In his latest article, three-time top 200 finisher Lateriser discusses his likely chip strategy and what his Gameweek 32 Wildcard team will look like.

Having looked into things this week, I think I’m likely going to be pulling the Wildcard button. I’ll just wait for one conversation with my pod partner Zophar today before pulling the button, but I’m likelier than not to do it.

Before showcasing the Wildcard, I’ll take you through some of my reasoning and the thought process behind some of my picks.

My chip strategy, as things stand, is:

• Wildcard Gameweek 32
• Bench Boost Gameweek 33
• Free Hit Gameweek 34
• Triple Captain Gameweek 36

IS A WILDCARDED GAMEWEEK 32 TEAM REALLY ‘WEAKER’?

The first thing to address is the notion that a Gameweek 32 team looks weaker after a Wildcard.

I’m not sure I fully agree with that as, on a Wildcard, I’ll have the likes of Antoine Semenyo (£8.2m), Nico O’Reilly (£5.0m) and triple Brighton and Hove Albion, who play Burnley. I’ll lose Bryan Mbeumo (£8.6m) and Diogo Dalot (£4.6m) on my Wildcard but I will be holding on to Bruno Fernandes (£10.3m), which I’m quite happy with.

Yes, having two Chelsea attackers who play Manchester City is not ideal for Gameweek 32 in isolation. However, the Blues do sit top for expected goals (xG) in the last six games and are largely good attacking assets.

GOING BIG ON XGI LEADERS

If I’m looking at the data for non-penalty xGI for the last six Gameweeks, the likes of Cole Palmer (£10.6m), Joao Pedro (£7.8m), Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Tavernier (£5.4m), Semenyo, Jack Hinshelwood (£5.1m) and Danny Welbeck (£6.2m) all feature in the top ten. Three of them (maybe four) have a significant penalty share, which makes me confident about these picks from an attacking perspective.

For Chelsea, I also think post-Gameweek 34 home fixtures against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur are good for attackers. There are some high-ceiling fixtures for Brighton and Hove Albion attackers, too, as they face Burnley, Spurs, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leeds United in the run-in.

WELBECK OVER CALVERT-LEWIN

The reason I am going for Welbeck over Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.6m) is, while the threat of rotation in Double Gameweek 33 exists, I still like the high-ceiling fixtures around the double for in-form Welbeck. With Leeds, while there are good fixtures, I do think they’ll go into a defence-first mode in a relegation battle and try to grind out some 1-0s. Farke’s quote below indicates similar:

“We are not a side that cuts teams to pieces due to our individual quality. We have to be honest. We have to bring our physicality. Overall, this is more or less how you have to behave in a relegation battle: be rock solid, defend really well, show good mentality.” – Daniel Farke

On the Brighton/Leeds front, it is worth adding that Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) and Karl Darlow (£3.9m) rotate pretty well, covering each other until the end of the season.

GAMEWEEK 32 WILDCARD TEAM

I’ve had Gabriel Magalhaes (£7.2m) in there as he has a decent Gameweek 32 and great fixtures from Gameweek 35 onwards, saving myself a transfer for the future. Based on the result of Crystal Palace tonight, Gabriel could become Daniel Munoz (£5.8m). I might even punt on Malo Gusto (£4.9m) to strengthen my Bench Boost in Gameweek 33, but I’m not fully confident about that.

Truth told, outside of O’Reilly, one Leeds United defender and one Bournemouth defender, I am still unsure about the other two defender spots. They could be any of Gabriel, Gusto or additional Leeds/Bournemouth defenders, depending on how much I want to compromise my Gameweek 32 team.

I really like Hinshelwood as a punt in midfield as he’s putting up some excellent underlying numbers, as you can see in the xGI image above. He is seventh amongst all outfielders for non-penalty xGI in the last six matches. I’ve watched the extended highlights for the last few Brighton games and was surprised at some of the positions Hinshelwood took up, which reminded me of Alexis Mac Allister (£6.3m) under Roberto De Zerbi. There are still some minutes concerns with regards to him, as if Yankuba Minteh (£5.5m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£6.1m) are fit, it could be Diego Gomez (£4.9m) playing in the #10, with Minteh and Mitoma out wide. Hinshelwood has started the last six league games in a row, however, and I’m hoping he keeps his place. I am still tempted by the more exciting Mitoma and Gomez, although the latter is on nine yellow cards.

When it comes to Man City, Haaland and O’Reilly pick themselves. Pep Guardiola might have found some stability as he’s used the same line-ups, except one centre-back, as Marc Guehi (£5.1m) was ineligible to play in the Carabao Cup final. While I contemplated Rayan Cherki (£6.3m) for the third City slot, Semenyo is just more of a natural goalscorer than arch-creator Cherki. This is underscored in the underlying data from the two recent cup games (from FotMob, below).

Bruno Fernandes is simply on another level and I can’t leave him out of the team. As a Manchester United fan, I’d be compromising on too much fun by omitting him.

GAMEWEEK 33 BENCH BOOST

This is how my Bench Boost would look in Gameweek 33:

It would likely be 13 doublers along with Bruno Fernandes and Gabriel, who are no mugs. I am still open to converting Gabriel to another defender but unfortunately, there are not many picks, maybe outside of Munoz, who have a decent Gameweek 32 and 33.

GAMEWEEK 35 TEAM

After a Gameweek 34 Free Hit, I come back to the team below in Gameweek 35 with two free transfers. I can use those on Arsenal and Crystal Palace players after assessing the landscape.

Leeds United have a playable fixture in Gameweek 35. If needs be, I can even sell some of my Bournemouth players for Crystal Palace or Arsenal assets.

That is all from me.

If you still haven’t made your mind up about chip strategy, we discuss the pros and cons of each approach – as well as look at options for those managers with no chips or few chips – on the monster pod that I did with Zoph and Pras this week.

You can view this below: