🤫 Our Wildcard Revealed | GW8 Fantasy Friday 🤩

Gm football fans. Route One here.

It’s Friday, so you know what that means… it’s Fantasy Friday. If you’re anything like me, GW8 has haunted you for the past week. So, it’s about time we turn our seasons upside down. No more red arrows… here we go.

Scroll to the bottom if you want a differential surprise… 👀

Today’s briefing is a ~5 min read:

• ♠️ Going Wild… we’re going all in, who’s joining?

• 🫡 GW8 captain… is now the time to go against the Robot?

• 🤕 Injuries… news and replacements

🗞️ Morning Brief

📺 Gameweek 8 Fixtures

🧐 To Wildcard Or Not To Wildcard?

That is the question… 😬

Ok, so this season has been far from Shakespearean for FPL managers.

It’s been downright dreadful and now’s the time to consider using your wildcard.

Most people had their eye on keeping until after the international break - but most can’t bare to deal with another week of double United or Chelsea.

So, we’re making the leap… and playing our Wildcard.

Here’s why:

• We had Pickford in goal - LOL.

• Ruben Dias didn’t return despite the high cost… and with Rodri out City aren’t as defensively sound.

• Double United midfield had to go… nuff said.

• Mbeumo’s new wing-back role means his returns have dipped.

• Estupinan is out (see injury update below)… and Brighton have conceded too much, which means that he sits 15th in the overall FPL defender ranks despite his high level of attacking returns (4). Remember: defenders are not FPL assets without clean sheets.

In short: we need a fresh start. You might say… it’s our line in the sand moment.

Our current Wildcard option looks like this…

WC Option 2…

The difference? We could bring in Tripper and Alvarez… but we want to take a punt on 🚨 (differential spoiler alert)🚨 Darwin Nunez.

WC Option 3? Balanced. Andersen in for squad depth.

🫡 Captain

Disrupt the status-quo?

Let’s be honest, Haaland non-captainers are the same people that don’t use shower gel because they say it makes them smell worse.

We get it. You go against the grain.

But, this is the first gameweek that it might make sense to choose another captain.

Something weird happened this week: Haaland blanked twice.

What’s more:

• Spurs have Luton this weekend… meaning that Son is a strong shout for captaincy. He is also an OOP player so will rack up a ton of points if he returns.

• Salah has only ever blanked once in an away game against Brighton… the Seagulls are conceding and Estupinan is out.

Interestingly, Fantasy Football Hub have marked Sterling as a good differential captaincy pick. They have Burnley this week which could suit Chelsea’s style of play…

But, let’s be honest, you don’t want to bet the house on Chelsea at the moment.

Look, Haaland is still a very good option.

It really depends where you currently sit in your mini leagues. If you’re lower and need to take a risk, go with Son or Salah (or, go even more left-field with Solanke or Watkins)…

But, if your performing well, stick with the Robot.

🤕 Injuries

Diaby, Estupinan, Saka…

Moussa Diaby (£6.7) is not entirely ruled out for the weekend game against Wolves… so it’s a case of waiting for Emery’s update in the pre-match press conference.

If Diaby is ruled out for the weekend, and you’re NOT playing your wildcard, there are some other options:

• Hammers midfielders… Bowen + Ward-Prowse are good options for the next 5 gameweeks.

• Pedro Neto is a good cheap shout. He has 1 goal and 5 assists this season.

• Swap to a 3-4-3? Look, you can triple up in the attack… BUT there are so many OOP (out-of-position) midfield options that will bag more points if they return…

Pervis Estupinan (£5.3) is reported to be away for “one month” or so for Brighton after picking up a hamstring injury in GW7.

He’s currently the highest owned defender as he’s in 53.5% of FPL teams at the time of writing this.

To be honest, even if he was fit, you probably wouldn’t want him in your team with Liverpool and City facing the Seagulls in back-to-back games.

That, plus the chance of his price dropping, we’d say jump ship… 🛳️

In terms of replacements:

• Alexander-Arnold has the highest predicted points of all the defenders (24.5) between GW8-GW12, with Trippier (22.7) and Robertson (21.9) closely behind.

• If you’re looking for a cheaper defender… Matty Cash is your man. He looks a steal at £4.9m and 21.9 predicted points over the next 4 gameweeks.

Saka is also still suffering from a hamstring problem and after going off early against Lens in the UCL, it isn’t looking promising…

But, Arsenal are facing City… so there’s a possibly that Arteta takes the risk and includes him in the side.

It’s a tough call - and unless he’s ruled out long-term, he’s really an absolute hold given his current form.

🧐 GW8 Differential

Darwin Nunez

Darwin Nunez is this week’s differential.

He hardly played this season (219mins/630mins in the Prem) but when he does, good lord, does he get those big beautiful chances.

Big chances mean potentially big scores. Something everyone could do with a little more of this season…

He is owned by just 12.4% of FPL managers and is £7.4m.

As Gakpo sustains an injury, and Darwin is fit - it’s likely the Uruguayan will gather more minutes.

And we’ll be ready with our popcorn waiting to rack up those differential points babyyy. 🤩

We forgot to mention… he has 3 goals and 2 assists in his last four starts.

Tempting, right?

💰 BIG-GAME PLAYER

Thursday’s answer:

1. Who scored the infamous “Hand of God” goal in 1986? Maradona

2. Who scored by kicking the ball against a Beach Ball in 2009? Bent

3. Who scored with their hand for France against Ireland in 2009? Henry

4. Who scored a scorpion kick in 2016 for United, despite being miles off side? Mkhitaryan

😆 MEME