FPL Tips GW8

Welcome to FPL Tips GW8

Back to business, then, after another international break – or Nations League break if you prefer. Not that either are massively welcomed. I’m afraid there’s still a few more between now and Christmas as well. And that’s if you can even bear to think about the festive period yet as well.

Anyway, dusting off our FPL teams after some time away, we can almost forget about any wasted wildcards, terrible transfers and ropey rotations in our squads. It’s still only Gameweek 8 and so early days in a season that’ll no doubt have many more twists and turns along the way.

Goalkeepers

Clean sheets are few and far between so far this season, with only 31 instances out of a possible 140 to date. Leading the way out of the shot stoppers is Liverpool’s Alisson and Man United’s André Onana, both with four clean sheets each. The former is currently injured for a while, with his much cheaper stand-in Caoimhin Kelleher now standing in. At £4.4m, the Irishman has attracted the purchasing power of 31,000 managers at the time of writing, however Chelsea at home and Arsenal away will be quite the challenge. Especially as it’s been the quality of Alisson that has been mainly responsible for the few goals conceded so far.

Onana, on the other hand, does come in at £5m and you can see why he’s popular this gameweek on the back of 39 points from seven. No wonder, then, that there have been 55,000 purchases over the international break. Looking ahead, it’s mainly favourable with Brentford and Chelsea at home probably the biggest challenges between now and December. Whilst the Red Devils have had their much-publicised problems, these do tend to be in the attacking format where just five goals have been scored in seven. Whilst there have been eight conceded in the same time, the 2-1 and two 3-0 defeats are otherwise surrounded by clean sheets. All or nothing, really.

As I suspected, Everton have started to find much greater form after their disastrous start to the season. Their goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, has fallen in price to £4.8m from the £5m he started the season with, conceding an eye-watering 13 goals in the first four fixtures. Gameweeks 5 and 6 may have been boring two-pointers, however the 15 picked up in the 0-0 draw with Newcastle – thanks, in part, to a penalty save – has attracted attention in the FPL transfer market. Looking ahead at The Toffees’ games coming up, there is an opportunity for them to start looking up the table with Ipswich, Fulham, Southampton, West Ham, Brentford, Man United and Wolves the opposition between now and Gameweek 14.

Defenders

An FPL hero from a few years back, James Justin is just too tempting to ignore. Very much a secret weapon in days of old when Leicester were last in the Premier League, it looks like this legend is getting in and amongst the points once again with a 12-point haul away at Arsenal from two goals scored, followed up by 10 at home to Bournemouth on the back of a clean sheet and assist. So, it’s fair to say there’s the attacking potential, even if the fixture against The Cherries has been the East Midlanders’ only clean sheet so far. On the subject of nostalgia, there was that 9-0 victory Leicester had at Southampton, the Foxes’ opposition this weekend, back in 2019 – I know, five years ago already. However, the last two meetings, when the two sides were in the Championship last season, also resulted in 5-0 and 4-1 victories and the total time between those milestones has seen them put 12 past the Saints in eight ties across all competitions. When you consider the fact that Russell Martin’s men have only found the back of the net four times in seven, there’s even a case to be made for Justin to keep a clean sheet as well.

Micky van de Ven may seem like a strange pick on the basis that Spurs have conceded eight goals – of which three were in that utter capitulation at Brighton when they went down 3-2 after being 2-0 up. However, VDV has got two assists to his name in that time and the fixtures for Spurs start to offer both attacking and clean sheet potential. First up is a visit by West Ham, with an away day at Crystal Palace shortly afterwards. At £4.6m, you don’t have to break the bank to bring him in and his ownership at 10.8% is a fair differential too.

Other defenders to consider for their attacking potential – if not their clean sheet potential – are Rayan Aït-Nouri and Nathan Collins. In the case of the Wolves player, he has scored twice in his last two, and also comes in at a handy £4.4m. While you will want to give him a miss ahead of Man City coming to Molineux, the player then has pretty decent fixtures to see out the rest of 2024. Brentford’s Collins, meanwhile, has one goal and three assists to his name so far – of which the 5-3 triumph over Wolves saw him find the back of the net and set up another – and also has the third-highest tally on FPL’s threat index for defenders. Just Gabriel and De Ligt are ahead of him. Whilst 13 goals have been conceded in The Bees’ 2024-25 campaign so far, there are decent fixtures on the horizon. As previously mentioned, Man United, who are Brentford’s opposition this week, are struggling to score; and then there’s Ipswich, Fulham, Bournemouth, Everton and Leicester up to Gameweek 13. Not bad for £4.5m.

Midfielders

(Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Zzzzz…. Grr.. Whaa’… Oh shush it’s int’l week of boredomzzzz… A large rooster crows loudly from afar… Okay, Okay, I’m up! Is it even Wednesday already!?

Right then, Midfielders it is, and what a lot to pick from. Let’s do a top three of fixtures and then some random muttering. We assume you’ve familiarised yourself with the premiums (Palmer, Saka, Son, Salah, Foden, KdB, etc. etc.) – just pick the ones you want and can afford, turn off twitter, and move on with your daily business carefree😀.

TLDR; Oh and if it’s Friday already, you’ve not had a rooster to keep you alert and/or you simply can’t be arsed to read it all, see if you can fit one of Maddison, Mbeumo, KdB/Foden into your starting XI and keep your eyes open for starting XI/injury news (e.g. Brennan, Saka, KdB, Foden…).

First off we have Spurs at home against the Hammers, this should be good fun. Two teams who like to score and are apt in the art of conceding them as well.

Brennan Johnson (6.6) and James Maddison (7.5) are stand-out midfielders for Spurs we think. The former has been on fire recently but also has some injury concerns to his name currently, follow the news there.

Let’s take another look at Maddi instead then, he’s Spurs’ most progressive passer and has an expected goal involvement of 0.56/90mins (Fbref) – yes, that’s a return every other game – and in terms of goals, this fixture should count as two games (…this is going to be 0-0 now isn’t it?). He also takes the odd set-piece, and if Son and Richy the Pigeon are out, he might even take to the penalty spot!

If stripped for cash, and Brennan is out, you could consider Kulusevski (6.2) who is similar in terms of expected goal involvements, but hasn’t returned quite as much – not yet anyway – This could be due to the fact that he is sometimes used a bit deeper nowadays. Spurs have decent enough fixtures over the next six game weeks.

From Hammers’ side, well, let’s just say Bowen (7.4). He’s similar to Maddi in the sense that he has an expected goal involvement of 0.47/90min, he might take to the penalty spot (if Paqueta isn’t there probably) and he takes the odd set-piece as well, though again, that lad Paqueta probably takes the more interesting FKs. Kudus (6.3) has similar expected goal involvement, but little to show for it thus far, a cheaper option could be Paqueta (5.9) but with a bit lower expected goal involvement. Mind you, not the best of fixtures for this lot over the next six games.

Moving on to the Wolves vs City game. Wolves’ form has been… Well, let’s put it in the form of meme language.
Everyone: Saints must be, without question, the leading candidate for that bottom spot of the table.
Wolves: Awkward silence, followed by… HOLD MY FACKING BEEEEER!

And off they went. To concede 21 goals, TWENTY ONE GOALS, in just SEVEN games.

So, of course, everyone’s captain Erling the top goalscorer Haaland will blank, without question. Because… FPL, that’s why. So instead, we look to Kevin de Bruyne (9.4), if fit to play, and Foden (9.2) as the outside risky choice due to his capabilities and high ceiling. City comes with a nice run of fixtures, but who does one choose. Oh bugger…

Then we have Saints vs Foxes. This is a tough one to predict, but we reckon Buonanotte’s (5.0) form for Leicester is worth a mention. Could be a nice enabler if you want to go different from e.g. the Rogers, Semenyos, McNeils and ESRs of this game. Leicester also comes with a good run of fixtures too.

Let’s see, then there’s the rest, Arsenal are visiting the cherries and someone like Trossard (6.9) or Martinelli (7.0) could be a shrewd pick if Saka is out. That’s probably a big “if”, but never say never. Arsenal’s upcoming fixtures aren’t straightforward though.

The red devils are facing the Bees at home and someone like Bruno (8.2) is an option to consider, even though he’s not looked his old self and has little in terms of actual returns to boast about, his underlying expected goal involvement of 0.49/90 suggests he should be a contender for points.

Finally, of course, there’s Mbeaume, no Mbuome, no it’s Mbe.. eh… MAC-BOOOM-AY-O! Mbeumo (7.5) is doing well and is probably considered by most already. Bees have decent fixtures too.

Forwards

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

It is extremely embarrassing for me to advise anyone of what forwards to consider as a transfer in or if you are currently on a wildcard.

My Overall Ranking – 5,386,748!!! FF247 Regulars League – 75 out of 77!!! FF247 Championship Head-to-Head League – Played 7; Lost 7!!!

Set & Forget

Erling Haaland (£15.4m & 73.3% ownership) – Everything that can be said about the Robot has been said. But just to remind you, Haaland is well on his way to another golden boot with ten goals scored so far this season. Haaland is not only the top point scoring forward player but joint top points scorer in the whole game with sixty-seven points.

Fixtures

As the October International break has just finished then we have four game weeks before the November International break. Which forward players should you be considering with decent up and coming fixtures until then?

Dominic Solanke (£7.6m 11.9% ownership) – Tottenham have decent fixtures against West Ham(h), Crystal Palace(a), Aston Villa(h), Ipswich Town(h). After an injury hit start to his Tottenham career, Solanke has played all but three minutes of football available in the last four game weeks. Solanke has scored two goals and had one assist in this period. Solanke also scored and assisted in a Europa League tie. At the time of writing, Solanke is currently sitting at 95.5% in FPL Statistics with a further 3,549 transfers required for a £0.1m price increase.

Chris Wood (£6.2m & 11.6% ownership) – Chris Wood, like Nottingham Forest has started the season well. Wood has thirty-nine points this season making him sixth highest points scorer for all forwards. Wood has started all seven league games but rarely completes the full 90 minutes but has always played at least 60 minutes before being substituted securing that extra point. Wood has scored four goals this season making him joint second for goals with another six forward players. Wood has also earned a further ten bonus points across four games. With decent fixtures against Crystal Palace(h), Leicester (a), West Ham(h), Newcastle(h) then Wood could continue his good goalscoring start to the season.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m & 6.1% ownership) – DCL appears to have put his injury woes behind him for this season. DCL has started all seven league games for Everton playing the full 90 minutes in the last four game weeks. Granted DCL only has scored two goals and assisted once but with okay fixtures against Ipswich Town(a), Fulham(h), Southampton(a), West Ham(a) over the next four game weeks then he may be someone to consider as a differential due to his low ownership.

Form

Raul Jimenez (£5.6m & 5.7% ownership) – Raul Jimenez has firmly cemented his place as the main forward player for Fulham having started the last four game weeks. Granted he has not finished the full 90 minutes in any of these four game weeks but in this time has scored a goal in each of the three game weeks and has assisted once in the last game week. Jimenez has also earned a further six bonus points over two game weeks giving him a total of twenty-nine points during this four-game week period. With decent fixtures Aston Villa(h), Everton(a), Brentford(h), Crytal Palace (a) then there is no reason why Jimenez cannot continue his good goalscoring form.

Liam Delap (£5.7m & 5.0% ownership) – Like most promoted teams, Ipswich Town are struggling in the Premier League. Granted the “Tractor Boys” are outside the relegation positions courtesy of four draws. If Ipswich are to gain their first league win of the season, then Liam Delap is likely to be the man to score the goals to earn this first win. Delap has scored four goals this season with three of these goals scored in the last two game weeks. Delap has decent fixtures against Everton(h), Brentford(a), Leicester (h) then a more difficult fixture at Tottenham.

Ollie Watkins (£9.1m & 29.0% ownership) – Watkins is continually being written about either as captain pick or an incoming transfer pick. Euros – tired / Duran – wonderkid blah, blah, blah. Watkins is the main man for Villa. Watkins playing minutes have massively increased over the last four game weeks scoring four goals with one assist during this period. Watkins is the third highest points scorer for all forwards with forty-one points and joint second top goal scorer for all forwards with four goals. Villa have decent fixtures over the next two game weeks Fulham(a) & Bournemouth(h) before difficult fixtures against Tottenham & Liverpool away. Villa will also have Champions League fixtures to contend with during this period.

Why would any sensible manager consider anything that I am about to suggest??? Well even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

Good luck for the game week.

Thanks for reading FPL Tips GW8. This article was written by Swirly, Jamie Mc and OddDane.

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