GW8/GW9 presents a good Wildcard window with fixture swing for lots of teams. In this blog, we take a look at the Pros & Cons of the FPL GW8 Wildcard, the Ideal FPL GW8 Wildcard team, Drafts, and the Players to Target in your Gameweek 8 Wildcard team.
Link to all our FPL GW8 blogs including Scout picks, players to target, buy, hold, sell analysis, differentials, captaincy metrics, transfer targets, and more. Completely free to access as well!
FPL GW8 Wildcard Guide
Pros & Cons of Wildcarding in FPL GW8:
Pros:
- Move off underperforming, injured & rotation risk assets like Isak, Jota, Diaz, Muniz, Burn, etc
- Remove players with Difficult fixtures(Liverpool,Brighton, Arsenal and Chelsea) and Target players with good fixtures(Man City, Spurs, Mbeumo, Everton, etc)
- Easily get premium assets like Foden/Palmer etc in your team.
- Avoid your team value to decrease a lot early in the season by catching up with Price changes.
Cons:
- GW9 might be a better time to Arsenal assets as the GW8 fixture is still a good one vs Bournemouth(A) before the 3 tough games.
- Have to make the difficult decision of whether to get Palmer now or wait till GW12 for the good fixtures
- If you don’t have a lot of injury issues/Assets with low xMins and already covered with Haaland+ Lewis+ Arsenal attacker then you can use your FTs to target Spurs assets/Mbeumo and then wildcard later.
- There are not a lot of reliable Defense options with good fixtures to pick for the upcoming fixture run.
- With 5 Free Transfers to roll this season and Rolled Transfers continuing even after Wildcard, it is totally team-dependent if you want to Wildcard now or manage with Free Transfers and Wildcard later.
Players to Target on FPL GW8 Wildcard:
Goalkeepers:
- Pickford, Sels(if fit), Onana, Flekken
Defenders:
- Premium defenders: Trent Alexander Arnold, Gabriel, Porro, Gvardiol
- Budget Defenders(4.5 -4.7Mil): Lewis Leif Davis, Ait Nouri, Robinson/Andersen, Forest defender –Aina/Milenkovic, Micky van de Ven
- Budget Defenders(4.0 -4.3Mil): Sepp van den Berg, Faes, Greaves, Mykolenko
Midfielders:
- Premium midfielders: Saka, Palmer, Son(if fully fit), Bruno Fernandes
- Budget & Mid-priced mids: Mbeumo, McNeil, Johnson, Smith Rowe, Sávio, Bowen, Maddison
- Enablers: Rogers, Buonanotte, Fabio Carvalho, Dibling(4.5 enabler)
Forwards:
- Premium forwards: Haaland, Havertz
- Mid-priced & Budget Forwards: Solanke, Cunha, Chris Wood, DCL
- Budget Forwards: Raul, Strand Larsen, Delap
FPL GW8 Wildcard Drafts
FPL GW8 Wildcard Draft 1
Some of the picks we have added in all the Drafts because they are too good to ignore in our opinion.
- Haaland– Even with 2 blanks, there is not a case to worry with that amazing fixture run.
- Solanke– Spurs are the Best Attacking team in the league in terms of xG and Solanke is nailed to play as the striker. With Son likely back, it should benefit Solanke as he is not likely to drop deep like seen in Brighton game.
Solanke’s Attack Rank since his return from injury(GW4):
- Expected Goals – 2nd
- Big Chances – Joint 1st
- Expected Goal Involvement – 1st
- Saka– If he is fit, he is one of the best picks in the game. At the moment, he got injured in the international break. Have an eye on the press conferences. If he is out, Foden and Son both became exciting Differential options with good fixtures coming up.
- Mbeumo: Because he is Mbeumo- One of the best Value for money picks in the game. In form and on penalties as well. 3 goals from the last 3 games and 5 goals from the last 5 games. He looks to be entering the “must own” category with good fixtures as well.
- Lewis: At 4.7 an entry into City defense with good expected minutes and ability to play in multiple positions.
- Gabriel: Fixture proof and also carries excellent ariel threat.
- Van Den Berg: Good Bench option as he is expected to start most games and Brentford have decent fixtures. If you want to play it more safe, Greaves and Faes are better for expected minutes.
Justification for other players picked in this Draft:
- Pickford and Everton kept their first clean sheet last week in GW7 vs Newcastle. To top it off, Pickford also saved a penalty to fetch a 15-pointer. With good fixtures coming up, this might be the start of a good run for Everton.
- Jimenez rounds up the forward line after returning in all of the last 4 matches and also on penalties for Fulham.
- Palmer comes into the Draft as the third premium pick. Palmer if fixture proof, consistent as we have seen and is also not involved in European football as it boosts his expected minutes.
- Johnson rounds up the Midfield having 4 attacking returns from the last 3 Premier League games.
Alternate options in the above draft:
- Rogers to Dibling if your team value is low.
- You can take a punt on Son for the next 4 fixtures and then get Palmer back in GW12 for Chelsea’s easier fixture run.
FPL GW8 Wildcard Draft 2
- Ait Nouri is one of the Defenders at 4.4 Million who makes most of our Wildcard Drafts. Even though Wolves are one of the worst defensive sides in the league, Ait Nouri is one of the most attacking defenders in the league as seen below. The defensive form may also improve from GW9 as Wolves would have played 6 of the Last season’s Top 7 teams by then.
- In this draft, Lewis is upgraded to Gvardiol offering the luxury of another Premium Defender who is a differential and also helps with the team structure. Gvardiol can drop out for a TAA/Double Arsenal Defense around GW12.
- McNeil is the other new addition to this draft who is having a stellar season so far with 3 goals, 2 assists from 7 games. His underlying numbers are also excellent- 13 Shots, 1 Big Chance, 0.54 xG, 23 Chances created, 7 Big Chances created and 2.91 xA. He is one of the Top picks from Everton who have a good fixture run.
FPL GW8 Wildcard Draft 3
- Foden slots in as the third Premium pick in this Draft over Palmer potentially as a Differential and also as a place holder to get to Palmer in GW12. Foden’s next 4 games read as – Wolves(A), Southampton(H) and Bournemouth(A), Brighton(A) while Palmer’s fixtures are comparatively difficult. If you are willing to punt against Palmer, this is one of the times to do it.
| Foden’s fixture | Palmer’s fixture | |
| GW8 | Wolves(A) | Liverpool(A) |
| GW9 | Southampton(H) | Newcastle(H) |
| GW10 | Bournemouth(A) | Man United(A) |
| GW11 | Brighton(A) | Arsenal(H) |
- Johnson is upgraded to Maddison in this draft. Johnson has a better goal threat compared to Maddison and Maddison has a better assist threat as seen below. Despite this, the return of Son slightly diminishes Johnson’s expected minutes and Maddison also has great chemistry with Son which improves his goal involvement threat.
- Cunha comes into this Draft as the third forward as he is the Talisman for Wolves so far with 3 goals and good fixtures coming up as well.
- Aina rounds up the Defense with Forest looking good defensively this season and Aina along with the assist threat also has Bonus potential when Forest keeps a clean sheet.
FPL GW8 Wildcard Draft 4
- This is one of the structures that goes with 3 Expensive Forwards but only has 2 Premiums in Saka and Haaland missing the Palmer/Foden spot. So the money is distributed elsewhere mainly in Havertz who is too good at the moment. He can be a set and forget 2nd striker even during the tough fixtures. His underlying numbers are excellent over the last 4 matches.
Top Players for xG over the last 4 Gameweeks:
- Milenkovic and Robinson are stable and safe Budget Defender picks with Both Forest and Fulham doing good defensively this season – Ranked 7th and 8th best for xGC so far. Milenkovic carries good threat on set pieces while Robinson always has the assist potential in him even during difficult games.
Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL GW8
FPL GW8 Wildcard Team & Drafts to Consider | Wildcard Guide
Best FPL GW8 Differential Picks(<10% TSB)
Top FPL Gameweek 8 Captain Picks Based on Analysis & Metrics
FPL GW8 Fixture Swing Analysis – Teams and Players to Target
FPL GW8 Scout Selection Based on Stats, Analysis and Matchups
FPL GW8 Transfer Targets and Watchlist
FPL GW8 Tips- Premium Midfielders, Budget Assets & More
FPL GW8 Ultimate Guide: Tips, Differentials, Captaincy & More
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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Srinivasan S
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