Hull City FPL: Who To Own, Captain And Avoid

Hull's whole budget row is starting every week — and that's the story

Eight Hull players, eight starters in five of five. No rotation, no 60-minute hooks, no manager roulette. In a season where half the £4.5m midfielders in the game are coin-flips for a bench slot, Hull are handing out guaranteed minutes at every price point. That's the whole pitch, and it's a good one.

The question is which end to buy, because the two ends are pointing in different directions. Hull sit mid-table for attack — 12th — and our model has them walking into a tough run for goals. The defence is the better story: 10th-meanest in the league, with a genuinely kind run for clean sheets. Everton at home, Fulham away, then Brentford, Ipswich and Brighton at the MKM with only the Arsenal trip to swallow. That's a shutout-shaped fixture list.

So why does Belloumi top our list at £5.1m? Set pieces. He's on free kicks and corners, which is how a midfielder in a mid-ranked attack keeps scoring when the open-play chances dry up. He's our pick of the lot — usually good for 3-4 a week with the odd bigger return off a dead ball — and hardly anyone has him, about 1 in 20. The honest caveat: a tough attacking run means you're buying the floor and the set-piece lottery, not hauls.

At the back, the value call is Egan over Ajayi. Ajayi is the one managers have piled into — about 1 in 7 own him against Egan's 1 in 14 — but our model prefers Egan, and he's a tenner cheaper. Same clean sheets, same nailed minutes, less money. Tzolakis at £4.7m is the keeper route if that suits your structure better, and Giles at £4.0m is about as cheap as a starting defender gets, with free kicks and corners thrown in.

Skip the attack beyond Belloumi. McBurnie has penalties, but a striker in a tough run for goals is a hope purchase, and hope isn't a budget strategy.

The call: buy into Hull through the back — Egan at £4.1m, and take Belloumi alongside if you've got £5.1m spare in midfield. If it's one transfer, it's Egan.