Those Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers still with a Wildcard to play will be seriously considering deploying it ahead of Gameweek 31.
In this article, we will assess the advantages of a Gameweek 31 Wildcard and then provide a few draft ideas.
It should be stressed that Double Gameweek announcements – if we get them this week – could change the thinking entirely. As it stands, we’re proceeding with the guess that Arsenal v Crystal Palace and Manchester City v Aston Villa go into Gameweek 33 and Nottingham Forest v Brentford stays in Gameweek 34.
Don’t forget that you can get your Wildcard team rated via our Rate My Team tool or the Plan FPL planner!
GAMEWEEK 31 WILDCARD: THE ARGUMENTS FOR
- Playing your Wildcard now means you can prepare for the Double Gameweeks ahead. You also get to enjoy the advantage of eight weeks’ worth of points from those players rather than, say, four, were you to wait until Gameweek 35.
- We will hopefully have the rescheduled dates for rearranged Blank Gameweek 34 fixtures in advance of the Gameweek 31 deadline, too. Given this second Wildcard will presumably be used by FPL managers with the Bench Boost in mind, getting final confirmation of the Double Gameweek picture is, of course, preferable.
- Having an active Wildcard also provides the perfect cover to deal with any injuries and suspensions that might crop up in Gameweek 30. Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.4m) and Ola Aina (£5.4m), FPL’s two most-owned defenders, were both injured on Tuesday night, for starters.
- If you are loaded up on Bournemouth assets, it’s a good time to remove one or two of them. The Cherries’ run of West Ham United (a), Fulham (h) and Crystal Palace (a) in the next three Gameweeks is hardly terrible, but switching to players who ‘double’ in Gameweek 32 and/or Gameweek 33 is likely to pay off.
- Bukayo Saka (£10.3m) is back! Named among the substitutes on Tuesday night, he took just seven minutes of his comeback appearance to get back on the scoresheet. While Gameweek 30 Wildcarders may have been tentative about his inclusion, you’d imagine Saka now builds on his fitness with even more minutes – and maybe a start – in Gameweek 31.
GAMEWEEK 31 WILDCARD TEAM IDEAS
DRAFT 1: GAMEWEEK 33 BENCH BOOST, GAMEWEEK 34 FREE HIT
This draft includes six players from Crystal Palace and Newcastle United, who ‘double’ in Gameweek 32. A fitness check will obviously be needed on Anthony Gordon (£7.4m) but he’s an easy downgrade to Jacob Murphy (£5.0m) if he remains out.
With the use of a few free transfers, it can also set up an inviting Gameweek 33 Bench Boost, assuming Aston Villa, Manchester City, Arsenal and Crystal Palace play twice.
For example, you could transfer out Tino Livramento (£4.5m) and Alexander Isak (£9.4m) ahead of Double Gameweek 33, replacing them with Aston Villa duo Ezri Konsa (£4.4m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.9m).
It’d leave you with a nice combination of ‘doublers’ and decent single Gameweek options to Bench Boost, such as Alphonse Areola (£4.2m) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.5m) at home to Southampton, as well as Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) away at Leicester City.
DRAFT 2: GAMEWEEK 33 BENCH BOOST, GAMEWEEK 34 FREE HIT… BUT NO SALAH!
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