Budget pick? Yes. Differential choice? Yes? In-form? Yes again. Good fixtures on the cards? Yup. You name it, Munoz has it all. How often does an FPL asset tick so many boxes? Rarely, when the FPL gods allow the stars to align perfectly.
Things are never crystal clear with Crystal Palace. This season too, they have pounced points from the goliaths in crunch scenarios and let easy points go down the drain against simple customers.
But of late, Oliver Glasner is showing once again why Bayern Munich were chasing after his signature last summer. The season has been a decent one, in a nutshell.
Palace has managed to hold Chelsea twice and Man City once. Clashes against Manchester United, Aston Villa, and Newcastle United also ended in stalemates. And Glasner’s men came out victorious against Spurs.
However, surrendering to opponents like, West Ham and Everton leaves room for regret. Also, allowing a plum fixture against Wolves become a dead rubber.
Munoz, who happens to be one of first names on Glasner’s team list on matchday, has registered two goals and three assists from 22 starts. The Palace left-back has six clean sheets next to his name going into GW24. And 77pts is an impressive tally for a £4.8m defender who has an ownership of only 6.5%.
His underlying stats are also interesting – an xGI (Expected Goal Involvements) of 0.26 per 90’. That’s more than decent for a differential defender, who also happens to be a budget option.
Munoz has been there in my fantasy team for the last couple of gameweeks. When I played the first Wildcard like many of you in gameweek 19, I offered a contract to the Palace wingback.
Daniel produced two successive clean sheets in GW21 and GW22, after missing out on the easy-peasy tie against Southampton. But I had to regret benching him on both occasions. However, in the recently-concluded GW23, Munoz made me smile with an attacking return despite failing to secure a clean sheet.
One must note that the Colombia international currently plays out of position and forms the crux of the Palace attacking third. Even after Trevoh Chalobah’s mid-season departure to Chelsea, Glasner continued to deploy Munoz right there on the flanks and that too, high up the field.
His runs through the left channel are extremely dangerous for off-guard opposition defenders. And the Colombian full-back has the perfect skill set to deliver inch-perfect crosses for fox in the boxes like Jean-Philippe Mateta or an incoming Eze on the run.
Therefore, Munoz offers a high ceiling for points. He is going to score six points whenever he is on target and will receive a further four during clean sheets. That’s the bonus you get when you are playing in such an advanced position, while being listed as a defender.
Going forward, the fixture goddess is on the Palace’s side with all her blessings. And I hope you won’t mind some extra points with Daniel Munoz on your FPL team list.
