Weekly Wildcards: Gameweek Three
Every week The Hype Train analyses the best wildcard options for your Fantasy Premier League teams. Historically weekly dream team’s comprise of mostly wildcard players whose selection falls under 5% of overall players, to which there is no doubt that their influence cannot be ignored. With such an abundance of points coming from the FPL’s hidden gems The Hype Train selects one player from each match in the upcoming gameweek to decide who could be the differential for your teams.
LAST WEEKS PERFORMANCE (GW 2)
In what could be described a repeat of the opening gameweek it was chaotic and erratic all over the Premier League. Out of the ten wildcards we chose for gameweek two half of them performed as expected, whilst the others floundered with a handful of points between them. Wildcards are risks, but when played correctly they can wield big points hauls. Jay Rodriguez not starting, and Miguel Layun not reaching sixty minutes would have offered higher points returns, but The Hype Train is happy to have selected five correct wildcards two weeks running whilst nearly matching the average points for players. This is the second week in a row where wildcards have proved to be an essential differential.
Total Wildcard Points (GW2): 43 points
Gameweek 1 Average Points: 44 points
Jordan Amavi: 2pts
Jay Rodriguez: 1pt
Mame Biram Diouf: 6pts
Jermaine Defoe: 2pts
Bafetimbe Gomis: 6pts
Miguel Layun: 1pt
Dimitri Payet: 9pts
Wilfred Zaha: 2pts
Aleksandar Kolarov: 9pts
Joe Gomez: 5pts
TEAM OF THE WEEK WILDCARDS
Each week The Hype Train are going to look at the weekly ‘Dream Team’, the best performing players of the week, and indicate how many potential points there were to be had in wildcard options. Gameweek two actually provided points for players who were not deemed wildcards with eight of the eleven players in the dream team selected by more than five percent of players. These players come from seven different teams, and what is interesting is that no player has been selected by more than twenty percent of players, so for the large majority of players it is a case of green envy as Everton upset Southampton, Chelsea were routed by Manchester City, and Norwich inflicted another heavy blow to Sunderland’s early campaign.
The total points achieved by non-wildcard players in GW2 was: 86 points.
The total points achieved by wildcard players in GW2 totalled: 31 points.
THIS WEEKS WILDCARDS
For gameweek two we are once again selecting ten wildcards, one for each game. Same rules apply: the players we choose must not be selected by more than five percent of the games players. We start in order of the games listed on the official Fantasy Premier League site.
The wildcard options selection percentage is accurate as of Thursday 20th August 2015.
ADNAN JANUZAJ, MANCHESTER UNITED VS NEWCASTLE
Name: Adnan Januzaj
Club: Manchester United
Position: Midfielder
Price: £5.5
Team Percentage: 0.4%
Having been entrusted with his first start of the season under Luis Van Gaal the plucky Belgian took the opportunity to establish his goal scoring claim to Manchester United’s team. Scoring the only goal in their win against Aston Villa he should surely start against a team that the Red Devils relish facing, and sizing up Newcastle’s defence it could be a game with quite a few goals in it.
Currently selected by less than one percent of players he could be a smart move against Newcastle, and if you fancy your chances they face Swansea and Liverpool following this. Now that a move for Pedro is off the cards the Belgian could become a regular, and at a price of £5.5 it could one of the steals of this campaign if Januzaj finds a consistent level of form.
RUDY GESTEDE, CRYSTAL PALACE VS ASTON VILLA
Name: Rudy Gestede
Club: Aston Villa
Position: Striker
Price: £6.0
Team Percentage: 1.0%
Rudy Gestede already has a cult following at the Villains; there is great expectation about one of the best target men in the air. For a while Tim Sherwood has been saying Rudy will get his first start, and this could happen against a visceral Crystal Palace that is prone to conceding in close quarters situations. If Aston Villa wants anyone in the box against the Eagles then it is Rudy, there is a risk he will be benched but having proven his fitness we expect him to get minutes in this game.
Games against Sunderland, Leicester, and rivals West Brom could mean that for £6.0mil Rudy might be an inspired shout for your teams for the next four weeks against teams likely to finish in the bottom half of the table this season.
JAMIE VARDY, LEICESTER VS SPURS
Name: Jamie Vardy
Club: Leicester
Position: Striker
Price: £6.0
Team Percentage: 3.8%
On the back of a features article about why you should never trust the Spurs defence it is only natural to select one of the hardest working strikers in the league to bag points in this fixture. If there is anything that Tottenham’s lacklustre defence hate more than a work horse, it is a workhouse who can score goals and that is exactly what Jamie Vardy is.
Vardy has started every game of the season so far and it is expected to continue, fired by his motivation to retain his place in the England team for the upcoming internationals whilst Charlie Austin wastes away in the Championship it won’t be a surprise to see Vardy give it his all in this fixture to give Roy Hodgson something to think about. On paper Leicester have a promising run of fixtures and Vardy could be a great addition to any FPL squad looking to capitalise on Leicester’s good run of form.
WES HOOLAHAN, NORWICH VS STOKE
Name: Wes Hoolahan
Club: Norwich
Position: Midfielder
Price: £5.0
Team Percentage: 1.4%
Wes Hoolahan was touted to have a great year by The Hype Train, even to the point that he was the first player in all of the draft teams drawn up before the season started. With Alex Neil at the helm and finding their feet against a faltering Sunderland they will look to impress against Stoke who pay them a visit at the weekend. Success for the Canaries might mean more trickery and slick passing from Hoolahan to secure the points. With three assists already to his name, more will follow in this early season period.
At the price of £5.0mil he might be one of the best fifth midfielder options if you want to keep costs low to invest in players such as Aguero, Sanchez, and Hazard. Norwich will have a bumpy season having been promoted but their run isn’t that bad in the next ten games to consider Hoolahan as part of your teams plans.
JEFFERSON MONTERO, SUNDERLAND VS SWANSEA
Name: Jefferson Montero
Club: Swansea
Position: Midfielder
Price: £6.0
Team Percentage: 1.8%
What a season the Ecuadorian is having for the Swans so far, having completely shown up Ivanovic against Chelsea, and ruining Newcastle’s defence in the opening two weeks is an impressive feat for the tricky winger. Montero works space and can also deliver a ball into the box that even Gylfi Sigurdsson would be jealous of. Swansea should continue their rich vein of form with a comprehensive win against Sunderland at the weekend and Montero may be the cog that makes Swansea’s machine work to its potential.
Commentators are constantly bemoaning that Montero is overdue a goal for the Swans considering how hard he works for the team, and against Sunderland why not? It has been a tried and tested formula to bet against the worst team in the league, and Sunderland at the moment is that team. Montero could once again provide crucial points in this match, he is the one making the Swans tick at the moment and he could offer a great alternative to Andre Ayew for a million less in price too.
DIAFRA SAKHO, WEST HAM VS BOURNEMOUTH
Name: Diafra Sakho
Club: West Ham
Position: Striker
Price: £6.5
Team Percentage: 3.5%
Bournemouth are yet to find the back of the net in the Premier League so far, and this will give West Ham fans some joy, but on the other side of the looking glass they pushed Liverpool all the way at Anfield and created a lot of chances. Wary FPL managers may not want to put faith in their defence against a team that has nothing to lose away from home. Enter Diafra Sakho.
You may not have a good gut feeling over their defence, but Sakho has been largely overlooked this year by FPL managers. Bound to score at one point this is the perfect game for Diafra to remind everyone of his goal scoring pedigree against a team struggling to find any kind of result. With Mauro Zarate out of action Sakho is going to start the game, and Bilic will be building a system to get the ball to Sakho which could yield big points for FPL managers.
WILLIAN, WEST BROM VS CHELSEA
Name: Willian
Club: Chelsea
Position: Midfielder
Price: £7.0
Team Percentage: 3.6%
Possibly one of the riskiest choices for the wildcards this week it is Willian who gets the nod into those to watch out for a specific reason. All of the wildcards for West Brom exist in their defence, and currently until Pulis starts cranking out the clean sheet machine once again teams are looking at West Brom optimistically so far this term, a perfect platform for Chelsea to rediscover their attacking threat. Fuelled by the fire of their opening two gameweek’s we expect West Brom to concede, and with Willian playing a more pivotal role in their attack he could prove a big difference for the Blues and your FPL teams.
Not yet registering a goal against a team yet it is the perfect ground for Chelsea to formally begin their season with a win, and having shown his quality and work rate against Swansea, easily Chelsea’s best player on the day, then it could be a big year for Willian if the Special One continues to play him behind Diego Costa.
PABLO ZABALETA, EVERTON VS MANCHESTER CITY
Name: Pablo Zabaleta
Club: Manchester City
Position: Defender
Price: £6.0
Team Percentage: 1.2%
Just before the season started we didn’t expect Manchester City to leap out of the barricades with the kind of force they have. Both defence and attack have looked solid so far, and even though they go against an in-form Everton it wouldn’t be a shock to see the cash-injected Citizens continue their rampage of any team put in front of them.
Bacary Sagna is considered second choice, so this could finally be the match when Zabaleta makes his first league start for Man City. Looking at the potential line ups the Argentine international will not be up against Leighton Baines, so even more reason to put some hope into Pablo getting back on the radar of FPL managers this term. If you decide to make this transfer then be cautious, Pellegrini has a bad habit of rotating his defence. All-in-all we expect this to be a solid move for FPL managers should Zabaleta get his first start of the campaign.
JURADO, WATFORD VS SOUTHAMPTON
Name: Jurado
Club: Watford
Position: Midfielder
Price: £5.5
Team Percentage: 0.2%
Finding a player that will start all the games at Watford is tricky, even other day they are signing a new player much to the pain of the FPL community. Finding a difference maker in this team could also be another thing, and The Hype Train has earmarked Jurado to be that man. With an assist in the Everton game the playmaker dubbed as the ‘assist machine’ looks crucial to the new Watford’s boss plans for the season.
Reasonably priced and having played both games so far FPL managers might have their solution to the Watford problem in Jurado. Looking dangerous on the attack, this new-look Watford are showing true grit in their ambition to retain a place in the Premier League for the big pay-out next year, and many of their plans could hinge of Jurado continuing his ability to create chances for the likes of Deeney, Ighalo, Abdi, and co. Where there are assists there are also determined FPL managers, and Jurado has everyone thinking about a leaky Southampton defence and its potential.
JORDAN IBE, ARSENAL VS LIVERPOOL
Name: Jordan Ibe
Club: Liverpool
Position: Midfielder
Price: £5.0
Team Percentage: 0.2%
Players with representation lower than five percent in this fixture are few and far between. Nearly all of the starting elevens for both Liverpool and Arsenal are not defined as wildcard options which leave a few players to consider for our final wildcard pick for the gameweek. That honour goes to Jordan Ibe, the heir to the $terling throne at Liverpool. In a fixture this big it would be symbolic to see Ibe introduce himself on a game of this calibre.
Roberto Firmino could also be considered an option should he start over Ibe, we can’t see that happening as Lallana is most likely the player to be dropped out of anyone in the team. Roberto could start his season off with a bang, as could Ibe, so either one could be a brave but well thought decision. Liverpool’s defence is stubborn, and it is expected that it is going to be a game of tight margins on Monday. This won’t be the same kind of game that occurred on the tail end of last season, so expect a few surprises, and that is why we are putting faith into Ibe to be that surprise package in the match.
For all GW 3 build up, check out the Weekly Hype page now.
All aboard.
