Newcastle United
St James' Park
Newcastle United FPL: Who To Own, Captain And Avoid
The call — Newcastle: the value is at the back, and it's practically free Here's the thing our model keeps saying about Newcastle: the best pound-for-pound buys at the club aren't the forwards. They're the defenders. Hall — a £5.1m man who takes corners and shares free kicks — sits top of our list for the whole squad, ahead of every attacker on…
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The case is simple. Newcastle carry one of the league's sharpest attacks and a defence in the top half for keeping the ball out, and the next six read like a scheduling apology: LEE (A), HUL (H), COV (A), AVL (H), CRY (A), EVE (H). Promoted sides, home fixtures, nothing that scares you. That run flatters both ends — goals for the attackers, clean sheets for the back line — but only one end is priced honestly.
Hall gives you the defender's floor plus set-piece involvement on top, and only about 1 in 10 managers own him. Behind him, Botman and Thiaw are both a straight £5.0m, both nailed per our numbers, and owned by basically nobody — Botman is under 1 in 100 teams. Those are the enablers that fund a premium elsewhere while actually returning. Horníček at £5.0m does the same job in goal if you need a keeper route in.
Up front, Wissa projects almost identically to Hall over the six and just under 2 in 10 own him — a perfectly fine pick, and he's on penalties. But he shares those penalties with Osula, and a £6.2m forward has to score to pay you. A £5.0m defender just has to stand there while Coventry don't. That's the trade I take every time. Elanga and Barnes are the midfield options; decent, not urgent.
The honest caveat: it's three starts of evidence each, early-season lineups can shuffle, and a back line built partly on promoted opposition looks worse the moment the fixtures turn. But over these six, the risk is small and the price smaller.
The call: buy into Newcastle through the defence. Hall first if the £5.1m fits — the set pieces make him the pick. If every pound matters, Botman at £5.0m is the cheapest reliable route into the same clean sheets. Do it before Hull turn up at St James' Park.