Everton FPL: Who To Own, Captain And Avoid

Everton: buy the back, ignore the front

Everton over the next six is a tale of two ends, and only one of them is worth your money.

Our model has this defence as one of the meanest in the league — top-seven territory — and reckons the fixtures are kind for clean sheets. The attack is a different story: bottom-five stuff, staring at a genuinely tough run. So before anyone gets excited about a cheap Everton forward, understand what you're buying. This is a shut-up-shop team, and the points live at the back.

The route in is Tarkowski. He tops our list for a reason — the best projected haul of any Everton asset over the six, and about 1 in 10 managers are already on board, so you're not late. He's the one carrying real threat at set pieces too, which is where Everton's rare attacking returns tend to arrive. The dry caveat: at £6.1m he's the expensive way into a clean-sheet team, and he's started five of six rather than all of them, so he's not quite chained to the pitch.

Which is where Mykolenko earns his paragraph. Same clean sheets, £1.5m cheaper, hardly anyone owns him — under 1 in 2 in 10 have bothered. If your budget is doing the maths that funds a premium elsewhere, he's the answer. Branthwaite sits between the two and is almost unowned, if you fancy the same defence with more of a goal threat about him. Pickford is the usual honest option in goal.

Now the other end. Barry has penalties, which is the only reason to look twice, but a bottom-five attack into a tough run is not where £5.6m should go. Dewsbury-Hall is on corners and starting, but our projections have him earning defender money without defender clean sheets. Pass on both.

One more note of caution: nobody in this squad is fully nailed on our numbers — five starts from six is the pattern, not six from six. That's fine for a £4.6m defender; it stings more at £6.1m.

The fixtures to circle: Hull away first up is the freebie, Coventry at home mid-run is another, and even the harder trips carry shut-out potential the way this side defends.

The call: buy into Everton, but strictly through the defence. Mykolenko at £4.6m is the value play and my pick; Tarkowski if you want the set-piece upside and can spare the extra. Leave the attackers on the shelf.