A monthly feature that does what it says on the tin – a playing XI of guys with ownership below 10% for you to consider. This team considers everything we’ve seen so far as we plan for the season ahead.
We’ll keep the hidden gem XIs coming throughout the season, but you can always tune into the Draft FC Podcast for a weekly discussion of all my waiver tips for that gameweek.
In many of our articles (including this one) you will notice that we are able to show the % ownership (or rostered % for the yanks) across all the FPL draft leagues – this data isn’t a secret! You can have access to all of this and more by signing up to access the Draft FC Global Dashboard. If you haven’t signed up already you can easily take a peak with our 7-day free trial.
GK: Neto [BOU]
Verdict – 3 matches and 10 points isn’t terrible for a BOU keeper, he looked good in the game against NEW in which BOU didn’t really deserve much from the game but 6 saves still saw him to 4pts even without a clean sheet. He was also able to keep their first cleanie of the season the game after they got pumped 9-0 which I’m sure would have been much appreciated by fans. His ownership is less than 1% in 8-team leagues which is fair enough when only 16 can be taken at any one time, but he’s certainly out-performing the likes of Leno, Ward, Bazunu and Guaita and may be deserving of a spot in your team, particularly as BOU have a nice run of fixtures in October.
DEF: N.Williams
Verdict – Currently sat up with Awoniyi and Johnson when it comes to NFO underlying attacking stats with an expected attacking return in around 1 in 3 games. Forest play LEI, AVL and WOL in their next 3 fixtures who are 3 of the bottom 4 teams when it comes to overall xG, so very good opportunities to turn things around defensively.
DEF: Akanji [MCI]
Verdict – I’m still not sure where he slots in to the scene here but could be worth keeping an eye on, particularly if you’ve got a healthy 15 and could accommodate him on the bench. Laporte is expected to be back some time after the international break, Stones is fit and Ake also comes in for his share so plenty of competition.
DEF: Guéhi [CRY]
Verdict – A quick glance at the FPL FDR list for CRY shows a sea of green once they get past CHE in GW9. If you’re flying relatively high in your respective draft league you may need to move in the upcoming GW9 waiver window to grab one of them in good time. I could have put any and all of the CRY defenders in here and wouldn’t be able to put much between them.
DEF: Lenglet [TOT]
Verdict – Has quietly assumed the left-sided CB position in place of Ben Davies. I’m sure we’ll still see some rotation there (indeed we saw Sanchez start over Romero against LEI) but on the whole I would expect Lenglet to play the majority of PL minutes for now, with Davies featuring in what should be a comfortable CL group to progress from.
DEF: Mykolenko [EVE]
Verdict – Two clean sheets in a row and maybe now worth considering the EVE defence again? Mykolenko’s ownership stands just under 2% and he could be a streamer to consider for some of EVE’s favourable October fixtures, particularly in the games in the run-up to Qatar.
MID: Aaronson [LEE]
Verdict – The only surviving member from August’s hidden gem XI, ownership is still just under 8%, and that’s likely due to them not playing in GW8. His underlying numbers certainly put him behind teammates Harrison, Bamford and Sinisterra, but having a slice of the LEE attacking pie is definitely worthwhile.
MID: Gibbs-White [NFO]
Verdict – Big money move and one they’ll be hoping to count on a lot in the future but will that future be in the PL? I’m not so sure, but at the moment he seems to be preferred to Lingard who hasn’t done a lot since moving down to Forest.
MID: Willian [FUL]
Verdict – Do I think Willian is going to help FUL stay in the PL? No. Do I think he’s there to cash a cheque and spend another year living in London? Absolutely I do, but it appears he’s going to start for them (I guess he sort of has to) and already has an assist from their comeback win over NFO. Fulham have one of the best set of fixtures in October, with 5/6 games against (current) bottom-half opposition.
FWD: Awoniyi [NFO]
Verdict – Last month I had Johnson in here and now it’s one of his many new teammates. A month ago I may have expected to be sticking Dennis in here but Steve Cooper has so far continued with Awoniyi alongside Johnson on the whole
Goal involvement of 0.63/90 without penalties is a very solid return for a player of his current value and means if he plays 2 full matches he should return a goal or assist at least once based on his performances up to now.
FWD: Solanke
Verdict – As far as BOU attacking stats go, Solanke is up there where he should be. To put it honestly, Solanke gets in because I’m not putting in Diego Costa. Do what you want.