Az from Blackbox is back with another round of FPL tips – this week centred around the best FPL Wildcard team for Gameweek 12.
If you’ve made it this far without playing your FPL Wildcard yet, I salute you.
If you’ve still got the chip, for many people this is likely to be a great week to use it, with fixtures turing for teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Brighton, and Newcastle and some great options emerging for consideration.
Below, I’ve put together a team that should be achievable for most budgets. With some great cut-price players available with fantastic fixtures, it shouldn’t be too hard to fit in three “heavy hitters”.
FPL Wildcard Team Gameweek 12
- GK – Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m)
- GK – Lukas Fabianski (£4.0m)
- DEF – Ibrahima Konate (£5.4m)
- DEF – Gabriel (£6.0m)
- DEF – Lewis Hall (£4.4m)
- DEF – Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.7m)
- DEF – Sepp van den Berg (£4.1m)
- MID – Mohamed Salah (£12.9m)
- MID – Cole Palmer (£10.9m)
- MID – Bukayo Saka (£10.1m)
- MID – Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m)
- MID – Morgan Rogers (£5.4m)
- FWD – Alexander Isak (£8.5m)
- FWD – Joao Pedro (£5.5m)
- FWD – Matheus Cunha (£6.8m)
Goalkeeper and Defence
My own team is stacked in defence, and I am desperately seeing a way to shift some funds into midfield. David Raya (£5.5m) is an obviously enticing option and cut price route into the Arsenal defence, but I’m going to suggest you take Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m). It’s a great price for the Brighton keeper, who has three clean sheets this season and has already played the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, and Chelsea.
Ibrahima Konate (£5.4m) is an easy route into what looks to be the meanest defence this season, and Gabriel has the goal threat to make him the pick of the Arsenal defenders. Lewis Hall (£4.4m) seems to have finally nailed down his spot in the Newcastle lineup. In reserve, Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.7m) has a sea of green fixtures until after Christmas and has five attacking returns already this season, and Sepp van den Berg (£4.1m) is just there to make up the numbers really – if you’ve got more funds, why not take a punt on Leif Davis (£4.5m), who might not be getting clean sheets but has similar underlying attacking stats to Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m).
Midfield
Look at what you can do without Erling Haaland (£15.2m). Mohamed Salah (£12.9m), Cole Palmer (£10.9m), and Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) all slot in nicely as their team’s talisman. All should hit over 200 points this season and present brilliant captain options over the festive schedule. Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m) remains a lock given the next two fixtures, but note the fixtures do turn from Gameweek 14, so he may be one of your first exits. I’m a huge fan of Morgan Rogers (£5.4m), who I still think will be the best value pick in the game this season. He has an attacking role in a Villa team who have struggled of late but have the fixtures on the horzion to bounce back.
Forwards
No Haaland, but three talismans for their respective clubs up front. Alexander Isak (£8.5m) is on a great run of form for both club and country after recovering from injury, which coincides with Newcastle looking far more vibrant from an attacking point of view. Joao Pedro (£5.5m) showed what he can do in an 11-minute blitz against Man City, and if you saw my article a few weeks ago on Mathues Cunha (£6.8m), you’ll know what a big fan I am of his.
Other Players To Consider
Of course, the above is just my favoured selection; there’s plenty of other players to consider if you don’t fancy any of my picks. Jurrien Timber (£5.5m) looks a great differential after the news of Ben White’s injury seemingly locking his starts in for the forseeable.
For the brave FPL manager who is willing to overlook his previous “troll” status, Lucas Digne (£4.7m) also has the form and fixtures to excel.
In midfield, Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) is acquiring plenty of new owners after hitting 17 points against Leicester last gameweek. You could even take a punt on Marcus Rashford (£6.9m), who may get a chance to impress up top if some of the rumours surrounding Ruben Amorim’s tactics are to be believed.
Up front, Nicolas Jackson (£7.9m) is a strong selection, but I must admit I am a little put off by his four yellow cards. If you can stomach a likely one-match ban, then he may end up as the best differential of all given Chelsea’s run of fixtures right up to the new year.
