Martial the right middle man for your Fantasy Premier League team

Men in the middle

Transfer score is weighted in favour of form over the last six games – with the highest points-per-game average earning a top mark of 99 – and also considers cost and ownership percentage, where lower numbers are desirable and score higher.

Martial and Manchester City's Raheem Sterling lead the way ahead of this weekend's derby with an average of 8.3 points in each of the last six gameweeks, earning them form scores of 99 and leaving them in the top two places in the table.

Their ownership is similar, with Martial selected by 9.1 per cent of managers and Sterling 7.9 per cent to score 90 and 91 respectively.

What separates the pair, though, is their price tags – at £7.5million, Martial is £3.6m cheaper than his cross-city rival, a cost score of 59 as opposed to just 20 for Sterling. That leaves Martial with an overall rating of 89.2 while Sterling follows on 81.7.

If both prove to be out of your price range, Ross Barkley's £5.9m price helps the Chelsea playmaker to a transfer score of 81.1. A pair of Iceland internationals round out the top five, with Burnley winger Johann Berg Gudmundsson's £6m price tag nudging him just ahead of Everton's Gylfi Sigurdsson, 80.7 to 80.2.

Welcome Mat

Elsewhere on the field, Brighton's Mat Ryan earned a Premier League player of the month nomination for October with three clean sheets and 17 saves, lifting him to six points per game at £4.6m.

He is also owned by less than six per cent of managers for a transfer score of 79.6, sixth in the league and just 0.2 ahead of fellow shot-stopper Jordan Pickford of Everton. Newcastle's Martin Dubravka is another strong option, rounding out our top 10 at 74.8 with the help of an ownership score of 98.

Two of Ryan's fellow nominees, Callum Wilson and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, follow as the top-ranked strikers with transfer scores of 76.9 and 76.3 respectively. England new boy Wilson is over £4m cheaper but, perhaps for that reason, is owned by almost a third of managers.

Doherty still the man in defence

No defenders feature in the top 10 but Matt Doherty, part of the Wolves unit which dominated the transfer score table during their strong start to the season, remains 11th at 73.4 – ahead of Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger at the second decimal place.

Manchester City's Aymeric Laporte – and his goalkeeper Ederson – also scores over 70, as does Brighton's Lewis Dunk after his goal against Everton to follow the Seagulls' three straight shut-outs.

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