Best XI and Wildcard draft for Round 8
The strongest starting XI is a 4-3-3 projecting 39.76 xPts, wrapped in a 99.5m legal 15.
The strongest starting XI this round is a 4-3-3 projecting 39.76 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 99.5m of a 100.0m budget.
The bench is deliberately the cheapest legal one available — Leandro Paredes, Jordan Henderson, James Trafford, Pierre Kalulu 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 Kane (10.5m), Mbappé (10.5m), Lionel Messi (10.0m). The standout value pick is Unai Simon at 0.78 xPts/m (5.0m).
The data
| # | Player | xPts | Price | Captain EV | Ceiling | Owned % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kane England | 5.02 | 10.5 | 10.05 | 7.78 | 40.6% |
| 2 | Lionel Messi Argentina | 4.80 | 10.0 | 9.59 | 7.79 | 40.4% |
| 3 | Mbappé France | 4.51 | 10.5 | 9.02 | 7.53 | 59.2% |
| 4 | Unai Simon SpainDifferentialSafe floor | 3.89 | 5.0 | 7.77 | 3.89 | 8.5% |
| 5 | Bellingham EnglandSafe floor | 3.61 | 8.3 | 7.22 | 3.61 | 17.0% |
| 6 | Lamine Yamal Spain | 3.51 | 10.0 | 7.01 | 8.35 | 39.3% |
| 7 | Aymeric Laporte SpainDifferentialSafe floor | 3.28 | 5.5 | 6.55 | 3.28 | 9.2% |
| 8 | Rice EnglandDifferentialSafe floor | 3.08 | 7.0 | 6.16 | 3.08 | 6.7% |
| 9 | Cucurella SpainSafe floor | 3.01 | 5.1 | 6.01 | 3.01 | 27.0% |
| 10 | Pau Cubarsi SpainDifferentialSafe floor | 2.92 | 5.0 | 5.84 | 2.92 | 6.1% |
| 11 | Facundo Medina ArgentinaDifferentialSafe floor | 2.13 | 4.0 | 4.27 | 2.13 | 9.4% |
| 12 | Leandro Paredes ArgentinaDifferentialSafe floorBench | 1.48 | 5.6 | 2.96 | 1.48 | 0.2% |
| 13 | Jordan Henderson EnglandDifferentialSafe floorBench | 0.34 | 5.1 | 0.67 | 0.34 | 0.2% |
| 14 | James Trafford EnglandDifferentialSafe floorBench | 0.16 | 4.0 | 0.32 | 0.16 | 0.4% |
| 15 | Pierre Kalulu FranceDifferentialSafe floorBench | 0.12 | 3.9 | 0.24 | 0.12 | 0.0% |
Bottom line
Field this 4-3-3 — 39.76 xPts from a 99.5m squad, with 0.5m left in the bank.
Get the next round the moment odds drop
50,000 simulations per matchday — captains, EV and match predictions in your inbox before lock.
Double opt-in. No spam, no tracking. Unsubscribe anytime.
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/8/wildcard.json.