A Guide to FPL GW8 Wildcard | Talking points, Enablers, Team Structure

This FPL GW8 wildcard guide is written by @FPLBrunoo, host of “The Enablers Show” on Twitter Space with @fpl_sonaldo where we provide a platform for the general FPL community to interact with the legends of the game.

Retrospective

First things first, a quick look back at how teams performed compared to their FFScout FDR at the start of the season.

The big boys show exactly why they are the big boys. Fixtures don’t matter for CHE, LIV and MCI. LIV affirmed themselves as the best attack in the league being 11th in the ticker while MCI showed reliance in defence with the best defensive stats while being 13th on the ticker.
BRE impress us by defying the ticker for both attack and defence.
BHA performed defensively, as expected but lacked the fire power in attack.
LEI are posting worrying underlying stats in both attack and defence, although it is worth noting that they overperformed their xG by 1.7 so far (4th highest overperformance).
WAT, BUR & NEW show us why we are targeting them for goals and perhaps why Mr. Dilly Ding Dilly Dong was hired at WAT.

Teams to Target over the next 6 fixtures – DEF

Manchester City

MCI are on another level in defence at the moment. They are by far the best defence in the league with an xGC of 3.8 which is almost half that of the second-best. This makes a double up in defence hard to resist for MCI.

Best Man City FPL assets:

1. Laporte – £5.5m

Laporte has played every minute whenever he was available this season but Stones being back from injury makes him a risky pick at the moment. He is the danger man on set pieces for MCI with the 6th best xG/90 amongst DEF this season and the second-most shots/90. In my opinion, he is nailed for MCI as a left-footed player is better for build-up. MCI have improved their defence this season with an xGC/90 of 0.5 compared to 0.9 of last season. It looks like it’s his place to lose but you never know with Pep Roulette.

Aymeric [Laporte] is the best left-footed centre-back for build-up in the world.
Pep Guardiola after the Norwich game

2. Cancelo

Cancelo hasn’t impressed attacking wise so far this season but this is likely due to the fixtures. He is 4th amongst defenders for touches in the box, however, so you can expect the returns to come as the fixtures improve. Now that he looks more nailed, Cancelo is a no brainer averaging 5.4 pts/90 last season(3rd best DEF in the league)

3. Dias

He’s nailed and 1st for bBPS/90 so far amongst MCI Goalkeepers & defenders. Interestingly, he has made more key passes/90 than Cancelo this season, although I doubt he will sustain this over a longer period of time.

Further Read: FPL GW8 Fixtures To Target With Team Analysis

Chelsea

CHE haven’t looked their best defensively but still managed to get 4 Clean Sheets. However, 4 out of their next 6 opponents are in the bottom half for xG.

Best Chelsea FPL assets:

1. Rudiger

He’s the cheapest option and nailed when fit.

2. James

He’s likely to start at RWB where there is less competition with Hudson-Odoi being a winger and Azpi being more of a RCB.

3. Chilwell

According to Chelsea fans, it’s his spot to lose now but you never know which competition Tuchel will favour each week. Chilwell had the 2nd highest Pts/90 last season and likes to get into the box for a shot. If you’re up for a game of Tuchel Tombola for him vs Alonso, then he’s a good pick provided you have a good bench. It is worth noting that Chilwell is less likely to come off the bench than James, so you won’t be frustrated with one of those one-pointers.

Further Read: Fixture Analysis for GW8 Wildcard

Brentford

BRE have impressed defensively with 3 CS and great underlying statistics to back it up. They’ve conceded 7.8 xGC so far (5th best) despite the tough fixtures. Just like CHE, 4 out of their next 6 opponents are in the bottom half for xG.

Best Brenford FPL assets:

1. Raya (highest bBPS in BRE)

2. Pinnock (Goal threat on SP)

Arsenal

ARS look to have steadied ship in DEF after that horrible start due to their injuries. With 3 CS in the last 4, ARS show that they can be relied for CS against the lower teams. They face 5 of the bottom half teams for xG in the next 6.

Best Arsenal FPL assets:

1. Ramsdale

2. White

Teams to Target over the next 6 fixtures – ATT

Chelsea

Chelsea have been decent in attack so far this season accumulating 12.5 non-pen xG (4th). They are 4th for BC and shots on target and 5th for shots in the box. They now face NOR new BUR in their next 4.

> Lukaku is a must-have for this run contributing 41% of CHE’s xGI.

> Mount is worth a shout at 8% ownership. He is 2nd highest for xGI/90 and 1st for xA at Chelsea and Tuchel needs creators. He averaged 5.2pts last season.

Manchester City

MCI are very tempting in attack but Pep Roulette makes it impossible to predict where the goals will come from in the block of GWs.

Best assets:

For GW8 only, Mahrez is perhaps the best asset. Burnley is the team against which he has scored he most and from a man-management perspective, Pep should undoubtedly play him in this fixture.

Foden is the popular pick this week, especially now that Torres is injured but having played 2 games for England, I still think there’s a risk given that the Champions League fixture is a must-win game for Pep. In my opinion, Sterling will get a start this game but I’m no Pep.

When it comes to City assets, the rotation risk is too high to go for any of their assets aside from perhaps KDB. Unless you have a really good first bench (like Soucek from last season) then it makes it difficult to justify going for any of them yet.

Southampton

As shown in the Retrospective, SOU had the 20th ATT FDR and managed to rank 13th for xG (8.2) although they did underperform it by 3.2 goals. However, they face the 4 whipping boys in the next 5, and thus A. Armstrong (2.7% owned) is the one of the best punts to take on a WC. He contributed to 2 of SOU’s 5 goals and might be on pens.

Elyounoussi is another MEGA PUNT pick at 0.2% ownership, especially if you don’t have a FWD spot. He contributed to 33% of SOU’s xGI and has a goal to his name. Over the IB, he scored 2 goals for Norway. I would be cautious with this pick though as Stuart Armstrong comes back from injury soon.

Liverpool

LIV are the best attack in the league by far (xG of 18.8 vs 14.3 for 2nd best) and as shown in the retrospective the fixtures don’t matter.

Salah is a must being on the form of his life and if you are willing to get Foden, you should be willing to consider an OOP Jota in attack at 7.7m playing for the best attack in the league.

Brentford

BRE have one of the best runs and a decent attack force (8th for xG and 7th for BC)

Toney has the 4th best xA and the highest BC created in the league. He is more of a creator than an assister but is still a major threat in the box and is on pens. Mbeumo has more goal potential but very low assist potential.

I prefer Toney if you can afford only one as he’s more likely to be involved in a goal than Mbeumo. A double-up can also pay off good dividends for the next run of fixtures.

Goalkeepers

@fplmariner did an excellent analysis on Goalkeepers on the Net That Haul Youtube channel which I encourage people to have a look at.

Sanchez and Ramsdale are Ederson style Goalkeepers while Raya is more explosive with saves and BPS. Raya has the highest bBPS amongst BRE defenders and in my opinion is more likely to be the next Martinez.

I am likely to go Ramsdale on my WC. Since joining Arsenal, Ramsdale has accumulated 3 CS in 4 games with an xGC of 0.8. In that time however, Arsenal were 1st in the fixture ticker for DEF facing NOR bur TOT bha, which could have made ARS look better than they are defensively. ARS do have good fixtures coming up though with 5 of the next 6 being in the bottom half for xG and they’ve shown they can be trusted against small teams.

I am open to making a transfer to Raya in the future as well if he shows signs of Martinez-like potential. On the Meet the Premiums show that I host on Twitter Space, I spoke to Rich Clarke who is a former #1 FPL Hall of Famer. He said that we should not be afraid to make a transfer on a GK when needed.

The Goalkeeper position is a key part of your XI. You should not be reluctant to make a transfer there just because the community considers it taboo.
Rich Clarke, former #1 HOF

Enablers – FWD

Per 90 stats
Hwang v Armstrong v Toney
xG: 0.54 v 0.29 v 0.27
Shots: 1.81 v 3.08 v 2.29
Shots in the box: 1.81 v 1.76 v 1.57
BC: 1.08 v 0.29 v 0.29
Team xG – 10.5 v 8.2 v 9.3

Hwang at £5.6m comes with great stats but these come from a small sample size of 250 minutes compared to 600+ for the other two. Armstrong’s fixtures are too good to ignore and is a great punt on a WC. An Armstrong to Hwang GW 13 move could be a good play giving you LEE BUR wat AVL nor nor BUR in the next 7 GWs and allowing you to wait more on Hwang. My fellow korean friend @fpl_sonaldo did a great analysis on Hwang for those interested in getting more information.

Toney is perhaps the best value long term pick for your team in the FWD position, giving great assist and bonus potential, decent goal threat and being on penalties.

Furhter Read: Popular Player Comparisons Ahead of FPL GW8 ~ Son vs Vardy, Mbuemo vs Toney and Foden vs Grealish

Enablers – MID

Gallagher v Mbuemo v ESR

Per 90

xGI: 0.7 v 0.5 v 0.3

Shots: 2.59 v 2.57 v 1.51

Shots in the box: 1.90 v 1.66 v 1.34

BC + BCC: 1.21 v 0.76 v 0.17

Mbeumo is everyone’s favoured pick and rightly so. An Out of Position MID playing striker is hard to resist at £5.5m. With LEI bur NOR new coming up, Mbeumo at 1.8% ownership could be the key to climbing up the ranks.

Gallagher losing set pieces decreases his appeal. Over the last 3 GWs, he averaged an xGI of only 0.2 but these may be down to fixtures having played liv BHA and LEI.

Gallagher and ESR are a good rotating pair for those interested in that sort of strategy. Over the next 6, rotating these 2 give you CRY NEW lei WAT bur NEW lee eve.

The Big Talking Points

Son

The next 4 fixtures for spurs are not ideal for TOT playing 3 Away games and 1 Home fixture against MUN. The NEW game being away also decreases its appeal given the fact that TOT scored 2 goals only once this season. There is also concerns about fatigue having travelled long hours for Korean games.

Owning him now sets you up for his GW12’s run. That said, Lukaku’s run of fixtures worsen exactly when TOT starts, so you can do an easy move to Kane instead on GW 12 for captaincy.

Further Read: Budget Forwards to Consider Ahead of FPL Gameweek 8

Antonio

Last season against the top teams, Antonio averaged an xGI of 0.8 and had a GI 0.85. He is “fixture proof” as WHU are a very good counter attacking team…The fact that WHU and Antonio are taking more steps to ensure he plays more games is a major positive to keep him.

Keep him until he breaks

Trent Alexander-Arnold

TAA averaged 0.5 xGI against the top teams last season, the highest amongst all defenders. Fixture proof with the goal & assist potential of a winger playing for the best attack in the league, TAA is regarded as one of the best FPL assets in the game if not the best.

Not owning him is a major risk especially since you might have to break your team to get him in in the future. With Livramento and Duffy offering great value, it is wise to have him on your bench for GW 8.

Further Read: FPL GW8 Double-Digit Returns Metrics-Wildcard Special

Captaincy

GW8: KDB v BUR; Salah v wat

GW9: Lukaku v NOR

GW10: Lukaku v new; Salah v BHA

GW11: Lukaku v BUR

GW12: Kane v LEE; Ronaldo v wat

GW13: Salah v SOU; Vardy v WAT

On Form, Salah is absolutely essential. Lukaku is a must have for that GW 9-11 run after which you can ditch him for Kane for GW 12, if he shows signs of form.

Further Read: FPL GW8 Wildcard Structure and Best Possible Drafts and Combinations

Team Structure

Speaking to two FPL Hall of Famers this week in @fpl_salah and @richclarkefpl on our “Meet the Premiums” show, they advocate thinking long term with your wildcard and this applies to Team structure.

Both are likely to go for a 3 at the back because of the value that Duffy and Livramento give and the fact that too much funds tied in DEF doesn’t allow you to pivot your team easily. Flexibility is a major issue. We are yet to see £7-8m good midfielders and forwards emerge so far this season, but their time will come and your team needs to be able to move to these assets quickly when they provide form.

For these reasons, I do primarily recommend a 3 at the back system.

However in my opinion, there is too much upside for the defenders in the short term. I am likely to go with a risky pick like Laporte on my WC next to TAA, James and Cancelo. In my opinion, one of these will eventually fall out (eg Stones takes Laporte’s spot) which would make the decision to get rid of one of them easy for someone like Livramento/Duffy. You play the fixtures in front of you first and MCI and CHE defenders are the way to climb the ranks in the short term.

Further Reads from ALLABOUTFPL Ahead of FPL Gameweek 8:

FPL GW8 Matchups: MCI vs BUR, AVL vs WOL, EVE vs WHU
FPL GW8 Fixtures To Target With Team Analysis
Budget Forwards to Consider Ahead of FPL Gameweek 8
Fixture Analysis for GW8 Wildcard
Teams and Players to Target for the next 5 Gameweeks in FPL
FPL GW8 Transfer Trends Analysis | Popular Transfer Combinations
Popular Player Comparisons Ahead of FPL GW8 ~ Son vs Vardy, Mbuemo vs Toney and Foden vs Grealish
FPL GW8 Double-Digit Returns Metrics-Wildcard Special
Best FPL Defenders To Target Ahead Of FPL GW8
Players In Focus Based On Eye Test Ahead Of FPL Gameweek 8
FPL GW8 Wildcard Structure and Best Possible Drafts and Combinations

Link to all our FPL Gameweek 8 blogs.

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