Who To Pick From Aston Villa

Drafting from Aston Villa

Aston Villa are fifth on power at 84, and the number flatters them a little, because it is propped up by one man. Emiliano Martínez is a 92 in goal. The next best players at the club are Amadou Onana and Ollie Watkins on 85. A seven-point cliff behind your best player is unusual this high up the order, and it is why Villa's spread reaches 12, the widest in the league, a mark Liverpool and Manchester United also hit.

The practical reading is that Martínez is one of the better value picks available to you. Goalkeeper is a position most drafters fill late and fill cheaply. Villa let you fill it at 92 and then forget about it. After that the squad settles into a solid, unspectacular block. The holding midfield group is the deepest thing here at 80 across four players, with Onana at 85 and Boubacar Kamara at 83 leading it, and Pau Torres at 84 anchoring the back line.

Nine elite players out of 29 is modest for a top-five club, with Manchester City on 20 and Arsenal on 19, so plan on drafting Villa for specific slots rather than for volume. The slot to avoid is central midfield: five players averaging 75, the weakest group at the club and a genuine liability if you let the wheel push you into it.

Which is what makes Gareth Barry at 91 the legend that earns his place here. He is a CM, and Villa's CM group is that 75. Barry does not merely upgrade the position, he rescues it, sixteen points clear of the group average, in the one area where drafting from the current squad will actively hurt your side.