This week’s FPL Challenge, called "In Possession", is the second of a three-Gameweek series in collaboration with Sports Interactive's Football Manager game, after Football Manager 26 was released earlier this month.
In Gameweek 12's challenge, six extra points are awarded for players who achieve at least 90 per cent pass completion from a minimum of 30 passes. Here, expert Seb Wassell, from Sports Interactive, the creators of Football Manager 26, reveals his team and explains his thinking, to help managers pick their own line-up.
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Goalkeeper
The passing thresholds have only been hit by four goalkeepers this season: Guglielmo Vicario, Bart Verbruggen, David Raya and Emiliano Martinez (twice).
The Argentinian beats out his team-mate Ezri Konsa for the Villa spot due to the many other alternatives in defence.
Villa face struggling Leeds United away from home in Gameweek 12. The fact this match takes place at Elland Road does suggest Leeds may take the greater share of possession, but with an Expected Goals (xG) figure of 12.7 and the third-worst actual goal total tally of 10, Martinez is set to face an ideal opponent that fails to score even when they do register shots.
Defenders
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has attempted the most passes among defenders, with 821, and has played seven matches hitting the threshold of this week's challenge (behind only William Saliba and Konsa) this season.
Though Nottingham Forest at home would traditionally be a routine win and clean sheet for Liverpool, the Reds' recent struggles suggest that a victory is far from guaranteed.
However, Forest have conceded the fourth-most shots from set-pieces, with 26, and the joint-most goals from set-pieces, with four, this season. Van Dijk has had four shots so far, not including the disallowed goal against Manchester City last time out, which ranks second among Liverpool defenders.
My initial preference here was Konsa, who has played nine matches that have hit the threshold, which is the most of all players in the league.
As I have picked his team-mate Martinez in goal, I'll instead by opting for Lewis Dunk.
The Brighton & Hove Albion defender is only just behind Van Dijk for attempted passes (811) and sits joint-third for matches played with more than 90+ per cent pass completion (seven).
The fixture at home to Brentford is kind if not perfect and should see Brighton have the opportunity to control possession.
Midfielders
While Declan Rice has a tough fixture against north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, we can compensate for that with increased goal threat.
His Expected Goal Involvement (xGI) of 3.56 this season, 649 attempted passes (fourth among midfielders), six matches hitting the threshold for this week's bonus (top for midfielders) and 95 defensive contributions (19th among midfielders but in a dominant Arsenal side) sees Rice take my first midfield spot.
He also brings assist potential from set-pieces which could prove useful against a Spurs side who will likely plan to cede possession to Arsenal and allow them opportunities for their favourite route to goal.
Rice has assisted 12 shots and two goals from set-pieces this season, joint-second and first respectively among all players.
My second midfield spot goes to Moises Caicedo, who ranks fifth among midfielders for passes attempted so far this season, with 633, and joint-second for number of matches in which he has hit the threshold, with five.
Crucially, he averages 90.4 per cent passing accuracy across the season and has not delivered below 86.1 per cent in any single match.
Caicedo also ranks second among midfielders for defensive contributions, with 135. Though he has a low xGI figure of 1.30, his goals tend to come in matches where Chelsea are struggling to create clear goalscoring opportunities against a low block and may resort to some magic from range.
Burnley away is exactly the type of match in which Caicedo's long-range strikes could be called upon.
Forward
I’m going to resist my contrarian nature and keep it simple here. No forward has hit the 90+ per cent pass completion threshold nor hit more than 30 passes in any match this season.
The most likely player would be Joao Pedro (Chelsea), with 26.3 passes per 90 minutes and a completion rate of 81 per cent. I much prefer Caicedo (or a defender, for example Marc Cucurella) for the Chelsea spot this week, however.
Therefore, I will go for Haaland. He does not need to complete passes. Simply put, if his team score, he scores.
Honourable mention
Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai has 656 attempted passes, hitting the 90+ per cent completion threshold three times.
However, looking into these matches in more detail, it appears that the majority came when he was playing deeper (right-back and defensive midfield), with the only exception being against Villa in Gameweek 10 where he scraped 90 per cent completion with 64 passes from attacking midfield.
Assuming he is going to be deployed in an advanced role again in Gameweek 12, we would need to rely on his goal and assist threat.
With an xGI of 2.47 this season, Szoboszlai sits behind the more attacking of my two midfield picks in Rice, who has produced man xGI of 3.56.
It would only be fair to apply the same logic we did to his passing here though: a more advanced role will yield more goal threat.
However, the evidence of that in matches where he has mostly played further forwards is limited.