Fantasy Bundesliga is finally back after the World Cup break, but which players are expected to be the most owned among managers for the Rückrunde? We take a look in this article.
Forwards
Jamal Musiala
The brightest talent to come out of Germany in recent years, Jamal Musiala rightfully earns the first spot in the template team. He has grown from strength to strength every year and has already surpassed his tally of five goals and five assists in 30 matches last season, with nine goals and six assists in just 14 matches so far. All of this at the age of 19. The top-scoring forward in the game will be the go-to Bayern attacker for most managers, and not having him in your team is just asking for a red arrow.
Randal Kolo Muani
One of the best additions from the summer transfer window, Kolo Muani has quickly turned into one of Eintracht Frankfurt’s best players with 14 goal involvements in the same number of matches. He also has the most assists in the league so far, with nine assists, despite being a striker, and has seen his value skyrocket after an impressive World Cup with France, even though he played limited minutes. With a game against Schalke right off the bat, he is expected to be the most-owned forward in the game after Musiala.
Midfielders
Vincenzo Grifo
Most of the best midfielders so far have been template picks, with a few exceptions, such as Bellingham, Baumgartner, and Kainz. The departure of Kostić hasn’t helped, but managers can always rely on Grifo to deliver consistently with an average of 10 points per game which is bettered only by the currently injured Christopher Nkunku’s 12 points per game. His opening fixtures aren’t the best with games against Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt, but if the second-place team wants to challenge for a UCL spot and possibly the title, they will rely on Grifo and his pin-point accurate set-pieces.
Jesper Lindstrøm
Although Kamada has more goal involvements (10G+3A) than Lindstrøm (7G), most sharks will own both at least with a game against Schalke before consecutive games against the top two—Bayern Munich and Freiburg. His form towards the start of the break also gives him a slight edge as he was more involved in the attack and averaged 12 points per game over the last six matches of the Hinrunde compared to Kamada’s seven points per game.
Marco Reus
Injury has kept him out for a long time and forced him out of possibly the last World Cup of his career, but it is easy to forget how good Marco Reus was before his injury. In the first six games of the Bundesliga season, he was averaging 10.1 points per game and should be the best pick from BVB’s attack for the opening game against Augsburg, with Bellingham now expected to play in a deeper role and Haller not yet fully fit.
Jonas Hofmann
He has been a bit inconsistent this season but has already racked up five goals and four assists in 13 games, and sticking around with him almost always works out as he is able to get double-digit scores against any team in the league. BMG have a favourable schedule for the restart with potentially high-scoring games against Bayer Leverkusen, Augsburg, Hoffenheim, Schalke and Hertha in the first five matchdays. So, it is no surprise that Hofmann will be a popular pick among Bundesliga Fantasy managers.
Defenders
Alphonso Davies
While Davies and Pavard will be a 50-50 decision for some, it shouldn’t be. His form hit a downward spiral after the first five matchdays, and he was replaced by Mazraoui soon, who can return from his Covid-related illness at any time. Also, his tussle with the management to play as a center-back hasn’t helped his case. When Mazraoui is fully fit, he won’t feature much, so Davies is the safest and most obvious choice from the Bayern backline.
Jeremie Frimpong
Adding the defender with the most goal involvements (5G+2A) in your team is a good bet for points and Frimpong has quickly turned into one of the best defenders in Bundesliga Fantasy under Xabi Alonso, averaging 11.5 points per game in seven matches even though it included two games with scores of -1. He has the highest ceiling among all defenders in the game, and even though the first fixture against BMG isn’t the best, he faces Bochum, BVB and Augsburg next.
Mitchell Weiser
Who would’ve expected the third-choice Bayer Leverkusen left-back to join a promoted team and become the highest-scoring defender in the game? Weiser has 140 points so far at an average of nine points per game and is joint fourth on the assists leaderboard with six. And with a price tag still just 5M, he is the budget enabler that every manager must have.
Christian Günter
This spot was first reserved for Julian Ryerson but he is now a mystery box because of his transfer to Dortmund where he might possibly be benched against Augsburg. Christian Günter isn’t a half-bad replacement, playing for the second-best team in league with the most cleansheets and eight double-digit scores in 15 matches.
Goalkeeper
Sven Ulreich
A goalkeeper from the best team in the league that has conceded the least goals so far for 3.2M is a massive bargain, but day by day, it looks more and more likely that Sommer will sign for Bayern and be the man between the sticks against RB Leipzig.
Fantasy Bundesliga Template Team
Bench
Niclas Füllkrug
Another player on this list having a career season is Niclas Füllkrug. His career-best Bundesliga season was when he scored 14 goals to go with three assists in 34 games for Hannover, but he already has 10 goals and two assists in 14 matches this season. Only Nkunku has more goals with 12, and to cap it all off, he was one of the star players in Germany’s dismal World Cup tournament. To summarize, he is full of confidence and in the form of his life, so most Bundesliga Fantasy managers will be backing him against FC Köln—the team with the worst form in the league with no wins in their last five games and 12 goals conceded in that period.
Possible alternatives: Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Marcus Thuram, Moussa Diaby, Jonas Wind, and Andrej Kramarić.
Daichi Kamada
Alternative to Lindstrøm with a higher floor and cheaper price tag. Schalke are still bottom of the table and have won just one of their last nine games, so this double-up will still be popular among managers chasing upside.
Possible alternatives: Joshua Kimmich, Christoph Baumgartner, Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Florian Kainz.
Ramy Bensebaini
Frimpong is scoring at a free rate, and the only defender who has matched his tally of five goals is Bensebaini. He is a reliable source of bonus points as he wins a ton of duels and also shoots at will. Add to that the fact that he will be taking penalties every now and then for the team, and you cannot go wrong with this pick.
Possible alternatives: Raphael Guerreiro, Paulo Otávio, Niklas Süle, Christopher Trimmel, Aarón Martín, and Evan Ndicka.
Alexander Schwolow
The keeper is usually the only viable option from teams at the bottom because even though they concede a lot, there is always the potential for a ton of saves. Schwolow’s ceiling so far has been limited with just one double-digit score, but he rotates in each of the next eight matchdays with Ulreich and is, most importantly, cheap.
Possible alternatives: Janis Blaswich, Manuel Riemann, and Jiri Pavlenka.
Fantasy Bundesliga Template Team Bench
You can find additional Bundesliga Fantasy resources for the 22/23 season here.
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