Matz Sels, Nottingham Forest, keeper, £4.6m – home to West Ham
The Belgian is on a nice run of form – with a surprise assist and a clean sheet in his past two games.
Forest are still top five in most defensive stats and have conceded just seven goals – the second-lowest total in the league.
At home and with clean sheets in general at a premium, Sels makes sense.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool, defender, £7m – home to Brighton
Last week, just three of 20 teams kept a clean sheet. The week before it was five – thanks in part to a 0-0 draw between Aston Villa and Manchester United.
In that context, picking the most attacking defensive asset in a home game is a simple choice, despite Brighton posing a decent forward threat.
Alexander-Arnold is still miles ahead of any other defender in expected assists (3.05) and has just one. If you believe in those figures regressing to the mean – and I do – then “he’s due”.
Rayan Ait-Nouri, Wolves, defender, £4.6m – home to Crystal Palace
A very popular FPL pick at the moment and one flagged as a player to watch in this column three weeks ago.
Super attacking and budget friendly, Ait-Nouri has scored with three of his five shots on target and now has a run of fixtures where he could muster up a clean sheet to go with everything else.
Leif Davis, Ipswich, defender, £4.5m – home to Leicester City
Looking at this week’s fixtures, it is hard to predict a clean sheet. So in comes another attacking full-back at home.
We’ve talked about Davis’ attacking stats before – he had a superb season in the Championship in 2023-24 and has a couple of assists already this time around.
Ipswich should be on the front foot, at home against relegation rivals, so expect plenty of attacking positions from Davis.