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Three Albion stars who should be in your fantasy team

Why Trossard, Duffy and Lamptey are all good picks.

By Liam Tharme • 13 November 2021

By Paul Hazlewood
Leandro Trossard is Albion's highest-scoring FPL player so far this season

Off the back of a record-breaking start to the season, we’ve picked out three Albion players that deserve a spot in your fantasy Premier League side.

As the official FPL fixture difficulty rating has it, five of Brighton’s next six fixtures are categorised as easy to medium difficulty, which means it may be prime time to capitalise on some favourable games.

Leandro Trossard – who we earmarked for his FPL value back in July – has started the season in fine form and is currently averaging his best FPL season ever in terms of points per 90 minutes (4.8), and the Belgian has already featured in the Kings of the Week XI twice. His 51 points are the most of any Albion player, and he is among the top three least selected (only in 2.4% of squads) players to have surpassed the 50-point mark.

The Belgian is shooting more times per 90 minutes (2.8) than ever before in his Premier League career, and he has double as many shots (30) and shots on target (11) as the next best placed Brighton players, evidence as to his centrality in the attacking phase this season. Across the past two game weeks Trossard has returned 19 FPL points after scoring against Liverpool and Newcastle and, should he find the target at Aston Villa, he will have scored in three consecutive Premier League games for the first time.

For those that still need selling on buying Trossard, he’s categorised by FPL as a midfielder, so he can quite literally be a false 9 for your side – all the goal-scoring goodness without having to sacrifice a forward spot!

Shane Duffy is firmly an FPL favourite, the fourth most selected defender (in 24% of teams) in the game, though for anyone who doesn't have the Irishman in their defence (or needs conviction to start him), here it is. Not only is Duffy Brighton’s highest scoring defender (42 points) in FPL this season, he’s played the full 90 in all four of the Albion’s clean sheet games thus far – that’s six points per each of those fixtures (two for 90 minutes, four for the shutout). Considering that four of Albion’s next six opponents are among the bottom six sides for goals scored, Duffy and co have ample opportunity to add to the clean sheet tally.

Duffy recently hit a ton of Premier League Albion appearances, and he has broken the 100-point threshold in two previous seasons, meaning he is a highly reliable points source. This isn’t purely down to his ability to keep the ball out, either – he has the most shots (16) of any Premier League central defender this season, and returned a tasty 14 points when he kept a clean sheet and headed home against Watford earlier on this season.

And finally, it’s Tariq time. Lamptey looks to be close to full fitness, and during his 165 minutes (equivalent to about 1.8 full matches) this season he has already clocked seven shot-creating actions, 14 touches in the opposition box, 10 dribbles and nine progressive passes received – the boy gets forward, even if FPL do classify him as a ‘defender’; he is the cheapest Brighton defender to have played in the league this season (just £4.4m), so even if his injury record presents some risk, this is certainly a low-cost gamble.

Of course, he will be slotting into a defensively solid side, so whilst you would likely elect for him or Duffy, you’ll be reaping the clean sheet rewards with either, should Brighton shut out opponents.

Finally, it seems worthwhile noting that FPL give assists (worth three points) for fouls won leading to goals. Lamptey has won two Premier League penalties and directly been involved in three more strikes in his career, better than an involvement once every four games.