Brentford FPL: Who To Own, Captain And Avoid

Brentford: the quiet double-up nobody's making

Our model has Brentford's attack ranked as the best in the league across the first six gameweeks. Not top four. Not "sneaky good". The best. And their defence sits fourth for clean-sheet potential over the same stretch. Nobody's dressing room is that exciting, which is exactly how I like it.

The fixtures do a lot of the lifting: TOT (H), LEE (A), SUN (H), BOU (A), CHE (H), AVL (A). Spurs and Chelsea at home aren't gimmes, but the rest of that run is the kind you build a squad around — promoted sides, Bournemouth away, no trips to the usual houses of pain.

Thiago (£8.0m) is the way in up front. Our projections have him good for around 23-24 points over the six, which at that price is honest work, and as the focal point of the league's sharpest attack he can go big on the right afternoon. About 2 in 10 managers already have him — popular, not template. Buy.

The defence is where the real value hides, and here's the bit that made me sit up: Collins (£5.5m) actually projects *higher* than Thiago over the run — roughly 24 points — and barely anyone owns him. Fewer than 2 in 10? Try fewer than 2 in *100*. A nailed centre-half in the league's fourth-meanest defence, on kind fixtures, that nobody has. That's not a differential, that's a mistake being made 10 million times over. Kelleher (£5.0m) offers the same clean sheets a pound cheaper if you'd rather spend it in goal, and Kayode at £4.5m is a genuinely playing defender at enabler money — a rare species.

Schade (£6.0m) rounds out the list, projected around 20 points, owned by almost nobody. Decent, but he's a midfielder in a team whose attacking returns will scatter — I'd take the defenders first.

The honest caveat: Brentford open with Spurs at home, so the first-week returns might look ordinary and the impatient will bail. Don't. The run gets kinder, not harder.

The call: buy Thiago, and pair him with Collins. If the budget's tight, Kelleher or Kayode do the defensive job cheaper. Two Brentford players minimum for the first six weeks — the boring double-up that wins you September.