With Fantasy Premier League managers increasingly turning to the Wildcard in Gameweek 3, there is no shortage of ways to structure a squad.
Some managers will want to build around Erling Haaland and other premium attackers, while others may prefer to spread their budget across a deeper squad.
The early-season data also opens up another possibility: spending heavily on defence.
Arsenal have conceded chances worth only 0.54 expected goals across their opening two matches, while Manchester City have an appealing
home fixture against Coventry City in GW3. Liverpool are away to Ipswich Town, while Chelsea’s fixture run becomes particularly attractive from GW4 onwards.
This opens up different wildcard strategies where there isn’t necessarily one perfect squad. Instead, there are several viable structures.
Here are four FPL Gameweek 3 Wildcard team drafts, each built around a different strategy.
1. FPL GW3 Wildcard Team: Going Big at the Back
Formation: 4-4-2
If you’re convinced that Arsenal’s defence is going to continue dominating, this is the structure to consider.
David Raya and Gabriel are the premium Arsenal options, with both offering the security that is particularly valuable on a Wildcard.
The strategy then adds Newcastle’s Lewis Hall and Manchester City’s Gvardiol, alongside Ezri Konsa as a cheaper defensive option.
The attraction is obvious: rather than relying on five or six attacking players to deliver every week, this team spreads its spending across the backline.
Why Go Big at the Back?
Arsenal’s opening defensive numbers are difficult to ignore. They have faced the fewest shots, the fewest shots on target and allowed the lowest opposition xG after two Gameweeks. Gabriel is therefore more than simply an expensive defender. He is a long-term anchor.
Hall and Gvardiol also provide attacking potential from full-back, while Konsa offers a cheaper route into Arsenal’s defence. The beauty of this structure is that the defence doesn’t need to rely entirely on clean sheets.
Gabriel can produce attacking returns, Hall and Gvardiol can contribute offensively and DEFCON points can add another route to returns.
2. FPL GW3 Wildcard Team: Going Strong in Midfield
Formation: 3-5-2
If midfielders are where you believe the biggest points hauls will come from, this is the structure to consider.
The headline is the midfield five. Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer and Bruno Fernandes are joined by Dominik Szoboszlai and Pascal Groß. That’s a huge amount of attacking and set-piece potential concentrated in one position. The major compromise comes in defence.
Instead of paying for multiple premium defenders, this team relies on cheaper options and concentrates the budget where explosive FPL returns are most likely.
Why Go Strong in Midfield?
This is the most explosive structure of the four.
Saka has already scored in both of Arsenal’s opening matches, while Palmer’s long-term appeal becomes stronger from GW4 when Chelsea face Hull.
Then there is Bruno. His 23-point haul against Ipswich has made selling him one of the biggest decisions for Wildcard managers.
The argument for keeping him is straightforward: he has demonstrated an enormous ceiling. The argument against him is equally straightforward: £12.0m is a huge amount of money that could otherwise be invested in Saka, Palmer, Haaland or the defence.
This structure says keep the premiums and let the budget defenders take the hit. Szoboszlai and Groß then provide cheaper midfield routes through set pieces, penalties and bonus potential.
The GW3 Problem
Palmer faces Arsenal in GW3, so this isn’t necessarily the perfect one-week team. But Wildcard managers shouldn’t only be thinking about Gameweek 3. Chelsea’s GW4 fixture against Hull makes Palmer much more attractive, which means accepting one difficult fixture now can make sense for a longer-term squad..
3. FPL GW3 Wildcard Team: Going Big at the Front
Formation: 3-4-3
This is the pure attacking approach.
Rather than spreading the budget across the squad, the strategy is to put three premium attacking options into the starting XI.
Erling Haaland is the obvious headline act. He is joined by Alexander Isak and Yoane Wissa.
Manchester City’s home fixture against Coventry makes Haaland an obvious captaincy candidate, while Liverpool’s trip to Ipswich gives Isak another attractive fixture. Wissa is the value component that makes the structure possible.
Why Go Big Up Front?
There are three very different reasons to like this forward line. Haaland has the fixture. Isak has the team. Wissa has the value.
Manchester City are projected to score more goals than any other team across the next six Gameweeks, while Liverpool are second. Newcastle are also among the teams with the most attractive attacking outlook.
Wissa is particularly appealing because Newcastle’s fixture run provides plenty of opportunities for attacking returns. His £6.1m price also allows the team to carry two much more expensive forwards alongside him.
The Trade-Off
The obvious sacrifice is the midfield. There is no Bruno Fernandes or Cole Palmer, while the defence also lacks the depth of the big-at-the-back structure. But that’s the point. If you believe forwards are going to deliver the biggest hauls, why not put the money there?
Best For
Managers who want maximum attacking upside and are comfortable sacrificing midfield depth.
4. FPL GW3 Wildcard Team: The Four-Premium Strategy
Formation: 3-4-3
Now we get to the wildcard draft that will probably create the most debate. Can you fit Haaland, Bruno Fernandes, Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka into the same FPL squad? Yes.
But there is a price to pay. This structure strips the rest of the squad back to its essentials. The four premiums consume almost half of the entire £100m budget, leaving the remaining players to be selected primarily for value, fixtures and expected minutes.
Why Four Premiums?
Because sometimes the simplest FPL strategy is also the most aggressive one. Haaland, Saka, Palmer and Fernandes all have the potential to produce massive Gameweeks. The problem is that four premium players leave very little money elsewhere.
The defence therefore becomes heavily dependent on £4.0m-£4.5m options, while the bench has almost no attacking power. This means the structure needs the premium players to perform. If Haaland, Bruno, Saka and Palmer all deliver simultaneously, however, the potential upside is enormous.
The Bruno Question
This is also the structure for managers who simply don’t want to sell Fernandes after his 23-point Gameweek. The temptation to keep him is understandable. But the important question isn’t whether Bruno will score points.
He almost certainly will. The question is whether he scores enough points to justify his £12.0m price compared with the alternatives available to you. This team says yes.
Best For
Managers chasing rank who are comfortable accepting a weak bench in exchange for four premium captaincy-level players.
- READ MORE: FPL GW3 Scout Picks: Best 4-4-2 XI featuring Haaland, Bruno, Cherki and Saka
