Fantasy Premier League

The Scout’s World Cup review: Castagne backs up popularity

By The Scout 24 Nov 2022

Managers flock to Leicester defender as he delivers another clean sheet, this time for Belgium

The Scout looks at players in Fantasy Premier League who have impressed in the FIFA World Cup 2022 matches.

Timothy Castagne (LEI) £4.7m

Castagne continued his 2022/23 Fantasy form by helping Belgium keep a clean sheet in their 1-0 win over Canada.

See: PL player World Cup tracker

Most-bought FPL defenders in GW17

Player	Club	Price	Transfers in ('000s)
Castagne	LEI	£4.7m	193
White	ARS	£4.7m	163
Gabriel	ARS	£5.2m	162
Saliba	ARS	£5.3m	143
Dalot	MUN	£4.8m	137

The Leicester City full-back is the most-bought defender in the current unlimited free transfers period, earning over 191,000 new owners on the back of one blank in the last nine Gameweeks.

Castagne amassed 55 points in that run, combining two assists with seven clean sheets and six bonus points.

Castagne's assist for Vardy v Wolves

Form is temporary, class is permanent. pic.twitter.com/sEQEprufb7
— Leicester City (@LCFC) October 24, 2022

Fantasy defenders Ivan Perisic (£5.5m), Aymeric Laporte (£5.8m), Cesar Azpilicueta (£4.8m) also helped their respective nations to clean sheets, with Tottenham Hotspur's versatile Perisic playing as an attacker for Croatia in their goalless draw with Morocco.

City duo an option

Ilkay Gundogan (£7.3m) was on the scoresheet in Germany's contest with Japan on Wednesday.

The Manchester City midfielder, who sits in just over two per cent of Fantasy squads, converted a penalty in his nation's 2-1 defeat.

Gundogan started four of City's last five matches prior to the season break.

He was among the champions' top goal threat in that run, with his nine shots, five shots in the box and four shots on target all placing among the top three players for Pep Guardiola's side.

Gundogan's popular Fantasy team-mate Joao Cancelo (£7.4m) is part of a Portugal squad that also includes the Manchester United pair Diogo Dalot (£4.8m) and Bruno Fernandes (£9.8m) for their opener with Ghana on Thursday.

Top picks go head-to-head

Two Fantasy big-hitters go head-to-head when Uruguay meet South Korea, as Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez (£9.0m) faces Spurs' Son Heung-min (£11.6m).

Brazil's encounter with Serbia could feature two of the five most-selected players in 2022/23 Fantasy, with Arsenal duo Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m) and Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) both selected in the South Americans' squad.

Check how these players can fit in your team