FPL GW3 Wildcard Drafts - Pros, Cons, Tips and Players to Target

GW3 has emerged as a popular Gameweek to wildcard amongst FPL managers due to a variety of reasons. Bruno or No Bruno? Palmer now or Palmer Later? Lots of questions to answer. In this blog, we look at the Pros and cons of the FPL GW3 Wildcard, the Ideal FPL GW3 Wildcard Drafts, and the Players to target in your Gameweek 3 Wildcard team.

Link to all our FPL GW3 blogs including scout picks, players to target, buy, hold, sell analysis, differentials, captaincy metrics, best forwards, and more. Completely free to access as well!

FPL GW3 Wildcard Guide

Pros & Cons of Wildcarding in FPL GW3:

Pros of GW3 Wildcard:

Get Haaland in ahead of COV(H) and long term if you started with No Haaland in GW1.

Attack Teams with Good Fixture runs and have cheap assets like Newcastle(Wissa, Elanga, Hall, Dedic) and Brighton(De Cuyper, Verbruggen, Gross)

Catch good price changes(Eg. Konsa) who might be a starter now or even later at just 4.4 million.

Cons of GW3 Wildcard:

Chelsea and Arsenal play each other and it will be a really difficult match to call with respect to Goals and Clean sheets. You will want to have Double Arsenal defense and Double Chelsea attack long term but it will be a trickier call to take in GW3 on who to bench/start.

You will be up against managers who are likely to have Haaland as Triple Captain vs COV(H). You can’t use more than one chip in a single Gameweek.

Wildcard might be needed later for other fixture swings- Like GW6 or around GW15 as highlighted in our Chip Strategy article.

Bruno or No-Bruno, Palmer or No Palmer will be a tough decision to make. Bruno has had an absolutely massive 23 points in GW2 vs Ipswich, courtesy of 3 goals and 1 Assist. But there is an argument that can be made to not captain Bruno Fernandes in the next 5-6 weeks and switch between Palmer and Haaland.

No Bruno- Captaincy Ticker:

GW3- Haaland vs COV(H)

GW4- Palmer vs HUL(H)

GW5- Haaland vs SUN(H)

GW6- Palmer vs BOU(H)

GW7- Haaland vs IPS(H)

GW8- Haaland vs AVL(A)/Palmer vs TOT(H)

The other alternative is to wait out a week and Wildcard in GW4 after Chelsea and Arsenal have played each other. Here are some of the Pros of a GW3 Wildcard vs Pros of a GW4 Wildcard.

GW3 Wildcard vs GW4 Wildcard:

This is how a GW4 Wildcard Draft would look like.

FPL GW4 Wildcard Draft:

Players to Target on FPL GW3 Wildcard:

Goalkeepers: Raya, Verbruggen, Hornicek

Defenders: Calafiori, Konsa, Gabriel, De Cuyper, Hall, Thiaw, Dedic, Ajer, Egan, Thomas, Muharemovic, Canvot, Andersen, Castagne, Tarkowski

Midfielders: Bruno Fernandes, Palmer, Rogers, Cherki, Mbeumo, Foden, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Elanga, Gross, Dewsbury Hall, Sangare, Slater

Forwards: Haaland, Pedro, Wissa, Calvert-Lewin

Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB)

FPL GW3 Wildcard Drafts

FPL GW3 Wildcard Draft 1 with Bruno Fernandes

This is a Template GW3 Wildcard Draft covering all the bases- Haaland, Pedro, Bruno, Palmer, Szoboszlai, Wissa, and Double Arsenal defense.

Goal Keeper and Defenders:

Verbruggen is the Budget GK with a good run of fixtures.

Calafiori picks himself with 2 assists and 2 clean sheets and is the next nailed defender in the Arsenal lineup after Gabriel. He is also 2.5 million cheaper than Gabriel, which makes him an easy lock. Konsa is the second Arsenal defender. At just 4.4 million, you have to take up that risk to get an Arsenal defender. He should be first choice in the long term and can play both CB and RB. With Mosquera injured(Watch out for PC updates), He could be in for a start as soon as GW3.

Ajer and Hall are two of the total 4 defenders who have hit DEFCON in both games. Ajer is always good for DEFCON when he plays at CB, and Hall also carries an excellent attacking threat(with a good run of fixtures from GW4). Brentford and Newcastle defenders also rotate really well, as seen below. Dedic is also looking really good with 🅰️🅰️🅰️ in 3 games. And just for £4.5. Livramento is back in training, though, but according to Newcastle fans, Livra doesn’t walk in directly, and Dedic is likely to keep starting games at least in the short-medium run.

Midfielders:

Palmer is an easy lock in most of the GW3 Wildcard Drafts(unless on GW4 Free Hit). Chelsea

Bruno Fernandes is coming on the back of 23 points haul courtesy of 3 goals and an assist in GW2 vs Ipswich. He is in red-hot form and has multiple routes to points.

Pascal Gross and Szoboszlai are midfielders who have multiple routes to points- penalties, Set Pieces, and DEFCON. On top of it, they also have a good fixture run.

Slater is the 4.5 Midfielder enabler in this draft who is a starter for Hull and is also on set pieces.

Forwards:

Haaland and Joao Pedro pick themselves in every Wildcard Draft. Wissa also should be a lock according to me, as Newcastle have a good run of fixtures playing HUL(H), COV(A) in GW5 and GW6. Calvert-Lewin is also another option to consider if you want a set-and-forget option. Isak is a good shout with good fixtures in GW3 and GW4, but it is a difficult price point to swap later on, and he hasn’t shown much to warrant a gamble.

FPL GW3 Wildcard Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating:

This Team has a rating of 87% and is predicted to score 57 Points in GW3. Get your FPL Team rated for FREE in seconds by clicking the link below.

Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating Tool

FPL GW3 Wildcard Draft 2 with No Bruno Fernandes

This is a Draft with No Bruno Fernandes with Mbeumo coming in as the Manchester United cover. The money is used to upgrade and get Cherki as well ahead of COV(H). Cherki got 2 brilliant goals vs Palace in GW2 and is the man in form.

De Cuyper(4.6) also comes into this draft with Brighton suffering more injuries and De Cuyper continuing to play as LW. He has already got a goal and an assist in the first 2 games.

In this draft, Cherki to Foden is also an option, and that will allow you to upgrade Hall/Muharemovic to Calafiori, completing the elite Arsenal defense triple-up.

Sangare and Muharemovic are 2 other DEFCON beasts and are easy long-term options irrespective of fixtures. Sangare has hit DEFCON in both games so far, while Muharemovic has hit DEFCON in one game and averaged more than 10 DEFCON/game in Serie A last season.

List of Players who have Hit DEFCON in both games:

FPL GW3 Wildcard Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating:

This Team has a rating of 84%(Get your FPL Team Rated for FREE) and is Predicted to score 55 Points in GW3.

Further Read: FPL Gameweek 3 Transfer Tips: Players to Buy, Avoid, Sell & Hold

FPL GW3 Wildcard Draft 3 with No Bruno Fernandes

This is another No Bruno GW3 Wildcard Draft with Saka + Palmer coming as the Premium Midfielders. This is not a very ideal scenario as they play each other in GW3 but could work out well long-term.

Anderson comes in as the cheaper alternative to Cherki, and the funds are used in a defence upgrade with O’Reilly coming in as another Premium Defender ahead of COV(H). He has been playing midfield for City so far and could easily get a 15-16 pointer in any of the games.

FPL GW3 Wildcard Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating:

This Team has a rating of 90%(Get your FPL Team Rated for FREE) and is predicted to score 59 Points in GW3.

Further Read: AK’s FPL GW3 Wildcard Draft + Key Notes | 3x Top 5K Finishes

FPL GW3 Wildcard Draft 4 with GW4 Free Hit(No Palmer)

There is 0.7 million in the bank in this draft, so you can upgrade Foden to Cherki if you prefer to do it.

There is also no Palmer/Rogers in this draft as the plan is to Free Hit them in GW4 only for the Hull fixture. You can also get Rogers from GW5/GW6 if you are convinced that Rogers will be better than Foden in the longer run.

FPL GW3 Wildcard Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating:

This Team has a rating of 89%(Get your FPL Team Rated for FREE) and is predicted to score 58 Points in GW3. If you are going ahead with the draft above and plan to Free Hit in GW4, here is a GW4 Placeholder Draft.

GW4 Free Hit Draft

Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL GW3

2026/27 FPL Chip Strategy Guide – First Half of the Season

FPL GW3 Wildcard Guide- Best Drafts for Different Strategies with Pros, Cons and Key Notes

FPL Gameweek 3 Transfer Tips: Players to Buy, Avoid, Sell & Hold

FPL GW3 Ultimate Guide: Tips, Captaincy, Differentials & MoreAK’s FPL GW3 Wildcard Draft + Key Notes | 3x Top 5K Finishes

Link to all our FPL GW3 blogs, including buy, hold, sell analysis, differentials, captaincy metrics, transfer targets, and more. Completely free to access as well!

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