Who To Pick From Aston Villa

Drafting from Aston Villa

Aston Villa are seventh on power at 82, and the number is an honest one now, because it is no longer propped up by one man. Emiliano Martínez is a 93 in the legend pool now that he has gone to Chelsea. The best players at the club are Amadou Onana at 85 and Pau Torres at 84, with Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn on 83 apiece. A one-point step behind your best player is the healthy shape, and it holds all the way down: Villa's spread runs to just 6; Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea share the widest in the league at 12.

The practical reading is that the value pick in goal went with Martínez. Goalkeeper is a position most drafters fill late and fill cheaply. Villa now make you fill it cheaply: Marco Bizot at 75 is the best of two keepers, and the group averages 73. After that the squad settles into a solid, unspectacular block. The holding midfield group is the best 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.

Only 7 elite players out of 28 is modest for a club in the top seven, with Manchester City on 15 and Arsenal on 18, so plan on drafting Villa for specific slots rather than for volume. The slot to avoid is central midfield: seven players averaging 75, the biggest group at the club and, John McGinn at 83 aside, 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 one of the two areas where drafting from the current squad will actively hurt your side, and Martínez at 93 does the same job for the gloves.