Aston Villa
Villa Park
Aston Villa FPL: Who To Own, Captain And Avoid
The call — Every set piece at Villa Park runs through Emi Buendía — penalties, free kicks, a share of the corners — and even he isn't nailed on to start. That's Aston Villa in one sentence right now, and it's why this page is shorter on recommendations than usual.
What has not being with FFIQ cost you this season?
One squad, picked before a ball was kicked and run for six gameweeks on three transfers — no hits taken. Scored on FPL’s own results.
Your name and your FPL team name. That is all it takes, and we will have your answer before you have finished reading this sentence.
↓ Start here — your name, then your team.
No FPL password, ever. We only read what FPL already publishes.
Start with the ugly bit. Our model has Villa's defence as the worst in the league — dead last of 20 — and the fixtures don't offer a way out: Brentford at home, then Newcastle away, Manchester City at home, Fulham, Manchester United away, Sunderland. That's a tough run for clean sheets on top of a back line that wasn't keeping them anyway. Mings and Lindelöf are £4.5m, which sounds like enabler money until you remember an enabler has to do two things: play, and not concede three. Mings has started twice recently. Pass.
The attack is only middling — 13th of 20 — and the run of opponents is genuinely nasty for goals too. Which brings us to the value question this page exists to answer: if you buy in at all, it's through Buendía at £5.9m. He's the top projected Villa asset over the next six, he owns the dead balls, and hardly anyone has him — fewer than 1 in 10 managers. On his day, a penalty plus a free-kick assist is a real haul. The catch, and it's not small: five starts is not eleven, and "not nailed" on a team facing City and Newcastle is how you end up with a £5.9m man watching from the bench while your bench watches him.
McGinn at £5.4m is the honest man's alternative — starts most weeks, on corners — but he's the low-upside version of the same bet. Jackson shares penalties, which is interesting, but four starts at £6.5m in a 13th-ranked attack is paying mid-price money for a rotation risk. That's the exact trade I exist to talk you out of.
What changes the call? A settled team sheet. If Unai Emery names Buendía three weeks running, he becomes one of the better sub-£6.0m midfielders nobody owns, and Sunderland at home in six weeks' time is the payoff fixture.
Until then: avoid Villa this window. If you absolutely must have one, it's Buendía and only Buendía — but the reliable move is to spend your £5.9m on someone whose manager has picked his team.