Who are the best players to buy for GW10? We're in to double digit gameweeks and there's some very very good fixtures next week that look worth using a transfer or two on. Feels like it could be a higher impact transfer week.
🧤 Goalkeepers
Goalkeepers first and the obvious one is Arsenal home to Hull which will have the best clean sheet odds you'll see all season most likely at around 60%. Double defence? Yes. Triple defence? Yes. Quadruple defence including captaining a defender? Yeah don't mind it at all. Are any of you thinking about it? We'll look at defenders in a sec. Raya tops the keepers table on 4.6 points.
Then it's Pickford home to Coventry, then Donnarumma facing Forest, Alisson vs Palace. I have to draw your attention to the next 5 column because if you're buying a keeper this week you can see the value in Trafford, Petrovic, Verbruggen as opposed to the 5.5m keepers above them. They're all fairly similar but the cheaper guys keeping pace. I would go Verbruggen or Petrovic if you're getting a keeper that's not Raya. If we look at the next 8 gameweeks clean sheet projections you can see Brighton in 4th and Bournmemouth in 6th for projected clean sheets.
Kinsky as well tied with Bournemouth worth a mention. Feels like Spurs could be turning a corner in their season, 3 wins on the bounce in the league after failing to win any of their 6 before that.
If you've still got your wildcard, Raya would be my pick still, or if you're going budget then Verbruggen.
🛡️ Defenders
Defenders up next and Arsenal's backline obviously the top 4 but have a look at Gabriel in particular, 6.3 points. He is a true captain option this week, are any of you captaining him or another defender? Timber I wouldn't risk just in case White starts, Konsa's ceiling is generally lower than Gabriel but it could work, Calafiori is slightly risky as well dependent on Champions League minutes midweek, if he gets a rest there it's got potential too.
I remember once or twice over the years Arteta has used "easy" fixtures as an opportunity to rotate. For example if he plays Calafiori in the Champions League there's an outside chance he goes Hincapie or Lewis-Skelly, or Mosquera RCB, or White RB. However it's one of those where you obviously play them because it's impossible to predict, but Gabriel is the only one I'd consider captaining because he'll undoubtedly play.
We'll benchmark Gabriel's 6.3 points against the best mids and forwards in a sec. Let's talk about other defenders outside of Arsenal.
Team of the Season is a 5-2-3. When was the last time you saw that formation? And yet if you'd started the season with a 5-2-3 you'd have the best team. Raya, De Cuyper, Gabriel, Vuskovic, Van Hecke, Bogle, Gross, Tavernier, Haaland, Isak, Evanilson.
No defender has had more than Vuskovic's 15 shots. De Cuyper has the highest xGI of all defenders and most chances created.
Bournemouth's 10 xG conceded is third best in the league, Spurs only .08 behind on 10.08 xGC. So there's just so so many good defender picks that we have to at least consider a back 4 or even back 5 more.
- De Cuyper
- Gabriel
- Konsa
- Vuskovic
- Van Hecke
- Muharemovic
- Silva
- Hill
- Van Dijk
You can't go wrong and those CBs are hitting defcon at a good rate too.
Silva has a 67% defcon hit rate, which is highest in the entire league among players that have started every game. And he finished on 9 last gameweek so he was very close to even higher! Muharemovic is fantastic, 56% hit rate, Van Dijk the same.
Looking at the super cheap defenders the best right now look like O'Shea, Thomas, Mendy. You don't want to play them often but they're handy picks for the bench, Thomas might be the best assuming his injury's not serious which is what Lampard implied. Coventry have some good fixtures coming up like Palace home and Ipswich home.
Just rounding off the defenders discussion. Longer term I'm thinking how do I re-jig my team to fit Gabriel in? The Arsenal defenders are gonna be dicey heading in to the winter period. Calafiori's been class but won't start every single game, Konsa will become a problem at some point after the break too on Saliba's return so Raya and Gabriel are the two safe bets. But 8m is incredibly expensive so it's gonna take some work in many teams to move funds around.