Defenders Ran Gameweek 9. Back Them Again.

Deadline's tonight, Friday, at 18:30 GMT. Everton and Coventry kick off at 20:00, so don't sleep on it.

Gameweek 9 belonged to the defenders. Seven of the ten games ended in a clean sheet. City lost 1-0 at home to Brighton, and Liverpool lost 1-0 at home to Arsenal. The best player of the week was a £5.0m centre-back: Van Hecke scored 15 for Spurs against Palace. Of the seven players who hit double figures, five were defenders or keepers. Haaland, in 79% of teams and captained by most of them, got 2.

The Guru XI had a decent week. It scored 52 after the hit, five above the average of 47, and climbed about 200,000 places. The armband didn't help, because we went back to Haaland. And last week's hit only just paid off on the day: Rayan and Gabriel scored 3 points more than the players they replaced. The four-point cost made it a net loss of one. The best news came from our differentials: McBurnie 12, Rudoni 9 and Hill 6.

Gameweek 10: the Engine wants more of the same. Nine of its top ten projections this week are defenders, and the tenth is Barry. A good defender also costs about half the price of a good midfielder, which leaves money for the big names.

So here's the plan: build the wall, keep the armband safe. Diop makes way for Van Hecke, the Engine's top projection this week. The XI goes five at the back, and Groß drops to the bench. Haaland keeps the armband, with Gabriel as vice. Haaland is away at Forest, and the Engine has him level with Palmer. But with him in nearly four of every five teams, it's not the week to look elsewhere. There's no hit and no chip.

Short on time before tonight's deadline? Matchday on FPL Guru gets you from "what do I do?" to a locked-in team in one sitting.

Add your FPL Team ID and it walks you through six steps: Scout, Swap, Lineup, Armband, Chips and Lock in. Lock in gives you a checklist to copy straight into the FPL app. Then watch your points land live, and see if you beat the Guru.

Spot something clunky? Hit reply, or use Send feedback in the app.

Open Matchday before the deadline

New this week: FPL Questions. Guru picks one Premier League player each day, and you have to work out who it is. Ask up to 10 yes/no questions in your own words, like "Is he a defender?" or "Has he scored 5 or more?". Then you get 3 guesses.

Stuck? Swap a question for a hint. When you get him, share your result or send a friend a challenge link to beat your score.

Today's player is No. 4. There are only 255 players in the pool, so there's no excuse.

Play today's FPL Questions

Here's how last week's calls held up. The Gameweek 9 average was 47.

Captain Haaland: 2 points (4 with the armband). City lost at home to Brighton. Rayan, our vice, got 3.

The Guru XI: 56 points, 52 after the 4-point hit, five above the average. Raya (5) and Calafiori (6) scored 11 on the bench. We climbed to 3,773,464 overall, from 3,982,257.

Transfers: Bruno Fernandes to Rayan gained 1 point (2 against 3). Van Ewijk to Gabriel gained 2 (4 against 6). That's 3 points for a 4-point hit. João Pedro owners who took Evanilson got 9, and Calafiori owners who took Muharemović got 3 (Calafiori scored 6).

Differentials: Rudoni 9, McBurnie 12, Hill 6. All three paid off, and McBurnie was the second-best player in the game.

Deadline: Friday 6 November, 18:30 GMT. Everton v Coventry opens at 20:00. Saturday has Leeds v Spurs at 12:30 and Forest v City at 17:30. Man Utd v Villa closes the week on Sunday at 16:30.

Team news: João Pedro (thigh) and Saka (thigh) have no return date. Konsa (knee) and Calvert-Lewin (foot) are 75%. Coventry's Thomas (calf) is 50%.

Chip watch: 333,140 Free Hits and 333,085 Wildcards were played last week. We have no chip to suggest.

Price watch: Evanilson, Jackson, Tavernier, Van Hecke and De Cuyper all rose £0.1m. João Pedro, Cherki and Gibbs-White dropped £0.1m.

Captain: Haaland (£15.8m, Man City, away to Forest, Saturday 17:30): 4.3 xPts. He blanked against Brighton, but he's still the game's top scorer (68 points), in 79.1% of teams.

Vice: Gabriel (£8.0m, Arsenal, home to Hull, Saturday 15:00): 5.0 xPts, the top projection in our XI. He's scored 58 points already.

Why not Gabriel? He's 0.7 xPts ahead, but a defender's points ride on one clean sheet. When the gap is that small, Haaland protects your rank. Want the bold call? Gabriel, or Barry (4.9 xPts, home to Coventry on Friday night, 7.9% owned).

All xPts below cover the next five gameweeks.

• Our move: Diop out, Van Hecke in (£5.0m, Spurs), 25.9 xPts against 16.8. He's the Engine's top projection for Gameweek 10.
• Got Groß? (47% owned, 3.2 form) Rayan (£6.3m, Bournemouth) is on 20.7 xPts against Groß's 17.8. Rogers (£8.2m, Chelsea) is on 20.7 too, if you have the money.
• Got Calvert-Lewin? (20.3% owned, foot, 75%) Evanilson (£6.4m, Bournemouth) is on 24.8 xPts against 17.7. He's the most-bought player of the week, with 557,731 new owners.

Three players owned by 3% of managers or fewer, with strong Gameweek 10 projections. We've left out last week's picks.

• Silva (Bournemouth, £5.1m, 2.9% owned): 5.0 xPts away to Ipswich on Sunday.
• Lindelöf (Aston Villa, £4.5m, 0.6%): 4.8 xPts away to Man Utd on Sunday.
• Iwobi (Fulham, £5.4m, 1.5%): 3.8 xPts at home to Newcastle on Saturday.

One free transfer: Van Hecke in for Diop, with about £1.0m left in the bank. No hit. Haaland keeps the armband and Gabriel is vice. We go 5-3-2 this week, so Groß (3.6 xPts) sits on the bench. Raya (3.4 xPts at home to Hull) gets the gloves back from Kinsky (3.4 at Leeds), because Arsenal have the easier game.


With the armband, the XI is projected at 53.3 xPts.

Five of the seven players who hit double figures in Gameweek 9 were defenders or keepers: Van Hecke 15, Verbruggen 11, Fofana 11, Konsa 10 and Van den Berg 10.

Seven of the ten games ended in a clean sheet. The crowd has noticed: Van Hecke (275,433 new owners), De Cuyper and Konsa were all among the most-bought players of the week, and all three rose £0.1m.

Three daily puzzles, fresh every midnight UTC. Here's today's start for each:

• FPL Questions No. 4: ten yes/no questions to find today's Premier League player.
• Who Played With? No. 147: our mystery player shared a dressing room at Inter Milan (2011) with Japan's Yūto Nagatomo.
• Career Path No. 146: this career starts at CD Leganés (1997).

Get them done before tonight's deadline and carry your streak into Gameweek 10.