Fantasy Football: Injuries? Send us a wildcard

As gameweek two (GW2)  of the Insurance Times Fantasy Football League passed us by, many managers will have been reminded of an all too familiar feeling – watching carefully laid plans turn to dust in their hands. 

Of the game’s four most expensive premium attackers – Salah, Haaland, Saka and Palmer – only Salah and Saka managed a points return over the previous weekend, with Saka then taken off because of a hamstring injury in the second half against Leeds.

Haaland failed to score at home against City bogey-team Tottenham Hotspur too, while Palmer – who had been set to play against a struggling West Ham – was injured in the warm up and did not play. 

Both Saka and Palmer have been ruled out of the GW3 fixtures now, meaning that many teams will require a rework to address attacking deficiencies. 

And, while it may seem counter-productive to activate your wildcard chip this early in the season, managers may want to opt for this tactic now that they’ve had a chance to see who is playing well. 

With Saka and Palmer now ruled out, their high cost can be redistributed around your team to secure cheaper, in-form players that were previously unaffordable, such as Bournemouth’s Semenyo or Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo. 

Table takes shape

As all football fans know, it is nigh on impossible to make predictions for how a season might turn out this early on, but the early leaders of Insurance Times League have made themselves known. 

Currently in the lead is Hiscox group operations and technology officer Stephane Flaquet, who got lucky when his vice captain Joao Pedro had his points doubled because of Palmer’s injury. 

But, with only nine points between Flaquet and GoInsure’s Nikita Trembitskyi in tenth place, there are sure to be more moves yet. 

This week’s fixtures kick off at Chelsea on Saturday as they take on south west London derby rivals Fulham, with the deadline for making changes to your team falling at 11am Saturday morning.