This time next week, the Republic of Ireland will be limbering up for a game against Gibraltar, as international fixtures take over the football scene.
It affords us Fantasy Premier League managers time to take a well-earned rest from studying form and fixtures, plotting transfers and deciphering managerial press conferences. Or not.
This international break is, in fact, one of the more pivotal junctures in the fantasy football season. This is because it is the stage when countless managers will use their first wildcard.
This season, wildcards will be played on a larger scale in the coming fortnight than they ever have been at this stage as a result of Fantasy Premier League’s alterations to the game rules. We are now compelled to play one wildcard chip in the first half of the season (before December 28), so the option of saving two wildcards until after Christmas for maximum impact on Double Gameweeks is now out the window.
Across the first half of the season, there are few occasions as appropriate as the upcoming international break where a wildcard can make a real difference to your season.
Firstly, playing an early wildcard is always a largely positive move. It’s highly unlikely you selected the perfect squad for Gameweek 1, so minimising the amount of time you have to wait before packing your lineup with in-form players is obviously a good idea.
However, having a two week gap to play a wildcard is massively important if you’re looking to bump up team value. There are a surprising number of people who think a wildcard means you make as many transfers as you want, click the ‘play wildcard’ button and you’re stuck with that team.
Not true.
AFC Bournemouth's Callum Wilson was the top scorer in Gameweek 3. Picture by: Paul Harding / PA Wire/Press Association Images
If you’re going to play your wildcard during the international break, click ‘play wildcard’ this Saturday as you’ll then be able to tinker all you want throughout the fortnight and click ‘confirm’ on the Transfers page as many times as you like.
This allows you bring players in and out of your team every day during the two weeks according to the propensity of their prices to change. Because it’s a full fortnight without another deadline, the number of players who will rise by £0.2m will be higher than any other week. Therefore, you can target players whose price may ‘rise twice’ even with a view to sell them before the next deadline and simply bank their extra cash.
It’s an intricate tactic that will require checking your team and the various websites that track player prices every day during your wildcard. But it’s obviously worth it for that tenner off your mates at the end of the month.
A word of caution here, however, to not force yourself into using your wildcard for team value alone. If you feel you’ve got a team that can hold its own after the international break, keep that wildcard firmly placed in your back pocket. The only thing more valuable than a team worth a lot of money is team filled with the league’s in form players, so don’t be blinded by the cash .
If you’re on a wildcard right now, don’t fret. It’s actually a good time to be playing the chip as Manchester City have a glorious set of fixtures coming right up, starting with Watford at home this weekend. Use those unlimited transfers to take full advantage. Snap up Aguero, get either Silva or Yaya and pick up Kompany or Kolarov for good measure.
Building around that, Riyad Mahrez and Bafetimbi Gomis both look like irresistible options, while, at the back, it appears that Liverpool and Manchester United (as well as City) will provide the leading defensive options for the next few weeks.
A number of pre-season bandwagons have stalled at this stage as unexpected sources of points have been bringing in huge hauls every week. The wildcard chip is the perfect way to hop on those bandwagons, so have no shame, join the crowd. Just do it before it’s too late.
Riyad Mahrez is the leading player in Fantasy Premir League so far this season. Picture by: Paul Harding / PA Wire/Press Association Images
Gameweek 4
As mentioned above, this is a pretty big week for Manchester City. They start a run of fixtures that includes Watford, West Ham, Newcastle and Bournemouth at home in the next six games. To make that unequivocally clear, if you do not have Sergio Aguero as your captain, you are extremely brave. If you fail to have him in your team at all, then, for safety reasons, please stay behind your sofa for the duration of Watford’s trip to the Etihad this weekend.
Seriously, put the armband on him. It’s an easy one this week. Any other City assets you may have, keep them.
This week also signals a time when investment in Stoke would be advisable. They host West Brom ahead of home fixtures against Bournemouth and Leicester in the three weeks that then follow.
Many will have Jack Butland between the posts but if you’re looking for alternative defensive cover, Marc Muniesa costs just 4.5 and looks to be a fixture of Mark Hughes’s backline.
Up front, Mame Biram Diouf at 6.5 is now a serious option. Thankfully for his owners, Callum Wilson’s hat-trick last week will have overshadowed him in the budget forward bracket so the Senegalese striker sits at just 4.5% owners.
Callum Wilson himself will undoubtedly play himself into countless teams this week and, at just 5.5, who could blame anyone for bringing him in? If he proves to be this season’s Charlie Austin, that price tag is an absolute steal.
Their opponents this weekend, Leicester, seem to have no problems scoring goals but have yet to keep a clean sheet, so don’t let Ranieri's magic put you off Wilson this week.
Keep an eye out for his Cherries team-mate Simon Francis, too. at 4.5, the defender got his first attacking returns of the season last week and looks certain to cause further problems down his right flank in the coming games.
In the more obvious category, Chelsea and Liverpool host Crystal Palace and West Ham respectively this weekend.
Mourinho’s defence still looks a little shaky so if you’re going for defensive cover from either of those matchups, look no further than Joe Gomez (4.7) or Martin Skrtel (5.5).
In attack, though, last week’s returns from Diego Costa and especially Pedro have propelled them right into our focus. The latter, at just 9.5 gives us a real alternative to 11.4-rated Eden Hazard in midfield and has got himself right in position as Chelsea's most appealing attacker. Costa’s main issue is that, at 11.0, you’ll struggle to afford both he and Sergio Aguero. Aguero wins that battle for the next few weeks, anyway.
Finally, keep an eye on Xherdan Shaqiri and Nacer Chadli this week. They face West Brom and Everton at home respectively. They both picked up assists last time out. If you’ve got 7.0 going, their low ownership may just pay dividends in your mini-leagues this week.
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