Gameweek 24 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) looks set to be a big week for Wildcard usage.

Below, we’ll discuss some of the pros and cons of jumping on board with an early second Wildcard.

We’ll also float a few potential drafts – click here to jump straight to those.

REASONS TO WILDCARD IN GAMEWEEK 24

Outside of the evergreen ‘pro’ of raising team value (buying early in the week and catching some price rises), here are a few arguments to play the Wildcard now…

BIG FIXTURE SWING

The main reason many tuned-in FPL managers may be considering a Gameweek 24 Wildcard is the fixture swing that begins this week for many teams.

For example, the likes of Bournemouth, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Manchester United all embark on appealing runs of games (of various lengths) starting this weekend, as shown in our colour-coded Fixture Ticker below:

This brings defensive contribution king Marcos Senesi (£4.8m) back to the fore after a trickier few weeks, with a similar effect on assets like Bruno Fernandes (£9.4m) and Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m) plus some of their respective teammates from United and Chelsea who are now settling in under new management. League leaders Arsenal and title-chasing Villa offer up good players across the pitch, and Palace may provide some budget-friendly options if they can get out of their current rut.

Simultaneously, the immediate fixtures for a few teams, such as Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Brentford, Manchester City and Liverpool, who may have received our backing until now, turn the opposite way (even if briefly in some cases):

Does that mean it’s time to cash in on the likes of Phil Foden (£8.5m), Anthony Gordon (£7.4m), Hugo Ekitike (£8.8m), Micky van de Ven (£4.6m) – and maybe even Igor Thiago (£7.2m)?

RETHINK MAN CITY?

Speaking of Foden, the fixtures may be irrelevant anyway. Pep Guardiola benched him for the first time since Gameweek 3 on Saturday as Man City bounced back to winning ways. It may have been a one-off demotion to substitute duty to provide a kick up the backside – but is he worth the risk? And if you’re keen on City midfield representation, Antoine Semenyo (£7.8m) is arguably looking more secure for the time being.

Similarly, at the back, Marc Guehi (£5.2m) looks perfectly positioned to become a mainstay at centre-half. Nico O’Reilly (£5.1m) was back in the side at the weekend but a sideways switch to Guehi would probably eliminate some of that week-to-week uncertainty when it comes to game-time.

“You realise immediately how good he is in terms of mentality, his age, his composure. I have the feeling he lives 24 hours for his profession.” – Pep Guardiola on Marc Guehi, speaking on Saturday

“The transfer is a really, really good price and he is a perfect age, 25, 26 years old, so it’s an incredible signing for Man City for the next many, many years. He is a guy you can rely on. You see it… believe me, two training sessions. How he moves, how he talks, how he sees what happens around him, reads the situations. Yeah, really good.” – Pep Guardiola on Marc Guehi, speaking on Saturday

REACT TO AFCON RETURNS

On a similar line of thinking, a Gameweek 24 Wildcard lets you adjust your team accordingly now that all players who were away for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) have returned to their clubs.

That could mean bringing some of them straight back into your team, selling stand-in players who may now struggle to get a look in, or both!

Bryan Mbeumo (£8.3m) and Iliman Ndiaye (£6.2m) belong to the first category. But do the returns of Mohamed Salah (£14.0m) and Omar Marmoush (£8.3m) affect the ‘xMins’ of Ekitike and Erling Haaland (£15.1m)? That was certainly the case on Saturday.

FIX OTHER PROBLEMS

Aside from the above, one of the enduring ‘pros’ of playing your Wildcard is that doing so allows you to both fix any and all problems in your team at once without taking point hits.

You may have a top-heavy squad and desire a move to a 3-5-2, 4-4-2 or 4-5-1. Your budget bench fodder may need a refresh; Marc Guiu (£4.2m) to Matheus Mane (£4.5m) or Ayden Heaven (£3.9m) to James Hill (£3.9m), for example. You may wish to rejig your Arsenal triple-up; does David Raya (£5.9m) really warrant the outlay, given that he rarely banks ‘extras’ on top of clean sheets like Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.9m)?

REASONS TO WAIT

STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY OVER BLANKS AND DOUBLES

Below is the likely FPL landscape in terms of future Double and Blank Gameweeks, as highlighted by three-time top 200 finisher Lateriser in this excellent article on why he won’t be wildcarding in Gameweek 24:

• A possible Double Gameweek 26 or 27 for Arsenal and Wolves
• Four teams will get a Blank Gameweek 31, due to the Carabao Cup final
• Double Gameweek 33
• Blank Gameweek 34, for FA Cup semi-finalists and their scheduled league opponents
• Double Gameweek 36

Notice all of that uncertainty? Unfortunately, none of it will be cleared up prior to the Gameweek 24 deadline, meaning lots of potentially crucial questions will remain unanswered.

That includes exactly which teams will blank and double (and when) due to the Carabao Cup final. Arsenal and Man City are of course in pole position to meet at Wembley, with their respective advantages from their first-leg semis, but the second legs of those semi-finals won’t be played until the midweek between Gameweeks 24 and 25.

Meanwhile, we won’t know which teams have blanks and doubles due to the FA Cup for even longer. Not until just before Gameweek 32 will we know which four clubs will make the semi-finals and blank in Gameweek 34.

TRANSFER WINDOW STILL OPEN

Similarly, the winter transfer window slams shut on Monday 2 February, the last day of Gameweek 24. Plenty of deals could occur over that weekend, which may throw an immediate spanner in the works depending on who you’ve brought in on your Wildcard. We’ve already seen how much the arrival of Semenyo and Guehi has shifted the thinking at Man City.

Could Bournemouth add to their ranks and make Eli Junior Kroupi (£4.6m) more of a rotation risk? Will Chelsea swoop for another centre-half, as rumoured, thus affecting the game-time of Trevoh Chalobah (£5.6m)?

So, might it therefore be prudent to wait a little before activating your second and final Wildcard of the season, until we have answers to at least some of these questions?

WHAT’S THE WIDER CHIP STRATEGY?

Relatedly, waiting until we know more about what the future Blank/Double Gameweeks will look like allows you to use your Wildcard as part of a wider chip strategy. This can help maximise each of their potentials and (hopefully) help you surge up the rankings in the home stretch of the season, where everything counts the most.

For example, Wildcarding the week prior to a Bench Boost (when used in a Double Gameweek) is a good way to load up your squad with players from teams you know could play twice in one Gameweek. Wildcarding after your Bench Boost is out of the way, meanwhile, lets you funnel maximum funds into your preferred XI plus one or two subs without having to worry about if all 15 members of your squad will start each game.

GAMEWEEK 24 WILDCARD IDEAS

*These drafts were put together using the author’s squad value, so cheaper alternatives may be needed for those on a more restricted budget

DRAFT 1: SOLE STRIKER, BIG IN MIDFIELD

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