FPL Captain Picks For Gameweek 9
After a brief, enforced, international hiatus, domestic football returns, but one must be careful when making fantasy transfers and decisions.
Heavily disrupted preparation, players returning late, fatigue, injury and confidence are all considerations due to their possible influence on output this weekend.
Erling Haaland
For me, the standout captaincy choice this week is Erling Haaland. The Premier League’s top goal scorer is already projected to have the armband by over 60 per cent of fantasy managers, and all the signs point to him having another great day.
Round 9 is Derby Weekend, with City taking on rivals Manchester United. Despite winning only one of their last four meetings at The Etihad (all competitions), the omens look good for a similar result to last season, where the Citizens ran out 4-1 victors.
The Red Devils have struggled under new manager Erik ten Haag, while in contrast, their city neighbours and current Champions have continued where they left off last term, posting the league’s best attacking and defensive data to date.
And this is why Haaland is producing scintillating numbers and why he is on record goalscoring form. The City Hitman has the highest predicted points and tops the table in terms of an expected return (71%).
Pep’s men also have the highest likelihood of taking three points, and scoring over two goals is better than a 1 in 2 chance. All roads seemingly lead to the Blue half of Manchester this weekend.
Ivan Toney
The in-form Brentford striker will be looking to add to his fantastic output this season. His underlying data has been brilliant: 0.49xG, 0.71 goals and 1.0xGI per 90.
Toney is ranked amongst the best forwards in the league on current form, only Erling Haaland and Harry Kane have better outputs, and he is averaging 6.71 FPL Points across the opening seven rounds.
The Bees have the second-best Big Chances created this season, numbers that only Manchester City can better, so it looks like there is no sign of the Toney train coming to a halt anytime soon.
This weekend’s opponents, Bournemouth, provide plenty of optimism for Toney backers despite an upturn under the stewardship of Gary O’Neil. However, it isn’t massively reflected in the data despite being unbeaten in three.
You can read the rest of Ben Dinnery’s article here on 888sport.com
