FPL Tips Gameweek 8

Welcome to FPL Tips Gameweek 8.

Zihuatanejo … a little place on the Pacific Ocean. Do you know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? No. They say it has no memory. If I get through this season in one piece that’s where I’m going, Zihuatanejo. The only thing that’s predictable about this season is its unpredictability. Some managers love it, others hate it. One thing is for sure, it keeps things interesting!

Over the past few weeks, we’ve had some excellent Tips articles from the likes of Smash, James & Swirly so you all know which players you should be picking. Therefore, instead of the usual format of this article, I’m going back to my GW1 Tips article and I’m going to assess some of the players I tipped at that stage. Should you buy them, sell them or shoot them … I’ll throw in a few tips as well.

Goalkeepers and Defenders

I started by triumphantly backing the Liverpool defence. However, I suspect I wasn’t alone. It was hardly a surprise given that they have averaged close to 18 clean sheets per season over the last three. As a reminder, I tipped them in the following order: TAA, VVD, Robbo & Gomez.

I assume many will have started with double Liverpool defence, which clearly hasn’t worked out. Obviously, the loss of VVD has had a significant impact but the Dutchman was present for the aberration that was the Villa game. Because of that game Liverpool currently have the worst defence in the league. However, it’s not as though they’ve looked solid outside of the Villa game and as a result, they’ve only kept one clean sheet from seven games.

Doubling up clearly isn’t a strategy that you should still be following but is it worth owning one of them, and if so which one? It’s a straight choice between Alexander-Arnold and Robertson. Robertson leads the way with 29pts thanks to a goal and two assists while Alexander-Arnold has just 19pts as a result of a solitary assist. Robbo has looked the more threatening of the two and has 29 penalty area touches compared to Trent’s nine. Trent has created 13 chances and has probably been unlucky just to pick up one assist, Robbo has created 10 chances.

Of the two, I’d certainly have Robertson, but at £7.1m is he currently needed? I don’t think he is! Right now there are eight defenders who have scored more points, all of whom are considerably cheaper. The argument is often made that a Liverpool defender will outscore most midfielders priced at £7.0m and below but presently that is not the case as there are eight midfielders priced under £7.1m to have scored more than Robertson.

Defensively they may turn things around over the weeks ahead but for now I believe it’s time to ditch your Liverpool defenders and invest elsewhere.

I tipped Southampton for some early season clean sheets and they haven’t let me down, picking up three from their opening seven games. Unfortunately, they have conceded 12 goals from their other four games. My tips were McCarthy & Walker-Peters with McCarthy being my preferred option of the two. McCarthy is currently the 4th highest scoring keeper in the league and he’d probably be closer to the top only for Emiliano Martinez stopping a penalty in GW1. Walker-Peters hasn’t set the world alight but has still picked up 22pts which for a £4.5m defender shouldn’t be sniffed at.

If you own either you’re going to hold them. If you don’t own McCarthy, he’s still worth picking up. If you don’t own KWP, there are probably better options at that price point.

When I tipped Charlie Taylor I wasn’t expecting Burnley to pick up just one clean sheet from their opening six games and for Taylor to average 2.33pts per game. Admittedly, they have had some difficult fixtures but they just don’t appear to be the Burnley of previous seasons. Moreover, it’s not as if he’s offering anything in the way of an attacking threat.

If you don’t own him, happy days. If you are unlucky enough to own him, you might want to give him the next two games against Brighton and Palace, and then sell him if things haven’t improved.

I stated that I wasn’t enamoured by the goalkeeping options and as a result, I tipped Hugo Lloris. I went a step further and proclaimed, “I for one would not be surprised to see Lloris with more clean sheets than any other keeper” after the opening eight gameweeks. Despite having the joint 4th best defence in the league with just nine goals conceded Lloris has kept just one clean sheet. They had the same problem last season!

If you don’t own him, you’re not going to be buying him any time soon. If you do own him, you need to sell him as he’s not offering value for money.

I went out on a limb when I tipped Yerry Mina. That limb has since fallen off! A clean sheet on the opening day of the season has been Everton’s only clean sheet to date. I forgot about Jordan Pickford when I tipped Mina. In fairness I did tip him based on his offensive stats from last season and despite scoring against Brighton in GW4 his offensive stats bear no comparison to last season.

With clean sheets proving difficult to come by and a reduced threat in the opposition area, you’re not going to buy him if you don’t own him and if you do own him, you need to sell him.

My budget tip was Jamaal Lascelles who just like Mina picked up a clean sheet on the opening weekend of the season and has since forgotten what a clean sheet is.

If you don’t own him, you’re on to a winner. If you do own him and you have no other fires to put out you can move him on.

We won’t mention Orjan Nyland!!!

Options

• West Ham duo Aaron Cressewll and Vladimir Coufal. The Hammers have had a number of tough fixtures to start the season but have conceded just 10 goals and kept two clean sheets. They have a number of relatively easy fixtures over the coming weeks and both fullbacks offer an attacking threat.

• Whisper it, but Arsenal have the best defence in the league with just seven goals conceded from their opening seven games. Unfortunately, they’ve only picked up two clean sheets but their stats are impressive. Only two teams have conceded fewer shots inside their box and only three teams have conceded fewer shots on target. It’s also worth noting that they have some great fixtures over the weeks ahead. Currently I see Hector Bellerin as the best bet from the Gunners defence as he offers an attacking threat down the right.

• Since coming into the Chelsea side in GW4 Ben Chilwell has one goal, two assists and three bonus points. They have a mixed bag of fixtures over the weeks ahead but due to his attacking instincts, we’re not necessarily reliant on clean sheets. Kurt Zouma is currently £0.7m cheaper and has scored three times but you do have to wonder how many more goals he can grab over the course of the season.

• We should probably throw Southampton’s Jannik Vestergaard into the mix. Over the last five game-weeks he has two goals and three clean sheets and is priced at just £4.6m.

Midfielders

Like many other I got somewhat carried away when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was reclassified as a midfielder this season. I believe I’m correct in saying that he was the most popular midfielder going into GW1. Now, heading into GW8 he is just the 8th most popular midfielder. This is hardly surprising when you consider he has just two goals and an assist from seven games. To be honest, I’m a little surprised that he still features in 13.7% of teams. His stats to date are unsurprisingly poor. Amongst midfielders, he ranks 14th for touches in the area, 27th for goal attempts, 14th for attempts on target and 25th for chances created. Arsenal are undoubtedly a work in process, Arteta is building from the back, and as long as this goes on, I feel it best to ignore their attacking assets.

If you still own him, you’re probably doing something wrong!

I was a little hesitant in tipping a Liverpool midfielder as I expected them to start slowly. I couldn’t separate Salah & Mane, and in the end, I plumped for Salah over Mane simply because his ownership was much higher! They’ve won five of their opening seven, scoring 17 goals in the process but they’ve stuttered through games and have rarely impressed. With seven goals to date, Salah has been a shining light in the Liverpool side. Admittedly three of the goals have been penalties but, this season more than ever before, penalty takers are king. With four goals and an assist, Mane has contributed and he has played well but the penalties separate the two. As always, Salah’s underlying stats are more impressive than Mane’s.

Of the two Salah is clearly the one to own. If you own Mane, I’d either hold onto him or swap him for Salah. If you own Salah you’re certainly going to hold onto him and if you don’t own him I’d suggest you look at how you bring him in.

When it came to the Spurs midfield, I got one right and one wrong. I didn’t expect Son to be the top scoring midfielder after seven game-weeks, nor did I expect Dele Alli to have played just 66 minutes of Premier League football. Ok, I got that one very wrong! Son has amassed 71pts thanks to eight goals, two assists and 10 bonus points. Ahead of GW1, I proclaimed that ‘the Korean is far more productive when Kane isn’t on the pitch. Yeah, got that wrong as well. The link-up between the two has bordered on telepathic at times, no more so than against Southampton when Kane assisted all four of Son’s goals. After a poor opening gameweek, his price actually dropped to £8.9 but has since risen by £0.6m.

Should you own Dele Alli you need to delete your team! If you own Son, you are certainly holding him for the trip to the Hawthorns in GW8. After that, it gets a little more complicated as four of their subsequent five games are against City, Chelsea, Arsenal & Liverpool. It’s made more complicated if you also own Harry Kane as are you going to want to double up with that fixture list. If you haven’t invested in him by now I’d certainly hold off until after GW13 at the earliest and re-evaluate at that stage.

Like many, I bought into the hype surrounding Allan-Saint Maximim. In hindsight, the hype clearly wasn’t warranted. His only attacking returns came in GW4 and he has only played 90 minutes once this season. His stats when compared against others at the same price points are poor.

If you own him, sell him. If you don’t own him, keep it that way.

My Tomas Soucek and Mark Noble tips haven’t exactly worked out. Soucek has registered just a solitary assist but at least he’s playing. Noble has only played a total of 70 minutes. Soucek has actually managed 16 goal attempts, which is only bettered by six midfielders. Admittedly, only four have been on target.

If you own Soucek, you might as well hold onto him. If you don’t own him, you’re not going to buy him. Noble has been put down.

Options

• Crystal Palace don’t score many goals but when they score Wilfried Zaha is more often than not involved. They’ve managed just eight goals to date and he’s already claimed five goals and an assist. Palace have a great run of fixtures over the next few weeks, which should see Zaha amongst the points. The issue with Zaha is that he’s not always the most consistent so you may need to be patient with him!

• Jack Grealish scored eight goals and claimed seven assists last season. I think most people knew he could probably do better but I don’t think anyone expected him to have four goals and five assists from his first six games. Amongst midfielders, only Salah has more touches in the opposition area, he ranks joint 4th for goal attempts, joint 8th for attempts on target and joint 4th for chances created. After a tough game away to Arsenal this weekend they then have a great run of fixtures through to the end of the year.

• Looking for a differential? Look no further than West Ham’s Pablo Fornals. Featuring in just 0.9% of teams the Spaniard has already registered two goals, three assists and five bonus points. We could see him remain amongst the points given West Ham’s upcoming fixtures.

• It can’t be long before Diogo Jota must be given some serious consideration. Three CL goals to go with his three PL goals is proof that the Portuguese international has quickly settled into life at Anfield. He may not start this weekend against City but on current form, he’ll become a regular fixture in the Liverpool XI.

Forwards

I gave Timo Werner top billing ahead of GW1. His solitary return for the opening four game-weeks was a measly assist. He has however started to show glimpses of his potential and in the last three game-weeks he has picked up three goals and an assist. His stats are a little odd though. Amongst all forwards, he’s had the most touches (41) in the opposition area but ranks just 8th for goal attempts with 17. It’s not as though he’s been creating chances for others either as he ranks 14th with just five chances created. Chelsea are currently the 3rd highest scorers in the league with 16 goals from seven games and you would hope that their #1 striker would have scored more than three goals. However, given the attacking options that Chelsea possess it’s possible that the goals will be shared about.

With three goals and an assist in his last three games, you are certainly not going to sell him should you currently own him. However, I’m not convinced I’d be bringing him in if I didn’t own him. He was due to be rested against Burnley until Christian Pulisic picked up an injury in the warm up and therefore I’d remain cautious and suggest monitoring his performances over the next couple of games.

Despite incurring significant price increases ahead of the current season, I confidently tipped Raul Jimenez and Danny Ings. Given their performances last season I was hardly taking much of a risk and their returns to date are hardly a surprise. Ings has five goals & two assists while Jimenez has four goals. Ings really has picked up where he left off last season and on two occasions this season he has hit double fixtures and as a result he has become a capo option. Jimenez has also picked up where he left off last season in that he’s consistent rather than explosive. Southampton & Wolves have had one very poor result but overall both have been impressive over the opening gameweeks.

A knee injury suffered by Ings has thrown a potential spanner in the works. If the injury is confirmed you’re definitely not going to buy him. Whether or not you sell him will be dependent on the extent of said injury, with the impending international break coming at a good time. I’m on the fence when it comes to Jimenez! If you own him, I think you probably hold onto him despite Wolves’ tough fixtures, as we know he will score throughout this period. If you don’t own him I think it’s best to avoid him for the time being.

Given Spurs’ early season fixtures I included Harry Kane in GW1 but gave myself a way out by concluding that “at £10.5m he’s not cheap but should he struggle at the beginning of the season it will be easy to jump from him to whichever forward has started well”. I certainly didn’t need that out. He’s currently tied on 71pts with his Spurs colleague Son, 13pts ahead of the next best. He was regularly criticised over recent seasons for playing too deep, something he has continued to do this season, the difference being that he has now added assists to his game. He has already registered as many assists (8) as he did in the past two seasons combined. He has only had 32 penalty area touches, which is bettered by nine forwards but has more goal attempts (31) and attempts on target than any other forward, whilst unsurprisingly he has also created more chances (14) than any other forward.

As I’ve already alluded to, Spurs have some horrid fixtures on the horizon. If you don’t already own him, I wouldn’t be in a rush to get him despite his form, although they do play West Brom this weekend. If you do own him I think you ride out the tough fixtures as he’s likely to win a penalty or two! For those of you who have doubled up on the Kane & Son show I think it might be wise to offload one of them and I’d probably lean towards offloading Son due to Kane being on penalties.

My final tip was Aleksandar Mitrovic on the basis that he was £6.0m, on penalties and guaranteed to start. He then started from the bench in GW1! Things looked a lot brighter in GW2 when he scored twice against Leeds. However, he blanked in his next four, before picking up a couple of assists against West Brom on Monday night. His stats suggest he should be doing better as amongst forwards he ranks 1st for touches in the area (43), 3rd for goal attempts (26) and joint 8th for shots on target (8). Unfortunately, these stats have only been converted into 27pts.

If you don’t own him, don’t buy him. If you do own him, I would consider switching him out as Fulham have a number of very difficult fixtures over the weeks ahead.

Options

• Callum Wilson is to Newcastle what Zaha is to Crystal Palace. Newcastle have scored ten goals to date and Wilson has had a hand in eight (6g, 2a) of them. His stats are nothing to write home about but that hardly matters when he’s already scored six but the fact that three of these were penalties may somewhat explain this.

• I omitted Patrick Bamford ahead of GW1 and to be honest had I included him it would just have been to poke fun at him. Safe to say I didn’t fancy his chances of being a success. In fairness, in his 27 PL appearances prior to this season he struggled to hit a barn door! His hat trick against Leeds in GW6 will have grabbed the headlines but for me the fact that he has returned in four of seven games is the most encouraging thing. At £6.0m a goal every other games is the things dreams are made of and he’s currently makes dreams come through for 32% of FPL managers.

• It looks like Jamie Vardy might be having another party. Many will point to the fact that he’s only scored away from home to date. However, does it really matter where you score?!!! He’ll play away from home 50% of the time and he’s already managed to find the back of the net on seven occasions. When it comes to Vardy, don’t worry about his stats or fixtures, just pick him.

Thanks for reading FPL Tips Gameweek 8. This article was written by Kop.

Follow @KenLyons79

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