With an international break preceding Gameweek 8 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL), our pundits are starting to share their thoughts with us.
Here, Zophar – who usually hosts a weekly Q&A session for us – provides a hypothetical Wildcard draft that he likes. Although his own team doesn’t yet need such a chip activation.
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 8 tips – Best players, predicted line-ups, team news + more
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 8 Wildcard – Pros, cons + best drafts
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This season’s second international break is seeing many a Wildcard be activated across the FPL community.
While I’m resisting the urge to use mine yet, I want to present to you a potential draft that’s worth considering and the reasoning behind such picks.
GOALKEEPERS
In goal, I think there are two good combinations to consider. Alphonse Areola (£4.3m) and Djordje Petrovic (£4.5m) cost £9.8m, which is an acceptable spend. They provide decent home games for the first four Gameweeks and, after that, you’d pretty much play Petrovic every week.
But with defender Marcos Senesi (£4.9m) pretty much a perma-play because of his defensive contributions (DefCon) potential, I’m not keen on frequent double-ups on the Bournemouth defence.
Whereas, over at Newcastle United, the lack of traditional full-backs means that Nick Pope (£5.1m) is going to do brilliantly in the Bonus Point System (BPS).
I want my goalkeeper to face a good volume of shots – to collect save points – but not a lot of big chances. Then, I want him to rank higher than his teammates for bonuses.
As we can see, Pope is top amongst all Newcastle players for BPS+ (189) and BPS (166) this season, while only Sandro Tonali (£5.4m) beats his baseline of 117.
Of the defenders in front of him, only Tino Livramento (£5.1m) comes close, but he’s out for a spell. What this means is that anytime Newcastle bag a clean sheet, Pope will be in the conversation for additional bonus points. Especially if the Magpies remain low-scoring.
DEFENDERS
Having chosen Pope over David Raya (£5.7m), I think a double up on Arsenal’s defence makes perfect sense given their great fixture run and overall defensive strength.
Jurrien Timber (£5.9m) may carry some rotation risk, but I think that’s overblown. I can’t see him missing more than perhaps one of the next six league matches, now that Arsenal can smell blood from recent Liverpool and Manchester City results. Their primary focus must be to become domestic champions.
Timber is the joint-best defender for shots in the box (nine) and comes fourth for attempted assists (nine). Gabriel Magalhaes’ (£6.3m) set-piece threat is well documented, and DefCon points put another bow in his quiver.
Speaking of which, Senesi (88) and Joachim Andersen (£4.5m, 81) are the best in this position for DefCon and merit inclusion given their bonus points potential as well.
The fifth defender pick could either be Joe Rodon (£4.0m) or a Sunderland option. Either way, I like the idea of parking a cheap one there, as three of the other four will play every time.
MIDFIELDERS
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