FPL gameweek 10 talking point: Should you triple up on Arsenal defenders?

Holly Shand: There’s a solid case for having multiple investments into Arsenal’s defence this season, given that they have kept seven clean sheets in 10 games. They’ve conceded just three goals, with only six big chances conceded on their goal.

Their defenders have multiple routes to points, with Gabriel and Riccardo Calafiori on three goal involvements, and Jurrien Timber on four. Gabriel leads the way among defenders for big chances on goal with three, while Timber has had five shots on target.

Set-pieces, and corners in particular, are a key route to goals for this Gunners side, which is why we are seeing a high volume of attacking returns from their defenders. Then we have the introduction of defensive contribution points for this campaign to further bolster the routes to points for Arsenal’s centre-backs, with Gabriel averaging 9.5 per game. He has outscored Erling Haaland over the past five gameweeks.

However, stacking defenders from the same club is always a risky business in season-long fantasy games. Having all of your eggs in one basket means that if Arsenal concede, it’s then incredibly difficult to post a big score in a given gameweek.

Arsenal’s fixtures stiffen following gameweek 11, with a home game against Spurs in gameweek 12 and then a trip to Chelsea in gameweek 13.

While Gabriel has a high base for both bonus and defensive contributions, you’d be relying on goal involvements from Calafiori or Timber to redeem a score when conceding, with William Saliba’s routes to points even more diminished.

Goalkeeper David Raya has a ceiling of six points this season, with a bonus on one occasion and very few save points, so he would need to extend his run of consecutive clean sheets to justify his price tag.

Julien Laurens: I would not do it. If you don’t want to spend the money on Bukayo Saka – which I can understand, he should have had two goals at Burnley and is not in his best goalscoring form right now – I would go for Declan Rice every single day. I would go for two Arsenal defenders and then Declan Rice.