WSL Fantasy Gameweek 3: best buys and captain picks

WSL Fantasy Gameweek 3 preview: best buys, captain picks and differentials

Gameweek 3 of WSL Fantasy is a planning week, not a reaction week. Chelsea and Manchester City own the two best three-Gameweek programs in the game, Arsenal's run falls off a cliff the moment this Gameweek is over, and the cheapest genuine points in the pool sit at clubs most managers have not looked at yet. The transfer happens now; the reason to make it lives in Gameweeks 3 to 5.

All numbers below are TheFantasyTool model projections pulled on 16 September 2026, ahead of the Gameweek 3 deadline. You can check every one of them on the live WSL Fantasy player picks page.

The programs: whose next three Gameweeks are worth owning

Chelsea have the best run in the game — [H]BIC → [H]ARS → [A]WHU, worth 7.77 expected goals and 1.36 expected clean sheets across the three. Two of those are at home, and the one that looks hard on paper, hosting Arsenal in Gameweek 4, is still a fixture the model has Chelsea favoured in. That is a buy program, not a one-week spike.

Manchester City are second and their shape is different — [H]LIV → [A]CHA → [H]ARS, 6.74 expected goals and 1.14 expected clean sheets. The Liverpool game is the biggest name on the Gameweek 3 slate and City carry a 72.7% win probability in it. The Charlton away trip in Gameweek 4 is the softest fixture any top side has in this window, which is why City assets actually score higher in Gameweek 4 than in Gameweek 3.

Behind those two, Newcastle United have the third-best defensive run at 1.06 expected clean sheets from [H]SHU → [H]LEI → [A]DUR, with the two home games first, which is where the cheap goalkeeper points are this month. Manchester United are the program that turns: [A]ARS → [H]WHU → [H]LIV is one bad Gameweek followed by two good ones, so their assets are a Gameweek 4 decision you can make now.

The other side of the table matters just as much. Birmingham City travel to Chelsea with a 3.0% clean-sheet chance and 0.46 expected goals, the worst single fixture in the round, and Charlton's whole three-week program is the weakest in the game at 2.43 expected goals. Liverpool at 3.01 expected goals over three are not much better.

Every club in the pool has exactly three fixtures in this window, so none of those totals is inflated by a double or dented by a blank. Ranking on the last two columns rather than the first three is the whole point: Arsenal look like a top-four program on Gameweek 3 alone, and are eighth once you include what follows.

Goalkeepers: the cheapest edge in the game right now

Anna Tamminen (5.0m, NEW) is the pick, and unusually she tops the round and the horizon at the same time — 5.2 projected in Gameweek 3 and 13.6 across [H]SHU → [H]LEI → [A]DUR, both the best of any goalkeeper. Newcastle host Sheffield United with a 46.2% clean-sheet chance and the model has her down for 2.08 saves on top of that. Only 4.0% of managers own her.

Olivia Clark (4.0m, LEI) is the budget route and the best points-per-million goalkeeper in the pool at 1.05. Her program is [H]IPS → [A]NEW → [A]SUN, so the good fixture is the one that lands this week and the two behind it are neutral rather than good. That is fine at this price, and the money it frees is what pays for a premium forward. Courtney Brosnan (5.0m, EVE) is the alternative if you would rather buy the back end of the window: [A]WHU → [A]LIV → [H]BIC gives her a 4.0 → 4.0 → 4.6 trajectory and the second-best three-Gameweek total at 12.6, with 4.02 projected saves this week making her a high-floor pick even in the away games.

One warning attached to the best fixture in the game. The Chelsea goalkeeper spot projects only 2.2 for Gameweek 3 despite hosting Birmingham City, because the model splits those minutes. The 62.9% Chelsea clean sheet is real; the way into it is the defence, not the gloves. Check the WSL Fantasy predicted lineups before the deadline if you are unsure.

Defenders: Chelsea's back line, and two cheap ones nobody owns

Ellie Carpenter (7.0m, CHE) is the best defender in the game on both measures — 6.4 this week and 15.3 over [H]BIC → [H]ARS → [A]WHU, the joint-highest three-Gameweek defensive total. She is an attacking full-back inside the best program in the pool: 0.24 expected assists this week on top of a 52% clean-sheet share. At 22.0% ownership she is not a differential, but she is the correct anchor.

Kerstin Casparij (8.0m, MCI) is the premium alternative at 5.1 and 13.3 over [H]LIV → [A]CHA → [H]ARS, and 36.0% of managers already have her. If you want the City clean sheets cheaper, Alex Greenwood (6.0m, MCI) gives you 5.3 → 5.0 → 2.5 from the same three games. Note the drop in Gameweek 5, when City host Arsenal, and plan the sale rather than being surprised by it.

Oliwia Wos (4.0m, BRC) is the value pick of the entire pool. She has the best points-per-million figure of any player at 1.20, projects 4.8 this week and 13.6 across [A]WAT → [A]BUR → [H]SOU — a defender in the lowest price band with a higher three-week total than most 6.0m options, and barely owned at 1.0%. Marisa Olislagers (5.5m, BHA) is the other one to know: 4.5 now, 13.4 over [H]AVL → [A]LCL → [H]CHA, a rising 4.5 → 4.0 → 4.9 line, and 2.0% owned.

Here the round ranking and the horizon ranking genuinely disagree. Maya Le Tissier (6.0m, MAN) projects just 2.6 in Gameweek 3 at Arsenal, and 13.9 across [A]ARS → [H]WHU → [H]LIV, third-best of any defender. If you are buying one defender and keeping her, she is the better buy than several players who out-score her this week, because you are buying the two home games behind the hard one. Amanda Nildén (5.0m, TOT) splits the difference: 4.9 now and 12.7 over [A]CRY → [H]AVL → [H]LCL, with both home games still to come.

Midfielders: one premium, three cheap ones with better programs than their price

Lauren Hemp (8.0m, MCI) is the best midfielder in WSL Fantasy on every cut of the data — 7.2 this Gameweek, 19.4 over [H]LIV → [A]CHA → [H]ARS, and the Charlton trip in Gameweek 4 actually raises her to 7.5. She is 32.0% owned, carries 0.38 expected assists this week, and is the one premium midfielder whose program does not ask you to plan an exit.

Beth Hepple (7.5m, DUR) is the differential that matters. At 2.0% ownership she projects 6.7 this week and 19.1 over [H]NFO → [A]SHU → [H]NEW, second only to the City premium across the window, from a player almost nobody has. The model has her on 84 minutes with a 0.95 starter factor and 0.40 expected goals, so this is a genuine central role rather than a rotation guess. Emily Syme (7.5m, BRC) is the same trade at 3.0% owned: 6.8 now, 18.9 over [A]WAT → [A]BUR → [H]SOU, and the flattest line of any high-scoring midfielder at 6.8 → 6.2 → 5.9 — you buy her and stop thinking about her.

Tottenham are the mid-price block worth building around. Olivia Holdt (7.5m, TOT) projects 5.9 and 17.1 over [A]CRY → [H]AVL → [H]LCL, and Signe Gaupset (6.0m, TOT) gives you 5.4 and 15.3 from the same program a full 1.5m cheaper. Both are under 10% owned. Remember the three-per-club cap when you stack them.

Two cheaper names for the last midfield slot. Samantha Tierney (6.5m, LEI) is 1.0% owned, plays 85 minutes with a 0.97 starter factor and projects 5.4 now and 14.4 over [H]IPS → [A]NEW → [A]SUN. Poppy Wilson (4.0m, WAT) is the pure horizon play at the game's lowest price band: 3.2 → 4.6 → 5.9 over [H]BRC → [H]SUN → [A]WOL, 13.7 across three, with 0.30 expected assists a game. Her program improves every week, so buying her now costs you the smallest Gameweek and gets you the largest one.

Forwards: the captain, and the best-value attacker in the game

Khadija Shaw (12.5m, MCI) is the highest-projected player in WSL Fantasy at 8.9, and her program is the reason to keep paying for her: [H]LIV → [A]CHA → [H]ARS is worth 24.5 across three, and Gameweek 4 at Charlton is her best single week of the window at 9.5. She takes City's penalties on a 0.92 share and carries 0.78 expected goals this week. At 63.0% ownership she is the template, and here the template is correct.

Mary Fowler (6.0m, MCI) is the pick of the round if you only make one transfer. She projects 7.2, the joint-second-highest score of any player, for less than half the price of the premium, over the same [H]LIV → [A]CHA → [H]ARS program worth 17.5 across three. She is tied for the best points-per-million figure in the game at 1.20 and only 7.0% of managers own her. City assets are capped at three per squad, so choose your trio deliberately.

Madison Haley (6.5m, BHA) is the differential forward: 6.4 this week and 17.3 over [H]AVL → [A]LCL → [H]CHA, with Brighton's penalties on a 0.85 share and 0.57 expected goals in Gameweek 3. At 2.0% ownership and 6.5m she is the cheapest route to a genuine penalty-taking striker in the pool. Kiko Seike (7.0m, BHA) is her team-mate at 5.7 and 16.0 across the same program if you want the Brighton run without the penalty premium.

Melvine Malard (8.0m, CHE) is a different kind of pick. She projects 6.5 against Birmingham City on a full penalty share, but her line reads 6.5 → 3.6 → 5.3 because Chelsea host Arsenal in Gameweek 4. That is a buy for the best fixture in the game with a known dip attached, worth doing as long as you know Gameweek 4 is the week she goes quiet.

Captain picks for Gameweek 3

The captain is Khadija Shaw, and it is not close. At 8.9 projected she is 1.7 clear of the next player in the game, she is on penalties, and Manchester City are 72.7% to beat Liverpool at home. The armband is a plan rather than a pick here: she also tops Gameweek 4 at 9.5 and Gameweek 5 at 6.1, so captaining her this week does not force a change next week.

The alternatives are both City team-mates from the same fixture. Lauren Hemp at 7.2 is the pick if you want the captaincy on a midfielder, and she holds up in Gameweek 4 at 7.5. Mary Fowler matches her at 7.2 for 6.0m, which makes her the differential armband. Outside that match, Syme at 6.8 and Hepple at 6.7 are the only players who come close, and neither carries the same ceiling. To see how the captain choice reshapes a whole squad, the site solves it live on the optimal teams for WSL Fantasy page.

Who to sell in Gameweek 3

Alessia Russo (11.5m, ARS) is the sell, and this is the Gameweek to do it. [H]MAN is a good fixture — Arsenal are 65.2% to win it, she projects 6.4 with a 0.85 penalty share, and that is a perfectly respectable week. But [A]CHE and [A]MCI follow, against the two best defences in the game, and she drops to 4.4 and 4.9. The choice is selling into a decent score now or selling out of a poor one in seven days, and the 11.5m she frees buys Fowler and most of a midfielder in the same move.

Mariona Caldentey (7.5m, ARS) carries the same why-now for the same reason: 4.9 this week, then 3.6 and 3.8 in the two aways, and 23.0% of managers are still holding her through it. Lucy Bronze (5.5m, CHE) is the quieter one. She is 27.0% owned, but the model has her at 59 minutes with a 0.59 starter factor and 9.8 points over three Gameweeks, well behind her own team-mates in the same fixtures. If you want Chelsea's excellent program, own it through Carpenter or McCabe instead.

Two clubs to avoid buying into this week. Birmingham City travel to Chelsea with a 3.0% clean-sheet chance, and Charlton host London City Lionesses on a 10.0% clean sheet before facing Manchester City. Neither has a program worth a transfer. You can see the full slate on the WSL Fantasy schedule and the underlying numbers on the market probabilities page.

Gameweek 3 in one line

Captain Shaw, buy the Chelsea and Manchester City programs rather than individual good weeks, use Wos, Wilson and Clark to fund it, and sell the Arsenal attack into a fixture that is still good rather than waiting for the two that are not. More analysis every week in the WSL Fantasy preview hub, and if you are new to the game our WSL Fantasy guide to the rules and scoring covers the basics. You can also revisit the WSL Fantasy Gameweek 1 preview to see how the season's opening picks were framed.

FAQ

Who should I captain in WSL Fantasy Gameweek 3?

Khadija Shaw (12.5m, Manchester City). She is the highest-projected player in the game at 8.9 for Gameweek 3, takes City's penalties on a 0.92 share, and City are 72.7% favourites at home to Liverpool. She also leads Gameweek 4 at 9.5, so the armband does not need moving next week. Lauren Hemp at 7.2 is the safest alternative.

Which budget defenders are best for WSL Fantasy Gameweek 3?

Oliwia Wos (4.0m, Bristol City) is the standout, with the best points-per-million figure of any player in the pool at 1.20, 4.8 projected this week and 13.6 across [A]WAT → [A]BUR → [H]SOU. Amanda Nildén (5.0m, Tottenham) is next at 4.9 and 12.7 over a program with two home games still to come.

Should I sell Alessia Russo before Gameweek 3?

Yes, and this is the week to do it. Arsenal host Manchester United on a 65.2% win probability and she projects a respectable 6.4, but [A]CHE and [A]MCI follow and she falls to 4.4 and 4.9. Selling into the good fixture beats selling out of the bad ones a week later.

Best differentials for WSL Fantasy Gameweek 3?

Beth Hepple (7.5m, Durham) at 2.0% ownership projects 6.7 this week and 19.1 over three Gameweeks, second only to Hemp among midfielders. Madison Haley (6.5m, Brighton) is 2.0% owned, takes Brighton's penalties, and has 17.3 across [H]AVL → [A]LCL → [H]CHA.

Is Khadija Shaw worth 12.5m in WSL Fantasy?

Yes, on this program. She projects 24.5 points across Gameweeks 3 to 5, more than any other player in the game, and her Gameweek 4 trip to Charlton is the softest fixture any premium forward has in the window. The cheaper way into the same fixtures is Mary Fowler at 6.0m.

This preview was written by TheFantasyTool AI.