Fantasy Premier League

FPL expert Sam Bonfield's Gameweek 11 Wildcard squad

7 Nov 2024
Wissa, Dalot

See the 15 players selected by one of the world's top Fantasy managers

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One of The Scout's panel of Fantasy Premier League experts, Sam Bonfield, is using her Wildcard chip in Gameweek 11 ahead of Saturday's 13:30 GMT deadline.

Here she reveals her 15-man line-up and the reasons for her choices.

FPL 15-man squad
Goalkeepers

David Raya (£5.6m): Even though Arsenal haven't kept a clean sheet since Gameweek 4, they are still an elite defence and have a nice run of fixtures from Gameweek 12, when the shutouts should return. Going for Raya over Gabriel (£6.2m) saves me £0.6m, which is useful in balancing the rest of the squad. 

Lukasz Fabianski (£4.0m): He has been my back-up goalkeeper all season and with him having started the last two matches for West Ham United, there's no reason to change him. It's always good to have a playing second goalkeeper and it is particularly helpful when they are £4.0m. 

Defenders

Josko Gvardiol (£6.3m): I brought Gvardiol back into my team for Gameweek 8 and since then he's produced two goals and a clean sheet. While defensively Manchester City have not been as strong as FPL managers would have liked this season, with only two clean sheets, the top defence in the league have only kept five, so they aren't far behind. When you compare his heat maps from Gameweeks 1-5 to Gameweeks 6-10, they show his increased attacking threat, while his touches in the final third have more than doubled over the last five Gameweeks, from 111 to 235.

Diogo Dalot (£5.1m): Manchester United’s new head coach Ruben Amorim is known for his penchant for attacking wing-backs. I am expecting Dalot to flourish under him. The next three matches, against Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Everton, look promising for clean sheets and Dalot's attacking threat. He has created nine chances this season, more than any other Man Utd defender, with three of those classified as big chances - situations where the player is expected to score. He is also top for Expected Assists (xA) among United defenders. This season he has four clean sheets and an assist, and I think those figures will improve under Amorim.

Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.7m): The Wolverhampton Wanderers defender has five attacking returns so far this season, more than any other defender. His heat map highlights his goal threat. Ait-Nouri has had 12 shots to date, with 10 of those coming from inside the box. He is averaging an attempt every 69.2 minutes, with a shot accuracy of 50 per cent. Meanwhile, he is creating a chance every 75 minutes, with a total of 11 so far. 

Ait-Nouri heat map GW1-10

Antonee Robinson (£4.7m): One of only five players who survives my Wildcard cull. Robinson produced his third assist of the season in Gameweek 10; only Ait-Nouri and Nathan Collins (£4.5m) have more attacking returns than Robinson this season. Fulham do have some tricky fixtures in Gameweeks 13, 15, 16 and 18, when they face Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, but as my fourth defender, I can bench him for those fixtures due to him rotating nicely with both Dalot and Ait-Nouri. 

Sepp van den Berg (£4.0m): If Jacob Greaves (£4.1m) was fit then I would have considered spending the extra £0.1m on him. Greaves matches Van den Berg's Expected Goals (xG) tally, however the latter has better xA data. Either way, both are regular starters when fit, and with Greaves out injured and costing £0.1m more, Van den Berg is the ideal fifth defender. 

Midfielders

Mohamed Salah (£12.8m): Not owning Salah this season has been a painful experience. The midfielder has six double-digit hauls across the opening 10 Gameweeks, only missing out on another one in Gameweek 10 by one point. Salah is the top-scoring player in FPL and feels essential on Wildcard. Bringing him in was a key reason for playing my Wildcard this week. 

Cole Palmer (£11.0m): "Big in midfield" is my strategy on Wildcard, so Chelsea's Palmer is my second pick. His 12 attacking returns this season rank joint-top with Salah. The Chelsea star is averaging 8.2 points per match, and while there is a tricky fixture in Gameweek 11 against Arsenal, the Blues have kind fixtures right through to the festive period. On the plus side, Palmer has played two matches against the Gunners - one in the Premier League and once in the Community Shield - and scored in both.

Bruno Fernandes (£8.2m): As a one-week punt, I will likely go for Fernandes or Brennan Johnson (£6.7m) to target their Gameweek 11 fixtures, at home to Leicester and Ipswich respectively. But I will leave money in the bank to move to Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) in this slot in Gameweek 12, so I can avoid being over-invested in Sunday's Chelsea v Arsenal match and own the England star for the Gunners' great fixtures from Gameweek 12, when he looks like a must-have. 

Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m): Despite blanking in Gameweek 10, Mbeumo feels like a must-own and an obvious hold on Wildcard. He has eight goals already this season and is averaging 7.1 points per match, which is only bettered by Palmer, Saka and Salah among midfielders. As with those three stars, Mbeumo is also on penalties, adding to his appeal as an additional route to points.

Morgan Rogers (£5.4m): Over the last six Gameweeks, Rogers has been the best-value attacker (midfielder or forward) in FPL. He has returned 36 points over that period, delivering 6.7 points per million spent. He is the easiest hold on my Wildcard providing he recovers from a knock suffered last weekend. With Aston Villa in midweek UEFA Champions League action, we should get news. AFC AFC Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m) is a good option too, but having owned Rogers all season, Semenyo would cost me £0.4m more than the Villa star. 

Forwards

Dominic Solanke (£7.7m): Solanke has been like a yo-yo in my FPL team. I owned him in Gameweek 1, then sold when he got injured and then bought him back in for Gameweek 6. Prior to Gameweek 10, he was going to be sold for the likes of Chris Wood (£6.5m) or Raul Jimenez (£5.8m) on Wildcard. However, after two goals and an assist in Gameweek 10, I will hold him for the Ipswich game and likely for Fulham at home in Gamweweek 13, too. After that he could be moved on for Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson (£7.9m), or down to one of the other very attractive £6.5m-and-under forwards.

Yoane Wissa (£6.0m): The Brentford forward has become one of my favourite Premier League players. Wissa has only made six starts this season due to injury, but only one forward in the game has more attacking returns per 90 minutes than Wissa. He is averaging 6.7 points per start and 2.46 shots per 90 minutes, while his goal conversion rate of 38.5 per cent is the best among all forwards in FPL.

Jorgen Strand Larsen (£5.6m): Ideally, I would like to find the additional £1.0m to have Matheus Cunha (£6.7m) in this spot. However, that would likely mean losing either Gvardiol, not covering the Arsenal defence or downgrading Robinson to another £4.0m defender. Both Wolves forwards have four goals and an assist this season, with Strand Larsen starting all 10 matches. The Norwegian also has slightly higher xG data than Cunha, with 2.56, compared to 2.30. On the other hand, Cunha has over double the final-third touches, as well as 50 penalty-area touches compared with 31 for Strand Larsen. With budgets tight, Strand Larsen could be a good alternative, and he could also be moved to Danny Welbeck (£5.9m) or Joao Pedro (£5.4m) when Brighton & Hove Albion begin a favourable fixtures run from Gameweek 13. 

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