When to play the first Wildcard in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is a question that frequently gets asked in the early weeks of a new season, on this site and beyond.
Fantasy managers have different approaches to this chip, be it deploying it from a position of strength or saving it for a rainy day when wholesale changes may be needed.
Targeting fixture swings is another (not mutually exclusive) approach and that will be the focus of this article here.
Using our own Season Ticker and moderator Legomané‘s excellent ‘hop on, hop off’ matrix variant and season calendar, we’ll take a look at some of the key fixture swings in the first half of the 2021/22 campaign – whether managers use it for Wildcard deployment, free transfer usage or otherwise.
The usual caveats about not knowing for sure which fixtures represent ‘good’ or ‘bad’ ones apply at this early stage of the season, of course, as there will invariably be a surprise package or two and just as many well-fancied teams flopping.
And not all positive/negative fixture runs will be universally excellent/awful: Arsenal, for example, take on Newcastle and Southampton at home in Gameweeks 13 and 16 in the middle of some less favourable matches.
Above: Legomane’s ‘hop on, hop off’ matrix (click to expand)
2 years, 10 months ago
Thanks for the article Neal. Interesting insight. I'm personally planning for GW7/8 for when Chelsea, Spurs, Man City, Man U and Arsenal should have full squads following the Euros. That said, have to be wary of European competition starting soon after too.