How to ‘future proof’ your FPL Gameweek 8 Wildcard

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In his latest article, Three-time Top 200 finisher Lateriser considers whether his Gameweek 8 Wildcard is ‘future-proof’ ahead of his next big match in Gameweek 13.

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I went Wildcard in Gameweek 8, something I covered in a recent article here.

What I think I’m going to do with this piece is put forward and try to anticipate what I might need in the future, whether my current draft accommodates that and whether there are any changes I need to make.

Gameweek 13 onwards: Match outlook

The next major Wildcard window is around the mark of Gameweek 13. So, what I did was look at the match schedule for the six Gameweeks. I wasn’t away for too long because we had some additional transfers around the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The first thing that stands out is the fixtures of Liverpool, Newcastle United and Manchester City. All three teams have very good schedules and there may be a world where we have to use a very small squad and spend as much money as possible on the pitch, that is, to accommodate the potential Erling Haaland (£14.5 million)Mohamed Salah (£14.4 million) and/or Alexander Isaac (£10.6m) in one team.

Now, currently I only have Nick Pope (£5.1m) and Haaland in my Wildcard draft of these three teams, although I am considering taking a punt on Isak.

The main FPL implications of this are as follows…

Don’t spread your funds too widely

I like that I have a bottom priced defender Joe Rodon (£4.1m) and the lowest-priced goalkeeper Martin Dubravka (£4.0m), which means my funds are not spread too far.

If I had used my Bench Boost, I would have even had a bottom-priced forward/midfielder as my eighth striker, which would have allowed me to spend as much money on the field as possible. While I don’t need to do that now, it will help me in Gameweek 13 or so.

Bench Boost before Gameweek 13 or when Salah goes to AFCON

Since we want to deploy all our funds on the ground, we need to:

a) Use Bench Boost before Matchday 13, when these teams play together; or
b) Wait until Salah leaves for AFCON, then we distribute the funds

The problem with the latter is that it is very difficult to plan for Wildcard Gameweek 8, and injuries and rotations eight Gameweeks later are unpredictable. Do we really want to spend the free transfers given to us during AFCON on Bench Boost? I think the transfer would be better spent on completing some interesting matches and saving them for the future.

Whales are a solid long-term choice

Watching those Newcastle United matches, Gameweek 13 onwards strengthened my belief in Pope as an option. He plays behind a trustworthy defense and doesn’t just rely on clean sheets to get points.

Bournemouth + Palace timetable

It helps Bournemouth and Crystal Palace to perform well from Matchday 13 onwards because I’ve had them Antoine Semenyo (£7.9 million), Ismail Sarr (£6.5 million) and Mark Senesi (£5.0m) in my Wildcard, all of which are probably picks I haven’t touched in a long time.

The Palace gear did make me wonder about my appearance Chris Richards (£4.5m) vs Joachim Andersen (£4.5 million) debate. That said, for such an interesting match, do I want Richards or do I want the edge on someone like that Daniel Munoz (£5.6 million) alone?

Free Hit in Gameweek 13?

If you take Gameweek 13, when Chelsea and Arsenal faced each other, they still had a fairly high Fixture Ticker.

Rather than immediately selling my Arsenal and Chelsea players (five of them from both teams), I could go for Free Hit in Gameweek 13. The Gunners and the Blues both had good games before and after Gameweek 13.

I can assess the landscape later in terms of whether I want to use my transfers to sell players from these teams to Liverpool and Manchester City.

If I look at Gameweek 13 alone, it offers some interesting opportunities to sign players from Man City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur. A triple up on City in the long term might not be a healthy chance, but I could take a Free Hit on their players.

Final Thoughts

I like the fact that I have until then to decide which direction I want to go, but this little glimpse into the future has validated my thinking for the current draft as I don’t think an Arsenal or Chelsea player is ‘hard to sell’ in Matchday 13.

However, I wanted a piece or two of Liverpool’s attack then, so doubled down on Arsenal’s defense and had it Bukayo Saka (£9.9m) helps from a structural point of view. He was the easiest way to get to Salah, if I wanted to at that time.

I hope you enjoy reading this article. Pras and I discussed our Wildcard draft further on this episode of The FPL Wire, which you can see below.