Josko Gvardiol FPL – To Buy or Not to Buy

A standout FPL Player profile from the previous season, Josko Gvardiol now finds himself back in the City starting line-up following an injury lay off. He has returned with a bang registering a clean sheet and a DefCon return in his 2 gameweeks back. To stay up to date with injuries, suspensions and benchings, make sure you check out our predicted Line-ups piece! With a great team, great fixtures and a solid FPL legacy, is it time to get the Croatian back in your line-ups? Maybe not. We take a closer look.

 

 

Position

 

Perhaps the key difference compared with the Gvardiol of last season has been his change in position from a marauding Left-Back to a centre back. These centre-back/full-back hybrids seem to be absolute catnip for the likes of Pep and Arteta and it can often cause difficulty when profiling, particularly from an FPL standpoint.

Part of Gvardiol’s appeal last season was his propensity to get forward and take shots on from in and around the opposition box. However, should he remain at centre-back, it appears these attacking returns are more likely to be a thing of the past.

What this does open up however, is Gvardiol’s propensity for Defensive Contribution points, as evidenced by his DefCon return against Arsenal. However, it remains to be seen whether this will be a regular occurrence, particularly given City’s tendency to control possession. We will need more evidence to prove this wasn’t just a 1 off against top Prem opposition.

 

Man City Tactical Set-Up

 

Man City only sit 8^th in the xGA table and really should’ve conceded against Man United. Despite looking great going forward it is hard to trust them defensively for now. Pep’s philosophy has seemed much more attacking this year, reflected by them sitting top 4 in the xG department. This should only seek to increase as players like Foden ramp up their minutes.

Unfortunately, such a set up will naturally serve to benefit City’s more attacking player such as Haaland, Foden and Reijjnders. As a result, City defenders should probably be avoided until we see a tightening up at the back, or a consistent defensive contribution output.

 

The Fixtures

 

The one thing Gvardiol does have going for him is City’s upcoming fixtures. Burnley, Brentford, Everton and Villa is one of the much better sets of 4 fixtures for any player in the league, particularly a defender. If City string together some clean sheets during this period then we can begin to think about Gvardiol as a potential option, but if they are still proving leaky then we should avoid at all costs. This period will be key in assessing.

 

The Alternatives

The main thing holding any Gvardiol consideration back is the current plethora of excellent defensive options either at or below his current price. Premium options such as Van Dijk, Gabriel, Munoz, Tarkowski etc, all offer substantially more FPL value, even without as good fixtures. Check out our FPL Player Rankings page to view the defenders currently ranked ahead of him.

Even aside from premiums, cheap options such as Senesi, Van De Ven, Richards, Andersen etc all over similar if not more point potential at a substantially cheaper price.

 

The Verdict

Until we see City’s defence tighten up, Gvardiol go back out left, or Defcons become a regular feature, we advise avoiding Gvardiol even with the great upcoming fixtures.

 

Follow us on X here