As the next Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline approaches, we hear from our panel of guest writers. Here, eight-time top 10k finisher Zophar reveals his Gameweek 9 Wildcard team.
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DEFENSE
As shown in the image above, Daniel Munoz (£5.6 million) and Jurriën Hout (£6.0m) are by far the most attacking defenders in the league, with this duo being the only pair to achieve more than 2.5 non-penalty expected goals involvement (NPxGI) to date.
Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) comes close, but after that there is a significant drop in the others.
Mark Senesi (£5.0m) also rates favorably, further increasing his appeal given the many criteria he meets: good minutes, solid defence, potential for defensive contributions (DefCon), chance of earning bonus points and attacking threat.
Gabriel Magalhaes‘ (£6.4m) qualities are already well known to FPL managers. He might be the second name on the team sheet after that Erling Haaland (£14.7 million).
So the four defensemen I want to prioritize are clear to me: Gabriel, Timber, Senesi and Munoz, probably in that order.
Fifth spot is a £4.0m defender. With so much value in that price range this season, it’s almost in between Joe Rodon (£4.1 million) and Nordi Mukiele (£4.1 million).
Mukiele is averaging 12.50 DefCons per 90 minutes (p90), making him the third-highest defender in the league. So his DefCon potential is excellent.
Rodon averages 8.5 DefCons p90, which is also very good, but not as strong as Mukiele.
That said, I think Leeds United’s defense is a bit better than Sunderland’s, so this is close. I don’t think I would overplay Rodon Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.6m) this week, and I like the Mukiele cover for Senesi as Bournemouth play away at Manchester City in Gameweek 10, so that could influence my decision. I think Mukiele’s open attacking threat is also a factor.
This is one of my late decisions, but for now I’ll stick with Mukiele.
ATTACK
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