Van de Ven vs. Cucurella

Final Verdict: Cucurella

Cucurella's superior underlying stats, particularly creativity and influence, along with a slightly easier run of fixtures, give him the edge this week, despite Van de Ven's strong clean sheet record.

Head-to-Head Analysis

Form: Cucurella edges Van de Ven in form (6.5 vs 6.0), suggesting a recent uptick in performance. This is a small difference, but in early season form can be a good indicator.
Fixtures: Both have mixed fixtures. Cucurella faces FUL (H, 3), BRE (A, 3), and MUN (A, 3), while Van de Ven faces BOU (H, 3), WHU (A, 2), and BHA (A, 3). Cucurella's slightly easier next fixture (WHU) gives him a small advantage.
Value: Cucurella is more expensive (£6.1m vs £4.5m), but his higher points-per-million (2.13 vs 2.67) suggests better value for money. Both have good role security as starting defenders.
Underlying: Cucurella significantly outperforms Van de Ven in creativity (29.6 vs 1.7) and influence (42.0 vs 24.2), indicating a greater involvement in attacking play and overall impact on matches. Van de Ven's strength is clean sheets.
Longer View: Cucurella's impressive previous season (133 points) shows consistent attacking threat, while Van de Ven's past performance is more defensive-focused. This supports Cucurella's higher ceiling.

The Deciding Factor

Cucurella's substantially higher creativity and influence metrics point to a greater potential for points, outweighing Van de Ven's clean sheet advantage.

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