Our team of Pro Pundits, Hall of Famers and guest contributors offer their Fantasy Premier League (FPL) insight, tips, team reveals and advice throughout the season, with only Premium Members able to access every single article they write.
Here, former FPL champion Simon March reveals what his Gameweek 10 Wildcard currently looks like.
My Gameweek 10 Wildcard has been planned for a while now but, sadly for me, it’s not being deployed from a position of strength.
Gameweek 9 continued a recent blip that saw me fall into the three million rank bracket and, although by far the biggest part of that is my seemingly pathological inability to back Man City’s Erling Haaland (£12.2m) with the captaincy rather than my overall team doing particularly badly, I wouldn’t exactly blame you for skipping straight to the comment section right now.
If you’re still here, let’s continue. Despite everything, my overall strategy hasn’t really changed that much; I wanted to look at the opening 16 Gameweeks before the World Cup break in two segments; pre and post-Wildcard.
Then, attack them as aggressively as possible, based on fixture runs and the teams not competing in Europe who therefore have a far kinder schedule.
I obviously can’t play it too safe, being in such a low position, but I’m also not ready to panic just yet. I genuinely do enjoy the challenge of trying to turn around a faltering FPL season, especially when there is still time to do so. I’ve done it before so hopefully, it can be done again.
Goalkeepers
Leicester City’s Danny Ward (£4.1m) retains his position as bench fodder but a clean sheet on Monday against Nottingham Forest might hint that more are coming.
David Raya (£4.5m) comes in as my main keeper ahead of a good run of fixtures. He currently ranks third for saves made and the Bees’ tendency to concede shots from outside the box could work in his favour when it comes to accruing save points, reminiscent perhaps of when Nick Pope (£5.3m) was at Burnley (I mean, Brentford even have Ben Mee (£4.5m) now).
Defence
Defence is where I’m seeking to cut costs with Chelsea’s Reece James (£6.0m) and Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier (£5.5m) being my only two premium defenders. We already know what these two can offer at both ends of the pitch and, with good upcoming fixtures, they’re both fairly obvious inclusions.
Beyond that, I’m bargain-hunting with Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi (£4.3m) and Wolves’ Max Kilman (£4.5m). Apart from their low cost and a decent run of fixtures, both have the appeal of no European distractions or the associated rotation threat, something I think will come heavily into play now that the top teams will be playing approximately every three days until the break.
Nottingham Forest’s future World Cup winner Neco Williams (£4.1m) offers low-cost bench cover and attacking potential between now and the World Cup (which he will, of course, win).
Liverpool’s Trent Alexander Arnold (£7.3m) and Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo (£7.2m) have both made way for me. The latter was more difficult to say goodbye to but City face Liverpool in Gameweek 11 and then blank in Gameweek 12, so it’s a risk worth taking in the short term.
Midfield
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