Best XI and Wildcard draft for Round 7
The strongest starting XI is a 5-2-3 projecting 39.69 xPts, wrapped in a 99.2m legal 15.
The strongest starting XI this round is a 5-2-3 projecting 39.69 combined xPts. Built out to a full legal 15 — 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders, 3 forwards — for wildcard and rebuild managers, the squad spends 99.2m of a 100.0m budget.
The bench is deliberately the cheapest legal one available — Leandro Paredes, Nico Gonzalez, Jordan Henderson, Joan Garcia are enablers, not picks: their job is to exist within the rules so every spare pound goes into the XI, not to contribute points themselves.
The most expensive picks are Mbappé (10.5m), Kane (10.5m), Lionel Messi (10.0m). The standout value pick is Jordan Pickford at 0.77 xPts/m (4.8m).
The data
| # | Player | xPts | Price | Captain EV | Ceiling | Owned % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mbappé France | 4.92 | 10.5 | 9.84 | 7.59 | 59.2% |
| 2 | Lionel Messi Argentina | 4.82 | 10.0 | 9.64 | 7.84 | 40.4% |
| 3 | Kane England | 4.80 | 10.5 | 9.61 | 7.71 | 40.6% |
| 4 | Jordan Pickford EnglandSafe floor | 3.69 | 4.8 | 7.39 | 3.69 | 15.9% |
| 5 | Ousmane Dembele FranceSafe floor | 3.59 | 10.0 | 7.19 | 3.59 | 22.9% |
| 6 | Nico Williams SpainDifferential | 3.55 | 7.8 | 7.10 | 8.68 | 1.9% |
| 7 | Ezri Konsa EnglandDifferentialSafe floor | 3.08 | 4.8 | 6.16 | 3.08 | 3.0% |
| 8 | Dayot Upamecano FranceDifferentialSafe floor | 2.85 | 5.3 | 5.70 | 2.85 | 4.9% |
| 9 | Marc Guehi EnglandDifferentialSafe floor | 2.83 | 5.1 | 5.66 | 2.83 | 6.2% |
| 10 | Nico O'Reilly EnglandSafe floor | 2.80 | 4.7 | 5.60 | 2.80 | 10.8% |
| 11 | Jules Kounde FranceDifferentialSafe floor | 2.76 | 5.4 | 5.52 | 2.76 | 6.3% |
| 12 | Leandro Paredes ArgentinaDifferentialSafe floorBench | 1.47 | 5.6 | 2.93 | 1.47 | 0.2% |
| 13 | Nico Gonzalez ArgentinaDifferentialSafe floorBench | 1.12 | 5.6 | 2.23 | 1.12 | 0.2% |
| 14 | Jordan Henderson EnglandDifferentialSafe floorBench | 0.32 | 5.1 | 0.64 | 0.32 | 0.2% |
| 15 | Joan Garcia SpainDifferentialSafe floorBench | 0.15 | 4.0 | 0.30 | 0.15 | 0.9% |
Bottom line
Field this 5-2-3 — 39.69 xPts from a 99.2m squad, with 0.8m left in the bank.
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How we get these numbers. Market odds (de-vigged) → Dixon-Coles scorelines → 50k Monte-Carlo simulations, scored on the official FIFA World Cup Fantasy points table. Ceiling = the 85th-percentile outcome across our 50,000 simulations — the score when a player's best realistic game happens, not a fantasy cap. Every figure here is machine-readable at /api/round/7/wildcard.json.