Out-of-position £4.0m defender Struijk starts in midfield for Leeds

Fantasy Premier League managers have confirmation of the latest starting £4.0m defender as Pascal Struijk (£4.0m) features in midfield for Leeds United tonight.

In his pre-match press conference, Marcelo Bielsa promised the budget option would be the replacement for Kalvin Phillips (£5.0m), who is out for up to six weeks with a shoulder injury.

While most of the FPL attention will be on Jack Grealish (£7.2m) and Emiliano Martínez (£4.8m) tonight, each owned by roughly 25% of managers, it will be worth assessing Struijk’s credentials, especially with Max Kilman (£4.1m) turning heads at Wolves.

The omens initially look relatively strong for Grealish and his differential team-mates Ollie Watkins (£6.0m), Ross Barkley (£6.0m) and John McGinn (£5.5m) though.

Not only are Leeds without their key defensive midfield Phillips, club captain and first-choice centre-back Liam Cooper (£4.4m) could not overcome his groin injury.

That has forced Marcelo Bielsa to put together something of a makeshift back-four, especially with back-up centre-back Struijk playing in midfield.

The tweak sees right-back Luke Ayling (£4.5m) join Robin Koch (£4.5m) in the middle, Stuart Dallas (£4.5m) switching flanks to fill the gap there and Ezgjan Alioski (£4.4m) comes in at left-back.

The Aston Villa defence, which has kept three clean sheets from a possible four so far, remains unchanged.

That means another start for Emiliano Martínez (£4.8m), Matt Targett (£4.5m), Ezri Konsa (£4.6m), Tyrone Mings (£5.2m) and Matty Cash (£5.0m).

After five Gameweeks this season, Villa’s two centre-backs are in the top three for most points per million spent among defenders.

Aston Villa XI (4-3-3): Martínez; Targett, Mings, Konsa, Cash; Barkley, D Luiz, McGinn; Grealish, Watkins, Trézéguet.

Leeds United XI (4-1-4-1): Meslier; Alioski, Koch, Ayling, Dallas; Struijk; Harrison, Rodrigo, Klich, Costa; Bamford.