Early thoughts on the FPL Gameweek 30 Wildcard

Many Fantasy Premier League managers won’t be committing to a chip strategy until the future Double Gameweek fixtures are confirmed.

Ten postponed matches are still without a date, most of which will fall in Double Gameweeks 34/37.

The thinking is that the Gameweek 34 fixtures should be announced during the March international break. That’s not a definite, though.

Despite the uncertainty, over one in five of our polled readers have earmarked Gameweek 30 as the time for a Wildcard:

With that in mind, here are our early thoughts on hitting ‘activate’ over the next fortnight.

Once the fixtures are announced, we’ll look at other windows and wider chip strategies.

GAMEWEEK 30 WILDCARD: PROS

Injuries and unavailability

The first argument for a Gameweek 30 Wildcard is one you could use for any window: injuries and unavailability.

But the international break brings with it a heightened risk of flags being added.

Many of these knocks and strains will be nothing to worry about, of course. There’ll be the usual array of conveniently timed injuries that magically clear up within a fortnight.

But there will be some genuine concerns between now and next Saturday’s deadline. Many Premier League players will be playing twice for their countries, some as late as next Tuesday.

A Wildcard presents us with the opportunity to react to these injuries, from the initial pullouts to the Premier League press conferences that follow.

Beat the price rises or exploit them

Again, not a benefit exclusive to Gameweek 30 Wildcarders.

But there are two weeks’ worth of nightly price rises to exploit or beat, with it being an international break. Compare that to Gameweek 31, when there is only three days’ worth.

By exploit, we mean to increase team value by buying players early and riding the crest of the price rise wave.

There may be fewer price rises than you might think, it should be said. There’s less transfer activity at this stage of the season than there was in August, when most of the 10m+ users were still active.

Still, Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) has already risen in price once. Malo Gusto (£4.2m) and Djorde Petrovic (£4.5m) may be about to do likewise.

Team value hasn’t really been an issue for some time, with Salah and Erling Haaland (£14.3m) out of action at one point or another. Now, for the first time in a while, many of us may want both of them.

So, it’s not just team value for team value’s sake. This is practical: how much more will the same or similar XV cost in Gameweek 31 or later?

Get Salah

Speaking of Salah, many of us have been without him for virtually all of 2024. Thanks to AFCON involvement, a hamstring injury and a couple of blank Gameweeks, he hasn’t managed a start in any of the last nine Gameweeks.

Now, he’s back. Successive starts in cups at home and abroad have produced five attacking returns. Brighton and Sheffield United are up next, while a double will follow in Gameweek 34 or 37.

Most of us will only have one free transfer going into Gameweek 30, so getting the Egyptian back may be easier said than done.

Ship out Gameweek 29 dead wood

If you didn’t use your Free Hit in Gameweek 29, you might have loaded up on Luton Town assets considering they had a recent ‘double’.

The Hatters are now faced with the following horrendous run:

You may also own the banned Sergio Reguilon (£4.4m) or bench fodder favourite Charlie Taylor (£4.0m). Neither Brentford nor Burnley ‘double’ again this season, so there will be better cheaper assets out there – especially if you’re using a Bench Boost at some stage.

Hop on Chelsea

You wouldn’t want to hang your hopes of a successful Wildcard on a team as mediocre as Chelsea but the Blues do have some favourable fixtures ahead.

They are also the only side with a guaranteed two Double Gameweeks to come.

In Cole Palmer (£5.7m), they also have a bargain gem who may be heading for the FPL Team of the Season.

Gusto and Petrovic are also names that are attracting interest, although the fitness situation of Reece James (£5.3m) will need continual monitoring in relation to Gusto.

Preparing for the doubles ahead

The main draw for the Gameweek 30 Wildcard is being able to prepare for the Double Gameweeks ahead.

We don’t know who plays when just yet but we can group the teams into the following categories:

What we do know is that Brighton, Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, Newcastle and Spurs can’t double in Gameweek 34. So, it’s possible to make a start on chip planning even without knowing the full picture in Gameweeks 34-37.

GAMEWEEK 30 WILDCARD: CONS

What if we don’t get the new fixtures before Gameweek 30?

If the Premier League drag their feet and don’t announce the new fixture dates over this international fortnight (it has been known…), then Gameweek 30 Wildcarders won’t know the full schedule before they finalise their squads.

As we mentioned in the section above, there are a few certainties. Some teams won’t double again this season, others can’t.

But for managers still with a Bench Boost intact, for instance, it would be very handy to know when the doubles are going to fall.

What if one of the speculative Double Gameweek fixture projections is right and we only get two teams doubling in Gameweek 34? All of a sudden, we’re looking at Gameweek 37 potentially being much bigger than anticipated. Can we successfully plan for a Gameweek 37 Bench Boost so far ahead? Not impossible, but trickier.

WILDCARD BETTER SUITED TO LATER?

Debates will rage over whether ‘having something to play for’ is all it’s cracked up to be. At the moment, most of the Premier League does.

Will that still be the case come Double Gameweek 37? Will the title be decided, allowing Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool to concentrate on Europe and rest players domestically?

And will West Ham and Aston Villa’s league fate be sealed by then, too, meaning that focus can be switched to the UEFA Europa/Conference League?

Only Arsenal, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Everton, Liverpool, Sheffield United and Wolves can double in Gameweek 34. Some of those may not. Gameweek 29 Free Hitters will likely already have 3-6 players from the Gunners and the Cherries alone now that they have their ‘normal’ squads back. With five free transfers to use between now and Gameweek 34, a selection of Palace, Everton, Liverpool and Wolves assets should be easy enough to acquire if they do indeed end up doubling.

Good Gameweek 30 fixtures for Spurs, Aston Villa, Fulham and even West Ham

Earlier, we talked about non-Free Hitters being able to remove Gameweek 29 dead wood as a Wildcard ‘pro’.

But they’re not all dispensable garbage.

Some of the players who we owned in the Gameweek just gone have way better fixtures in Gameweek 30:

Fulham and Spurs take on struggling Sheffield United and Luton Town. Aston Villa host a Wolves side beset by injury in attack. Even West Ham midfielders have a better fixture than it first appears, against a Newcastle outfit shipping goals for fun.

There’s a good chance that the bulk of your starting XI contains players from the above sides if you didn’t use the Free Hit in Gameweek 29.

If so, maybe the Wildcard could be held back for at least one more Gameweek.

Arsenal v Manchester City

On the Premier League title hunt and with one Double Gameweek each still to come, Arsenal and Manchester City players still have a prominent part to play in our Fantasy seasons.

But in Gameweek 30, they face each other.

You likely wouldn’t want triple-ups, maybe not even double-ups, from both sides next weekend. You may do immediately afterwards: Arsenal host Luton Town in Gameweek 31.

It’s another argument for holding the Wildcard back a week, although Gameweek 30 chip deployers could get creative and, for instance, have one-week defensive cover if they didn’t want to start Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.3m) at the Etihad.