Last updated on February 26th, 2020
Written by Jønathan Kahn. You can catch him on twitter @jkisthe1. Kahn has ranked as high as 105th on the All-Time FPL Manager list!
For those of us who still have our second wildcard left, our thoughts will inevitably be turning as to when is the best time to use it. Should we use it post GW28 to reset after the City blank? Perhaps a late wildcard to take advantage of the double gameweeks? For me the ideal time is for Gameweek 33 and here’s why.
Firstly, what we have at this point is a few fairly significant fixture swings that could see the makeup of our teams change drastically. The first noteworthy swing is Manchester City. Right now most of us probably only have Kevin De Bruyne, with Sergio Aguero and Riyad Mahrez being shipped en masse. Yet from Gameweek 33 City have a fixture run of sot, NEW, bri, BOU, wat, NOR and are likely to have one or more double gameweeks included in that run. The thing here is that even if City were focused outside the league they are still likely to offer great options. The likes of Leroy Sane, Phil Foden and Joao Cancelo could all be great differential FPL picks for this period.
Their neighbours United also enjoy a kind run with their fixtures reading bri, BOU, avl, SOT, cpl, WHM and again could feature a couple of doubles. Much may depend on United’s Europa league progress but the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Martial and Harry Maguire could all enter our thinking.
But these swings don’t stop in Manchester. If we take a look at Chelsea we get a run that reads whm, WAT, cpl, shu, NOR with another possibility for doubles thrown in. This could offer us Reece James, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Tammy Abraham. With Chelsea looking out if the Champions League we should see their focus switch to qualifying for next season’s. Already just from these three clubs, we can start to see a new template forming.
In addition to these, there are also fixture swings for the likes of Norwich and West Ham, though their potential lack of a double could be off-putting.
As well as this there’s also negative fixture swings for many current popular picks. The likes of Leicester, Southampton, Sheffield United and even Liverpool all see their fixtures take a turn for the worst so the likes of Vardy, Ings, Henderson could all be worth jumping off.
It’s not just fixture swings though. When you play the wildcard you want it to maximise your chances to gain from it. To wait until Gameweek 36 in anticipation of the big double the week after simply doesn’t seem like maximizing the opportunity for just three, maybe even just two gameweeks. Using it for 33 instead gives you a good four to five weeks to make it work.
In short, with the swings in fixtures and the chance to get a few Gameweeks from it, Gameweek 33 seems the opportune time to play the wildcard.
