With the next Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline nearing, we’re hearing from our panel of guest writers. Here, eight-time top 10k finisher Zophar reveals his Gameweek 9 Wildcard team.
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DEFENCE
As shown in the image above, Daniel Munoz (£5.6m) and Jurrien Timber (£6.0m) are by far the most attacking defenders in the league, with this duo being the only pair to manage over 2.5 non-penalty expected goal involvement (NPxGI) so far.
Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) comes close, but after that, there is a significant drop-off to the others.
Marcos Senesi (£5.0m) also features favourably, which further enhances his appeal given the numerous criteria he meets – nailed minutes, solid defence, potential for defensive contributions (DefCon), likelihood of earning bonus points and attacking threat.
Gabriel Magalhaes‘ (£6.4m) qualities are well known to FPL managers already. He’s arguably the second name on the team sheet after Erling Haaland (£14.7m).
So the four defenders I want to prioritise are clear to me – Gabriel, Timber, Senesi and Munoz, probably in that order.
The fifth spot will be a £4.0m defender. With so much value in that price bracket this season, it’s close between Joe Rodon (£4.1m) and Nordi Mukiele (£4.1m).
Mukiele averages 12.50 DefCons per 90 minutes (p90), ranking him as the third-highest defender in the league. Thus, his DefCon potential is excellent.
Rodon averages 8.5 DefCons p90, which is also very good but not as strong as Mukiele.
That being said, I do think the Leeds United defence is a bit better than Sunderland’s, so this is a close one. I don’t think I would play Rodon over Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.6m) this week, and I do like the Mukiele cover for Senesi when Bournemouth are playing away at Manchester City in Gameweek 10, so that might tilt my decision. I think the open play attacking threat from Mukiele is also a factor.
This is one of my late decisions, but for now, I’m set on Mukiele.
ATTACK
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