Sam from FPL Family has her Wildcard active ahead of Gameweek 11.

In this article, she talks us through her plans and going big in midfield – even if that means no Erling Haaland (£15.3m).

Gameweek 12. Right from the start of the season, the plan has always been to Wildcard in Gameweek 12. I love an international break Wildcard and the fixture swings looked prime for attacking the game.

However, my team for Gameweek 10 already struggling. No Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea attack filled me with fear. As did not having the likes of Chris Wood (£6.5m), Matheus Cunha (£6.6m) and Rayan Ait Nouri (£4.7m). When I logged in to my team after Gameweek 9 and the League Cup fixtures to find flags on the likes of Dwight McNeil (£5.8m) and Josh Gvardiol (£6.2m), the temptation to rage Wildcard was real.

In the end, I decided not to. A Wildcard ahead of Gameweek 10 would have meant selling the likes of Gvardiol, Ollie Watkins (£9.0m), Phil Foden (£9.3m), Erling Haaland (£15.3m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m). I wasn’t ready for that yet – especially with Watkins coming up against a Tottenham Hotspur team without definitely Mickey van de Ven (£4.6m) and potentially Christian Romero (£5.1m) .

It felt wrong to act on impulse, especially with little knowledge about the likes of Gvardiol and McNeil. As it happens, that was the right decision given that Gvardiol and Dominic Solanke (£7.6m) would have been sacrificed. Both returned well.

Saturday fixtures

However, the Saturday matches did change things. Watching the Arsenal match followed by Soccer Saturday induced a real fear. No Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) or Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) especially was difficult. There was a real panic every time the panel went to Anfield.

Over the last few weeks, the likes of Salah, Cole Palmer (£11.0m) and Saka have all been rising in price. They all rose again ahead of Gameweek 10. Couple this with the increase for the likes of Cunha, Ait-Nouri and Wood and suddenly it’s much harder to build a team without sacrifices.

Looking at my squad, there were only five players I wanted to hold on Saturday afternoon. That did rise to six after Solanke’s performance on Sunday though! When Wildcarding, my normal stance is that if I want to make five or more changes, then the time is likely right.

With Arsenal facing Chelsea in Gameweek 11, there was the potential to just run one more week with my existing team and play the chip as planned in Gameweek 12. However, the players that I wanted to invest in were all primed for price rises. My concern was that in a week’s time, I would want to build the same team and it would cost me more – potentially even making it unaffordable.

Wildcard Draft