International breaks are always popular times for Wildcards in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) but the return of Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) to the English top flight has seen transfer activity rocket.
Over 12 million transfers have already been made with over a week to go until the Gameweek 4 deadline, suggesting there are plenty of Wildcard teams already being tinkered with.
With that in mind, we’ll be taking a position-by-position look at the best FPL options not just for those Fantasy managers using this prized chip but also for those looking at ‘free’ transfer targets ahead of the upcoming Gameweek.
All stats taken from this article are from our Premium Members Area.
FIXTURE-LED, SHORTER-TERM BUYS
While a sizeable proportion of us tend to pick a Wildcard goalkeeper with a view to a long-term hold, Gameweeks 4 and 5 are good jumping-on points for those who like to play the fixtures – as our Season Ticker above illustrates.
There’s merit in it if there aren’t fires to fight elsewhere: just under two-thirds of the clean sheets recorded in 2020/21 were against bottom-half sides.
Even Emiliano Martinez (£5.5m), who racked up the save points in the tougher games last season, still fared considerably better against the also-rans:
| Avg points per match | Double-digit hauls | |
| v top ten | 4.10 | 2 |
| v bottom ten | 5.78 | 5 |
So, to the Gameweek 4 targets.
JOSE SA
Jose Sa (£5.0m) has one of the lowest FPL ownerships among first-choice goalkeepers, sitting in just 0.8% of squads. His awkward price point is perhaps the reason for that, with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ losing start to 2021/22 another likely factor.
Scratch the surface a little deeper, though, and there is promise: Wolves have the second-lowest expected goals conceded (xGC) total from open play (1.3) total despite having played against Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.
Their fixtures are the best in the division from Gameweeks 4-14 and they don’t meet a single member of the ‘big six’ in that time.
Encounters with all three promoted clubs and seven of the teams who finished between ninth and 17th in the top flight last season fall within this run.
A bit like Bernd Leno (£4.9m) and Kieran Tierney (£4.9m) at Arsenal, however, Sa is competing for our attention with an attack-minded alternative in the form of Nelson Semedo (£4.9m).
DANIEL BACHMANN
Watford’s fixtures are decent over a shorter period, with the Hornets riding high in our Season Ticker from Gameweeks 4-10.
Daniel Bachmann (£4.5m) has the advantage over Sa in being half a million cheaper, not to mention having a £4.0m understudy in the shape of Ben Foster (£4.0m) who he could be paired with.
Watford’s promotion to the Premier League was founded on a strong defence, with their totals of 23 clean sheets and 30 goals conceded both league-leading.
We didn’t see much sign of that meanness in pre-season or in Gameweeks 1 and 2 but a clean sheet in the EFL Cup, followed by a narrow 1-0 defeat at Spurs in which the Lilywhites failed to record a single big chance, hinted at improvement.
The fact that the Hornets’ best centre-half, Francisco Sierralta (£4.4m), returned to action in those latter two games was likely no coincidence.
And manager Xisco Munoz has completely overhauled his central midfield three this summer, with Peter Etebo (£4.5m), Juraj Kucka (£5.5m) and Moussa Sissoko (£4.5m) looking very solid when combined for the first time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Bachmann made seven saves in Gameweek 3 but the combined expected goals (xG) total of those shots was less than 0.50, which is what we want from an FPL goalkeeper: lots of stops from efforts that have a low chance of being scored from.
LONGER-TERM HOLDS
For those of us who like set-and-forget picks, there are some more established names to consider whose immediate fixtures perhaps aren’t as good as those of Wolves and Watford.
Sa and Bachmann may end up being longer-term holds, of course, but are unknown quantities in the top flight (as is the case with their managers) at this early stage.
EDOUARD MENDY
A premium goalkeeper is generally dismissed as being an ill-considered purchase of the ‘casual’ FPL manager.
That’s because mid-price and budget shotstoppers can regularly come close to or even emulate the points totals of the big-money goalkeepers.
Ederson (£6.0m), for example, kept eight more clean sheets than Illan Meslier (£5.0m) last season but had an almost identical points-per-match average (4.44 v 4.40) thanks to his lack of save and bonus points.
Edouard Mendy (£6.0m) deserves a special mention, however, as he has averaged 5.16 points per match in the 19 matches he has featured in under Thomas Tuchel.
That’s considerably better than Ederson and even the top-scoring goalkeeper Martinez managed last season.
Chelsea’s defence looks absolutely rock solid under Tuchel regardless of the opposition and they’ve kept 13 clean sheets in the 22 league games he has overseen. A total of 20+ shut-outs in 2021/22 is certainly not out of the question.
Mendy and Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.0m) appear to represent the safest routes into the starting XI but neither is completely immune to rotation as last season showed, plus the Senegal international will be representing his country in the Africa Cup of Nations in January – so a playing understudy is very much required, which effectively means that at least £10.5m of the FPL budget has to be spent between the posts.
ROBERT SANCHEZ
Robert Sánchez (£4.5m) was among the most popular budget buys ahead of the start of 2021/22 and despite a mixed bag of early-season returns, remains towards the top of the watchlist.
From Gameweek 13 onwards of last season, only Ederson and Mendy accumulated more clean sheets than Sanchez.
Brighton were among the top three meanest defences for things like big chances and shots in the box conceded in the second half of 2020/21, too.
Injury and illness has led to disruption in the Albion backline in the month just gone but the Seagulls still rank joint-third for fewest shots on target conceded this time around – a blessing and a curse for Sanchez, perhaps, as save points won’t flow at a tremendous rate to bolster any clean sheet points.
DAVID RAYA/VICENTE GUAITA
David Raya (£4.5m) and Vicente Guaita (£4.5m) are honorary mentions and ones to watch for those looking at a later Wildcard or punting on a set-and-forget goalkeeper for the next half a season at least: the fixtures over the next six to seven Gameweeks are fairly poor for both Brentford and Crystal Palace but these two budget shot-stoppers have caught the eye.
The pair are top on the Baseline Bonus Points System (BBPS, below) and it’s not just their work with their hands that has contributed to that but also their distribution when playing out from the back.
The Bees and the Eagles are also among the six best clubs for fewest big chances conceded in 2021/22.
JORDAN PICKFORD
There is always a potential calamity in the offing whenever Jordan Pickford (£5.0m) is in town but Everton’s fixtures and Rafael Benitez’s track record for being an effective organiser of a back four are things in his favour.
The Spaniard’s reputation as being a fast starter at clubs has been evidenced in the Toffees’ unbeaten opening month and there are encouraging signs from a defensive perspective, too, with only Manchester City allowing fewer ‘big chances’ than the Merseysiders.
Two of the three goals they have shipped were eminently preventable and owed much to Michael Keane (£5.0m) errors.
And returning to what we discussed earlier about Bachmann, 54.05% of the shots that Pickford has faced have come from outside his area – that’s the best rate of any goalkeeper so far.
| % of shots faced from inside the box | |
| Pickford (EVE) | 45.95% |
| Ederson (MCI) | 46.67% |
| De Gea (MUN) | 48.48% |
| Bachmann (WAT) | 53.85% |
| Guaita (CRY) | 58.54% |
| Lloris (TOT) | 59.62% |
HUGO LLORIS
We couldn’t really present a guide to the best goalkeeping options without looking at FPL’s leading points-scorer in this position.
Hugo Lloris (£5.6m) has averaged nine points per match in his first three fixtures, recording three consecutive clean sheets.
Whilst Spurs rank 18th for most shots conceded over the first three Gameweeks (52), they did face two of the division’s most attacking sides in Wolves and Manchester City in the opening month.
Furthermore, a lot of the efforts that Lloris has had to deal with (see the above table under Pickford’s entry) are coming from distance, and Spurs sit joint-seventh for fewest big chances conceded (four).
An expected goals conceded (xGC) tally of 4.33 suggests luck has played a part – but in Lloris, Spurs have a proven goalkeeper who has frequently defied Opta’s ‘xG’ predictions in the past:
| Season | ‘Expected goals’ prevented (rank v other goalkeepers) |
| 2021/22 | +2.40 (1st) |
| 2020/21 | +2.10 (5th) |
| 2019/20 | +9.50 (1st) |
| 2018/19 | +7.30 (2nd) |
2 years, 7 months agoGonna be big swings based 50/50 calls this gw. Sensible seems like save or Pogba to jota. Salah differential captain and Kane differential could be lovely. Or could bring in Ronny or Lukaku for free. Or balls out option kane, Pogba, Traore to Lukaku, jota, Torres -8
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TAA tanganga Dier
Salah (C) Pogba Traore benrhama
Kane Antonio Bamford
Gunn Livramento Gilmour James