It’s Friday, which means another Fantasy Bundesliga deadline is upon us.
Here is our selection of the best Matchday 10 (MD10) options.
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GOALKEEPERS
MARK FLEKKEN (7.2m), MARIUS FUNK (1.0m)
Freiburg’s Mark Flekken is the joint-highest scoring keeper in Fantasy Bundesliga, alongside Lukas Hradecky, and has the best fixture this matchday by a distance. Flekken has kept four clean sheets for Christian Streich’s still unbeaten side, racking up 42 saves in the process. The home tie against winless whipping boys Greuther Fürth will give Freiburg plenty of opportunities going forward and a very good chance at a fifth clean sheet. Fürth’s 91 shots in nine games are third-lowest in the league, only ahead of Hertha Berlin and Augsburg.
Marius Funk is back down to 1.0m and zero points for the season after his minus-four point disaster against RB Leipzig on Matchday 9 (MD9). However, he’s still a 1.0m starting goalkeeper, so he stays in the squad and we hope he learns how to save a shot at some point.
DEFENDERS
CHRISTIAN GUNTER (12.8m), KONSTANTINOS MAVROPANOS (7.1m), STEFAN BELL (5.5m), RAMY BENSEBAINI (10.3m), JEREMIE FRIMPONG (7.7m)
Christian Günter is becoming almost essential in Fantasy Bundesliga and is currently the highest scorer in his position by 14 points. He has the joint-most clean sheets (four), the most passes leading to a shot by a defender and joint-most assists for a defender (three). He is a brilliant option regardless of opposition but facing Greuther Fürth could hardly be better at either end.
Konstantinos Mavropanos is the next most in-form defender in the Bundesliga over the last five games and has a great defensive fixture coming up, as Stuttgart visit Augsburg – an opponent that has achieved the division’s least shots (79) and joint-least goals (five). Mavropanos scored on Matchdays 7 and 8, averaging a high four duels won per game.
MD9’s highest-scorer Stefan Bell has another great game lined up, this time against winless Arminia Bielefeld, who have scored the joint-fewest goals and currently sit in 17th. Even without a clean sheet, he picked up 25 points last time out after an all-action performance, winning eight points for shots taken, six points for duels won and three for passes leading to a shot. Arminia Bielefeld and Augsburg have similar profiles as teams and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Bell come close to repeating last week’s feat.
Ramy Bensebaini announced his return from injury in real style against Bayern Munich during Gladbach’s shock 5-0 midweek Pokal win. The Moroccan scored a brace, including a penalty with all his major spot-kick competitors still on the pitch, suggesting he’s the first-choice taker. Despite their hot-and-cold form so far this season, Gladbach will come into this game high in confidence. They face VfL Bochum – on three successive wins in all competitions, but defensively shaky against Augsburg in midweek.
Jeremie Frimpong is Leverkusen’s best option at the back. They need to get back to winning ways after a patchy run of form and face the new management of Wolfsburg, who themselves have lost their last four Bundesliga games and are winless in nine (all competitions). Frimpong has had a poor couple of games, as have the whole Leverkusen side, but his 40 points across Matchdays 6 and 7 show his explosive potential from right-back.
MIDFIELDERS
FLORIAN WIRTZ (12.7m), CHRISTOPHER NKUNKU (15.7m), JONAS HOFMANN (13.4m), WOO-YEONG JEONG (5.0m), CHRISTOPHER BAUMGARTNER (11.7m)
Despite Leverkusen’s poor pair of matches, Florian Wirtz still managed to pick up 15 points, keeping him as the second-highest scoring midfielder in Fantasy Bundesliga. The German starlet may be negatively affected by the loss of Patrik Schick to injury but there’s every chance he still does well with Lucas Alario up front. Wolfsburg have been dire of late and it’s hard to believe that Florian Kohfeldt’s appointment will immediately change that. In a week where most of the highest-scoring midfielders have tricky fixtures, Wirtz looks to be one of the standouts.
Still ahead of Wirtz is Christopher Nkunku. He’s scored the joint-most goals (four) and taken the most shots (20) of any midfielder in the competition. Leipzig have been poor on the road this season but face the same Eintracht Frankfurt that were incredibly bad in their 2-0 loss to Bochum last week. Frankfurt have still only won one league game and Nkunku should have plenty of opportunities to rack up points, as he has all season.
Jonas Hofmann has been Gladbach’s standout performer. Amongst midfielders, he has taken the joint-third most shots (14) and has also won the joint-most points for shots leading to a goal (18). Hofmann will be well-placed to get into the points for confident Gladbach versus Bochum.
For his price, Woo-Yeong Jeong is the best value midfielder in the game. He’s scored three goals so far and collected 64 points, coming joint-fifth for most shots (12). With a game against the weak Greuther Fürth, Jeong will be confident of adding more goals and points to his tally.
Christoph Baumgartner is looking like he’ll be back fit for Hoffenheim’s tie with Hertha on Friday evening. The Austrian maestro has three double-digit hauls and three goals in just six starts, for a Hoffenheim side who have won their last two home games convincingly (5-0 vs Köln and 3-1 vs Wolfsburg). Hertha have improved recently but have still conceded 21 Bundesliga goals. Baumgartner is averaging 1.4 shots on goal per league.
FORWARDS
ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI (18.7m), ANDREJ KRAMARIC (15.6m), KARIM ONISIWO (7.4m)
Robert Lewandowski is still Robert Lewandowski, although the Polish striker faces one of his tougher attacking fixtures this week. Bayern visit Union Berlin, who haven’t conceded in their last three at home and were the only Bundesliga side Bayern didn’t beat at all last season, drawing 1-1 both times. This may be a tough fixture for the Fantasy Bundesliga top scorer but he is a world-class striker playing for Bayern, looking to bounce back quickly after their midweek humiliation.
Andrej Kramaric has scored in his last three matches with Hertha Berlin and has eight goals and an assist from 10 career meetings. His six Bundesliga assists are joint-highest and his 33 shots put him second overall, although he’s only converted one into a goal. Kramaric has everything pointing towards a big performance against Hertha’s leaky defence.
As well as Bell, Karim Onisiwo was the highest scoring player of MD9. He followed that up in the cup by bagging a goal and assist against weekend opponents Arminia Bielefeld. Given that Onisiwo has already hauled against this winless side in the past few days, you have to back him to do it again on Saturday.
