Hull City FPL: Who To Own, Captain And Avoid

Hull's Value Is All at the Back — And It's Going Cheap

Hull's defence sits mid-table in our model — tenth-meanest in the league — and the fixtures are about to do it a favour. Everton, Ipswich, Brentford and Brighton all come to the MKM in the next six, with only the Arsenal trip a genuine write-off. That's a favourable run of clean-sheet chances at newly-promoted prices, and this is exactly the sort of thing that funds a Haaland.

The attack is a different story. Hull rank mid-pack going forward and our model calls their run a very tough one for goals — so ignore the shiny end of the squad and shop where the value actually sits: the back line.

Egan is the pick. At £4.1m he tops our rankings for the club, projected for a tidy 23 points over six — which for four-quid money is proper enabler territory. About 7 in 10 managers *don't* own him, so there's still room on the bandwagon. Ajayi at £4.2m is barely behind and already sits in about 1 in 7 squads, so he's the safer template play if you'd rather follow the crowd. Giles at £4.0m is the deep cut — hardly anyone has him (about 3 in 100), and he takes free kicks and shares corners, which is the only attacking upside anywhere in this defence.

Now the honest bit, because there is one. Nobody in this squad is nailed. Every name on the page has five starts, not six, and our model won't call any of them a lock. That's the tax on shopping at a promoted club — the manager is still shuffling. Five starts from five-and-a-bit is a decent record, but if you're building a bench boost around three Hull defenders, don't.

Tzolakis at £4.6m is a fine budget keeper by the numbers, but the same caveat applies, and I don't pay £4.6m for a keeper who might rotate when £4.1m Egan gives me the same clean sheets with a fixed price tag. Skip the midfield and McBurnie entirely — pens or not, a tough attacking run at a mid-table attack is not where £5.5m goes.

The call: buy Egan at £4.1m as your set-and-forget cheap defender for the next six, with Giles the £4.0m punt if the budget is truly scraping the floor. Leave the Hull attack alone.