Heading into Gameweek 6 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL), former champion Simon March reveals his current Wildcard team.
My plan for when to play my first Wildcard doesn’t usually go much beyond ‘just hold on to it as long as possible’ but, with a few of my players either out of form or falling foul of rotation in the past couple of weeks, the signs were there that it was coming.
I’m currently ranked around 800k overall so the situation is neither fantastic nor desperate, but I would really like to stop fighting fires and, instead, try and put myself back on the front foot, so I’m hoping my Gameweek 6 Wildcard will help me to do that.
I’m looking at a planning horizon of about six weeks in the hope that I can maximise my points return across that period but, also, I’ve yet to bank a single transfer so far this season and I can foresee a situation sometime soon where that could put me at a real disadvantage. So, in addition to points, I’m hoping I can set myself up to accrue a few free transfers too.
GOALKEEPERS
Something strange is going on with Arsenal’s defence in that they are, on the one hand, arguably the best in the league, with three clean sheets already this season as evidence of that and yet, on the other hand, they’ve also conceded the second-highest number of shots in the league so far (90) and the highest number of shots from distance (37).
Whatever the cause of this, maybe it’s tactical, maybe it’s the fact they’ve played two matches with a player sent off, it’s been an FPL goldmine for goalkeeper David Raya (£5.6m) who has currently amassed the most FPL points of any keeper (33), making the third highest number of saves overall (23) and also receiving the most bonus points (6).
Prior to this season I was never a fan of premium goalkeepers, but Raya is single-handedly changing my mind and, as it stands, he’s an easy hold on this Wildcard.
DEFENDERS
Another hold is Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.1m). With four clean sheets and just one goal conceded so far, Liverpool’s defence looks as solid as it’s been in some time and while Alexander-Arnold has just the one league attacking return so far (an assist against Bournemouth in Gameweek 5), he’s created four big chances, the joint-highest with Aston Villa’s Lucas Digne (£4.6m) among defenders this season.
Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.1m) is a new addition to my squad. As mentioned, Arsenal’s defence has largely held firm across a challenging run of opening matches and Gabriel’s two goals in his last two matches is testament not only to his own goal threat (Gabriel has the highest number of big chances among defenders this season with three), but it also demonstrates how dangerous Arsenal can be from set plays in general.
The next new addition to the defence is Man City’s Rico Lewis (£4.7m) who, despite missing Gameweek 5’s draw against Arsenal, has four starts so far this season. No City defender is ever truly nailed of course but the prospect of an even semi-reliable City defensive option for £4.7m seems like good value. As the news breaks that midfielder Rodri (£6.4m) is injured and likely out for the season, Lewis’ chance of starts presumably increase given that he can also play the defensive midfield role, whether orthodox or as an inverted fullback.
3 months, 9 days ago2 FT, m 1.1 itb…
Hendo
Gabriel TAA Robinson
Salah Rogers ESR Gordon Eze
Haaland Wood
(4m, Vardy, Hall, 4m)
A) Gordon to Mbeumo
B) Salah, Gordon to Saka, Palmer
C) Gordon, Vardy to Semenyo, Havertz