Rice
VS
Anderson
Rice Vs Anderson: The Better FPL Pick
The call — Rice or Anderson? My numbers say Rice — but only just. The gap is smaller than the price tags suggest. My projections have Rice on around 27 points over the first six gameweeks and Anderson on around 25 — barely two points between them, for a full million pounds of difference. That's the whole argument in one line, so let's…
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Rice at £7.5m is the safer money. Arsenal open with a genuinely kind run — COV (H), AVL (A), CHE (H), SUN (A), BHA (A), LEE (H) — and my numbers rank him ahead of Anderson overall, not just on raw points. He's usually good for a steady 4-5 with the odd bigger week when Arsenal put a side away, and about 2 in 10 managers already have him, so he's a mainstream pick rather than a punt. The honest caveat: at £7.5m you're paying a premium-adjacent price for a midfielder who isn't Arsenal's first attacking option, so the massive hauls will be occasional rather than regular.
Anderson at £6.5m is the value play. City's run is nearly as friendly — BOU (H), CRY (A), COV (H), then trickier trips to Old Trafford and Anfield either side of SUN (H) — and he's projected to land within a couple of points of Rice for a million less. Hardly anyone owns him, roughly 1 in 10, so if he hits, you gain on almost everyone. The risk is the obvious one: City's midfield is crowded with attacking talent, and my numbers rate him below Rice partly because his route to big weeks is narrower. He's occupying a slot in that team; Rice is a fixture in his.
So the decision comes down to what the million buys elsewhere. If saving £1.0m upgrades a striker or turns a bench body into a starter, Anderson is a perfectly sensible pick and a lovely differential. If your squad is otherwise set, don't overthink it.
My call: buy Rice. He's my higher-ranked player, the fixtures are excellent, and the two-point gap over six weeks is worth paying for when it comes with more security and more chance of a genuinely big week. Anderson is the fallback if the budget demands it — not the first choice.