Final Word Week 10 | Supercoach EPL trades, captains, PODs

Some big movers this week – as a never owner of van de Ven I got to enjoy Spurs victory a little more than most over the weekend as owners try to shift and give themselves a shot at Mbeumo who has struck form on the back of a nice little Manchester United run over the past three weeks – climaxing with the performance over the weekend.

I’m still not 100% sold on United but I think Amorim now has the starting XI he envisioned at the start of the season.

No big boys until he departs for AFCON and I think Semenyo owners should be at the very least contemplating a switch right now.

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To the Bolywood Bhoys – a weekly score of 92 on the back of the trade in of Guimaraes, clean sheets for Petrovic and Hartman, a 10 for Rice without scoring or assisting.

Not riding on one performance and the goal came late for the Newcastle midfielder but he is central to an improving Newcastle side who take on struggling West Ham and inconsistent Brentford before the final international break of 2025.

Saliba’s injury is a worry at the back – but I think a hold for now is alright given their fixtures – if he does play there’s at least one clean sheet coming in games against Burnley and Sunderland.

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I’ve contemplated plenty of trades this week with Salah still not filling me with confidence, Pedro set to be moved into a wide or deeper position with Delap set to return for Chelsea this weekend, a Brighton double up in defense with van Hecke and De Cuyper and Mason Mount not moving back into the United side after the win on the weekend.

The trouble is – no replacements fill me with particular confidence or are out of reach for me at their current price & in the case of some – I think will drop in price over the next few weeks.

I’ll talk you through some of the trades I’ve contemplated…

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Szobozslai 8.6 mil – 2nd Most Traded in and no doubt an attractive option despite being in a Liverpool team that is struggling to find form.

There has been a little more clarity around his role over the past couple of weekends but not the extent that I’m desperate to move him in – and as we’re consistently finding – midfielders are proving difficult to pin down for consistently high returns.

Meanwhile, my two high-priced midfielders in Rice and Guimaraes are performing nicely and aren’t trade out options at this point.

A slight upgrade would mean a trade out of either van Hecke who is back to a point where his breakeven isn’t an obvious hold or Joao Pedro who is a worry given his spot is now set to change, although I don’t think he’ll lose his spot in the starting eleven altogether. 

The problem defensively is shy of the high-price options I don’t think there’s a heap of value to be found beyond Brighton who face Leeds at home this weekend and a good chance of recording a clean sheet – so why not stick tight with my double up there for one more week and see if anyone shoots out of the woodwork.

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Bruno Fernandes 9.4mil  – The more attractive option to Szoboszlai from my perspective given the fact he’s still recording a terrific number of base statistics and going into an 8-week period that shouldn’t present United with too many challenges on paper.

Again, it would mean a flip of van Hecke to a weaker defensive option which doesn’t look attractive. Next week – I could be made to eat my earlier words on the Portguese maestro though and bring him back in.

Dango Outtara 5.18mil – Could be the cash grab I wanted with the Mount trade last weekend and at a price where I could get him like-for-like – Brentford taking on Palace, Newcastle & Brighton doesn’t fill me with confidence given they’re three teams who’ve figured out who they are and what they’re about.

Mount, while he doesn’t play – doesn’t hurt me on the bench for the moment and if he comes into a firing United team in the next month I think he’ll eventually provide the pay off without me wasting another trade.

Van Dijk 6.4mil – Can’t go there until Liverpool work their defensive issues out. A shame because he’s been scoring in the Champions League… Not picking up a defender for his goal-scoring chops unless it’s Leighton Baines though.

Gameweek 10 Strategy

So we sit tight this week with no trades.

A captaincy loop opportunity this week with Everton (and Tyrer) playing the Tuesday morning kick-off and Haaland in action on Monday against Bournemouth.

1 poor score won’t ward us off his captaincy but a few options in terms of who I give first crack to on Saturday Night.

Guimaraes is in terrific form and heading to West Ham but the Monday morning kick-off preceding City’s kills us there.

Declan Rice lining up against Burnley seems the obvious choice of he, Pedro (v Spurs) & Salah (v Villa).

C: Haaland

VC: Rice