Suggested setup: 3-5-2. Start Donnarumma, then a back three of Guéhi, O’Reilly and Matheus N., stack the five-man midfield, and pair Haaland with Mateta up front. Gyökeres is the first attacking alternative if you want to flip to 3-4-3. This squad projects aggressively for GW36, but it comes in at £102.9m, so you will need to trim £2.9m if building from a flat £100.0m budget.
Goalkeepers
Donnarumma is the standout starter on the numbers, with 8.42 xP at home to Palace and 9.3 percent ownership. Henderson is not just a backup either, posting 7.96 xP, so the keeper slot is unusually strong either way. If you need savings, Henderson at £5.1m is the cheaper route, and dropping Donnarumma is one of the cleanest ways to cut costs without wrecking the structure.
Defenders
The defence is built around Manchester City coverage. Guéhi leads all defenders here with 9.36 xP, plus strong recent form at 6.8 and massive 32.7 percent selection. O’Reilly is close behind on 9.04 xP with 7.0 form, making him another high-priority starter. Matheus N. adds a third City defender with 8.79 xP and just 3.0 percent ownership, which gives the squad some edge.
Lacroix, at 7.40 xP, and Mitchell, at 6.86 xP, are perfectly viable bench options, but doubling or tripling on one defence is enough for most managers. If you need to save money, Mitchell at £5.0m is the cheapest defender in the squad and can replace one of the £5.2m to £5.3m names in your starting plans.
Midfielders
Semenyo is the headline pick in midfield with 9.24 xP, despite weak recent form of 2.2. The projection is what matters on a Wildcard. Cherki looks excellent value at £6.6m for 7.55 xP, while Foden at £8.0m still carries upside even with a poor 0.8 form number.
Doku and Bernardo round out a deep five-man unit. Doku’s 7.8 form and 6.84 xP make him especially interesting as a lower-owned punt at 3.7 percent selection. Bernardo is the weakest projection of the five at 6.47 xP, so he is the obvious downgrade candidate if you need to get under budget.
Forwards
Haaland is non-negotiable. He leads the entire squad on 15.01 xP, costs £14.6m, and has 63.0 percent ownership. Mateta is a solid second striker on 6.12 xP. Gyökeres sits at 5.32 xP and is likely your bench forward in the 3-5-2, but he gives useful flexibility.
Captaincy
Captain Haaland. The gap is huge. His 15.01 xP is comfortably the best figure in the squad, and there is no need to get clever on a Wildcard week with that profile.
Bench order
- 1. Gyökeres
- 2. Lacroix
- 3. Mitchell
- GK: Henderson
Budget reality: to shave off the £2.9m, start by downgrading Donnarumma to Henderson in your actual build, then Bernardo to a cheaper midfielder tier, and if needed trim one of O’Reilly or Matheus N. down to Mitchell. That keeps the Haaland core and most of the high-xP structure intact.