Who To Pick From Sunderland

Drafting from Sunderland

Sunderland sit fourteenth on power at 79, and the 25-man squad behind that number is a pyramid with a single stone on top. Only 1 of the 25 is rated 82 or better, and it is Granit Xhaka at 85. Habib Diarra at 81 and Brian Brobbey at 80 come next, and then the line goes flat. There are 8 points of spread between Xhaka and the eleventh man, a steeper drop than most of the league carries, so the question here is never who you take first but how far down the useful bodies keep going.

The answer is further than the power rating suggests, and it is concentrated at the back. Kevin Danso and Omar Alderete both at 79 are two startable centre-backs, Dan Ballard at 78 sits behind them, and at right-back there are three bodies you would happily start: Trai Hume at 78, Nordi Mukiele at 77 and Thomas Meunier at 77. Noah Sadiki at 79 screens in front of that, Enzo Le Fée at 79 plays between the lines, and Wilson Isidor at 77 is a real second striker, so a whole spine assembles itself out of mid-round picks. Left-back is the exception and a costly one: Reinildo Mandava at 76 is the only one in the squad, so if he goes early you are buying that flank somewhere else.

Where you pay is in goal and out wide. Robin Roefs at 77 is the starter and there is no second option worth a pick — Melker Ellborg at 70 is the lowest-rated body in the squad — so take your keeper elsewhere and come here for outfield value. Chemsdine Talbi at 75 is the only right-sided forward on the books, and the left is Nilson Angulo at 75, Romaine Mundle at 73 and Malick Fofana at 73, which is cover rather than a reason to draft. This is also one of the least English squads in the game, just 3 Englishmen with Chris Rigg at 75 the pick of them, so an England bloc has to be built somewhere else.

The legend pool leans one way, hard. Kevin Phillips at 93, Jermain Defoe at 92, Niall Quinn at 91 and Darren Bent at 90 are the four highest-rated legends here and every one is a centre-forward, which is a straight answer to a current squad whose best striker is Brian Brobbey at 80. Craig Gordon at 89 and Thomas Sorensen at 89 are the other way in, two keepers rated well above anything Sunderland can put in goal today. Draft the outfield spine here, spend the legend on a number nine or on the gloves, and let whoever takes Xhaka off you worry about his eleventh man.