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He guys! You heard it right, I have activated my Wildcard ahead of Gameweek 3.

There are several reasons I have decided to use my Wildcard this week. Those reasons include issues like Jarrel Quansah being injured, Wout Faes demanding a move away from Leicester, picking the wrong £5.5m striker, wanting to make the switch from Erling Haaland to Mohamed Salah, Christopher Nkunku not starting, wanting Cole Palmer, having an un-convincing Newcastle attacking double up, owning Bruno Fernandes, the list is endless…

It also doesn’t help that whilst these issues increase in my team, my team value goes in the opposite direction.

Getting the start of the season right is very important in FPL as I have learnt over the years. Whilst holding your Wildcard due to the international break and additional information is a good move for others, doing so in my case would cause even more damage.

Rolling transfers is another big factor, if re-shape my team, build some squad depth and act on the newly learned information, the hope is I can can take my total of two free transfers up to five. If I manage that whilst attacking the fixtures ahead, then I could be in a good rank position and not need my Wildcard further down the line.

WILDCARD TEAM SO FAR…

This is my Wildcard team so. Just be aware that I built this on Thursday night/Friday morning so things may have changed slightly since reading. However, I like the majority of this set-up.

You’ll immediately see, as mentioned, that I have decided to go without Haaland. I have done this because I wanted other players elsewhere that I couldn’t fit in with him in the side. The Norwegian is fantastic, but he won’t score a hattrick every week. In fact, for the next several Gameweeks I can see Haaland, Salah and Palmer hitting similar points. And, if I’m not captaining him, then how essential is he? I’m not completely mad though don’t worry. The plan is to eventually switch him back in around Gameweek 7 (when I hopefully have five free transfers to make the big change). The main reason for this is of course captaincy.

I am yet to decide on goalkeepers. The issue with starting with one £4.5m goalkeeper like Henderson is that things changed and he became much less appealing. So, rotating Robert Sanchez and Mark Flekken could be a good move. If one of them becomes an issue I still have the other.

Defence is also important. I decided to keep Trent Alexander-Arnold due to his elite non-penalty expected goal involvement data so far. Not owning an Arsenal defender was also a big mistake so Gabriel comes in permanently. The rest of my backline is filled with cheap defenders like Antonee Robinson, Ezri Konsa and Rico Lewis to help with squad depth. Lewis could change though with the Champions League coming up, he will eventually and inevitably be an issue long-term.

In midfield I have backed the lively Morgan Rogers due to Aston Villa’s brilliant schedule. Joining him is Fulham’ Emile Smith Rowe who I think could have a big season. The Chelsea fixtures are excellent so backing the only nailed attacker which also happens to be Cole Palmer felt essential on the Wildcard, I may even captain him this week if I go without Bukayo Saka. If I do go without Saka it won’t be long until I bring him in. In fact, I plan to switch Palmer to Saka in several weeks time. I may do the okey cokey with them this season.

The rest of my midfield includes Mohamed Salah who I think can cover Haaland for the next few weeks, and a pick that could become a very popular one in weeks to come, Bryan Mbeumo. Mbeumo has Southampton this week but then Manchester City after that - spoiler, I plan to play Joao Pedro ahead of him for his match against Ipswich when that week comes.

In my forward line, as mentioned above, I have Joao Pedro. The fixtures aren’t great but Brighton evidently are. It looks like it could be a big season for Joao Pedro and I will be there for it. He is also a very good back-up attacker.

Joining Pedro I have decided to stick with Alexander Isak. Yes Newcastle haven’t been great but I think ridding him after two weeks is hugely knee-jerky (says the person who is wildcarding ahead of Gameweek 3). Isak is more than capable of a return per game in the next three. He will eventually go though to fund Haaland’s return.

My third striker is Ollie Watkins who has very very good fixtures. He may have blanked so far but it won’t be long before he starts finishing big chances as we saw last season. I understand that his minutes may be slightly managed with the Champions League returning but 60-70 minutes per game is something we could see from a lot of the big assets in the coming weeks and months.

Good luck this week guys! Be sure to check out the articles below to help get you ready for Gameweek 3.

We picked out all of the best players to buy in each position for the third round:

@dmpwright’s shares his team reveal and captain for Gameweek 3:

You can also find the top 10 predicted player points for the round ahead here:

We picked out some of the best lowly owned players the round ahead:

FPL Challenge have made some brilliant new changes this season and we picked out some tips for managers playing:

Be sure to check out all of our latest articles over at Fantasy Football Community.