The Best FPL Gameweek 35 Wildcard Draft 

We are finally here, at the last stretch of the season. It’s safe to say that for most people, WC32, BB33, and FH34 was a success. Not least considering how many wildcard drafts and indeed standard teams, are loaded with Leeds, Brighton, City and Bournemouth assets.  

But we will not know the true winner of the WC32 vs WC35 debate until the end of the season, as the ace up the sleeve is finally here. The end of season wildcard.  

Before we dive in, make sure you check out our Best Gameweek 35 Differentials and Best Gameweek 35 Captains pieces. 

And as always, make sure you check in with our Predicted Line-ups and Team News Hub before locking in any changes. 

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get stuck into the best gameweek 35 wildcard draft.

 

Goalkeepers: 

 

David Raya – £6.0m 

This is simple really. Arsenal are the best defence in the league and take on 3 of the bottom 6 attacks and the 8th worst attack in Fulham. Going forward, Arsenal seem to be a lot less predictable, but at least defensively you know what you are getting. So concentrating all your Arsenal assets into the defence just makes sense. Starting with Raya. Who also has a great shot at BPS during low scoring affairs, which Arsenal may be involved in a few of. 

 

Karl Darlow – £3.9m 

It’s not often you get a £3.9m goalkeeper for a decent defence whose playing 3 of the bottom 6 attacks to end the season. Great value. Honestly if you wanted to reinvest the money elsewhere you could easily start Darlow until the end of the season. 

 

 

Defence: 

 

Gabriel Magalhaes – £7.2m 

On top of the reasons we gave for Raya already we won’t elaborate on why this man should be in every single FPL team. 

 

Jan Paul van Hecke – £4.6m 

Brighton have now won 6 of their last 8 games, including 4 clean sheets. Their defence is looking as good as any right now and van Hecke is the pick of the bunch. Averaging 10.6 DefCons over the same stretch and even seeing some involvement in the xGI column. They now face 2 teams in abysmal form in Newcastle and Wolves. At minimum this should be at least 1 clean sheet but honestly there’s a very strong chance its 2. 

 

William Saliba – £6.1m 

If we suddenly get word that Timber is back in the mix then he could also be a good candidate for the 3rd Arsenal defender, but given the uncertainty around minutes, Saliba is naturally the best option. Despite not being as good as Gabriel for attacking returns or Defcons, Saliba has hit the DefCon threshold in 2 of his last 4. Still a very solid round off to the Arsenal triple up. 

 

Pascal Struijk – £4.3m 

Honestly you could take your pick from any of the Leeds defenders as a lot of it is down to preference. We’ve personally gone for Struijk for a couple of reasons. The first being his minutes, even with Gudmundsson and Rodon now back, Struijk’s starting spot should not be under threat. He’s also averaging 11 DefCons per game over his last 5. Although Bijol has averaged more, it remains to be seen if Bijol will keep his spot with Rodon’s return. 

Leeds have potentially the best remaining fixtures of any team in the league, so doubling up on their defence was a no brainer. 

 

Nico O’Reilly – £5.1m 

Any defence without this man in is fundamentally unserious. Arguably the form defender in the entire league right now. Not only do City looked stellar defensively, but going forward O’Reilly looks like a serious talent. Not only does he have 7 returns in his last 13 games, but he is also doing it at quite the clip. Averaging an xGI per 90 or 0.7 across his last 6 games. Truly elite numbers and a perennial captaincy option until the end of the season. 

 

 

Midfield: 

 

Rayan Cherki – £6.4m 

This man can no longer be ignored. Arguably the most in form midfielder in the Premier League at present, and at minimum, the man of the moment. Not only does he have 4 returns in his last 4 starts, he is also doing it at an average 0f 0.76 xGI per 90. In case you needed more evidence on the security of City’s attacking threat. 

With City chasing the league title and the race with Arsenal coming down to the wire, I also cannot see a world where he doesn’t get the lion’s share of starting minutes. So don’t let rotation twitter scare you off him. 

 

Morgan Gibbs-White – £7.6m 

Forest have undergone a mini resurgence of late, scoring a whopping 13 goals in their last 4 games while only conceding 2. With Gibbs-White leading the charge. amassing 7 goals and 1 assist in his last 7 games, it’s safe to say he has almost single-handedly dragged Forest away from relegation contention.  

He now takes his electric form into 2 of the least in form teams in the league right now in Chelsea and Newcastle. I am not convinced Chelsea’s scrappy FA Cup win against Leeds was indicative of a team who have turned it around, and they are still goalless in their most recent 5 Premier League games. Newcastle are just as bad, to the point where they themselves are potentially playing with relegation now.  

We could easily see 2 more mega-hauls from Gibbs-White here. 

 

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – £5.1m 

All it takes is one game of watching this man to know how good he is. He now has 7 returns in his last 10 games since returning to the starting line-up, and with Everton firmly in the hunt for Europe it is hard to see him being a minutes risk either.  

He also has lot’s of value outside of his performances. The first being his price. His low price tag means that transfers to a more premium asset at any other position will likely be only 1 transfer away, instead of needing to balance the books with a 2nd. The next bit of value he has is in his fixtures. Where Everton have fantastic fixtures from GW36 to GW38, in Palace, Sunderland and Spurs, they do have a rotten one this week against City. However, his benching this week means that more Leeds and Brighton starters can be accommodated in the GW35 starting line-up against the struggling Newcastle and Burnley sides. 

 

Bruno Fernandes – £10.4m 

Unless you have been living under a rock or are Andy Martin, then you’ll know going without Bruno is a non-option. He now sits on 8 goals and a whopping 20 assists for the year and has registered at least 1 attacking returns in all 7 of his last games. With 10 returns in his last 7 to be more precise. 

He is at the heart of one of the best attacks in the league and is about to take on an inconsistent Liverpool defence and a defence who just got hit for 8 goals across their last 2 games. Seriously Andy, what are we doing here. 

 

Noah Okafor – £5.6m 

There is no two ways around it, you could not build a better pair of upcoming fixtures than Leeds’s. So where covering the defence with Strujik was essential, we also wanted an attacker to cover the same fixtures. I don’t know about anyone else, but I personally bare too many DCL scars to go near him again. Okafor is in red hot form right now, with 4 returns in his last 3 starts and 2 14+ point hauls.  

 

 

Forwards: 

 

Danny Welbeck – £6.2m 

We covered just how elite Brighton’s next few fixtures are so much like Wolves we wanted some attacking coverage as well. Brighton have now won 7 of their last 9, losing only 1 and are absolutely flying right now. Welbeck himself is in fine form, and Brighton have scored 2+ goals in each of their last 4 games.  

Fixtures do not get much better for an attacker than Wolves and Newcastle right now, so I will be shocked if Welbeck isn’t on the scoresheet in at least one of those fixtures. Brighton are also firmly in the hunt for Europe so we expect Welbeck to get the lion’s share of minutes as well.  

 

Jarrod Bowen – £7.8m 

Bowen just touched the 20 G/A mark for this season in his most recent game against Everton and is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, West Ham in general have undergone a mini resurgence, with 3 wins, 2 draws and only 1 loss in their last 6. With Brentford, a struggling Newcastle and fellow relegation strugglers Leeds as 3 of their remaining 4 games, Bowen should be in a good spot to continue his hot streak. 

He also rotates very nicely with KDH, Leeds and Brighton assets for GW36, when he will likely be swapped with KDH off the bench. Allowing for those other good fixtures to be capitalized on. 

 

Erling Haaland – £14.5m 

With 2 goals in his last 2 games, Haaland appears back to his usual self. Underpinned by some very strong xG numbers as well, averaging 1.01 per 90 over the last 2. We don’t need to elaborate more on why he’s here. 

 

 

Final Thoughts 

 

There are quite a few interesting permutations or directions you can go with this team, but the main focus was fixtures and flexibility.  Below are some of our key thoughts about this week that helped underpin the current team. 

• Aston Villa too unpredictable – Even though Villa have a great next 2 fixtures, their recent form and indeed returnees have been so hard to pin down, it is just hard to know what Villa team to expect both lineup and performance wise. Although their next 2 fixtures are fantastic, we have no idea how they will rotate or even play given the Europa League semi final on Thursday. Watkins and Rogers have also embodied inconsistent this year.  

• No Palace – Even though Palace are now confirmed to double in GW36, one of those games is against Man City. Not only that, but their form has been very inconsistent of late, and predicting their starting lineup is tricky enough, let alone where the goals will come from. If they thrash Bournemouth then we can potentially look at bringing one in. So, with commitments in European competitions taking priority and Prem safety guaranteed, there is every chance we see plenty of rotation in the league. 

• Big Budget – This lineup should leave around £3.5m in the bank, meaning that a lot of 1 transfer upgrades are reachable. 
• Struijk can be any Leeds defender you prefer
• Bowen or Welbeck can be Thiago
• Okafor and Welbeck can be DCL and Gross
• Will likely bench KDH, Struijk or Okafor and Welbeck or van Hecke in GW35.

 

Check out our Game Week Tips section for more Game Week 35 Tips.