Gameweek 10 Sleepers XI: Draft EPL

Bantah Boyz

2 hours ago

9 min read

Our Gameweek 10 Sleepers XI article provides Draft managers with a lineup of Fantasy EPL hidden gems. Our starting eleven of Draft Premier League differential picks will help you find a golden ticket to a big score this weekend! These hints and tips will give you a better chance of picking up an all-important victory, as any one of these under-the-radar picks could make the difference in a head-to-head game!

Michail Antonio shooting the ball for West Ham

We'll be focusing on players that will bring us not only attacking returns or clean sheets, but also those players that score Ghost Points in the sophisticated and statistics based Fantrax Scoring System!

Gameweek 10 Sleepers XI

For this article, we use the percentage rostered calculation from Fantrax and Sleeper. Our only rule is that each player we highlight is rostered in 60% of leagues or fewer at the time of writing. Therefore, there's a good chance some of these players will be free agents in your Draft league! As always, we'll take form, fixtures, projected points, and a healthy dose of intuition into account to make our selections.

Another gameweek, another middling score. I can't wait for the International Break. But hey-ho, let's break down what went right and wrong to end up with 64.75 FPts in Gameweek 9. In net we went with Kinsky, who banked an easy clean sheet against 10-man Spurs, which is why he only made 1 save, ending up with 8 FPts. This was probably a great situation for Richards as he and his teammates were defending for most of the game. The American scored 6.75 FPts after conceding 2 goals, showing he's still a decent source of ghost points. Speaking of ghosts, Milenkovic actually scored 8.25 of them, but ended up on -0.75 thanks to his own goal, conceding twice and picking up a yellow card. In fact, my other 2 defenders also picked up a yellow card each, with Cash scoring 5.25 FPts (1 goal conceded) and Burn scoring 5.5 FPts (1 goal conceded). In midfield is where we really suffered, with 3 assets combining for less than 10 fantasy points: Angulo (3 FPts), Joelinton (3.5 FPts) and Slater (2 FPts). The less said the better. Up front, we thrived. Thomas-Asante was an 18 minute sub but still got 2.75 FPts, whereas Tyrique George scored 13.25 FPts with an assist and Mathys Tel scored 15.5 FPts, all ghosts. So maybe it wasn't so bad. Let's hope to hit a high-score with an opportunity to gloat for 2 weeks. So keep reading for our Gameweek 10 attempt!

The Sleepers XI table below includes a full team of Starters, as well as 5 Reserves - high-upside players with some question marks around whether or not they'll start in Gameweek 10. So keep an eye out when lineups are announced and pick them up if you see them starting, especially if you need to fill a spot on your roster. Read below for the rationale behind each of the Starter selections.

Dean Henderson (G, Crystal Palace)

So far this season, the Eagles have conceded the most shots (169) and the most shots on target (52). So it makes sense why they've conceded the most goals (21) in the league. To be honest, in the limited time that Benitez was filling in for Henderson and available as a pick-up in leagues, he was actually averaging just under 8 gPPS. But considering the fact that Palace almost never keep clean sheets, it just felt like a really bad idea. However, when you look under the hood, Benitez Sv% was actually only 56% over his 5 game run. Henderson typically averages around 10% better, so you could actually expect an even better output from the Englishman, especially as he's been over-performing his usual stats since his return from injury. A nice swap if you need one.

Costinha (D, Brighton)

I'll be honest, this could go one of two ways. Either Costinha loses his spot to the regular starter Kadioglu, or Costinha starts his 3rd game in a row, and I might have nailed one of the best streamiums around in many of my leagues. I was very hesitant to pick Costinha last week as his first 60+ minute debut came about as a result of Kadioglu's injury versus Liverpool. The Portuguese smashed it by scoring 10 FPts in 84 minutes after conceding twice. He then kept the spot against Man City, scoring 11.75 FPts with a clean sheet. In his most recent game, he even got the assist for the only and winning goal in their away tie in the European Conference league, with the Seagulls wingback scoring 22.25 FPts. So, it seems like he can do no wrong, showing that he has a decent floor and an even more impressive ceiling. Grab him now!

Jake O'Brien (D, Everton)

Jake O'Brien must have made up with Moyes because he's back in the starting XI again. After a couple of failed experiments with Rohl and AMN as his right-back options, Everton seem more solid at the back with their regular feature from last season back in the starting XI alongside, Tarkowski and Branthwaite. In JOB's first start against Arsenal, he scored 6.25 ghost points, whilst against Newcastle, he scored 10.75 ghosts. This is pretty reliable production for your DEF4. On Friday night, the Toffees host Coventry, in what should be a very straightforward win and clean sheet against the promoted team. However, the Sky Blues are starting to find some form, so worst case, you might still get enough ghosts to warrant starting him. He also has goal threat, scoring in each of his last 2 seasons as well.

Levi Colwill (D, Chelsea)

There was a point of this season where targeting the Chelsea defence seemed like a sure strategy for attacking points. How the turn tables though. Now Chelsea defenders seem like a very viable option at the moment. In their last 4 games, they've only conceded 3 times and kept 2 clean sheets. Only Arsenal, Brighton and Spurs have conceded fewer goals. Up next the Blues face Sunderland, a team that has scored the 2nd fewest goals (7) in the league this season and only once in their last 4 games. The Black Cats are really struggling to put the ball in the right net at the moment, so this feels like the best opportunity for a clean sheet. Not to mention, Colwill has also scored the most ghost points of all Chelsea defenders and is averaging just under 7 gPPS.

Micky van de Ven (D, Spurs)

Jan-Paul van Hecke is capturing all the headlines at the moment as the defensive pick from Spurs, but there's no way in hell he's free in your league. However, Micky van de Ven might be. Micky's scores this season have been a bit all over the place this season, with some low scores (1.5 & 2 FPts) but also extremely high ones (14 & 16.75 FPts), but his ghosts have been fairly steady. He's currently averaging just over 6 gPPS, but he's also a defender that has some significant goal threat, scoring 4 goals last season and 3 goals in the 2023/24 season. So the upside is there. That being said, we're backing him to get the clean sheet this weekend. Leeds are tied for the third fewest goals scored (9) this season and have only scored twice in their last 4 games, so the odds look good for Spurs shutting them out.

Milan van Ewijk (D, Coventry)

After trusting van Ewijk in my own community league teams, I'm quite hesitant to suggest him as a pick this weekend but the options are quite limited this weekend, you'll notice that when we enter the midfielders section that were at our disposal. Everton have only scored 9 goals this season, which is only more than Sunderland and Nottingham Forest. In fact, Coventry are on the same number of goals scored as well. However, if you look at the last 6 games, Everton have only scored 4 times, so starting a Coventry defender feels like a real option this weekend. Also, even if van Ewijk doesn't magically fluke a clean sheet, his ghost point production has improved over the last few games, going from just under 7 gPPS in his first 4 appearances to just over 10 gPPS in his last 4. He's looking like a worthy DEF4/5 for rosters now.

Boubacar Kamara (M, Aston Villa)

This is proper scraping of the barrel now. Never in my wildest dreams would I have fathomed suggesting Kamara, typically a steady-eddy asset, as a possible Sleeper pick. Yet if you are struggling for starters, or let's say one of your studs is benched in the final game of the gameweek, Man Utd vs Aston Villa, then Kamara is a great fall back option. He's started every game for the Villans and been averaging just over 6.5 PPS. He leads his teammates in tackles won (16) and aerials won (11), yet has never picked up a yellow card, which you love to see. Last season he showed that he can get a sprinkling of attacking returns and honestly, if Lavia smashed it against the Red Devils last gameweek, why can't Kamara, especially with Baleba having picked up a hamstring injury during the midweek game. This is a proper punt for one week.

Harry Wilson (M, Leeds)

According to our Fixture Difficulty Tracker, Leeds midfielders have the best rated fixture of all midfielders this weekend. I'll be honest, this does surprise me a bit as Spurs have really turned a corner in their season and are now one of the most in-form teams in the league, having won 3 and drawn once in their last 4 fixtures. That being said, in two of those games, their opposition did go down to 10 men and they also played the likes of Crystal Palace, Coventry, Man Utd and a Joao Pedro-less Chelsea. Leeds is struggling for goals right now but backing them in a home fixture feels safe enough, especially with an asset that is taking every set piece while Stach is still trying to gain full fitness from an injury that has been plaguing him. Wilson's scores of 7.75 and 7.25 FPts still warrants rolling him out as a MID4/5.

Merlin Rohl (M, Everton)

Grealish has been confirmed out to miss the Friday night game against Coventry, which should see Rohl get another start in a more attacking position for the Toffees, particularly with JOB playing in right-back. Now Rohl is quite versatile, but in the 2 games he played further forward, he scored 8.75 FPts against Chelsea and 2.75 FPts against Newcastle. If he can replicate his Chelsea performance, which was also at the Hill Dickinson, you could have an amazing start to your weekend. He's shown that he has some attacking flair too, getting successful dribbles in only those 2 aforementioned games, as well as attempting a shot each. He nearly assisted Barry against the Magpies too. I wouldn't play him if I already had starters like KDH and Garner, but if you're considering between him and Torp, I'd lean Rohl.

Igor Jesus (F, Nottingham Forest)

If you haven't seen Glasner's last few press conferences, go do that right now before you read the rest of this paragraph. Glasner absolutely lost it after their recent draw in the Premier League and it seems like he could be ringing in a few changes as Forest keep struggling to convert their chances. Forest have the 5th best xG (14.6) in the league and are also underperforming the most as they've only scored 6 goals in the league, the fewest of all teams. I'd primarily blame Delap though, as the striker has attempted the most shots (24) of all Forest players, but has only had 3 on target. That's an insanely poor shot accuracy, and so I could see Jesus come back into the starting XI. The Brazilian was hot during the preseason fixtures and already has a goal this season, matching Delap and playing half the number of minutes. Man City have also only kept 3 clean sheets this season. This is a good gamble if you can afford it.

Jorgen Strand Larsen (F, Crystal Palace)

After Mateta's dumb challenge on Micky van de Ven, he saw a straight red card and also lost the appeal, which means that JSL should be a nailed started for the Eagles' next 3 games. Despite getting a goose egg against Brighton in their 5-0 loss, JSL has actually been scoring alright. In his last 3 starts, he was averaging just over 11 PPS, having scored against Ipswich and getting an assist versus Forest. His next 3 fixtures aren't too bad either, as they play Hull and Coventry in Gameweeks 11 and 12 respectively. So even if you grab him for Gameweek 10, you don't necessarily have to play him against a resolute Liverpool defence. Yet, the fixture difficulty tracker almost suggests that you can risk it. He's at least a better option than Wissa or Fatawu.