GW21. Shaw still provides great value at 5.3m and despite not having amazing fixtures they will still get you loads of points.

BENCH PLAYERS

Holding and Forster are the best options right now to have as bench fodder. With Luiz being out longer term, Holding will very likely start a lot of games and for 4.2 he actually has really good fixtures, possibly providing you some points off the bench if he...

needs to. Forster is the only starting GK in his price category with a double gameweek left to play. I would just put him in and don’t worry about him.

CHELSEA

I’ll talk about more Chelsea defenders later but right now, despite the bust up in training yesterday, Rudiger does still look like great value for money. Tuchel talked about players arriving back late from international duty which was probably the reason why...

Rudiger didn’t play against West Brom along with Havertz, Mount and others. Therefore I wouldn’t start worrying about him and his minutes or Chelsea defense in general.

So here is how I would start my wildcard and how the foundation looks like:

These other spots are where I would mix around and try to find the combinations of fixtures and players that I like the most which also fits into my budget. Here are some suggestions in each of these categories:

GOALKEEPERS 🧤

Who you want as a 1st choice is obviously tougher than that 2nd choice but I think it’s between 3 options. It’s not Martinez despite his success this season. I just can’t recommend him with those fixtures. It's between Mendy, Sanchez and Leno for me.

Even though Leno has the best fixtures, he does play for the worst defensive team by far with Arsenal’s last clean sheet being in GW21. Brighton and Chelsea are top 3 in the league looking at xGC not only for the last 10 gameweeks but...

also for the entire season. Mendy probably has better fixtures and averages the 2nd most FPL points per game this season, only behind Martinez. If I had the money I would go for him, if I didn’t, Sanchez would be my pick.

DEFENDERS 🛡️

Dias, Cresswell, Azpi, Alonso are the standout options in the price range below TAA in my opinion. I wouldn’t go near other Man City defenders or mids/fwds in general other than Dias because of the massive rotation that will happen. It’s a lot of money to...

spend on a centre back without any real attacking threat but MCI are still at the very top for defensive data.

I probably wouldn’t pick Cresswell because I think he is too expensive for what he offers and you could call him fortunate so far. 10 assists from an xA of 4.96.

Alonso and Azpi are interesting cases. Even though we can’t really forget about what just happened vs WBA, I would still class it as a freak result playing with 10 men for 60+ mins. I would prefer Azpi over Dias right now since he has one more fixture, plays for a...

similarly strong defense and has more attacking potential than Dias. Whether he would make my wildcard team, I’m still not sure.

When it comes to Alonso he could have easily had 3 attacking returns this week and there just ain't a defender in FPL that you can say that about.

If Chilwell starts vs Porto, Alonso would be in my wc team just because of his of that ceiling and that he will very likely start the next 2 fixtures (at least).

If you look more at the budget defenders, Coady has been a popular pick in drafts so far. Wolves defense hasn’t...

been great this season and only Sheffield Utd has kept less amount of clean sheets than Wolves since GW8 but the fixtures are brilliant. Even though he has started going up for set pieces I still wouldn’t expect any attacking returns from him. Another alternative would be...

Dawson who has a lot higher attacking threat and plays for a better defense but it’s tough to know how much impact Rice’s injury will have on that defense in all honesty.

MIDFIELDERS ⚽️

With only one midfield spot left it’s the midfielders below 7m that interests me here and the options are almost endless. Raphinha, Gundogan, Neto, Lingard, Maddison, Smith-Rowe to name a few so I will try and talk about all the options and who I prefer the most.

Gundogan is a player that many non-wildcarders will continue to own despite the obvious rotation risk. I would therefore move on from him if I was on a wc. Neto is a good option, especially with the fixtures and Jimenez possibly being back soon but with only one 10+ haul...

and only one goal since GW14… I can see why you could prefer someone else like Raphinha for the same price. He doesn’t have the fixtures in the same way that Neto does but he has clearly outperformed him both when it comes to creativity and goal scoring this season.

Lingard is the player on fire but yet again, how will Rice’s injury impact West Ham? Will those attacking returns really keep coming in the way they have…? I’m not sure.

Maddison and Greenwood are 2 differential options I want to discuss. Maddison was one of the most...

underrated FPL assets before he got injured. You could argue that he has been overperforming this season just like you can with Lingard but with those 4 amazing fixtures in a row for Leicester, Maddison could be a solid differential just like Greenwood.

With Martial...

possibly out injured for a while and Greenwood being one of Man Utd’s best players in the recent matches, he could be an interesting differential. Possibly playing OOP as a FWD at times in a team that is 2nd in the league which should give him chances just like he has had in...

the past 2 PL games where he has scored and hit the woodwork 3 times. It’s a small sample size but no player in the league has taken more shots or shots in the box during those 2 games than Mason against what you would class as solid defenses (WHU and BHA)

FORWARDS ⚔️

I wouldn’t say there are as many options up front as in midfield. Popular assets like Watkins and Bamford have looked worse for a while now with bad fixtures coming up and is probably a reason behind the amount of wildcarders this week. To replace them I would...

look at strikers like Iheanacho, Vardy, Antonio, DCL, Lacazette and Davis + Vydra as budget options.

If I didn’t go for Salah as a premium asset in my wildcard team it would probably be Vardy. I still believe that Vardy is quite overpriced for what he delivers and I prefer...

Salah quite heavily over him but I know people are tempted because of the fixture run.

His striker partner Iheanacho coming in at only 5.7 who won the PL Player Of The Month award will be a popular player in wildcard teams and for obvious reasons. I should say though that...

I'm still a bit worried about him. There’s a reason why he hasn’t got a lot of playing time in his professional career and he could be one of these flash in the pan strikers that you see now and again. It would be typical for all of us to bring him in ahead of this great...

fixture and for him to completely disappear.

The other options in Antonio, DCL and Lacazette are interesting and if it wasn’t for the injury that Rice picked up I would 100% have said Antonio on this one. I just think he is so vital to how West Ham play so it will be...

interesting to see how they do without him. Now it’s a lot closer for me but I would probably still go with Antonio because of his great underlying stats and the fact that he is so much cheaper. Arsenal looked awful vs Liverpool and DCL just hasn't been scoring the way you...

want a 7.6 FWD to do. Vydra for 4.8 is the only starter in that cheaper category so if you want a starting striker on the bench, Vydra could be worth the extra 0.6 over a player like Davis even though Davis has made some sub appearances recently.

CURRENT DRAFT 📷

So here are my 2 favorite drafts so far, I couldn't decide between them:

Thanks for reading this thread that became a bit longer than they usually are. There are so many endless opportunities on a wildcard so I tried to talk about as much as I possibly could. 👍

If you enjoyed it, leave a like and share if you want to.

Good luck in GW31 👊🤞