Hull City FPL: Who To Own, Captain And Avoid

Hull: the value is at the back — and it starts every week

Hull's defence ranks in the top half of the league in our projections — ninth-meanest, no less — while the attack sits in the bottom half and stares down a run that includes Newcastle away and Arsenal away. That tells you everything about which end of this squad to shop at.

Ajayi is the pick, and it's not close. He's top of our list, he's nailed, and at £4.2m he's the sort of defender who quietly funds a Haaland at the other end. Just over 1 in 10 managers have already worked this out. Egan is essentially the same bet a fraction cheaper and owned by fewer — a perfectly sensible alternative if you'd rather zig. Giles, at the bottom price bracket, is the deep-value play: he starts, he's on free kicks and corners, and hardly anyone owns him — about 1 in 40. If your bench needs a body that actually plays, that's him.

The honest caveat: an average run of clean-sheet fixtures means average, not good. Everton, Brentford and Ipswich at home are the games you're buying — winnable shutouts in front of your own crowd. Newcastle and Arsenal away are the games you grit your teeth through. Over six gameweeks these defenders project a steady 3-4 points most weeks with the odd clean-sheet double-up, not fireworks. That's fine. That's the job.

The attack? Leave it alone. McBurnie has penalties, which is the only reason he makes the conversation, but a bottom-half attack facing a very tough run is not where £5.5m goes. Belloumi's on set pieces too, and neither will hurt you at their price — but neither is likely to score you into your mini-league lead either. The romance isn't there, and Cheapy doesn't do romance anyway.

What changes the call: if any of the back four starts losing minutes, out they go — the entire case here is that they play every week. Right now all of them do.

The call: buy Ajayi as your set-and-forget cheap defender, with Egan or Giles if the budget's tighter still. Start them in the home games — Everton, Brentford, Ipswich — without a second thought. Skip the Hull attack entirely.