MyFPL is a series where we will go through our thought process before every FPL Gameweek in the 2019/2020 season.
2018/19 Overall Ranking: 16 658
Current Overall Points: 130
Current Overall Ranking: 581,897
Last Gameweek Points: 50
FPL community last week be like… Relax man.. hold on to your transfers.. it’s only been one gameweek… next week we’ll have twice the data… Even if your players didn’t perform, they still have plenty of time to make it worth it to you dude…
FPL community this week be like… WILDCARD!!! WE GOT TWICE THE DATA! GET PUKKI! GET MARTIAL! PISS OFF PEREZ!
Well, sort of.
Gameweek 2 was nowhere near as explosive as the opening gameweek, with some notable exceptions. Those exceptions have now become bandwagons as everyone can’t wait to bring in Pukki, Martial, de Bruyne, Mané, Wan-Bissaka, Lundstram or all of the above. As an owner of a grand total of none of them, you’d think I’d be one of the 263,066 and counting who have used their wildcard this week, but I’m not.
I did already bring in de Bruyne however, because he’s the best player in the league and I didn’t have any City cover.. Silly me. I still got through the first two gameweeks alright and 130 points is a decent haul so far with all my chips intact.
In fact, I’m gonna try to hold off using the wildcard until right after Liverpool (and West Ham’s) likely blank gameweek 18. Sell them before the blank gameweek and bring back three Pool players and possibly some West Ham spice right after with a juicy double gameweek waiting. It would also give me a wildcard in a period where many will hold off on using their second one. But I didn’t have any City cover to start the season, so what do I know?
But enough of that.. you’re not here to read a long text about carefully planning out your season.. you are here for the exciting:
GW3 WILDCARD TEAM!
Now, a lot of these picks are obvious. You’ll see the likes of Pope, Digne, Wan-Bissaka, Lundstram, Mané, Martial and KdB in most of the GW3 wildcard suggestions, but there’s a reason why.
In short: Pope is the best GK outside top 6 and gets plenty of saves, Digne is a clean sheet and assist master, Wan-B is an FPL legend from last season with easy fix, Lundstram is an FPL legend this season with less easy fix, Mané looks sharp as hell, Martial is Man Utd starting striker for £7.7 and KdB is the best in the league. Got it? Good.
It’s more interesting to look at notable omissions and who I have them replaced with. Starting with the FPL community golden (and green) boy: Teemu Pukki.
Now there’s no denying it. Pukki looks good. Like, real good. He’s not some new Steve Mounié and actually has the underlying numbers to back up his fantastic start to the season. He is on pace to likely smash our pre-season best case prediction of 8 goals. He’s already half way there!
However… Liverpool are so leaky that they gave away almost 2 expected goals to the lowly Southampton, while Newcastle are in shambles. With the exception of my beloved, but defensively challenged West Ham, 4 out of the next 5 matches are against either good/decent defences and/or better teams. Yes, Palace under Hogdson are sound defensively, even without their starting defenders.
Instead of jumping on an already loaded bandwagon, we’ll rather get the next one, Moise Kean (£6.9). He is practically the same price now, but plays for a better team and has better fixtures coming up. He has only played 39 minutes so far, but in the 18 minutes he got against Watford, he looked lethal. For an Everton side that has really struggled to score, you can expect him starting from GW3 onwards, which is a great fixture against Aston Villa. Kean is one of the premiere striker talents in the world and will show it shortly.
Jumble those letter around a bit and you get my captain for GW3, Harry Kane (£11.0). A tough match against Man City gave him a blank, but up next is Newcastle at home with several Spurs players back and ready. Heung-Min Son(!) (£9.5) is another great option, while Giovani Lo Celso (£7.5) is also one to watch, but Kane is the most likely to replicate Pukki’s hat-trick performance against Steve Bruce’s floundering Newcastle.
I didn’t have enough to get Pukki as my 3rd striker after the price rises, but that gives me an excuse to keep backing Diogo Jota (£6.5). I still believe in you baby, it’s just a matter of time. In GW2 he found himself in Wan-Bissaka’s pocket like many more will throughout the season, but Burnley at home could be the start of something great for Jota and Wolves.
I don’t need any excuses to back Leandro Trossard (£6.0), who struck back from a GW1 no show, with a GW2 goal show. He scored twice, but only one goal stood after a check with VAR, the 2nd goal in my FPL team this season taken away by video review. At least this time it didn’t get taken away because of a BS rule and it came in favor of my favorite team too. I’m still sceptical. Either way, I’m not sceptical of Trossard who looks like a threat, despite not taking away set pieces from Groß just yet.
Finally, completing my trifecta of GW1 darlings, I’m sticking with my boy Ryan Fredericks (£4.5) too. He’s gonna have a clean sheet+G/A double digit haul within the next 3 gameweeks, I can feel it. West Ham are slow starters this season as usual, but will get back into form with the return of Felipe Anderson and Sebastien Haller. Take note of Haller btw, he’s also a good possible new bandwagon.
I actually did make the decision to bring in Todd Cantwell (£4.5) along with de Bruyne for my own team this gameweek. It was mostly a cost cutting move, but Cantwell has been on fire. Or at least been the one lighting the fire for Pukki. My two new transfers have created the most chances so far and Cantwell has been close to getting on the scoresheet as well. If anything he’s good Pukki insurance as a left winger for an offensive team for only £4.5. Absolute bargain.
Sadio Mané (£11.5) is someone else I would’ve liked to have in my own team, but at least consider him for your wildcard team. He always starts the season on fire and as I predicted in last weeks article, he scored against his former team Southampton and got a nice bandwagon going. £1.0 cheaper than Salah and almost just as good. Sterling is also obviously the big name missing here, but just like with my real team, he costs slightly too much for me to afford him.
Part of the reason is because I’m going safe at the back with Aymeric Laporte (£6.5) over Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.5). The threat of João Cancelo playing on the left and the return of Benjamin Mendy looming makes me question the nailed-on-ness of the Ukranian wonderkid. I should’ve had him from the start of the season however and if you did, you might as well keep him if you’re not wildcarding. If you are, at least personally I would prefer the safety and goal threat of Laporte.
That’s it. I’ve covered pretty much everyone except backup GK David Button (£4.0), who is the most likely to play among the £4.0 goalkeepers, under new manager Graham Potter who tends to change up his GK mid-season.
Are you wildcarding this week? What is your team like? Do you feel there are any gems that I and most other FPL know-it-alls have left out? Lanzini? Söyüncü? Emerson? H. Wilson? A returning Hudson-Odoi? Well now I’ve mentioned the most punty parts of my watchlist. Hit me up on Twitter if you have any other great suggestions.
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