FPL expert builds perfect wildcard team for GW4 that will help every manager climb their mini league
I've finished in the top 0.02% of all FPL teams for the past two seasons, and this is the team I would put together if I was wildcarding this week.
We're just three gameweeks into the 2026/27 Premier League season, and many Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are already making use
In Gameweek Three, a record-breaking number of managers used their triple captain chip, mostly for Erling Haaland's nine-pointer against Coventry City, while others used their Free Hits.
For this week, three weeks of fixtures and data give FPL managers a great chance to reflect on the start of the season and build a whole new team with their wildcard chip.
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Of course, the question then becomes: who should you pick on your wildcard this week?
Well, I finished 32nd overall in the 2024/25 season and 1,940th in 2025/26, and this is the team I'd be putting together if my wildcard was active in Gameweek four.
The BEST FPL Gameweek Four draft
Three gameweeks in, we know which of the popular players are, and aren't performing well, and which teams are worth targeting in the coming weeks.
For example, everybody expected Chelsea to improve under Xabi Alonso, but not many would have expected them to be quite as good as they have been in their opening fixtures.
Meanwhile, while expectations were low for Coventry City, conceding five goals and failing to score even one in three matches is far worse than we had anticipated.
With all that in mind, here's my wildcard draft for FPL Gameweek Four.
GK - Bart Verbruggen (BHA, £4.5m)
Starting at the back, I think a £4.5m goalkeeper is still the best way forward, despite David Raya (ARS, £6.0m) being a tempting option.
Of the £4.5m options, I think Brighton keeper Verbruggen is still the best, with the Seagulls performing well enough in their opening matches, with one clean sheet from three.
Admittedly, after a promising fixture away to Coventry City this week, the upcoming run of ARS (H), SUN (A), CRY (H), LIV (A) and MCI (A) isn't the best, but I still prefer him to the popular Antonin Kinsky at Spurs.
DEF - Riccardo Calafiori (ARS, £5.7m)
One of the most obvious picks on this list is Calafiori, who has started the season as by far the best defender in the game.
Other than the mighty Hull City defenders, who have amazingly kept three clean sheets in three, Calafiori is the next highest-scoring defender in the game so far, with 22 points from his opening three matches.
Two clean sheets, two assists and two bonus points in three matches as a nailed starter for the best defensive team in the league, he's a no-brainer on wildcard.
DEF - Ezri Konsa (ARS, £4.4m)
Speaking of no-brainers, an Arsenal double-up with Konsa available at just £4.4m is the easiest decision you can make in your wildcard draft.
Konsa was priced at £4.5m at the start of the season, when he was still playing for Aston Villa, but dropped when people who started the season with him sold him when he wasn't playing.
But it now looks like the Englishman has a nailed-on spot in Mikel Arteta's defence, at least while William Saliba is out, so for now, he simply has to be in your team at this price.
DEF - Malick Thiaw (NEW, £5.0m)
Completing the starting lineup of defenders, I think Thiaw at Newcastle could be a bargain at £5.0m.
Newcastle haven't had the easiest of starts to the season and yet the German has managed eight points from three matches, thanks to a clean sheet and defensive contribution points.
Yes, he scored an own goal last week against Bournemouth, but don't let that put you off with LEE (A), HUL (H) and COV (A) in his next three.
MID - Bruno Fernandes (MUN, £12.0m)
Another easy pick on the wildcard is Man United captain Fernandes, who has more than lived up to his 12m price tag so far this season.
With 27 points, he's the second highest-scoring midfielder in the game right now, behind only Cody Gakpo, and despite his price, it's hard to look past him.
He can pick up goals, assists, bonus, defensive contribution points and clean sheet points even in the harder fixtures, so just get him in your team.
MID - Cole Palmer (CHE, £9.6m)
Palmer will probably be one of the most popular picks for managers making transfers, either using their wildcard or not, in Gameweek Four ahead of Hull City at home.
After Thomas Tuchel left him out of England's World Cup squad over the summer, Palmer has come back with two goals and one assist in Chelsea's three Premier League fixtures so far.
Chelsea's fixtures look pretty decent in the near future and, like Fernandes, Palmer is able to score points in several ways, so much so that he'd even be my captaincy pick for Gameweek Four.
MID - Enzo Fernandez (MCI, £6.9m)
Not to spoil the rest of the team, but this wildcard leaves managers with a £100m budget with 0.1m remaining at the time of writing.
Many would use this spare cash to take Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.0m) over my pick, Fernandez at £6.9m, but I've been really impressed with City's new top signing.
Other than Haaland, it's hard to pick a City attacker that's even close to being nailed, but Fernandez's transfer fee, form and close relationship with manager Enzo Maresca means he's probably one of the safer picks.
And speaking of Haaland, Fernandez seems to be gelling well with City's star man, providing an assist in the Champions League win over Porto and another for Haaland's second (disallowed) goal against Coventry.
He's just 3.2% owned right now, so I think a punt on Fernandez is a great shout for managers who have activated their wildcard.
MID - Pascal Gross (BHA, £5.6m)
Gross keeps his place as the best budget-friendly midfielder in my wildcard draft, despite the emergence of Mamadou Sangare (£5.7m) at Brentford.
Like Verbruggen, the Brighton talisman has a nice fixture against Coventry up next ahead of some tough games on the horizon, but with a goal and an assist against Chelsea in Gameweek Two, he's shown he can show up any week.
Many will still go for Sangare at this price point, but with BOU (A), CHE (H), AVL (A), LIV (H) in his next four, don't be surprised if the Brentford superstar is sold en masse in the coming weeks and drops in price.
FWD - Erling Haaland (MCI, £15.5m)
Back to the no-brainers now, Haaland simply has to be in your FPL teams, probably for the remainder of the season.
Although some may have expected more, three goals in three is still enough to justify Haaland's place in your team and at this stage of the season, going against a player who is owned by 71.3% of managers is just silly.
FWD - Joao Pedro (CHE, £7.7m)
Another in-form player who will be brought into plenty of teams for Gameweek Four thanks to the upcoming meeting with Hull City.
When he started the season at £7.5m, Pedro looked to be one of the biggest bargains and the game and despite two price rises already, that's still the case.
With two goals, two assists and 21 points, the Chelsea striker is too good to pass up on, especially given the lack of standout options up front so far this season.
FWD - Thierno Barry (EVE, £5.6m)
Barry is another punt in the wildcard draft, going against the much more popular Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m), who is in nearly a quarter of teams.
Comparatively, Barry is in just 5.6% of teams currently, presenting another chance to make the most of your wildcard and take a punt on a player with huge upside.
TOT (A), IPS (H) and HUL (A) are next up for Everton and Barry's place up front is absolutely nailed-on, so there's plenty of chances of a haul in the coming weeks.
Admittedly, after this run of three matches I'd be looking at moving Barry on ahead of CHE (H), ARS (A) and NEW (A), but at that point you can hope his work for your team would be already done.
READ MORE: Millions of FPL managers are making major mistake with three transfers ahead of GW4
BENCH - Dan Bentley (GK, COV, 4.0m) Tarik Muharemovic (DEF, LEE, £5.0m), John Egan (DEF, HUL, £4.1m), Regan Slater (MID, HUL, £4.5m)
Rounding up the team is the bench.
Don't worry about picking Bentley specifically, any £4m goalkeeper that's not highly owned, so you avoid any potential price drops, and not from a team you're likely to want to triple up at some point this season.
Muharemovic is another £5m defender that I really like the look of due to his defensive contributions so far this season, with the new Leeds signing scoring 14 points despite only one clean sheet thanks to his defensive actions.
The Leeds defender came close to hitting the defensive contribution threshold in his first game and comfortably surpassed it in the following two gameweeks, so we can expect him to keep that up in the coming weeks, despite some mixed fixtures.
While we're discussing defensive contribution magnets, Egan has also smashed the threshold in two of his three fixtures and, while we shouldn't expect Hull's clean sheet streak to continue, we can expect Egan to keep netting some defensive contribution points.
Meanwhile, his Hull teammate Regan Slater rounds up the bench as a nailed-on starter at £4.5m who can chip in with the occasional goal contribution.
Topics: Premier League, Fantasy Football, Football
Ben McCrum