Wildcard active! 🃏
Last gameweek was hilariously bad and although I'd already decided the wildcard was being used it was very clear as soon as the button was pressed on Saturday it was the right decision. There was an opta chart that popped up on my feed the other day which caught my eye, Man Utd have had the hardest first 5 fixtures of all teams, and yet have the highest xG and shots taken, but at the opposite end Aston Villa have had the easiest run, and yet Rogers and Watkins with no goal involvements.
There's been some all timer moments on the channel over the years, the Ederson and Kepa rotation that cost about 50 points. Digne's own goal to wipe his own clean sheet in the final minutes of a game. The Dennis red card in the first match of a DGW. Rogers and Watkins 5 blanks in a row with the best fixture run in the league can go in the imaginary hall of fame.
I mentioned on the transfer plans article last weekend that the earliest opportunity I had to sell was GW4 and Sarr and Mateta were the two I looked at but even then they wouldn't have made any difference. Gakpo returning every game then 3 blanks in a row against the likes of Burnley and Everton was quite unexpected, Sanchez getting the red card an absolute killer. Reijnders with the assist and defcon on the bench as well, he actually didn't reach defcon in the end after the final calculation but the points were already locked in by that point so he kept the 2 points.
Let's get into the wildcard team! 🚀
Goalkeeper
- In goal Raya comes in, a mistake not to have gone with him from GW1 in hindsight - sometimes you just have to ignore the fixtures when it's an elite defence. Very few wanted to go there with Man Utd, Liverpool, Forest, Man City in their opening 5 but 3 clean sheets is very respectable. The only other goalkeeper I've been considering on the wildcard is Donnarumma, I'll talk more about that in a minute.
Defence
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In defence it's Gabriel, Gvardiol and Senesi.
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Now of course Timber and Calafiori have been doing better than Gabriel, and if they keep playing every game I expect that to continue - the question is, does it continue? It's the availability of Lewis-Skelly LB and White RB that puts me off, will Arteta rotate them here and there the odd game? Even if that happens will the full backs get attacking returns to make up for it? All things considered I like Gabriel the most, but if one of the fullbacks were to pick up an injury before next deadline, which is very unlikely to be honest then I'll likely make a switch.
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Gvardiol vs Tarkowski is a close call on the wildcard as well, which would be crazy to say in any previous season but it's the defensive contributions that make Tarkowski so appealing. West Ham and Palace home in a row, if he keeps a clean sheet in one of those and maybe gets a couple bonus it's a double digit return without an attacking return.
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Bournemouth's 3.62 expected goals conceded is third best in the league after Newcastle and Arsenal, Senesi has hit defcon in every game so far - ridiculous value for 4.7m. Looking like a really long term hold, perhaps a sell in GW19 when their fixtures turn heading into the new year so if I can keep him for 3 or so months that's great news, I want as little areas as possible in the team needing attention.