Fantasy Premier League Advice – Gameweek 10 Preview

Manager Change Alert!

Bruno Lage has been sacked by Wolves. I wonder what country his replacement will be from.

We weren’t really considering Wolves’ attacking assets anyway. They have scored – and yes, this is right – a pretty spectacular three goals in eight games. They’ve also only conceded nine though, which is one of the best records in the league, so we were looking at their defensive assets.

I would generally avoid bringing them in right now, because we don’t know who the new manager is and how they will set up. That said, it’s probably not urgent to sell either, but if you can avoid playing them against Chelsea this weekend I would say that’s a good idea.

Best Five Week Fixture Runs

Here are the Fantasy Premier League teams with the best upcoming fixtures:

Crystal Palace top the charts. Zaha (7.3) is the biggest FPL asset, although he’s also one of the biggest traps in the game, as I found out once again last week.

Mitrovic (6.8) is obviously the only Fulham player you’d want. He’s injured right now, and has dropped in price already, but it doesn’t look too serious. Hold him if you’ve got him, stay away for now if you don’t.

The annoying thing about Spurs is that United fixture in the middle… which happens to be the blank gamweek for Man City and Arsenal… which is when we’d really want all their players. Spurs looked bad against Arsenal, but Man U looked awful against City, so who knows how that fixture will look when we come to it.

Bournemouth kept a clean last time out, but that was against Brentford, who have scored 1 or 0 goals in four of their last five games. They look better since binning Scottie Three-Stripes, but I wouldn’t trust them yet.

Chelsea looked great against AC Milan mid-week. James (6.1) was the standout player, and is by far their most appealing FPL option. I might keep an eye on Aubameyang (9.0) in the next few weeks too. He’s scored in back-to-back games, and could be an option against Brentford in that tricky Gameweek 12.

Best Captains

Let’s not overthink this.

We raised the question about whether Haaland could be our permanent captain for the season earlier in the year. It’s become clear now that he is that player.

He is so highly owned and so highly capped it’s basically the same as there being no captains. For people that think captaincy is bullshit, like myself and Joe, this is an interesting one. By the end of the season we will have a better idea how the game might work without captaincy, and we’d better hope it’s good.

Should I Buy?

• Zaha – Yes (begrudgingly). Great fixtures and the Palace talisman. Also on penalties.
• Palace Defenders – Yes. Great fixtures, good team, and they’re all 4.5 or lower.
• Maddison – Yes. He’s overperforming his xG, but his returns are ridiculous.
• City and Arsenal assets – It’s a luxury transfer to bring one of these in, with the blank gameweek looming.
• Foden (Specifically) – His role changed this week, and that sometimes happens. He can obviously deliver big returns, but he can also disappear. You probably don’t want him because of the upcoming blank, but he is on my radar.
• Trossard – I can’t see how he continues to perform at this level. But I’ve said that all year… His more attacking positioning under his new manager has paid huge dividends so far.
• Wilson – As a short term move, sure. Be prepared for him to get injured or Isak to surplant him, though.
• Firmino – No. I don’t trust his starts.

Should I Sell?

• Trent – Yes. Pool are awful at defending. That said, I don’t mind holding him until GW 12.
• Mitrovic – Wait as late as possible for injury information. If he is only out for a week, I would keep him.
• Jesus – I don’t mind selling for Gameweek 12 planning reasons, but given Liverpool’s defensive woes, you might just want to keep him this week. He’s in great form, and had a nice cameo in the Europa League too.
• Son – Yes. He’s far too expensive even with good fixtures.
• Toney – Form has dropped. Still feels like luxury to sell though, and no obvious replacements… but his fixtures aren’t great, so I don’t hate it.
• Solanke – Yes. He’s bad, Bournemouth are bad going forward.

My Moves

I’m bewildered at myself. I’ve been saying defence isn’t delivering value since the start of the season, and here I am with 3 premium defenders.

I think I’ve been distracted with just buying good players from good teams because I can afford it. Rather than jumping on bandwagons, which is what I should have done. Looking back, I should have just wildcarded in Gamweek 8, even though I didn’t have that many moves to make.

I hate Trent and I hate that I own him. I’ve even toyed with starting Neco Williams over him this week. I’m considering bringing Tyrone Mings in as a straight swap – that’s how bad it’s gotten. The only thing holding me back is that I need to ditch my City and Arsenal assets ahead of GW 12, which will tie up a fair few transfers.