The Best FPL Gameweek 15 Wildcard Team

With 5 free transfers round the corner, we can afford to spread ourselves amongst some of the form teams in FPL at the moment. City, Brighton, Palace and Newcastle are among this week’s most focused teams, on top of regulars Arsenal, who banked yet another clean sheet on Wednesday against surging Brentford.

One thing is for sure though, the wildcard is WIDE open. Now even though our team would initially leave managers with a few benching headaches, it is only because we will have so much cash left over given how poorly the premium assets have performed this season relative to the cheaper ones.

For example, normally we’d upgrade Rice to Saka and then downgrade a Bruno G for example, but I’m not even convinced Saka outscores Rice the rest of the season (FPL wise). As a result, we’ve got fingers in multiple small pies this week, so that as soon as those 5 free transfers land, whichever teams and assets form takes off the most, we will already have some coverage over.

Make sure before locking in your line ups you check in with the predicted line ups. We are writing this pre Man-United game as well so if Bruno has suffered a season ending injury we apologise.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get stuck into the line-up.

 

Goalkeepers

David Raya – £5.9m

No surprise to see who is returning in goal. Arsenal’s defence is genuinely playing a different sport to the rest of the league right now and are showing no signs of changing. Andy Martin be damned; Raya is safe as houses.

 

Martin Dubravka – £4m

Starting goalie, check. £4m price tag, check. Next.

 

 

Defenders

Jurrien Timber – £6.4m

Fresh off his well-deserved rest (kinda) against Brentford, and with injuries still plaguing the Arsenal backline. It’s pretty safe to say Timber’s minutes should be fairly safe over the busy Christmas period. His attacking threat is also massively slept on at 0.3 xGI per 90. Ranking 2^nd amongst all defenders for total xGI after the player up next.

 

Daniel Munoz – £6.0m

I will seldom ever be mean about an FPL manager but if you don’t own Daniel Munoz yet it is a complete skill issue. He has been in our wildcard teams since our Gameweek 6 wildcard article when he’d only registered 1 assist in 6 games. We gave you ample opportunity to get ahead of the points and there’s still plenty more to get ahead of the rest. he is an attacker listed as a defender. Cheat code. An essential in any Gameweek 15 Wildcard team.

 

Chris Richards – £4.6m

FPL’s best kept secret until recently has no doubt been Richards. If you own him then you’ll understand. £4.6m to play for a defence who have now kept 4 clean sheets in their last 5 and show no signs of slowing down. Couple this with the fact he is 6^th amongst all defenders for Defensive Contributions averaging 10.35 per 90 and you’re onto an absolute FPL demon. Somehow he’s still only 4.1%. Maybe he is still a secret after all.

 

Lewis Hall – £5.2m

Time to go differential hunting at only 1% ownership.. With the majority of focus on Newcastle’s other defenders, somehow Lewis Hall seems to have slipped through the cracks. Yeh yeh, DefCon this, Defcon that. When Newcastle are playing well and with confidence, we all remember how good an asset Hall can be in FPL. He goes bombing forward, puts in fantastic crosses and is on set pieces.

When you have the likes of Burn, Thiaw, Joelinton and Woltemade to aim for in the box, being on set pieces and putting plenty of balls in the box can net you plenty of points. He also registered a Defcon threshold last game and seems to be getting stuck in more and more as he returns to fitness, so that is one area to keep watch of. With Burnley twice in their next 5 and rivals Sunderland, he’s also coming into quite good fixtures.

 

Nordi Mukiele – £4.2m

Hard to go wrong with Mukiele. A Defcon demon, Sunderland’s most nailed defender and a great enabler at only £4.2m. Not much to dislike and a great bench option.

 

Midfielders

Declan Rice – £7.1m

*Arteta’s voice* Wow guyz what a player Dehclan ees. With 7 returns already this year and a healthy underlying average of 0.35 xGI per 90. Declan Rice occupies our 3^rd Arsenal slot. Combine these returns with an average of 11.85 Defensive Contributions per game over his last 6 and you’re onto an all-round FPL superstar. The fact all of this will only set you back £7.1m is great news. With plenty of clean sheet and bonus point potential providing a lovely cherry on top.

 

Phil Foden – £8.2m

That’s now 4 goals in 2 games for the England star as City’s attack looks like an unstoppable force at the moment. Unlike their defence which looks like a very moveable object. We mentioned Foden was one of our favourite differentials in our Gameweek 14 Best differentials article and with good reason. His involvement has been slowly ramping up over the last 5 or 6 game weeks, reflected by his substantially higher xGI in his last 6 of 0.6 xGI per 90. These returns have been due. They now face Sunderland twice, West Ham and Forest in their next 5 so expect more fireworks.

 

Bruno Fernandes – £9.0m

If you are one of the Bruno cappers in game week 14 then I imagine you’ve got some very nervy watching ahead of you. We did have him behind Haaland and Munoz in our Gameweek 14 Best Captains, just saying. Despite that, the fact some did captain him is indicative of how good an FPL asset this man is and of course we still own him. The combo of xGI per 90 of 0.6 and 10.6 Defensive contributions per game is a combo you will find nowhere else in FPL. If you can think of a way to score points in FPL, this man can do it. A great option.

 

Bruno G – £6.7m

It’s raining Bruno’s at the moment and with good reason. With the permanent fixture of Tonali in Newcastle’s 6 role, Bruno G has been afforded license to get forward and put some of this attacking prowess on display. With 7 returns in his last 8 games, its safe to say he is playing some of his best football. Which has landed him as the 3^rd highest scoring midfielder in the entirety of FPL, behind only Semenyo and Rice. He profiles very similarly to Rice in terms of an 8 who gets involved going forward and has a great DefCon potential and wont cost you much. Doubling up on Newcastle looks like a strong shout over the next few Gameweeks.

 

Yankuba Minteh – £6.3m

Speaking of great teams to double up on. Brighton are absolutely flying at the moment. Despite a tough loss to Villa, they have only shown even more reason to invest in their attack. Minteh currently leads the FPL assist tables on 7. With West Ham twice, Sunderland and Liverpool as 4 of their next 5. Brighton’s attack could well feast, and what a price to cover at. Only £6.3m.

 

 

Forwards

Thiago – £6.7m

This man is absolutely skyrocketing in price and with good reason. Sitting 2nd in the league on 11 goals, a whole 4 goals clear of Welbeck in 3rd, if you’re looking for points from a forward not called Haaland it can only be this man. With 5 goals in his last 3 starts, Thiago is in the form of his life. Fresh off a rest against Arsenal, we can also expect him to be safe for minutes over the Christmas period, and what a time to be, with Spurs twice, Leeds, Wolves and Bournemouth in their next 5. no gameweek 15 wildcard team is complete without him.

Erling Haaland – £14.9m

Following 2 blanks he was never going to blank again was he. Haaland has just registered his 100th Premier League goal and shows n0 signs of slowing down. City’s fixtures are fantastic, so if he is somehow still not in your team then you need a big strategy re-assessment. He is averaging an xGI per 90 of 1.10 for gods sake.

 

Danny Welbeck – £6.6m

We told you we were covering a lot of ground and having deep benches but with a packed fixture schedule it could end up being the way to go. I absolutely love the Brighton attack right now and this man has been their gunman-in-chief. The Prem’s 3rd top scorer means we have all three across the front and is a repeat of our Gameweek 13 Wildcard team.

 

 

Final Thoughts

We mentioned before this team was built for deep benches and versatility over the congested Christmas period. There are plenty of great attacks whose defences have recently been shipping goals, City, Villa, Brighton etc. Making triple ups hard. This is why we’ve gone for 2 players only in a few of those cases.

This allows plenty of flexibility to target a triple up as and when necessary and means that most of the hot teams right now have plenty of coverage.

Some alternatives to consider could be

• Gakpo
• Lacroix
• O’Reilly
• Mateta
• Woltemade

Let us know what you think of the team and make sure you check in with our Game Week Tips section for more great Gameweek 15 Tips.