With injuries mounting and some of the key players’ prices rising there’s plenty of fantasy football managers who have already pushed the wildcard button this week.
It will all depend on how your squad is set up as to whether that is the right move for you, but if you still own a few of Pervis Estupinan, Sven Botman, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Moussa Diaby and Ben Chilwell then you may feel you have to act.
It could be that the likes of Saka and Diaby will be fit to play this weekend and are worth holding onto, but the wildcard offers you the chance to attack Tottenham’s games against Luton and Fulham in the next two gameweeks, and also to plan for the fixture swing in gameweek 10 when players from Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton, Liverpool and West Ham will be our top targets.
Son Heung-min and James Maddison will be a very popular double-up on the gameweek eight wildcards with either Pedro Porro or Destiny Udogie completing a Tottenham triple-up.
- Fantasy 606 podcast: Salah, Saka and spotting seagulls
I would want Mohamed Salah in my squad as well but it might be that you can’t afford all three of Salah, Son and Erling Haaland in which case Son would be the one to make way for me, particularly as Tottenham seem to have been carefully managing his fitness in recent weeks.
Your other big decision might be whether to go with Ollie Watkins or Julian Alvarez to partner Haaland up front - I say go for Watkins if you have the money.
His Villa team-mate Matty Cash is an obvious pick on the gameweek eight wildcard although Statman Dave was recommending Lucas Digne in the Fantasy 606 podcast this week as a lesser-owned and cheaper option with plenty of attacking potential - Cash currently costs £4.9m, Digne costs £4.6m.
Alphonse Areola will be the most popular goalkeeper on the wildcard at just £4.2m but I also like the look of David Raya at £4.8m for when Arsenal’s fixtures pick up from gameweek 10.
Mohamed Salah is Alistair Bruce-Ball’s pick for fantasy football captain this week
Captaincy
This is definitely a week you can bet against Haaland if you have the stomach for it, and my captain will be Salah for Liverpool’s trip to Brighton. A reasonably rested Salah against a Brighton defence that conceded six goals to Aston Villa and is yet to keep a clean sheet this season seems like a decent bet to me.
Son is another strong captaincy option although Tottenham’s game at Luton might not offer him those spaces in behind the higher defensive lines that he loves to exploit.
Fixtures to target
Those Liverpool and Tottenham fixtures are definitely the ones to target from an attacking perspective this week and Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez are definitely worth considering, if you have not got Salah.
It is trickier to call from the defensive point-of-view. Crystal Palace defenders are not bad long-term holds and Joachim Andersen (£4.8m) is actually the highest scoring defender in the game at the moment thanks to his goals against Brentford and Manchester United. Palace have kept clean sheets in their last two games at home to Fulham and away at Old Trafford, and this week they host Nottingham Forest.
Marc Guehi, Tyrick Mitchell and Joel Ward are the slightly cheaper options at £4.5m.
You cannpt go wrong with the Newcastle defence long-term although I would fancy West Ham to score against them in gameweek eight and I think you will want an Arsenal defender for their run of fixtures from gameweek 10 through to gameweek 15 but this week’s assignment at home to Manchester City is obviously tricky.
I reckon a back three this week of Porro, Cash and Andersen would do very nicely.
Differentials
In the short term, I would say one of Dejan Kulusevski or Richarlison if you are looking for a different way to attack the Luton v Tottenham game, or Rasmus Hojlund who was the one bright spark for Manchester United in their defeat by Galatasaray on Tuesday, they are at home to Brentford in gameweek eight and then away to Sheffield United after the international break.
Longer term, I have to mention Tariq Lamptey whose ownership has already shot up to 8% this week following the news of Pervis Estupinan’s injury, but at £3.9m he is an absolute bargain if he can stay fit to start regularly in that Brighton team.
Gamble of the week
There has been some discussion in the fantasy football community this week about taking Haaland out of your team for a bit to give you the budget to have the likes of Kieran Trippier, Salah, Son, Maddison, Saka and Watkins all in the same squad… don’t do it!
After Arsenal on Sunday, Haaland comes up against the Brighton, Manchester United and Bournemouth defences in his next three fixtures and that could be very painful if you do not own him.
** Alistair Bruce-Ball presents the** Fantasy 606 podcast ** alongside former Premier League winner Chris Sutton and Statman Dave. You can find the podcast by searching for ‘Fantasy 606’ on the BBC Sounds app, then just click subscribe. The code to join the Fantasy 606 league is ‘j03mnp’.**
