Can £4.0m defender Kilman nail down starting place in Wolves defence?

Leeds 0-1 Wolves

• Goals: Raúl Jiménez (£8.5m)
• Assists: Max Kilman (£4.0m)
• Bonus points: Kilman x3, Jiménez x2, Romain Saïss x1 (£5.2m)

A View to a Kil

Max Kilman (£4.0m) has made a meteoric rise to the top of the budget defender pool with a second successive start and second successive points haul.

The Wolves centre-back has only played two from a possible five matches this season but has already scored 21 points, the joint-most of any defender priced at £4.5m or below.

Incredibly, the player has secured maximum bonus points in each of his two performances so far and he added an assist in the 1-0 win over Leeds.

“He deserves (the man of the match award). He’s been brilliant. He’s been with us for years. He’s listened. He’s a great lad. He gives us a bit of balance on that left-hand side. All the time. He loves having battles with Adama. Nobody goes near Adama in training but he full-on fights with him.” – Conor Coady

“He has become stronger as time has gone by. I’m proud of the response he has given and the credit goes to him. When the chance comes, you have to respond, and Max did that.” – Nuno Espirito Santo

The question facing Fantasy managers is now whether or not Kilman can nail down a regular starting berth in the Wolves side.

Even though he has been praised by captain and manager alike, unfortunately, it is difficult to say with certainty that Kilman will retain his place. This particular issue certainly one that requires more data.

The reason why Kilman has enjoyed starts in each of the last two Gameweeks is that regular centre-back option Romain Saïss (£5.2m) has been forced to cover the left wing-back role in light of injuries to Jonny (£5.4m) and Marçal (£4.9m) as well as the departure of Ruben Vinagre (£4.3m).

With the arrival of Rayan Aït-Nouri (£5.0m) and Marçal returning from his knock on Monday night, there are more options for Nuno Espirito Santo to choose from in that position moving forward.

While Saïss has enjoyed his time bombing forward as a wing-back, which we’ll highlight in more detail shortly, he has looked exposed at times playing in a wider role, caught out by the pacier wingers and full-backs.

Therefore, with left wing-back reinforcements on the way, Nuno looks set for a tough decision between Saïss or Kilman to start in the back-three alongside Conor Coady (£5.0m) and Willy Boly (£5.5m) long-term.

Do as the Romains do

While there remain uncertainties about Wolves best back-five, Saïss continues to offer excellent value for his increasing ownership.

Nuno’s men have kept a clean sheet in three of their five matches this season, and the Moroccan has walked away with bonus points on each of those occasions, even though he only has one attacking return to his name. A total of six in that department puts Saïss behind only Lucas Digne (£6.2m) on seven among defenders after five Gameweeks.

That has taken him to a tally of 31 points for the season thus far, more than any other defender and sure to induce more price rises ahead of home meetings with Newcastle and Crystal Palace.

Saïss was unfortunate not to walk away with attacking returns at Elland Road, whose incredible rifled effort into the bottom right-hand corner of Illan Meslier‘s (£4.5m) goal was chalked off for an offside in the build-up.

He was also denied an assist in the first half when Leeds’ youthful goalkeeper produced an impressive stop from a Daniel Podence (£5.6m) effort.

However, while Saïss has looked exciting in the last two matches, we have to bring Wolves’ selection dilemma at the back into the conversation. If Aït-Nouri or Marçal slots in at left wing-back against Newcastle and Saïss returns to the back-three, he will almost certainly enjoy much less time in the opposition half.

Dear Podence

Podence owners were asked to show a little more patience once again as he proved one of Wolves’ most dangerous players at Elland Road but came away with a second successive blank.

His powerful first-half shot forced an impressive save out of Meslier, who sprawled to stop a left-footed curling effort in the second half too.

While neither of those chances went in, the fact that a Newcastle that has conceded seven goals in the last two Gameweeks is up next for Wolves is perhaps enough to hold Podence. 

That said, he was replaced by Adama Traoré (£6.4m) in the 64th minute with Pedro Neto‘s (£5.5m) involvement continuing until the 89th.

Leeds United XI (4-1-4-1): Meslier; Dallas, Struijk (Hernández 75′), Koch, Ayling; K Phillips; Harrison (Raphinha 82′), Rodrigo, Klich, Costa (Poveda-Ocampo 71′); Bamford.

Wolves XI (3-4-3): Patrício; Kilman, Coady, Boly; Saïss, Moutinho (Neves 82′), Dendoncker, Semedo; Neto (Marçal 89′), Jiménez, Podence (Traoré 65′).

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LESSONS LEARNED FROM FPL GAMEWEEK 5

• Everton 2-2 Liverpool
• Chelsea 3-3 Southampton
• Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal
• Newcastle United 1-4 Manchester United
• Sheffield United 1-1 Fulham
• Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton and Hove Albion
• Tottenham Hotspur 3-3 West Ham United
• Leicester City 0-1 Aston Villa
• West Bromwich Albion 0-0 Burnley
• Leeds United 0-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers