When should I use my first Wildcard and other FPL chips?

Our FPL Masterclass series unites three of the best Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers around: two-time India champion Lateriser, seven-time top 10k finisher Zophar and five-time top 1,000 finisher Tom Freeman.

Between them, they have 20 overall ranks in the top 10,000, nine of which were within the top 1k.

They’ll be chipping in with regular Fantasy advice ahead of the start of 2021/22, with opinion on everything from tips for newcomers to captaincy picks.

Our trio of top managers will be writing for Fantasy Football Scout every week throughout the new season – and only subscribers will be able to read all of their articles in full.

• Gameweek 1 essentials
• How many proven players – and how many ‘gambles’ – shall I pick in my FPL squad?
• How important is a strong bench early in the season?
• How important is team value and when are early transfers advisable?
• Tips for a top 10k finish
• Is form or fixtures more important?
• When to take hits and the importance of rolling transfers

You can read all of their previous FPL Masterclass articles via the links above but this time we’ll be asking our panel: do you often have a pre-set idea of when to play the first Wildcard and what are your thoughts on the other chips?

LATERISER SAID…

I think probably the most important thing to do is to have an open mind when it comes to playing the first Wildcard but I can’t remember using it beyond Gameweek 10 in any of the previous seasons I have played Fantasy Premier League.

Last season, I used my Wildcard in Gameweek 3 and failed miserably. In other years, I have had great success using the Wildcard before Gameweek 4. The learning here is: don’t let last season influence you. Every campaign is distinctly different in FPL.

As far as possible, I would try holding it for at least four Gameweeks. The caveat here is that if you are confident about the changes you want to make and are sure about the tweaks to your team, go ahead and push the button. I wouldn’t hesitate if you are very confident.

Early season is one of the best times to make ground if clear trends emerge because the deeper you go into the campaign, the stronger the template becomes. So if you are sure about the trends, don’t hesitate to activate the chip.

My advice would be that if you are going in early with the first Wildcard, make sure that it is a fairly long-term overhaul and you have enough ‘glue guys’ in the team that you wouldn’t want to sell anytime soon.

If you are pushing the Wildcard early, you need to take a step back, pause and consider macro strategy. You should have a hard think about where you want to spend your transfers in the future and your defence, especially, needs to be selected for the long term.

Having looked at the matches this season, around the Gameweek 7 mark looks like a good time to use the Wildcard given the positive fixture shift for Chelsea and Manchester City. 

The other chips I generally use in the Double Gameweeks or the Blank Gameweeks, which more often than not show up in the second half of the season. There is a very strong argument to use the Bench Boost chip in Gameweek 1 so that you’re not spending transfers in the future building a strong playing bench (instead, you can focus transfers on the starting players) and while I personally might not go there, I don’t see anything wrong with this strategy.

TOM SAID…

I try to remain flexible and don’t particularly like the idea of committing to a strategy before a ball has even been kicked. In the past, I’ve tended to hold my first Wildcard a little longer than most, just to ensure that when I do play it, I have a reasonable amount of data to base my decisions on. Somewhere between Gameweeks 8 and 12 is ideal, when most teams’ line-ups and tactics have settled down. If you can make it coincide with some big fixture swings, even better.

However, there can be advantages to playing it earlier. In 2020/21, it meant you could jump on players like Emiliano Martínez (£5.5m); it’s just not an approach that I feel particularly comfortable with.

The rest of the chips (Bench Boost, Free Hit, Triple Captain) I’d advise using around the Double and Blank Gameweeks during the second half of the season. It’s also a good idea to use your Bench Boost directly after your second Wildcard, which should ensure you have an optimum team free of any rotation risks or injuries. Believe me, there is nothing worse than activating the chip only to find out that one or two of your players are missing.

ZOPHAR SAID…

The timing of the first Wildcard is dependent on how my squad is doing after the first couple of weeks and some flexibility is important here. If you can get the players you want with a hit or two in the first few weeks, then I think it is worth delaying the Wildcard to later.

As a general rule of thumb, I like to wait at least till the second international break of the season to use my first Wildcard, which is usually Gameweek 7 or 8. By then, we know what impact the new transfers, new managers etc are having on their respective teams and what their preferred line-ups are. We also see how the club managers are rotating as the UEFA Champions League group stage gets underway. The value/must-have picks in each position would likely be more apparent, too.

The reason I don’t like to use it in the September international break is that the first few Gameweeks of the season can be chaotic. Certain teams might have not had a full pre-season because of players returning late and it’s more an issue of match sharpness rather than ability. The data set tends to even out more over a period of eight weeks rather than three or four, and a more cogent statistical analysis can be made. 

The other chips, including the second Wildcard, totally depend on the timings of the Double Gameweeks. The previous season was an outlier with the congested schedule due to COVID but usually, I like to Free Hit in the Blank Gameweek caused by the FA Cup quarter-finals and use my second Wildcard before the big Double Gameweek (typically GW33/34) with a view to maximizing the Bench Boost. The Triple Captain chip gets used in one of the smaller Double Gameweeks.