In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of a Gameweek 5 Wildcard.
We’ll also present a few draft ideas that take into account both the form of Erling Haaland (£14.1m) and the increase in clean sheets.
Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers have until the Gameweek 19 deadline to use the first Wildcard.
Don’t forget that you can get your Wildcard team rated via our Rate My Team tool or Plan FPL!
GAMEWEEK 5 WILDCARD: THE PROS
FPL notes: Haaland “better than ever” + Foden central 4
Get Haaland
Erling Haaland has already been bought by almost 170,000 managers this week, having climbed to the top of the FPL player standings on Sunday.
The Norwegian is set to face Burnley in Gameweek 6, with a favourable set of fixtures to follow against Brentford, Everton, Aston Villa and Bournemouth.
If you’ve had enough of seeing him haul, a Wildcard is a chance to buy him through the redistribution of Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) funds or otherwise.
It’s also important to remember that you can’t use two chips in the same Gameweek, so if you want to Triple Captain Haaland against Burnley, you might need to Wildcard now.
Switch to a back four/five
With clean sheets becoming more prevalent, this could be an opportune time to start playing a back four or even a back five formation.
Notably, eight of the top 15 points scorers in FPL so far this season are defenders.
The impact of defensive contributions (DefCons) is clear, so allocating more budget to your backline may be a wise decision.
Rejuvenate your squad
If you haven’t got off to a good start, a Gameweek 5 Wildcard can help rejuvenate your squad.
This could be beneficial if you own underperforming players like Florian Wirtz (£8.4m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.9m), or rotation risks such as Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.4m) and Brennan Johnson (£7.1m).
A Wildcard offers a chance to resolve these issues in a free-hit manner.
Increase team value
This week will likely see lots of price rises and falls, so team value can be enhanced by ditching the droppers and jumping on bandwagons like Antoine Semenyo (£7.5m).
You can monitor these changes using Live FPL’s price change predictions tool.
GAMEWEEK 5 WILDCARD: THE CONS
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