It’s that time of the season again when Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers start to give serious thought to various chip strategies, including the best time to use the second Wildcard.
The answer, of course, is team-dependent.
However, some Wildcard windows do appear more appealing than others, which we’ll explore below.
- READ MORE: How AFCON and the Asian Cup will affect FPL
AHEAD OF A DOUBLE GAMEWEEK BENCH BOOST
A popular approach will be to use the Bench Boost chip in a Double Gameweek, where certain players play twice.
The second Wildcard could therefore be used a week or two in advance, allowing users to load up on ‘doublers’.
It’s not a given, but this strategy puts you in a really strong position to rack up a huge Double Gameweek score, in turn propelling you up the rankings.
But when are the Double Gameweeks this season?
Whilst some smaller doubles will take place elsewhere, expect Gameweek 37 to be the biggest. A free midweek follows, so it’ll very likely be used to house previously postponed fixtures.
In preparation, you could Wildcard in Gameweek 36, although this perhaps feels a little late, given that there will only be three Gameweeks of the season left to capitalise on your squad overhaul.
Gameweek 34 could be a double for some teams and a blank for others based on FA Cup results, meanwhile.
Gameweek 25 will be a double, for Liverpool, Luton Town, Manchester City and Brentford.
Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur and Luton Town v Bournemouth also need to be rearranged, handing us further smaller Double Gameweeks outside of the above. Exactly when these will take place is currently unclear, however.
GAMEWEEK 31
Using the second Wildcard in Gameweek 31 carries appeal.
That’s because Gameweeks 26 to 30 could prove to be a tricky period to navigate.
Four teams will blank in Gameweek 26 due to the EFL Cup final taking place at Wembley:
- Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur is postponed after Chelsea beat Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup semi-finals
- Liverpool v Luton Town is postponed after Liverpool beat Fulham in the EFL Cup semi-finals
Expect a big Blank Gameweek 29, too, as it’s the FA Cup quarter-final weekend. Up to eight matches could be rescheduled here.
So, dead-ending your team into Gameweek 30 and Wildcarding out of it with a squad packed full of ‘doublers’ could be a solution.
Why 31 and not 30? Well, it’s Manchester City v Arsenal that weekend, so you might not want to Wildcard directly into that.
The approach would allow users to remove players who have tough fixtures/blanks – i.e. offload Liverpool/Man City players before they face each other in Gameweek 28 given that they’ll likely blank in 29 – knowing you can then freshen up your squad and bring back players in Gameweek 31 in preparation for those aforementioned doubles.
This could perhaps be used alongside a Free Hit 34/Bench Boost 37 strategy. The main drawback to the late Bench Boost is having to set it up so far in advance, however.
AFTER AFCON/ASIAN CUP TO BRING BACK SALAH/SON
With Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) and Son Heung-min (£9.7m) leaving to represent their countries at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the Asian Cup respectively, a lot of Fantasy managers sold them ahead of Gameweek 21.
The pair could potentially miss up to four Premier League games, which you can read more about here.
Salah is also currently nursing a hamstring injury but could return to Ivory Coast if he’s fit enough to feature in the latter stages of the tournament.
As a result, moving both Salah/Son on, reinvesting the money, then bringing them back on a Wildcard in a few weeks does carry some appeal.
However, doing it using free transfers – or at worst a -4 – shouldn’t be too problematic, providing you plan well.
There is also a scenario where Salah might not be needed back immediately, anyway.
For example, if Egypt reach the AFCON final and Liverpool blank in Gameweeks 26 and 29 due to domestic cup commitments, you’d only miss a few Salah games if you use the Gameweek 31 Wildcard strategy detailed above, one of them being against Man City.
If the Liverpool v Luton Town Gameweek 26 fixture is postponed and moves to Gameweek 25, in turn creating a double for Salah (and he’s fit!), it does complicate matters, mind.
If that comes to fruition, it will also present another opportunity to Bench Boost.
GAMEWEEK 22
For some, Wildcarding now will make sense.
That might be because you’ve had a rough festive period or if red flags are stacking up.
As a result, pressing the button now could throw up opportunities to sign some low-owned picks.
One benefit of Salah’s departure is that other Liverpool players will see their minutes increased over the next few weeks, so you could transfer in Luis Diaz (£7.4m) or Diogo Jota (£7.9m) while he is away.
Other returning assets such as Kevin De Bruyne (£10.6m), Pervis Estupinan (£5.1m) and Ivan Toney (£8.0m) should also be considered. You could also bring back Erling Haaland (£13.9m) if he’s ready to play in Gameweek 22.
Will you regret burning the last Wildcard now rather than keeping it for the doubles? Perhaps, and it will take a lot more planning, but that’s the risk v reward route you are choosing to take.
