With many Fantasy Premier League managers turning to their Wildcards in Gameweek 3, we use Solio Analytics’ projections to compare different FPL team structures, identify the best players to target and assess the impact of the transfer window.
A significant number of FPL managers are planning to use their Wildcard chip this week. For some, it is a reaction to a lacklustre start, allowing them to correct mistakes that felt like brilliant decisions only a couple of weeks ago. For others, however, this was always part of the plan.
One strategy that gained prominence this season was to use the Bench Boost chip in GW1 or GW2, before following that up with a Wildcard in GW3 (WC3).
This allowed managers to target the opening two Gameweeks in isolation, without having to worry about players whose fixtures became less appealing from GW3 onwards.
Building a strong enough bench meant spreading funds more evenly across the squad, so sacrifices had to be made elsewhere. For many, that meant going without the game’s most expensive player, Gabriel Magalhães were the three highest-scoring players in FPL last season, and all three became mainstays of many successful squads.
But while they cost a combined £29.0m at the start of 2025-26, their starting prices rose to £35.5m this season. Building around all three required managers to make considerable sacrifices elsewhere.
Have enough suitable lower-priced players emerged over the opening two Gameweeks to make a “Big Three” structure more viable?
Here’s how a WC3 squad containing all three could look:
This squad balances the considerable expenditure on the Big Three by using cost-effective options such as Ezri Konsa.
According to Solio’s projections for the next six Gameweeks (GW3-8), each of those players ranks first or second among players in their position at their respective price points.
With Bench Boost out of the way, managers can also fill the bench with minimum-price options such as Regan Slater (£4.5m) and John Egan (£4.0m), who they actually never intend to play, with more focus on funding the main starters.
João Pedro is included with Chelsea’s home fixture against Hull City in mind. Chelsea coverage can then be increased by replacing Cherki with Morgan Rogers the following week, creating several potential captaincy options.
After accounting for Solio’s suggested transfers over the subsequent Gameweeks, this squad is projected to earn 368.6 points across six Gameweeks. It retains each of the Big Three up to GW8, when Haaland is replaced by Bukayo Saka and Riccardo Calafiori, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mamadou Sangaré to form a pair of DEFCON-focused midfielders. It’s early days, but both appear to have carried their defensive output into their new surroundings: Anderson is averaging 12.4 DEFCONs per 90 minutes, while Sangaré is averaging 14.6.
The threshold for achieving DEFCON points is 12 for midfielders and forwards, and 10 for defenders. Solio offer projections for which players are most likely to reach those thresholds. Here are the 10 best midfielders by this measure for the next six Gameweeks:
The inclusions of Anderson and Sangaré give the squad routes to points that aren’t dependent on goals or assists, although its midfield inevitably lacks some of the attacking potential found in the other two approaches.
This squad is projected to earn 366.9 points across six Gameweeks. It starts with two members of the Big Three and adds a third in Fernandes later on.
Despite the substantial differences between the three approaches we have outlined, only 1.7 projected points separate them across the six Gameweeks, or around 0.5%.
Big Three: 368.6 points
No Big Three: 367.1 points
Arsenal Defence and DEFCON Midfield: 366.9 points
Crucially, these projections also account for planned transfers. Managers are not committing to the same structure indefinitely, instead selecting the best starting point from which to navigate the next six Gameweeks.
This should reassure managers that they don’t need to follow a specific template for fear of immediately falling behind. Whether defending a good start or attempting to recover from a poor one, several notably different WC3 structures can produce similar projected returns with an appropriate transfer plan.
Solio’s continuously updated projections already account for the latest transfers and their potential effects on players’ minutes, roles and output, but there is inevitably a limit to what can be inferred.
The squad-planning tool therefore allows users to adjust those assumptions and see how their own expectations affect each player’s projected output.
With several late-window transfers reshaping the FPL landscape, let’s take a look at the players and teams attracting the most attention for WC3.
Man City Assets
Thanks to home matches against Coventry in GW3 and Ipswich in GW7, Solio project Man City to score the most goals (13.2) and keep the second-most clean sheets (2.1) of any team across the next six Gameweeks.
Selecting the correct combination of assets from their team is therefore an incredibly important decision for managers, but their deadline-day signings of Anton Stach (£6.0m) and Ben White seems more secure right now given the main challenger for his position, Timber, is injured, but the Dutchman is likely to make a return within this Wildcard window.
Konsa is the defender that many on WC3 are gravitating towards because of his cheap price tag (£4.4m), but he is far from a certainty, especially given that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has played down injury concerns regarding Bradley Barcola has signed for Liverpool for a fee worth up to £123m once potential add-ons are included. The fee alone should tell you how highly regarded the winger is.
Barcola put up great numbers in Ligue 1 for Paris Saint-Germain, particularly in 2024-25, when he scored or assisted a goal every 91 minutes, second only to teammate Ousmane Dembelé among players to start at least 20 games.
His overall goal-involvement figures declined last season, partly because he registered only one assist from 4.5 expected assists. Nonetheless, among Ligue 1 players who made at least 20 starts, only Estéban Lepaul (every 150 minutes) scored a non-penalty goal more often than Barcola (every 159 minutes).
Barcola to Liverpool Analysed:
Ligue 1Goals, Carries, and Runs in Behind: Bradley Barcola Could Be Perfect for Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool
4 weeks ago David SegarBarcola’s impressive returns have seen him priced at £8.0m in FPL, which is higher than Liverpool teammates such as Florian Wirtz (£7.5m), Cody Gakpo (£7.0m) and Szoboszlai (£7.0m).
Solio project Liverpool to be the second-highest scoring team across the next six Gameweeks (11.7 goals), and this could tempt some to bring Barcola straight in on WC3 – but this would be a huge risk.
Liverpool’s projected goal output is front-loaded with fixtures against Ipswich in GW3 and Fulham in GW4, and given that Barcola has not played since the FIFA World Cup, it remains doubtful that he will start either game.
Isak leads all Liverpool players for projected points per game over the next six Gameweeks (4.92), but Szoboszlai is a close second (4.81) despite being considerably cheaper. The Hungarian already provided value, but his projections look even healthier after taking Liverpool’s penalty against Newcastle over Isak.
Barcola promises to be a dangerous FPL asset once his minutes are secure, but for now attention is best focused on the aforementioned duo.
Chelsea Assets
Solio project Chelsea to keep the third-most clean sheets (1.8) and score the fourth-most goals (10.6) across the next six Gameweeks, and this is despite facing Arsenal away from home in GW3.
Indeed, it’s their fixture against Arsenal which is causing a headache for those on WC3. That’s why some managers who already own Chelsea assets have opted to use the Free Hit chip instead.
Chelsea’s GW4 fixture at home against Hull should be targeted – even if it is less appealing on the back of Hull winning their opening two games without conceding – but the timing is awkward.
One approach may be to own one Chelsea player who can be benched in GW3 before starting again in GW4, while planning a transfer for an additional asset ahead of the Hull fixture.
Palmer (7.36), João Pedro (6.67) and Rogers (6.62) currently project as GW4’s best captaincy picks, so this is an important consideration to make.
There may be some managers who are bullish on Chelsea’s chances to score against Arsenal, though. Xabi Alonso’s side scored three goals with 38% possession against Fulham and four goals with 26% possession against Brighton.
Their possession figure against Brighton was their lowest on record in a Premier League game, which is quite astonishing considering they were at home and did not have a player sent off.
Might the system currently employed by Alonso provide more danger to Arsenal than some suspect?
Palmer leads all Chelsea players with an average of 5.48 projected points across the next six Gameweeks, with João Pedro (5.01) and Morgan Rogers (4.94) not too far behind for a lower price.
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