FPL GW8 Wildcard Team & Drafts to Consider | Wildcard Guide

For those who are here after 7 terrible Gameweeks, Using the FPL wildcard chip this week ahead of FPL GW8 may not be a bad idea at all. It is time to get your season back on track. In this article, let’s discuss the Pros and cons of GW8 Wildcard, Players to Target on GW8 Wildcard, and the Best FPL GW8 Wildcard drafts.

Link to all our FPL GW8 blogs including Buy, Hold, Sell analysis, Differentials, Captaincy metrics, Best GW8 Wildcard Drafts, Tips, and more. Completely free to access as well!

PS: Do check out our FPL Wildcard Chip guide if you’re new to FPL and wondering how FPL wildcard works

In case you want to check out the other Wildcard windows, check out our detailed blog for the same -> When to Play Your First FPL Wildcard? | Best Windows & Analysis

Planner used: FPL.Team, an excellent and fully free-to-use FPL planner

FPL GW8 Wildcard Guide

FPL Fixture Ticker from GW8-13

Pros and Cons of FPL GW8 Wildcard

Pros of FPL GW8 Wildcard:

• Target Salah and change up your team structure. Double up with Diaz/Nunez also not a bad shout.
• Can attack your team with Spurs, Villa, and Liverpool players as mentioned above.
• Offload Chelsea assets – Their good fixture run would have ended and their form has been poor
• Offload Man United assets – Their form has been poor and there are other good assets at their price point
• Get the ideal team you want without being priced out as there are heavy fluctuations in price changes
• Remove injured players like Estupinan, Botman, Chilwell, Saka*, Eze

Cons of FPL GW8 Wildcard:

• International break after GW8. There might be injuries coming on International duty which you don’t want after Wildcarding.
• Tricky calls on Arsenal and Manchester United assets who have decent fixtures in the long run.

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Players to target on Gameweek 8 Wildcard(Team Wise)

• Liverpool: Trent, Robertson, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Salah
• Spurs: Son, Maddison, Udogie, Porro
• West Ham: Areola, Ward Prowse, Bowen
• Newcastle: Schar, Trippier, Burn, Anderson(Midfield Enabler, 4.4 Million), Almiron
• Aston Villa: Diaby, Watkins, Cash
• Bournemouth: Billing, Solanke, Neto
• Man City: Alvarez, Haaland
• Wolves: Neto
• Palace: Andersen
• Man United: Bruno
• Brighton: Estupinan
• Chelsea: Carney Chukwuemeka(Enabler, 4.3 Million)
• Burnley: Charlie Taylor(3.9 Million Playing defender, Good bench option if you want to save 0.1 on someone like Kabore)

Further Read: When to Play Your First FPL Wildcard? | Best Windows & Analysis

Key Injury News Ahead of FPL GW8

• Estupinan is out for one month, more or less due to an injury.
• Crystal Palace attacker Eze is out with a “serious injury”, and ” will have to wait on a second scan”
• Chilwell is out for at least two months
• Botman ruled out for GW8
• Bukayo Saka – He is in contention. Let’s see how he progresses from here to Sunday. He had to leave the pitch that’s never good news but let’s see how he recovers.”
• Diaby – Expected to train tomorrow(Sat) (Late fitness test). “Could play”, but it’s not ” 100 percent “
• Callum Wilson & Joelinton – “We will wait & see how they are”

For a full list of injury news check out the injury news section of our FPL GW8 Ultimate Guide blog

FPL GW8 Wildcard Drafts

Note: Budget may vary for every manager based on their team value, if you fall short by 0.1/0.2 go for an alternative at that price point from the players to target list above.

FPL GW8 Wildcard Draft 1

4-4-2 with Salah, Watkins, Trippier and Son

• A slightly different 4-4-2 draft with Son, Trippier, Salah and Haaland in it

• Areola is 3rd amongst all keepers for saves(32) and 2nd for xG prevented(+4.10), he has also the 2nd most points(32) amongst all goalkeepers only behind Leno. The other keeper is a bench fodder(3.9 Million) option to save funds
• Porro has been the slightly better asset over Udogie in terms of attacking output(Seen below) and he’s definitely worth the 0.2 million extra.

• A double up on Trippier and Burn in this draft, Trippier is the 2nd highest-scoring defender and has scored a whopping 38 points in the last three games with 4 assists and 8 bonus points. Trippier’s xGI(2.10) is also the 4th highest amongst defenders. Burn is the other Newcastle defender and is a good choice at 4.5 Million. The defensive numbers(seen below) are great along with good fixtures which makes a double-up a no-brainer.

Newcastle defence numbers

Big Chances conceded: 6(Lowest in the League)
xGC(Expected goals conceded): 7.04(4th lowest in the League)
Goals conceded: 7(Joint 4th lowest)

• Cash is the 4th defender in this draft, He’s in a league of his own amongst defenders with an attacking threat, his xGI(3.71) is comfortably first amongst defenders with the next best being Estupinan(2.37). Fun stat: Also, his xG of 2.89 is nearly the same as Son(2.9) so far this season!
• Aston Villa also have great fixtures which improves their clean-sheet potential in the coming games

• Kabore is the bench fodder(4.0) defender who also plays, if you want to save 0.1 you can go for Lamptey or other 3.9 Million defender options too!

Midfielders:

Son is in prolific form scoring six goals in four games(Most goals amongst mids so far this season), he’s playing through the middle and is in excellent form. Spurs have scored 17 goals in the first seven games of he season which is the 4th highest amongst all teams. his xG of 2.94 is also the 5th amongst all mids.

Maddison’s NPxGI(4.45) is the 4th highest in the league amongst midfielders, and he has 4 assists and 2 goals already so far this season. Madders and Son are a great duo to own on Wildcard, especially with their immediate fixture run.

Salah has also been consistently returning and has blanked only once this season. He has 44 points from 7 games and is top among midfielders for xGI(6.53), Liverpool’s xGI(14.57) which is the 4th highest amongst all teams in spite of tricky fixtures. They have a great fixture coming up and it’s the ideal time to bring in Salah into your team using the Wildcard

West Ham are another team who have done well this season with Bowen and Ward Prowse being their best-attacking assets.

I have gone with Ward Prowse(6.3 Million) as he’s slightly cheaper with his xGI numbers being close to Bowen in spite of playing a game less. Bowen is more of a goal threat and JWP is more of an assist threat

	Price	Mins	Shots	Shots on Target	Shots inside box	Big chances	xG	Goals	xGI	Goal involvement	Key passes	Big chances created	xA	Assists	BPS	Bonus	Points
Bowen	£7.2	629	22	10	18	7	3.64	5	4.4	6	5	2	0.77	1	147	6	48
Ward-Prowse	£6.3	531	8	6	4	2	1.6	2	3.5	5	14	4	1.93	3	165	4	35
L.Paquetá	£6	619	8	3	7	2	1.47	1	2.9	2	9	3	1.39	1	108	1	22
Antonio	£5.9	526	7	3	6	2	1.13	2	2.3	3	4	1	1.13	1	91	4	28
Souček	£4.9	470	11	3	11	4	1.56	1	2	2	6	2	0.41	1	82	2	21

• Carney Chukwuemeka is the enabler in this draft, he’s only 4.3 Million and is a key asset for Chelsea and was very much missed when he was injured. Elliot Anderson(4.4 Million) is another decent enabler to consider

Forwards:

• Watkins is the highest-scoring player in FPL this season with 54 points in seven games, with only one blank. He has registered 4 goals and 6 assists so far this season, and going for him now is not haul chasing as Villa have a great run of fixtures coming up. Aston Villa’s 18 goals scored is the joint 2nd highest in the league and their open play xG of 10.76 is the 4th highest in the league.
• There has been a case made for going without Haaland on Wildcard, but unlike other players, Haaland can haul in any game and at his ownership of 92% one big haul could also do severe damage!

Further Read: When to Play Your First FPL Wildcard? | Best Windows & Analysis

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FPL GW8 Wildcard Draft 2

• A 3-4-3 no-salah draft with Darwin and Luis Diaz for Liverpool attack cover. Gakpo could be out for a few weeks which makes a good case for Diaz and Darwin.

• As seen below the attacking numbers of Diaz is pretty close to Salah, with Salah being less of a goal threat and more of an assist threat when compared to previous seasons.

	Price	Shots	Shots on Target	Shots inside box	Big chances	xG	Goals	xGI	Goal involvement	Key passes	Big chances created	xA	Assists	BPS	Bonus	Points
Salah	£12.6	21	10	14	5	3.79	3	6.5	7	16	9	2.74	4	149	5	44
Darwin	£7.4	14	5	11	8	2.76	3	3.1	5	1	1	0.36	2	95	3	28
Luis Díaz	£7.5	15	4	13	4	2.28	2	3.2	2	7	1	0.95	0	61	1	24
Gakpo	£7.2	11	4	10	2	1.99	2	2.1	2	4	0	0.16	0	68	3	20

• No Bowen/JWP in this draft as the extra funds has enabled to hold Saka in place of West Ham mids. Saka is 2nd amongst midfielders for xGI(6.44) and has the most points amongst midfielders(53). They have a few tricky fixtures but Saka can haul in any game and going without him also means you’re booking a transfer in a few weeks time to get him back!

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Readers support needed: As you know Allaboutfpl is completely 100% free to access and will remain the same forever. We have been nominated for the 2023 Football Football Content Awards Finals under the Best in Fantasy Football Editorial category. You can vote for us and support us by visiting this link(Takes 10 seconds, no personal details required) -> Voting Link

Alternative Voting options: You can vote directly on Twitter by CLICKING HERE and pressing the Tweet button using the template. You can also vote on Instagram by tagging “@allaboutfpl” in the comments on this post -> Post Link

Why vote for us: We do not like putting a paywall on our blogs or doing irrelevant promotions and disappoint our readers like other websites (Not naming anyone😉). All our content has been 100% free(1600+ blogs) over the last 4 years and we’ll continue to remain the same. Awards and recognitions like this will help us continue to deliver quality free FPL content.

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FPL GW8 Wildcard Draft 3

• Another 3-4-3 draft with Son, Salah, Haaland and Trippier

• Neto is in this draft as an enabler, he has registered 5 assists and a goal in the last 5 games without blanking, registering 35 points in the process. His numbers are also good having created 18 chances and 4 big chances so far this season. You can also move him for Gordon(Once he’s back from suspension. Note: Swap out Anderson for someone like Carney Chukwuemeka(4.3 Million) if you want to do this)

Further Read: FPL Fixture Swing Analysis from Gameweek 8

FPL GW8 Wildcard Draft 4

• A no Salah 3-4-3 draft with Darwin covering for Liverpool’s attack and a double-up on Villa’s attack.
• No West Ham mids but you can switch Diaby to Bowen/JWP based on funds
• Joachim Andersen is also on this draft, he is the highest-scoring defender so far this season, Palace are a decent defensive side and Andersen also offers a good attacking threat.

Further Read: When to Play Your First FPL Wildcard? | Best Windows & Analysis

FPL GW8 Wildcard Draft 5

• A 3-5-2 draft with a power midfield of Maddison, Salah, Son, Bowen, and Diaby.

• An all-round decent draft with Burn also giving cover as a first sub from the bench

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Readers support needed: As you know Allaboutfpl is completely 100% free to access and will remain the same forever. We have been nominated for the 2023 Football Football Content Awards Finals under the Best in Fantasy Football Editorial category. You can vote for us and support us by visiting this link(Takes 10 seconds, no personal details required) -> Voting Link

Alternative Voting options: You can vote directly on Twitter by CLICKING HERE and pressing the Tweet button using the template. You can also vote on Instagram by tagging “@allaboutfpl” in the comments on this post -> Post Link

Why vote for us: We do not like putting a paywall on our blogs or doing irrelevant promotions and disappoint our readers like other websites (Not naming anyone😉). All our content has been 100% free(1600+ blogs) over the last 4 years and we’ll continue to remain the same. Awards and recognitions like this will help us continue to deliver quality free FPL content.

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FPL GW8 Wildcard Draft 6

• A differential draft with Solanke as the third striker, his NPxGI(3.44) is the 4th highest in the League amongst forwards so far this season. He’s a decent short-term punt with these fixtures below.

Try it at your risk No Haaland Draft:

• Not for the faint-hearted, a No Haaland draft with all the other potential captain options including Son, Salah and Saka.
• Haaland could also be brought back in easily with 2 transfers by downgrading one of the mids and upgrading Alvarez/Watkins/Solanke based on form and scenario in a few weeks time.

Conclusion: There are quite a lot of different drafts in this blog which are aimed to give you an overview of what you can build using your Wildcard. I’m currently on the first draft of this blog, I would say build your Wildcard around 4-5 core players and then tinker around with other players to arrive at your ideal one. Before you go, do vote for us in the FCA Finals

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Readers support needed: As you know Allaboutfpl is completely 100% free to access and will remain the same forever. We have been nominated for the 2023 Football Football Content Awards Finals under the Best in Fantasy Football Editorial category. You can vote for us and support us by visiting this link(Takes 10 seconds, no personal details required) -> Voting Link

Alternative Voting options: You can vote directly on Twitter by CLICKING HERE and pressing the Tweet button using the template. You can also vote on Instagram by tagging “@allaboutfpl” in the comments on this post -> Post Link

Why vote for us: We do not like putting a paywall on our blogs or doing irrelevant promotions and disappoint our readers like other websites (Not naming anyone😉). All our content has been 100% free(1600+ blogs) over the last 4 years and we’ll continue to remain the same. Awards and recognitions like this will help us continue to deliver quality FPL content for free

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Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL GW8

When to play your first Wildcard?- Best Windows and Analysis
FPL Gameweek 8 Transfer Tips: Two Players To Buy, Hold & Sell
Top FPL Gameweek 8 Captain Picks Based on Analysis & Metrics
Best FPL GW8 Differential Picks(<10% TSB)
FPL Gameweek 8 Scout Selection Based on Stats, Heatmaps and Analysis
FPL GW8 Tips & Preview – Breaking Down The Key Dilemmas
FPL GW8 Transfer Targets & Watchlist Based on Eye Test & Stats
Confirmed & Likely FPL Double/Blank Gameweeks | 23/24 Season
FPL GW8 Wildcard Team & Drafts to Consider | Wildcard Guide
Vote for AllAboutFPL in the 2023 Football Content Awards 
FPL GW8 Ultimate Guide: Tips, Differentials, Captaincy & More
FPL Fixture Swing Analysis from GW8

Link to all our FPL GW8 blogs including buy, hold, sell analysis, differentials, captaincy metrics, transfer targets, and more. Completely free to access as well!

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What’s next from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL Gameweek 8 of the 2023/24 FPL Season?

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