WEEKLY WILDCARDS 2018/19: FPL Gameweek 38
Ahead of each round of Premier League games The Hype Train analyses the best wildcard player options for your Fantasy Premier League teams. Historically, weekly FPL Dream Team’s comprise of mostly differential players whose selection falls with a low selection percentage 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 Premier League match in the upcoming Gameweek to decide who could be the differential that sets your team apart. All aboard.
WILDCARDS: WHAT IS A DIFFERENTIAL PLAYER?
The rules for the 2015/16 season were easy enough to follow. The only rule was that a player had be to selected by less than 5% of the FPL's populace. With 2016/17's price changes, and player selection trends, we were been forced to revise our rules on what constitutes a differential. In the 2017/18 season, after testing the waters with selection, there are just not enough differentials with the classification in each position from years past, so we have introduced position specific rules regarding what is and isn't a wildcard/differential player in the FPL that we believe is representative to the game this season.
Goalkeepers
- Any shot stopper outside of the top 8 selected. A differential Goalkeeper is now considered outside of the top bracket due to the overwhelming ownership selection % of the top 8 GK's for any one Gameweek.
- A GK's ownership must not exceed 10%
Defenders
- A Defender's ownership must fall below 8%, with the top 20 owned defenders all harbouring 8% ownership or more.
- The Outsider Rule: This new rule applies to defenders who are the last defensive option in a team who we provide an exception to as the 4th of 5th most owned defender from one team if they offer a different value. For Example, if Chelsea or Spurs have three defenders with 10% plus ownership, and their 4th defender choice has downwards of 10% ownership, we will include them as a differential, as they are outside of the common conversation when picking defenders, even from within their own squad. This rule will mostly be used when adding defenders from top half clubs, who lack proper differential status for their defensive options.
Midfielders
- Any Midfielder under 8% ownership is classified as a differential.
- Our percentage criteria of 8% is due to a greater wealth of premium midfielders. There is a monopoly of top midfielders for most Premier League clubs, leaving only a handful of Midfielders that provide differential options on a weekly basis.
Forwards
- The top 10 most owned Forwards in the FPL at any given time can not be touched as a differential.
- Any Forward outside of the 10% ownership range, who is not in the top 10 owned forwards.
GAMEWEEK WILDCARD DIFFERENTIALS
For each FPL Gameweek we select a wildcard player from each game.
We do not select a back-up player for the differentials we bank on – that’s the whole point, being a wildcard.
The selection percentage and player price is accurate with the posting of the article.
Our rundowns of player selections are representative of the Premier League’s TV fixture list.
Weekly Differentials (GW38)
Here we are, after a long and turbulent season the Premier League draws to a close in one of the most anticipated final days in recent memory. There will be shocks, surprise results, and goals too. All the teams go out one last time to make their mark and give their fans one final thing to smile about before the summer. We are signing off with our final ten picks of the 2018/19 season, and we wish you the best of luck to all the managers fighting in their respective leagues. Hopefully these final picks gives you some inspiration for the final day of the season.
Goalkeepers (1/10):
Mark Travers (BOU)
Mark Travers (Crystal Palace vs. BOURNEMOUTH)
The first surprise inclusion to the differential is Bournemouth’s third choice goalkeeper, Mark Travers. Having been introduced during the home win over Spurs, he picked up eight points on his league debut. We expect the young keeper to retain his place in Eddie Howe’s team so that he can be examined at an away game. With Begovic leaving in the summer, this is Travers second audition to see if he has a future as Bournemouth’s number one.
Defenders (0/10):
N/A
There are no defenders to consider this week, but if you were looking for some players to consider then look at Vincent Kompany of Man City, Luke Shaw or Chris Smalling of Man United, and Joel Matip of Liverpool. If you want a different defender outside the top six, then Fabian Schär of Newcastle who are away to Fulham. Usually there are goals in the final, enough for us to be sceptical of defensive options.
Midfielders (4/10):
Pascal Groß (BHA), Youri Tielemans (LEI), Nathan Redmond (SOU), Christian Eriksen (TOT)
Pascal Groß (BRIGHTON vs. Man City)
Brighton are what stands between Man City and the first successful defence of the Premier League title since the Sir Alex Ferguson era. Pascal Groß has been vocal about being professionals who want to make their name in Premier League history by being involved in producing a huge upset.
This is a fixture were a team of differentials need to upset the balance and break City’s winning run. Their best hope is if Pascal Groß is behind a set piece, and after Liverpool’s comeback against Barcelona, it wouldn’t be crazy to believe the impossible could happen.
Youri Tielemans (LEICESTER vs. Chelsea)
Leicester have made picking our differentials easy since Youri Tielemans entered the fray, we chose him against Man City hoping his luck would continue, but the Citizens won by a lone Kompany wonder goal.
This week Leicester host Chelsea, and with the Blues Champions League place confirmed for next year, and with a Europa League final on the horizon, it may unsurprising to see Sarri make plenty of changes to his starting eleven to keep key players fresh for the final. Leicester should be competitive in this fixture, and we are picking the Belgian one last time this season hoping his ridiculous return percentage is maintained.
Christian Eriksen (SPURS vs. Everton)
The Dane was involved in Spurs stunning comeback against Ajax to book themselves into the Champions League final. Eriksen has featured regularly in our differentials this season, and with their main team picking itself now due to injuries, Eriksen will have one final game against Everton before meeting Liverpool in Madrid on the 1st June.
Spurs have stumbled recently at their new stadium with 1-0 losses to West Ham and Ajax, but we expect Poch uses this as a dress rehearsal for the Champions League final and iron out any creases. Eriksen will be pivotal in both fixtures against the Merseyside Clubs, and the North London club will be hoping he is able to make goals in hope of ending their season on a high note.
Forwards (5/10):
Ashley Barnes (BUR), Salomón Rondón (NEW), Divock Origi (LIV), Mason Greenwood (MUN), Troy Deeney (WAT)
Ashley Barnes (BURNLEY vs. Arsenal)
We have been negligent to Claret forwards this season, mostly because for large patches of the season Burnley were not playing with any form of confidence. Within many corners of the FPL community Barnes is a pro-player with plenty of baseline stats behind his performances, but sometimes not rewarded with and end product. His season has been one of two halves, with the forward only scoring two goals all season which came against Bournemouth in GW6.
The second half of the season has seen him restored to the team, and further scoring nine goals, and producing three assists. Burnley host Arsenal who are through to the Europa League final, so not only do we expect rotation, we also expect Arsenal’s heavily predict away form to factor into this fixture. Barnes is a smart choice considering the Gunners have only kept one clean on the road all season.
Salomón Rondón (Fulham vs. NEWCASTLE)
Newcastle fought hard against Liverpool, and it was the Venezuelan that scored twice to rattle the Reds cage. Going to Fulham shouldn’t be an issue for Rafa Benitez, he knows that Rondón and Perez will get chances against Sergio Rico on the final day. Having just been awarded Newcastle’s Player of the Season award, we are backing Rondón one final time this season, having proven to be an excellent different throughout the course of the campaign.
Divock Origi (LIVERPOOL vs. Wolves)
The Belgian has been a cult hero for the Reds this season. A late goal to win the Merseyside Derby was the starting point after an assist from Jordan Pickford to give the Reds a huge win. He scored the winning goal against Newcastle to keep their title hopes alive last gameweek. Origi was also instrumental in defeating Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals, scoring two well taken poachers goals, to book their ticket to Madrid where they meet Spurs. We think he will start to pick a flow with the rest of the team, as Roberto Firmino has confirmed not to be available for the potential title decider. Can Divock become the hero again, this time for the Premier League?
Mason Greenwood (MAN UNITED vs. Cardiff)
There was a lot of talk in the pre-match press conferences about Man United introducing some new blood into their team. Guaranteed a Europa League place for next season, with the Champions League out of their grasp, OGS eluded to giving Chong and Greenwood minutes against Cardiff. Because it is that time of the season where a young player is given their debut on the final day, we are going to trust the out-and-out striker of being a shock inclusion on the scoresheet this weekend.
Troy Deeney (WATFORD vs. West Ham)
We finish the ten games with a familiar face in our differentials, the Watford skipper Troy Deeney. Having harrowed West Ham for years, we think that Watford will be fine turning their FA Cup final team, and that means giving Deeney some time to get back in the groove after a three-match suspension. Deeney pushed the in-form Gray out of the team last week, and against West Ham he is an underrated option to end the Hammers good run of form.
Key Differential: Nathan Redmond (SOUTHAMPTON vs. Huddersfield)
Our last captaincy selection of the season comes full circle from the 2016/17 season, when our Hype Team visited Southampton to watch an opening day 1-1 draw with Watford. The occasion was marked with a Nathan Redmond goal on his Saints debut, with all of us including the Englishman in our teams on that occasion.
With the visit of Huddersfield to close the 2018/19 season, there is somewhat of a focus on Redmond being the key differential this weekend. 73,867 transfers in and counting as the 11th most selected new player ahead of Gameweek 38, pipped by Newcastle's Salomon Rondon to a top 10 spot this week.
Ralph Hasenhüttl has suggested that he'll be making changes to his Southampton side when the already-relegated Terriers take one final bow in the Premier League, with Redmond expected to come straight back in to the startling lineup.
Redmond came on as a half-time substitute during Gameweek 37's 3-0 away loss at West Ham and has been soaking in adulation from Hasenhüttl in the week as being a key and adaptable figure who can play in any position in a three-pronged attack.
Redmond's key FPL return this season was a brace, his first for the club, in a 3-1 home win over Wolves during Gameweek 34. Redmond followed this up with an assist against Bournemouth in a 3-3 away draw, and now has the chance to end the season strongly to justify the feeling among many FPL players that the Southampton midfielder is set for a big final week.
Being the final day, and playing for a club with nothing to play for, against a team with literally nothing to lose, might throw its curve-balls at Redmond's potential impact this week, though with Huddersfield already confirming some rotation ahead of tomorrow's encounter on the south coast, we feel inclined to feel somewhat safe with the backing of Redmond's 10 attacking returns this season.
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The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in the Fantasy Premier League (#FPL), providing beautiful graphics and weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb ranking tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review movies, live sport, and professional wrestling.
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All aboard.
