With Double Gameweeks 28 and 29 just around the corner, Wildcard usage in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is about to spike again.
Not far off 30% of the site readers polled in our sidebar vote said that they are planning to activate the Wildcard chip this week, so it’s with this in mind that we have produced a position-by-position guide to pick out the best and most discussed options in each category.
Here we take a look at midfielders, omitting any state-the-obvious mention of Mohamed Salah (£13.2m): the fact that he’s on course to smash the all-time FPL points record for a single season says everything about his ongoing appeal.
You can read a rundown of the stand-out goalkeepers here, with our guide to the leading candidates in defence here.
All stats taken from this article are from our Premium Members Area.
BUKAYO SAKA
A decent fixture this week? Check. A Double Gameweek 29? Check. An unaffected fixture in Blank Gameweek 30? Check. A favourable run of matches right the way through to the end of the season? Check. Two more as-yet-unannounced Double Gameweeks to come? Check. “Something to play for” in the league and no distractions in the cups? Check.
There’s lots to like about Arsenal players for Gameweek 28 Wildcarders; the biggest issue is selecting the right individuals.
Gabriel Martinelli (£5.3m) is one cut-price option, not least because his minutes-per-expected goal involvement (xGI) figure is better than those of the other Arsenal midfield regulars in 2021/22:
But he and Emile Smith Rowe (£5.8m) seem to be eating into each other’s minutes and competing for one spot on the left flank at present, while his returns (and rate of xGI) have also dried up a tad.
So attention switches to Bukayo Saka (£6.5m), whose only two benchings in the whole of 2021/22 were fitness-related.
Averaging 6.3 points per appearance from Gameweek 16 onwards, he’s second for shots, joint-seventh for chances created and 10th for xGI among midfielders in that time – and many of those ahead of him are much more expensive in FPL.
SON HEUNG-MIN
Tottenham Hotspur’s unexpected elimination from the FA Cup means that the Lilywhites can not only offer us players who ‘double’ in Gameweek 29 but also assets who are unaffected by the blanks in Gameweek 30.
For those looking further ahead, Spurs will also have another Double Gameweek to come between now and the end of the season.
And the remaining fixtures themselves are very decent, with nine of their last 13 games of 2021/22 against teams currently ranked 10th or below in the Premier League table.
Dejan Kulusevski (£6.0m) is certainly a name to monitor in the mid-price midfield pool, and he’s outperforming his fellow Spurs attackers on the underlying stats front since his first start in Gameweek 26.
For tried and tested, however, look no further than Son Heung-min (£10.8m). The South Korea international has hit 20 or more attacking returns in each of the last five seasons and is well on the way to repeating that feat in the current campaign.
Son has 11 attacking returns in as many matches from Gameweek 14 onwards (one more than Salah in similar pitch-time), averaging 7.1 points per match in the process.
Only Salah and teammate Harry Kane (£12.3m) can better his xGI figure of 7.40 in that time.
JAMES MADDISON/HARVEY BARNES
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