I’m here with my first in-season piece of the 2021-2022 Fantasy Premier League season. In this piece, I will walk you through my process of creating a “wildcard draft”. I do this every week to think about the overall player pool and get thinking about the player transfers I want to make over the upcoming weeks.

While I am making this wildcard draft, I’m not actually planning on wildcarding this week. That being said, the process of creating the draft will help me to distill a bunch of information into an actionable plan.

One thing I find daunting about FPL is that you can theoretically roster any player you want. That can really make it hard to narrow down your transfer targets for a given week. This is especially true when you’re on social media and you see everyone chasing after a shiny new FPL toy.

However, I think I’ve hit on a nice way to reduce that clutter. Each week, I create a shortlist of players that I would consider bringing in on a wildcard. I limit the shortlist to:

• 4 potential Goalkeepers
• 10 potential Defenders
• 10 potential Midfielders
• 6 potential Forwards

Another restriction is I have to include two potential ‘budget enablers’ at each outfield position. This helps me to ensure that I don't lock too much value on my bench each week.

So, following this plan, I’ll present you my wildcard shortlist for the upcoming Gameweek 11:

Goalkeepers

Pretty simple and straightforward stuff here. Foster is your budget enabler. He’s getting the starts for Watford at a cheap price tag of £4.1m. There might even be weeks where he is startable. Pair foster with your other favorite cheap option.

I started the year with Robert Sánchez and he’s basically been what I’ve expected. He has Newcastle at home, Leeds at home, and Southampton away over his next five fixtures with clean sheet potential. Also, Graham Potter has a system that just gets the most out of his players at Brighton.

Aaron Ramsdale has taken over the starting job for Arsenal and looks possessed at the moment. Just be aware that Arsenal’s defense has been less than stellar so far this year. Their xGA of 15.9 is 16th in the EPL this year.

Vicente Guaita is your differential pick. He generally racks up the saves, and his next two matchups are solid for clean sheet potential.

Defenders

Tino Livramento started the season as a budget enabler. However, his FPL stature and price rises with each performance. I still recommend him as part of your wildcard build this week, but you might have to pair him with a budget enabler to fit everyone you want into your squad.

If doubling up on a team’s defensive assets, do you go for double City or double Chelsea? On the surface, City’s 7.4 xGA on the season is phenomenal, and suggests they are the most likely squad to keep a clean sheet week-over-week. Then again, Chelsea are the team with the EPL leading 70% clean sheet record so far this season.

I suggest pairing Cancelo with two Chelsea assets. There is the argument for grabbing both Chilwell and James given their attacking potential. However, I still prefer Rüdiger in one slot, as he’s the most nailed Chelsea defender and also has the potential to produce something offensively.

If you grab Sergio Reguilón, there’s a chance you can get in ahead of the crowd. He’s reasonably priced at £5.0m and Antonio Conte’s 3-5-2 system should highlight his offensive potential at wingback.

Omobamidele and Johnson are your budget enablers. I thought Omobamidele looked physically impressive in his matchup against Raphinha over the weekend, and he also scored a goal. Norwich also have a favorable run of fixtures coming up over the next four weeks.

Midfielders

Mo Salah is the king. At a 71.1% TSB rate he basically has to be owned and captained each week until the FPL public moves off him.

Son is worth paying the second premium for. He should be playing in a forward pair with Harry Kane in Antonio Conte’s new Tottenham setup. He takes corners and some free kicks, and he’s just an explosive player with a knack for scoring goals.

Phil Foden is also playing out of position now, taking on the role of a ‘false nine’ in Pep Guardiola’s system since the injury to Ferran Torres. A quick look at his shooting heat map for the 21/22 season shows just how frequently he’s getting shots in the opponent’s box:

Raphinha has been a giant man-crush of mine since his debut with Leeds last season. Right now he is Leeds offensive pulse. Unfortunately, with Patrick Bamford sidelined, his team lacks the ability to finish off his moves (0 assists this season despite a 1.52 xA). But Raphinha is an excellent creator from the wings, and you can see this by looking at his astronomical KP90 and xA90 on his career radial chart:

Conor Gallagher and Emile Smith-Rowe provide similar punch for the same price. Each player occupies key space in center of their team’s attacking midfield and also contribute with free kicks. Bryan Mbeumo, another £5.6m midfielder, is intriguing becuase he’s listed in the wrong position for FPL. Despite his midfield tag, Mbeumo is generally Brentford’s most forward attacking option. A build with all 3 of these £5.6m players is an intriguing thought.

McArthur and Brownhill are your budget enablers. McArthur is the clear choice right now given Crystal Palace’s upcoming run of fixtures.

Forwards

Ronaldo continued to do Ronaldo things this week, clawing back a draw with a brilliant stoppage time goal in Manchester United’s Champions League game against Atalanta mid-week. But with City and Chelsea due up in the next 3 gameweeks, I think it’s hard to justify his price tag right now.

Ditto for Harry Kane. It’s attractive to grab him ahead of a potential breakout with his new manager and great fixture run (I already have him in my squad). But at his £12.1m price, he’s only returning a completely unacceptable 2.1 points per million.

Jamie Vardy has slowed down his pace over the last couple gameweeks. But if he’s healthy, he’s a very good value. And he’s yet to score a goal from the penalty spot this year, which you know has to be coming for him soon given his track record.

Michail Antonio is one of this season’s great points-per-million scorers. Again his upcoming run of fixtures is a bit rough, making him a 50:50 call for this week’s wildcard team.

Ivan Toney is the linchpin of Brentford’s attack. He’s been a little unlucky with his 4 returns so far this season, as his xStats suggest he probably should have returned 6+ times already. He also has a really nice run of upcoming games.

Hwang Hee-Chan has looked lively and dangerous since coming on for Wolves earlier this season. He might be a little over his xG pace so far this year, but if you watch the matches he’s frequently getting into dangerous positions, as evidenced by his shot chart:

The Wildcard Team

With the above shortlist as my base, here’s my £100m wildcard team for Gameweek 11:

What do you think? Who is missing that you'd want to have in your squad? Let me know!