The Best FPL Gameweek 17 Wildcard Team

If you thought choosing a wildcard team for Gameweek 16 was hard, then you’ve seen nothing yet. No team seems to have a consistently good run of fixtures over their next 4, and with so many teams faltering, even picking on form seems difficult. So if you have held onto your wildcard, remember you only have 3 GWs left to use it.

 

PSA: If you do still have your wildcard, we would probably wait until next week to do so given some of the fixture swings.

 

What this can lead to however, is opportunity. With the template of Arsenal defence crumbling, Thiago owners getting nervy, Liverpool owners still worried and people uhming and ahhing about if it’s too late to jump on the Wilson train, this week could be set up for major swings.

Sprinkle in some of the injury news around assets like KDH, Szoboszlai etc, and you’ve got yourself a chaotic FPL landscape. Make sure you check out the Predicted Line-Ups hub before locking in any changes to your teams, as a result.

Also, make sure you check out our differential’s article for even more opportunity on gaining rank.

Anyway, without further ado, lets get stuck into the best Gameweek 17 wildcard team.

 

Goalkeepers:

Jordan Pickford – £5.5m

Perfect evidence of why waiting until next week would be ideal for a wildcard come sin the form of Jordan Pickford. With only 1 clean sheet in their last 6, it has become clear that Arsenal’s defensive prowess does in fact hinge on its best players being available. Couple this with the fact Arsenal have Villa, Bournemouth and Liverpool in GW19, GW20 and GW21. Everton on the other hand have Burnley, Forest, Brentford and Wolves from GW18-GW21. Essentially, the 3 lowest scoring teams this year + Brentford.

Everton also have 4 clean sheets in their last 6, and we know how great Pickford can be in FPL. So if you were set on Wildcarding this week we would still go Pickford, or even pick a 1 week punt keeper, and the transfer them out next week if you had the FTs in the bank.

 

Martin Dubravka – £4m

£4m and starting. Enough said.

 

 

Defenders

Jurrien Timber – £6.5m

Given Gabriel isn’t too far away we don’t want to completely exit all of our Arsenal defensive stocks. Timber definitely presents as the best option for this given his attacking return propensity, with an xGI per 90 of 0.3. He also leads all defenders for total xGI on the year. Also given the composition of the team, we can afford to spend a bit in defence.

 

James Tarkowski – £5.5m

Again, much like Pickford, the Tarkowski transfer can probably wait a week, but given the upcoming fixtures, it would feel wrong leaving him out of a wildcard team. As mentioned in the Pickford section, Everton play the 3 lowest scoring teams in the league from GW18-GW21 and have 4 clean sheets in their last 6. Another element Tarkowski brings however, is his elite DefCon return potential. Averaging 10.31 per 90 this season. Hitting that clean sheet + DefCon sweet spot.

 

Nico O’Reilly – £5.3m

To be honest you could also go for Matheus Nunes here as well. However, given both play for one of the best defences in the league, it is hard to go wrong. O’Reilly does average the higher xGI per 90 at 0.25 compared with Nunes’ 0.10. He also averages more DefCons per 90 at 7.55 compared to Nunes’ 7.15.

City currently have the 2^nd lowest xGA in the Premier League and now take that defensive form into West Ham, Forest and Sunderland in their next 3. The absolute dream situation for any defender. If Foden and Haaland weren’t near on locks, we wouldn’t mind doubling up on City’s defence at all.

 

Marcos Senesi – £4.9m

Now this one is a proper hear me out. Yes, I know they shipped 4 to Man United on Monday, I do get that. Despite being a bottom 5 club for goals conceded, they are in the top half for lowest xGA. The main reason he is here however is his DefCon numbers. He averages an astonishing 13.21 a game. We also spoke before about his propensity for attacking through balls. For which he leads the entire Premier League in balls into the final 3^rd and balls over the top. Averaging an xGI of 0.2 as a result.

Perhaps the most important reason for his inclusion, is his unbelievable rotation with Tarkowski. Which is particularly useful for a team with 3 cheap midfield options who are going to be situational started. When Everton play Arsenal, Villa, Man U and Newcastle in their next 10, Senesi plays Burnley, Brighton, West Ham and Sunderland’s attacks.

Clean sheets will come for Bournemouth, and until then, 4 points a game and an attacking threat isn’t bad.

 

Nordi Mukiele – £4.2m

Our favourite super cheap defender atm. Sunderland’s defence is solid and he is fantastic for DefCons. His extanded time at fullback has also seen him chip in with an assist.

 

 

Midfielders

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – £5.1m

Dewsbury-Hall has been a stand out performer of late for the toffees and could be excellently positioned for even more hauls following the Arsenal fixture. When he takes on Burnley, Forest, Brentford and Wolves in the following 4.

He also rotates fantastically with Harry Wilson over the next 7 game weeks so given their price tags, could be a very cheeky little duo at the 3^rd/4^th/5^th midfielder spots, and give your team some fantastic flexibility as a result.

He is however potentially injured after being taken off with hamstring ‘tightness’ against Chelsea. However, if he does miss a bit of time, the fact they are playing Arsenal anyway means he likely would not have started anyway, and we are bringing him in for the following fixtures anyway.

 

Harry Wilson – £5.6m

Alongside Bruno and Foden, Wilson is arguably the star midfielder of FPL at the moment. With 7 returns in his last 4 and Forest and West Ham in their next 2, I see no reason why Wilson cant continue his sublime form. As mentioned before he also rotates brilliantly with Dewsbury-Hall, so if you would then struggle to sell him after this good run, owning both could be a great solution.

 

Phil Foden – £8.8m

Foden continues his record breaking price surge and honestly, with good reason. Like Wilson, he also has 7 returns in his last 4 games, and like Wilson, also has the fixtures for those to continue. We do not need to go into detail about the sort of asset Foden is.

 

Bruno Fernandes – £9.3m

THE star of FPL right now, and the current highest scoring midfielder, and that’s with 2 missed penalties. Bruno’s vast array of routes to points has been on full display of late, with his performance against Bournemouth in particular really showcasing his attacking prowess. Again we do not need to go into too much detail about the sort of asset he is. Just get him in if you don’t already.

 

Dominik Szboszlai – £6.7m

With reports from Liverpool insider Phil Thompson that Szobszlai should be good to go, he goes straight into our Wildcard team. He has been Liverpool’s stand out performer of late and with injuries across the front line currently plaguing Liverpool, he should stand to feature as a significant part of their attack.

Couple this with fixtures against Leeds, Fulham and Burnley in their next 4, and a DefCon per 90 of 10.3, and you’re onto a great asset.

 

 

Forwards

Thiago – £6.8m

Now this is where it gets fun. I’ve seen a few people and creators discussing moving off Thiago. There is no other way to say it, that is ultimate points chasing and poor advice. He is the 2^nd top scorer in the entire league who is about to play the worst defence in the league, followed by a defence who have conceded 17 in their last 7, and a defence who’ve conceded 13 in their last 6. I will certainly not be taking him out of my team, and can live with those blanks if they do happen. My bet is he registers a few hauls during this time and suddenly the crowd will be back.

 

Erling Haaland – £15.0m

Should be in your team already, if not, get him in.

 

Hugo Ekitike – £8.6m

We mentioned Liverpool’s injuries to their frontline, Isak, Gakpo etc. These should open the door for Ekitike to receive great minutes in the upcoming game weeks. We’ve seen what he can do when he is on the pitch, with 8 returns in 10 starts in the league. With Spurs, Leeds, Wolves and Fulham in their next 4, it could be an absolute goal fest. Whether you’re on wildcard or not, he is a great option.

 

Final Thoughts

The tram still allows for around £1m to be left in the bank, which allows us to be really flexible in the upcoming game weeks. Also, including rotations like Harry Wilson and KDH, as well as Senesi and Tarkowski, really allows us to further persevere those free transfers if we were wildcarding.

Everton will be a must target from next week, City already are and Liverpool very easily could be. So as far as fixtures go, this squad absolutely has it covered. With a very even spread of funds at every level.

Let us know what you think.

 

Check out our Game Week Tips section for more great Game Week 17 Tips.