Our team of Hall of Famers and guest writers provide Fantasy Premier League (FPL) tips and advice throughout the season. Here, two-time Indian FPL champion Lateriser reveals his current Wildcard draft and thought process for Gameweek 35.
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I’m on a Wildcard this week, like a lot of FPL managers, but instead of going into detail with my picks, I’ll talk a little bit about my process in case that helps you.
WILDCARD: INFO BEFORE IDEAS
I’ve been accumulating a fair amount of information in the last few days but I only sat down to tinker on Wednesday night. That is generally how I like to work, instead of spending time on the FPL site working through various permutations and combinations. If you’re reading, watching highlights and consuming content, you’re sort of ‘beautiful minding’ decisions in your head anyway. Drafting then generally becomes a lot easier once you’ve consumed enough information.
What also happens when you draft too much on a Wildcard is that you tend to get extremely confused. You’ve considered a lot more picks than you should have without processing the correct amount of information.
It might become difficult to become a little objective when you’re constantly tinkering because you sometimes become irrationally attached to a pick or two, despite new information presenting itself during the course of the week.
And last but not least, the ‘xRegret’ is off the roof and just makes the outcome and the football-watching experience excruciating. What happens more often than not is you’ll have probably considered a bigger pool of players who will invariably haul and then you’re almost always thinking how close you were to getting said player in your team.
AVOIDING THE ‘DOUBLE VISION’
Another thing I consider crucial is not having tunnel vision and focusing only on Double Gameweek 37 when building your team.
With just four Gameweeks left, each one is significant. See if there’s scope for you to hunt for a haul or two in Gameweek 35/36/38 when drafting your team.
With a double upcoming, don’t be too scared of a hit or two. Don’t be too afraid to book transfers because the ceiling of potential hauls is a lot higher than losing four points on a hit, in my opinion. The ‘right’ players to have from the teams doubling in Gameweek 37 could potentially change by the time it arrives and having a flexible squad will help you adjust to the new information in case it presents itself.
KEEPING MONEY BACK FOR FLEXIBILITY
A point that Simon March made in his excellent article really stood out to me. He mentioned keeping £1.5m in the bank to offer flexibility for the Bench Boost. It was a nice bit of inspiration for me and keeping that in mind, I’ve exaggerated it and kept £11.5m in the bank in my first draft! I’m still quite unsure of Erling Haaland’s (£14.2m) fitness and that is the primary reason why I have money left over. If he’s declared fit for Gameweek 35, I’ll let go of Rasmus Hojlund (£7.0m).
The other bits of information I’m waiting to hear about are whether Richarlisom (£6.8m) is going to be fit or not, Pedro Porro’s (£5.8m) fitness and how Newcastle United use Callum Wilson (£7.8m). The idea behind this draft is that all of the 15 players either have a good fixture or a double in Gameweek 37. So, in case I don’t end up selling Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.8m) for a Double Gameweeker in Gameweek 37 to fix another fire, I am happy to Bench Boost him for a home game against Crystal Palace anyway.
The Ait-Nouri pick follows the ‘25% principal’: every remaining Gameweek being a significant 25% of the season. I like his match-up against Luton Town in Gameweek 35 and don’t expect many to go there as a pick. The thinking is similar for Hojlund, as well. If we get information that the presence of Wilson affects Alexander Isak’s (£8.1m) minutes more than we perceive (very unlikely I know), I can hold Hojlund and sell Isak for Haaland instead.
I’m also very much contemplating throwing in Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.4m) or Ben White (£6.0m) as a defensive punt with a much higher upside than Harry Maguire (£4.2m) or Ait-Nouri.
WILDCARD DRAFTS
My fellow Pro Pundits Zoph and Pras went through Pras’ Wildcard draft if you want to check that out, and we will be podding again on Thursday evening as well.
Until next time, good luck with your Wildcard and happy tinkering!
