We have chosen our best Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players for Gameweek 10 ahead of Saturday’s deadline.
We line up in a 4-3-3 formation this week and, as ever, are limited to £83.0m for our first XI and, new to 2022/23 after a reader vote, an overall price cap of £100.0m for our 15-man squad, too.
GOALKEEPER
Danny Ward (£4.1m) and Leicester City finally earned a win and kept their first clean sheet of the season against Nottingham Forest on Monday. Have they turned a corner? Well, it’s too early to say, but Ward is the only sub-£4.5m ‘keeper who is starting regularly, and up next is a Bournemouth side that have failed to find the net in five of their last seven league matches, with their last two at home ending 0-0. The hosts also have the worst expected goals (xG) tally in 2022/23 so far, so Ward has a good opportunity to deliver.
DEFENDERS
Joao Cancelo’s (£7.2m) attacking numbers may be down on last season, but he is a secure route into the division’s best defence, as Manchester City host Southampton in Gameweek 10. The Portuguese has two double-digit hauls in his four home matches in 2022/23, and is also the most-selected FPL defender, with his ownership currently sitting at 51.8%. Pep Guardiola’s troops thrashed FC Copenhagen 5-0 in midweek, marking their 11th straight win at the Etihad. As for the visitors, the Saints have suffered defeat in five of their eight league matches this season, a period which has seen them score just eight goals.
Reece James (£6.1m) was the star of the show at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, as he combined a goal and an assist in Chelsea’s 3-0 win over AC Milan. In FPL, he ranks third among all defenders for expected goal involvement (xGI), and now has another chance to impress against managerless Wolverhampton Wanderers in Gameweek 10. The visitors arrive in poor attacking form, having scored a league-low three goals. They are also struggling with injuries and suspensions to key players, including Ruben Neves (£5.5m), Nathan Collins (£4.5m) and Pedro Neto (£5.1m), so James may be able to record a clean sheet in addition to some attacking returns.
Kieran Trippier (£5.5m) has created more chances than any other defender in FPL this season and is averaging 5.2 points per match across his eight starts. Now, with a fixture against Brentford this weekend, he has the potential to add to that tally. Thomas Frank’s side have been in good goalscoring form in 2022/23 but failed to net at Bournemouth last time out, with the hosts restricting their opponents to just 0.87 xG. Trippier plays for a decent defence, takes some set-pieces, and, as a result, was selected by all four of our Scout Squad panel.
Aaron Cresswell (£4.8m) ranks fourth for chances created among defenders this season, only trailing Trippier, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m) and Ivan Perisic (£5.6m). He is also part of a backline that has the fourth-best minutes-per-xG conceded (xGC) tally, so there is real clean sheet potential against a Fulham side that could be without top goalscorer Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.8m). Cresswell, meanwhile, was rested for the 1-0 win over Anderlecht on Thursday, a victory which means the Hammers have now won six of their last nine matches in all competitions.
MIDFIELDERS
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COMMUNITY CHAMPION
Each week, a member of the Fantasy Football Scout community takes on the Scout Picks.
The community member who beats our team by the largest margin will win a £100 Amazon Voucher and a place in our Moderators and Contributors League for the following season.
Our champion this week is The Mentanculus, who has gone with this selection:
Guaita; James (c), Chilwell, Gomez; De Bruyne, Bowen, Zaha, Martinelli; Haaland, Jesus, Wilson
The Community are 5-3 up on the Scout Picks this season, with Boleyn Boy‘s 81-54 victory in Gameweek 6 giving them the biggest winning margin (27 points) of 2022/23 so far.
FOLLOW THE SCOUT’S WEEKLY TRANSFER PLANS
We’re running a Scout community team in FPL this season, with regulars like TopMarx, Geoff, Tom Freeman and more contributing to the weekly decisions.
And we’re not just looking one week ahead like we are with the Scout Picks but instead planning in advance for the weeks and months to come.
You can follow our team via the Premier Fantasy Tools Pro Planner, which you can learn more about here.
VOTE FOR SCOUT AT THE FOOTBALL CONTENT AWARDS!
Vote for Fantasy Football Scout at the 2023 Football Content Awards by clicking here and selecting our name in the ‘Best in Fantasy Football’ section from the ‘Editorial’ drop-down menu.
You can also vote via Twitter using this one-click Tweet template.
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