FPL: Countdown to GW1 - Rule Change, Must-Haves, Enablers and more

“Who got the assist?” That’s the phrase you will hear in pubs up and down the country this weekend. Why? Because FPL has changed the way we watch football… mostly for the better, right!?

As a football fan, I’ve always had an interest in all 20 Premier League teams but because of FPL I pay more attention than ever before. I don’t only want to know each team’s formation and starting XI but which players are on set pieces, who racks up the bonus points and what their expected goals total is.

It’s my job to be on top of this and to me, being an elite FPL manager is all about the small margins that allow you to gain an edge on your mini-league rivals.

The FIFA World Cup has made FPL a little different this season. We’ve been given unlimited transfers between Gameweek 16 (12th November) and Gameweek 17 (26th December) – effectively we have an extra Wildcard – so what does that mean for our transfer planning?

Usually, you hear FPL experts spouting “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” and in a way, this still applies, but this rule change now splits the season in four. Four small sprints of around 9-10 games with three opportunities to overhaul your team.

To make the most of the unlimited transfer chip, we don’t need to save our first wildcard until December as we might have done previously. To maximize on the new rule change I think I will be Wildcarding before Gameweek 10 and then knowing I will be approaching the New Year with a shiny new team, I’m unlikely to need my second Wildcard until the Spring.

This should encourage us to be a little more aggressive with our FPL picks from the off.

Rather than look at steady, long-term holds we should be targeting the teams with the biggest upside in the short term, I’m not looking past