Thinking about playing your Wildcard ahead of Gameweek 8, or in need of inspiration for your transfers ahead of the return of Fantasy Premier League on Saturday? These players selected below by the team at Fantasy Football Scout are being backed to score BIG over the coming Gameweeks.
Goalkeepers
Andre Onana (£5.0m): Manchester United’s shot-stopper is the highest-scoring goalkeeper in the game, registering 39 points. He has made 19 saves, resulting in four save points. He has also kept four clean sheets, saved a penalty and picked up three bonus points. The Red Devils have promising fixtures that should lead to more shutouts.
See: Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR)
Lukasz Fabianski (£4.0m): Onana would be the "set-and-forget" goalkeeper, meaning a player that you're unlikely to use a transfer on to remove from your squad. A non-playing second goalkeeper has therefore been selected in this squad to save budget. Fabianski at £4.0m enables more budget to be distributed across the other 14 positions.
Defenders
Gabriel (£6.2m): Arsenal are one of the elite defences in the Premier League. They have kept three clean sheets from their opening seven matches and they have only conceded six goals, despite already playing Aston Villa, Spurs and Man City. Gabriel is the pick of the Arsenal defenders. The centre-back has had 11 attempts on goal this season, with 10 of those coming from inside the box.
Rico Lewis (£4.7m): Even after two price rises this season, Lewis still feels like a bargain. It isn’t often that you can invest in a Man City defender with attacking threat for less than £5.0m, but Lewis offers that. The budget enabler has started six of the opening seven matches of the season, registering one clean sheet and two assists. Lewis boasts some attacking threat, producing four attempts on goal, as well as creating three chances for his team-mates.
Nathan Collins (£4.5m): While Collins and Brentford are yet to pick up their first clean sheet of the season, the centre-back has scored one goal and provided three assists. No defender has racked up more attacking returns, and with Brentford boasting some nice fixtures, he offers potential at both ends of the pitch.
Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.4m): Although Wolves have conceded the most goals and are yet to keep a clean sheet, some good fixtures after Gameweek 8 and a strong attacking threat make the Algeria international a potential bargain. Ait-Nouri has created nine chances and is third among Wolves players for goal attempts, with nine. He has four attacking returns already this season, more than any team-mate.
Jacob Greaves (£4.1m): Most Wildcard squads will likely need to include a £4.0m defender, and Greaves looks to be the best of them. Ipswich have a good run of fixtures between now and the busy festive period. The centre-back has had the most attempts on goal of all their defenders, with five.
Midfielders
Cole Palmer (£10.8m): Palmer’s two hauls against Wolves and Brighton in Gameweeks 2 and 6 have helped him become the joint-top scorer in 2024/25 Fantasy. His 11 attacking returns are more than any other player in the game, with the Chelsea star averaging 9.6 points per start.
Bukayo Saka (£10.1m): Saka was substituted early in England’s first match of the international break against Greece, but as long as the prognosis is good then he looks like a key player to own on Wildcard. Saka has nine attacking returns this season, second only to Palmer among midfielders. His 27 chances created are significantly more than any other midfielder in the game. Of those, 12 have been big chances – situations where the player is expected to score – which again leads the way among midfielders.
Bryan Mbeumo (£7.5m): His six goals are tied for the most among midfielders. The Brentford star is currently averaging 7.3 points per match, while his nine bonus points are only bettered by the 11 of Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) in his position.
Brennan Johnson (£6.6m): He has impressively scored in all of Spurs’ last six matches in all competitions. Johnson has had 21 attempts on goal this season, more than any team-mate, and he has also created six chances and supplied 11 crosses. Spurs have great fixtures between Gameweeks 8-19, so their attack is definitely one to invest in.
Morgan Rogers (£5.3m): Aston Villa's midfielder has emerged as a key budget enabler over the opening Gameweeks. Rogers has produced 11 attempts on goal, with eight coming from inside the box. He has also created 10 chances, with four of those classified as big chances.
Forwards
Erling Haaland (£15.3m): Haaland, alongside Palmer, is the top-scoring player in the game. The Man City forward has scored 10 goals across the opening seven matches of the season. His 35 attempts on goal are 10 more than any other forward, while the Norwegian's 57 touches inside the penalty area are more than any other player in Fantasy, boding well for his prospects of further attacking returns.
Danny Welbeck (£5.8m): Brighton’s Welbeck has five attacking returns this season, and is currently averaging 5.9 points per start. While Brighton have mixed fixtures in the short term, from Gameweek 12 the outlook improves significantly, so Welbeck looks a good pick over a longer period.
Liam Delap (£5.6m): The Ipswich forward is in great form, with three goals over the last two Gameweeks. Delap has had 11 shots on goal, three more than Omari Hutchinson (£5.3m), who is the next best for the Tractor Boys. Eight of those attempts have come from inside the box, with five classified as big chances. Delap has four goals already, which only Haaland can better among forwards. That’s the same total as the likes of Kai Havertz (£8.3m), Ollie Watkins (£9.1m) and Nicolas Jackson (£7.9m), who all cost significantly more.
