FPL Gameweek 12 Preview – Wildcard Chat, Underlying Stats, Captaincy Picks, & More!

Rejoice, one and all, for the tyranny of the international break is finally at an end (for now). 

I’m delighted to say we don’t have to worry about that nonsense until March 20th. Yes indeed – four uninterrupted months of fully-focused FPL fun and frustration (probably mostly frustration, based on it being… you know, FPL). 

Gameweek 12 Talking Points

It’s always a bit weird, coming back to FPL after an international break. You’ve got no idea about the fixtures, what your amazing plans were, who’s actually injured and who was just pretending to get out of international duty…

Well, you and I are both about to get fully up to speed on the whole situation! Here are three quick hitters, before we get on with our usual programming. 

Wildcard Chat

If you’ve still got your first wildcard, lucky you! I dropped mine uncharacteristically early and it got me absolutely nowhere. In fact, I basically used it to switch from Mo to Haaland, just as Haaland stopped scoring. Then everyone immediately started going Haaland to Mo. 

Basically it was a complete waste of time. 

But, if you do have your wildcard, this feels like a great time to play it. Again, we’ve now got four uninterrupted months without internationals, and there’s a clear divide between teams with Haaland, Salah, or both.

Who should you actually get? Easy!

My Full 90 FPL co-conspirator James put together an entire international break wildcard piece. Which you should read in full, since it’s brilliant. He goes position-by-position, looks at all the upcoming fixtures, and much much more. 

International Catch-Up

I’ll be honest, I couldn’t care less about non-tournament (actual tournament – the Nations League doesn’t count) international football. All I really care about nowadays is how it impacts Fantasy Premier League. 

We haven’t had all the Gameweek 12 press conferences, at the time of writing. For the latest injury updates, I’d recommend Injury Expert on Twitter. 

There are a few big names to keep an eye on, however. Saka is kind-of injured as normal, White is definitely out for weeks, Semenyo withdrew from international duty too.

Right now, it’s all a bit of a mess. Do make your transfers as late as possible this week though, once you’ve got as much news as possible.

Premier League State of Play – Underlying Stats

James was a very busy bee over the international break. In addition to the aforementioned wildcard piece, he also did a deep dive into Premier League stats. 

You can check the full article, in all its glory, here.

In short, if you want to get completely up-to-date, in one go, on how good everyone actually is, just read this article. It looks at players and teams, this season and over the last 49 games, for attacking stats, defensive stats, and in lots of other interesting ways. 

Upcoming FPL Fixtures

If you want a more detailed, longer look at the upcoming 10 fixtures, I’d again point you towards James’ international break wildcard piece. You can see all the games ranked, for attacks and defence, there.

Here’s a much quicker look at the best all-round FPL fixtures over the next five gameweeks. 

(Home games are in caps)

• Wolves have had a very tough schedule so far. We’ll see what they’re really made of now that their fixtures turn. I’m fine with a defender like Ait Nouri for most of these fixtures.
  I don’t love Cunha, simply because I don’t think he’s worth so much more than Wissa, Welbeck, etc., and these are better fixtures for defenders than attackers

• Brighton have had hard fixtures too, but are also 6th in the league. I’m definitely fine buying into their forwards, with a slight preference for Welbeck right now, since JP is just coming back from injury
  Defensively they’ve been middle of the pack for 1.5 seasons now, so I’d also be happy to get a defender on a wildcard for these fixtures

• To be honest, I’m not particularly excited about any Villa players. I don’t trust Watkins, and while these are decent defensive fixtures, they haven’t been keeping cleans 
• Arsenal’s fixtures finally turn, after a tough run of games. I’d be confident in getting Gabriel/Saliba, in the hope the defence gets back to what we saw last season. Timber is a nice cheaper option, and should be nailed now White is injured. 

• Bournemouth’s underlying defensive stats are fine, but I wouldn’t actually back them for cleans. I do like Semenyo and Evanilson very much, though – both offer excellent value

Should I Buy?

Let’s take a look at all the most-bought players in FPL, ahead of Gameweek 12, and decide whether they also belong on your beloved team.

• Salah – Yes. You can debate Haaland all you like, but I think Mo is back to being must-own. Southampton this week is great, then it’s City, who he usually plays well against (17 returns in 21 games, in all competitions)

• Bruno – Maybe. Obviously he’s in form, and Ipswich then Everton are fine fixtures. After that though, he plays Arsenal, Forest, and City back to back. Eek!

• Isak – Yes. He’s a brilliant pick right now, and I’m strongly considering moving Haaland to him

• Cunha – No. He’s good, and the fixtures are fine – I just don’t like the value. I’d rather have Welbeck/Pedro, for example, at 6.0, than Cunha at 6.8

• Smith Rowe – Maybe. He continues to offer excellent value, at 5.7… I’m just not sure you’d ever feel confident starting him. The fixtures are pretty up-and-down too. I’d rather have Semenyo, at the same price 

• Wissa – Maybe. He’s excellent, and the underlying stats have backed up his production for ages now. The problem is his fixtures. The next two are fine… then they get absolutely brutal. Hold him if you’ve got him, but it’s a short-term move to bring him in
• Van Dijk / Konate – No/Maybe. Van Dijk is technically more of a returns threat… but also he still doesn’t actually get that many. I’d rather just have Konate for 0.9 less. Even then, you’re probably having to bench him in GW 13 and 14, against City and Newcastle, before you start him every week again
• Joao Pedro – No. I just think it’s too risky this week. He changed the game against City, but we can’t guarantee he actually starts, as he returns from injury. If he does start this week, I’m definitely back in on him
• Mazraoui – No. He offers little attacking threat, and the next two fixtures are good, but they get significantly trickier after that. There are several teams with better defensive fixtures, with players around this price point (Brighton, Wolves, Chelsea, etc.)

• Palmer – Yes. He hasn’t actually looked very good, but you have to back the pedigree here, especially with Leicester and Southampton either side of the Villa game

• Welbeck – Yes. He’s excellent, cheap, and Brighton’s fixtures are pretty good for ages now. You can basically set and forget him indefinitely

• Wood – No. Not before he plays Arsenal away, and he has City and Man U away soon after that 

Should I Sell?

Who are you going to shift, for all those shiny new players in your FPL team? Let’s find out, by casting our critical eyes at the most-sold players among the public

• Trent – It depends completely if he’s injured this week. If not, obviously keep him for Southampton. If so, Now is a great time to sell anyway, with City and Newcastle the two following games
• Haaland – Maybe. This has been written-about and discussed ad nauseam. Personally I’m holding for Spurs’ crap defence, but I agree it makes more logical sense to spread the money around
• Solanke – Maybe. Spurs could definitely get at City on the counter, so I don’t think it’s a terrible fixture. But also he’s been very up-and-down, the fixtures are a mixed bag, Jackson is only a bit more, and and there are various much cheaper forwards
• McNeil – Again, it’s injury dependent. I’m probably holding if he’s fit, since Brentford’s defence has been mediocre for a while. He wasn’t exactly tearing it up before he got injured, though, so selling also feels fine
• B Johnson – I’d be more tempted to keep him than Solanke, since he’s almost a million cheaper, and – apart from Semenyo – I don’t think there are significantly better-value midfielders than him. Again, the City fixture feels fine, and he’s been unlucky not to have more returns recently
• Luis Diaz – No. There’s no guarantee he starts, but you kind-of have to keep him for the Southampton game… and just cross your fingers he plays!
• Vardy – Yes. Might be injured, and Chelsea isn’t a good matchup
• Mbeumo – No (injury news pending). Everton and Leicester are fine fixtures. You can think again about selling him after that
• Wood – Yes. Now feels like a nice time to sell, especially with other good forward options right around his price (or cheaper)

Captaincy Corner

You’ll be shocked to hear that it’s Haaland or Salah. 

Salah is the safer pick – he returns every week, and has a great matchup. I don’t rate Spurs’ defence at all, and think Haaland could easily get a couple of goals. He probably has the higher upside, Salah has the higher floor. 

I wouldn’t even consider anyone else this week. They’re the two best players in the game, and they both have nice attacking fixtures. 

Final Thoughts

Well, we’re officially back. How exciting! 

Hopefully this FPL Gameweek 12 preview got you up to speed. Maybe you even took a little advice from it – a guy can dream!

Thanks for reading, everybody, and best of luck out there this week. 

(Be sure to follow us on Reddit too, for all the latest previews and whatnot hot off the press).