We’re nearing the time of season where the second Wildcard will soon become available, meaning time is running out for those Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers yet to use their first of the chips.
The deadline to activate Wildcard number one is the beginning of Gameweek 19, on Sunday 29 December, which is still a few weeks away.
But, having been given a taste in Gameweek 14 of the rotation that will likely become more commonplace over the congested festive period, FPL managers who haven’t felt the need to hit the reset button until now may view Gameweek 15 as an ideal time to bolster their squads, have the option to offload players teetering on the edge of a ban, and maximise assets with promising fixtures while ditching those whose form is waning.
In this article, we’ll assess the pros and cons of a Gameweek 15 Wildcard and provide a few draft ideas – some more radical than others.
Don’t forget that you can also get your Wildcard team rated via our Rate My Team tool or the Plan FPL planner!
GAMEWEEK 15 WILDCARD: THE PROS
SQUAD DEPTH
As we recently discussed when pondering other opportunities to deploy the first Wildcard, squad depth is more important over the chaotic Christmas period than at perhaps any other time of the season. Tightly-packed deadlines mixed with cup and European competitions mean rotation will no doubt be rampant, and failure to adequately prepare – for example, through favouring regular starters and stocking up on more than one reliable bench option – could mean you’re left facing an unsettling number of 1s and 0s in your line-up’s scores at the end of a given Gameweek.
Read more: Where could we see rotation in FPL Gameweek 15?
THE CHAMPIONS ARE BACK IN ACTION
Manchester City snapped their historic winless streak under Pep Guardiola with a largely comfortable 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 14. Many of the chances in that match were orchestrated by Kevin De Bruyne (£9.4), who scored one goal, assisted another, registered five shots and created four chances – all in 73 minutes following his first start since September.
Now, it may be too ‘knee-jerk’ to ditch other, more consistent premium midfielders immediately to accommodate the Belgian playmaker given his recent injury record and the fact that the aforementioned busy upcoming schedule will surely warrant rotation. But for any managers panicking at the sight of a City-less squad, should the defending champions return to winning ways as we’ve seen them do so often following a lull in previous years, a Wildcard offers the perfect opportunity to re-shuffle some funds and take a punt on a player of strong FPL pedigree.
If De Bruyne – who was given an early rest on Wednesday, surely further boosting his chances of getting more and more minutes on a consistent basis moving forward – is out of your price range, his international teammate is also worth considering; Jérémy Doku (£6.2m) was another bright spark on his own return from injury against Forest, similarly registering a goal and assist. Both men offer substantially cheaper routes into the City attack than Erling Haaland (£15.0m), who may be among the most nailed-on starters in the team but continues to struggle with tucking his chances away.
Then, of course, there are the teams vying to overthrow City as Premier League champions. Liverpool lead the way, and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£6.9m) finally delivered on his attacking promise by notching two assists in a brief cameo off the bench against Newcastle in Gameweek 14. Many FPL managers will likely have jumped ship in recent weeks, some for Ibrahima Konaté (£5.3m) or even Conor Bradley (£4.7m), who have both since been ruled out for as-yet unspecified lengths of time through injury. Wildcarding could be the easiest way to shift a bit of money back into defence to back FPL’s tried and tested assist king, or even double up on an Arsenal backline – from which Jurriën Timber (£5.6m) and William Saliba (£6.0m) have both scored in Gabriel Magalhães’s (£6.2m) absence – that is both finding their defensive solidity again and sharpening their ever-present set piece threat ahead of an appealing fixture run. Then of course there is Chelsea, who are presenting some surprising new FPL options alongside their usual suspects.
FIXTURE SWINGS AND SUSPENSION AVOIDANCE
Heading into Gameweek 15, a whopping 38 Premier League players are on the brink of a one-match ban for accumulating too many cautions across the season so far. Such is the number of players on this list, it will no doubt include picks that FPL managers either own, are looking to buy, or were already thinking about selling. Whatever the case may be, wildcarding now allows you to avoid these players, or at the very least limit the number of them that you may have in your squad without realising, to avoid a potentially nasty shock of panning to the ‘Pick Team’ tab and seeing your team lit up like an angry-looking Christmas tree!
Also, while Gameweek 15 isn’t as major a point for fixture swings as we may have seen in weeks gone by, there are still some shifting scenes on the Season Ticker – something we’ve covered here.
The likes of Brentford, Fulham and Everton in particular are three sides who’ve enjoyed varying degrees of form and nice fixtures lately, but for whom the fixtures take a turn in the short to medium term.
GAMEWEEK 13 WILDCARD: THE CONS
KEEP IT FOR EMERGENCIES
With only four more Gameweeks to go after this until the first Wildcard expires, the chances to deploy the chip are thinning quickly. But, if your team is currently set up nicely to handle whatever the festive period throws at you, it may seem a waste to use a Wildcard only to change one or two things.
If that sounds like you, then an argument could be made that keeping this first Wildcard in your back pocket in case of emergencies – for example, a slew of suspensions or a spate of unexpected injuries resulting from players running on fumes over the next few weeks – is worth doing.
If you’ve then still managed to get all the way to the eve of Gameweek 19 without using it – firstly, congratulations! – it can then just be used to do whatever needs doing by that point. Around then (or just before), teams like United and Crystal Palace will also be past some trickier immediate fixtures and looking forward to greener pastures, and we’ll be through the worst of the festive madness, too.
GIVE ME MORE DATA…
A common push-back against playing the first Wildcard early in the season is that not enough time has passed to fully assess players you’re looking to bring in as well as those you’d be ditching. We’re not exactly at an early point in the season anymore, but there may remain factors which FPL managers still in possession of their first Wildcard want more information on before making any drastic selection changes.
For instance, Marcus Rashford (£7.0m) and co at Old Trafford have started well under Ruben Amorim, but we still only have three matches of evidence – including one where they were largely stifled by Arsenal at the Emirates – upon which to base our conclusions of who the best United picks are, and who are even the most reliable starters under the new boss.
Across town, City may have turned a corner after their recent drop in form, but are they immediately now back to the dominant Guardiola team of old, or will they remain less reliable for wins and goals going forward than we’ve come to expect?
It also remains to be seen how the Konaté injury affects Liverpool defensively, with back-ups Joe Gomez (£4.8m) and Jarrel Quansah (£3.9m) less reliable than the Frenchman. Could the Reds backline become slightly leakier than it has been until now this season? We don’t know for certain which of the two is the first-choice back-up, either, given Gomez started (and performed well) in the Gameweek 13 win over City, but it was he who was then hooked first of the two as Liverpool searched for a foothold in the back-and-forth Newcastle game.
Further, there are various fixture changes involving the likes of Bournemouth, Wolves and Brighton beginning around now – but is it better to move early, or wait another week or so to garner a little more certainty as to who the best (and most secure) picks look to be from those teams as well?
GAMEWEEK 15 WILDCARD TEAM IDEAS
DRAFT 1: LIGHT UP TOP
In the view of this writer (who declares some bias, as an owner of both in his own team), recent points scores, underlying stats and the eye test all point toward João Pedro (£5.8m) and Evanilson (£6.0m) being the two best-value forwards in FPL right now. That, plus the fact that Brighton and Bournemouth have among the best upcoming fixtures, mean the pair are staples in these drafts. The same goes for Mo Salah (£13.2) – need I say more? – and at least one of Cole Palmer (£11.0m) and Bukayo Saka (£10.4m).
Given their prices and largely appealing fixtures that extend into the New Year, Brighton’s goalkeeping duo of Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) and Jason Steele (£4.2m) present arguably the best goalkeeping duo to set and forget on a Gameweek 15 Wildcard (that is of course if you prefer, as I tend to, to keep as much money as possible for your outfield players, especially when the future is ripe with potential squad rotation).
With all that aside, this first draft largely follows the points discussed in our second ‘pros’ section above, as well as bulking out the squad with some cheap but relatively reliable rotation options on the bench.
Opting for two Arsenal defenders could pay dividends as Mikel Arteta’s men start to look back to their best, and Gabriel and Timber provide arguably the most upside as well as being more or less assured of a starting spot at the moment, when fit. Should the Brazilian – the Gunners’ chief goal threat from set pieces – miss out again at Craven Cottage, you’ve got the capable Milos Kerkez (£4.5m) filling in; the Bournemouth man also offers attacking threat combined with a great looking fixture run.
This team also lets you board the TAA train before it inevitably leaves the station again. A proven FPL asset, in the league’s best team so far this season, with an appealing run of games, available for (slightly) less than his starting price – what’s not to like? One could argue that Virgil van Dijk (£6.4m) can be had for half a million less and is perhaps the most secure starter in the entirety of Arne Slot’s team, but Trent’s FPL ceiling likely justifies the extra outlay, if you can fit him in.
Saka has had to make way for the cheaper Martin Ødegaard (£8.3m), who has actually outperformed his English teammate for xGI in the four matches since his return from injury and could be less likely to be rested over the winter fixtures, with less direct replacements in his position at Arteta’s disposal. The downgrade allows an admittedly risky early punt on KDB, who is an easy downgrade to another City attacker, like Doku, or nearly anyone else in FPL if that move falls flat on its face.
We’ve gone light on expenses up top, where there’s a short-term stay of execution for Matheus Cunha (£7.1m) – who could also become Jørgen Strand Larsen(£5.6m), to allow upgrade elsewhere or some money in the bank – given Wolves’ next three opponents have been performing significantly worse defensively than their previous two.
And on the bench, Lewis Hall (£4.4m) and Amad (£5.0m) could easily be Levi Colwill (£4.5m) and Enzo Fernández (£4.9m) or any similarly priced combination that pairs relatively assured minutes with some upside.
DRAFT 2: SAFE AND STEADY
This draft spreads the funds a little more evenly, and opts for a starting XI that – at least on current evidence – is more or less guaranteed to start week in, week out when fit.
Cunha is ditched in favour of Alexander Isak (£8.4m), who has slightly better long-term fixtures and also provides a slightly easier route to a more expensive striker down the line. The Newcastle striker is picked over Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson (£8.2m) due to the latter being one yellow card away from a suspension, and instead of Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) given Villa have both slightly trickier medium-term fixtures and also European ties to contend with.
Just the one Arsenal defender – which realistically could be whoever takes your fancy most, given the uncertainty over Gabriel’s immediate availability – is selected as a result, but there’s still room for TAA.
The punt on KDB, whose minutes are far from certain, is left to one side for now – as indeed are all City players while they work their way back into top form, with one eye on Gameweek 18 as another possible entry point for the reigning champions to return to our teams. Instead, Jarrod Bowen (£7.4m) steps up following a strong showing in West Ham’s loss to Leicester. The Hammers’ talisman, who is yet to miss a match this season, faces the division’s two worst defensive sides in his next four fixtures.
That downgrade allows for the return of Saka, who has the second-most direct goal involvements across the league at the time of writing and is chasing a Premier League assists record. Arsenal’s starboy is also in fine form, with 34 points across his last three matches.
The selection of Bilal El Khannouss (£4.8m) as the budget midfielder of choice may be entirely reactionary, I’ll admit. But the Leicester man did look great against West Ham, creating a Gameweek-high three big chances as he registered a goal and assist, surely impressing new Foxes boss Ruud van Nistelrooy. Again, though, he – and the two remaining squad members – could be whichever players in that price bracket you’d prefer to have unexpectedly coming off your bench or available to rotate in and out of the XI.
DRAFT 3: BACK THE CHAMPS
A little more radical now for the last draft, after the relative security offered previously. The main difference, of course, is the inclusion of Haaland and the allowances that are needed elsewhere to make that happen.
This draft really hinges on the big Norwegian kicking right back into gear now that City have won again and seen their chief playmaker back in action. It’s far from certain that he will do so immediately, of course, even if his underlying attacking numbers have pointed towards him being unlucky not to score more during his recent dry spell. But this draft simply presents one way in which Haaland can be brought back in without losing Salah or Saka, and while fielding two players from each of City, Arsenal and Liverpool. There are many other possible combinations, including those more heavily favouring Manchester United, but I’ve chose not to go down that route yet while the Red Devils face another two tricky fixtures in the immediate future and as Amorim continues to figure out his best XI.
To get into it: Timber and van Dijk are opted for at the back as cheaper but still worthy alternatives to Gabriel and TAA, respectively.
Matthijs de Ligt (£5.0m) may be a bit of a rogue pick but the Dutchman looks to have made one spot in Amorim’s back three his to lose, while he would have scored against Arsenal last time out were it not for a superb save from David Raya (£5.5m). He could instead be any other United defender such as Lisandro Martínez (£4.4m) – who is cheaper and has already served his suspension for racking up yellow cards so is no longer at risk of that where the likes of Colwill, Diogo Dalot (£5.2m) and others may be over the next few Gameweeks – or a player with some more regular creative threat like Villa’s Lucas Digne (£4.7m), who has the bonus of an appealing home match against bottom side Southampton in Gameweek 15.
Bowen becomes the slightly cheaper Mohammed Kudus (£6.2m), Jacob Greaves (£4.0m) warms the bench to be there only if needed, and Doku gets in on the merit of his performance against Forest, which more or less instantly made him City’s most in-form wide man. Having the Belgian there also means you already have another City attacker in place even if you choose to swap Haaland out again in the near future, finding he isn’t justifying his hefty price.
The most notable casualty from choosing to back Haaland, Salah and Saka as the premium players in this draft is Palmer. Leaving him out is obviously a somewhat frightening prospect, particularly given Chelsea’s fixtures from Gameweek 16-22.
In a bid to make up for that, Enzo is pitched as the squad’s fifth midfielder off the back of five attacking returns in his last four fixtures, which interestingly is two more than the former City man in that time (even if Palmer has been unlucky not to register more).
To mix it up a little, he and Pedro could be swapped for – as an example – Adam Armstrong (£5.1m) and Georginio Rutter or the in-form Alex Iwobi (both £5.6m).
