FPL Gameweek 8 Preview – Ranking the Premiums

I’d love to tell you that was the last international break for a while. Unfortunately we have yet another one in a few weeks (November 11th-19th, to be precise) – for your favourite competition and mine, the Nations League. 

I know it’s like this every year. But it’s annoying every year! 

The first few months of the season, whenever you’re just getting into real-life and fantasy football again… there’s a break. You get back into the groove again… and there’s another break. At least when we get the next one out of the way, that’s it until March. 

Anyway! With that nice, positive introduction concluded, let’s crack on with the Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 8 preview. 

Talking Points

It’s been a couple of weeks since Gameweek 7, so just to jog your memory:

• Nobody can score against Liverpool
• Arsenal took care of business, but again failed to keep a clean sheet against a poor team
• Wolves are rubbish, and got smashed again, this time by Brentford
• Man City should probably have lost to Fulham, but Adama Traore can’t finish to save his life
• West Ham smashed Ipswich, who… aren’t necessarily rubbish, but might be
• Bournemouth are just very inconsistent, and lost 1-0 to Leicester
• Everton finally kept a clean, against Newcastle, to the annoyance of Pickford sellers like myself (15pts! Gah!!!)
• Man U didn’t lose! But also didn’t score (against Villa, in a bore draw)
• Chelsea are also highly inconsistent, and were a bit lucky not to lose against 10-man Forest
• Brighton came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Spurs. Which, as an Arsenal fan, I found… mildly amusing

Injury News

We’ve got a load of flags, coming out of the international break. The lesson, as always – don’t make transfers before international games!

Some of them seem precautionary. Others appear more sinister. Let’s go through the most important ones, with the current information at the time of writing. 

(For the very latest updates, I recommend Injury Expert on Twitter). 

• Saka – The big one. Went off injured in the first game, but Carsley said he probably could’ve played in the second. I’m not too worried – based on Saka’s track record, if he possibly can play, he will play (and Mikel will play him)
• Havertz – Didn’t even make it to international duty. I’d assume this was precautionary, and he’s just had two weeks off. Again, I’d expect him to play
• Son – Missed the last two games, and unsurprisingly didn’t go on international duty. Back in training though, so should be fine
• Johnson – Came off early in Wales’ second game, but is fine
• Pedro – Still out for a while. Sell, if you’ve been holding
• Wissa – Back in training. Should be back by next week at the latest, and immediately becomes intriguing once more
• Munoz – Went off injured against Liverpool, but back in training now

Ranking the Premiums

We’ve basically got… let’s say 7 true premiums right now (I’m not counting Raya). So, let’s rank them!

1. 1. Haaland – Yes, he blanked twice – big deal. He now gets two of the best matchups in the league, against Wolves and Southampton, and currently remains essential
   2. Salah – I know Palmer has scored more points… but four of his goals came in half an hour! Salah is still only 5pts behind him, is super-consistent, plays for a better team, and is getting clean sheets
   3. Palmer – Best of the rest. Chelsea have been very up-and-down, but he’s got the highest ceiling of any player in FPL not named Erling or Mohamed 
   4. Saka – Personally, I love having a consistent player like Saka. He doesn’t tend to have Palmer’s ceiling, though, even he did rack up 16pts against Southampton. Regardless, they’ve obviously both great
   5. Son – Missed the last two games, so his overall numbers aren’t as good. He’s still got 33pts though, is obviously fantastic, and plays for an excellent attacking team
   6. Watkins – In an incredibly inconsistent start to the season, he still has 4 goals and 2 assists in 7 games. Even with the Duran threat, he’s also played 80+ mins in the last four games. I still can’t say I completely trust him, but he remains in the ‘premium’ conversation

Trent definitely is a premium too, for both his price and production. He’s the highest-scoring defender, and that’s with only 1 assist coming from his ridiculous 0.45 xGI. 

That said, he’s very much a premium ‘at his position’ right now. He might be the best defender, but he’s also only got 41pts – far, far less than Haaland and the top-scoring mids. 

Best Upcoming Fixtures

I’m sure I did have a feel for various teams’ fixtures a couple of weeks ago… and obviously I’ve just forgotten all of that now. Did I mention how much I hate international breaks?

Regardless, here are the five sides with the very best FPL fixtures, over the upcoming few gameweeks. 

• Can we trust Everton, in any phase of the game? I’m certainly not going to, but the Pickford debacle from the first few weeks of the season is still fresh in my mind. In theory… he’s a good pick, for these fixtures? Not for me, I’m too bitter, but objectively. I’d also hold DCL for Ipswich, if you’ve got him, but wouldn’t get him in
• I wouldn’t bring any Fulham players in against Villa. After that though, they’ve got four nice fixtures, particularly from an attacking perspective. ESR and Raul are the two obvious choices, and I’d look at both from GW9 onwards
• I wouldn’t want anyone at Brentford right now except Mbeumo, who I already thought was basically must-own
• I wouldn’t want anyone at Man U full-stop. I guess their defence is fine, but the next three games aren’t exactly easy defensive fixtures. Let’s look again in GW11
• City are City. Haaland is essential, I don’t want their defenders because they just don’t keep cleans, and obviously everyone will be piling on Foden if/when he scores against Wolves this weekend… justifiably so, probably

Should I Buy?

Well, we’ve all waited like good boys and girls over the international break, to let the injuries take their due course. Now we know (more or less) who’s playing in Gameweek 8, let’s look at the most-bought players among the FPL public. 

• B Johnson – Yes. Can’t stop scoring, and remains incredible value at 6.6
• Mbeumo – Yes. I think he’s borderline must-own
• McNeil – Maybe. His underlying stats are fantastic, and he has Ipswich and Southampton in his next three. Might be a good Semenyo replacement, for his tough fixtures
• Saka – Yes. Not worried about the injury, and don’t care about the fixtures either – he always returns regardless
• Palmer – No. I just wouldn’t get him in for Liverpool, if I didn’t have him already. Wait a week for the Newcastle game
• James Justin – Maybe. Historically he’s gotten almost no returns in the Prem, so he’s obviously not going to keep this up. But he does have Southampton and Ipswich in his next three, so I don’t mind a short-term gamble on him
• Delap – No. He’s looked good in real life, but I’d rather have the more proven quantities of Welbeck or Jimenez at this price
• Wood – Yes, at only 6.2. Four goals already, and the Palace/Leicester/West Ham fixture run is fine
• Konate – No. Not before Chelsea and Arsenal. Wait until Gameweek 10 if you want him
• Solanke – Yes. Excellent underlying stats recently, the Spurs attack looks good, and West Ham/Palace are both fine fixtures
• Kovacic – No. Has never scored more than two goals in a season. McNeil is a far better pick at this price
• Jimenez – Maybe. He’s returned in four games in a row, and Fulham look solid. His minutes are a slight concern though, and Villa isn’t a great matchup. I’d rather see how he does this week, and look to get him in against Everton in GW9
• Gabriel – Maybe. If you’re viewing him as a season-long keeper, that’s fine. If not, Arsenal have Liverpool, Newcastle, and Chelsea after Bournemouth. That could still be 2 cleans in his next 4 games, at a guess. Arsenal are excellent defensively, especially in big games. But, they’re obviously not dream defensive matchups

Should I Sell?

The yin and yang of Fantasy Premier League transfers means, of course, that we must also sell players to bring in new ones. How inconvenient! Still, let’s take a look at the most sold-players in FPL right now. 

• Luis Diaz – Yes. He’s obviously got explosive potential… but he also just blanked, then got benched, and now has Chelsea and Arsenal back-to-back. There are just too many good, safer options at or below his price
• Joao Pedro/Alisson – Yes, they’re both injured
• Mazraoui – No if he’s fit. If it sounds like he’ll miss the next game or two, I’m fine to sell
• Salah – No. Chelsea’s defence has looked all over the place at times this season, and Cucurella is suspended for this game
• N Jackson – Maybe. He looked tired against Forest, and now has Liverpool, Newcastle, and Man U, and Arsenal. If you’ve got the transfers, I’d bin him – Solanke looks a better pick right now, for example
• Isak – No if he’s fit, since Brighton’s defence has looked shaky. Yes if he’s missing that game, with Chelsea, Arsenal, and Forest (good defensively) coming up
• Onana (Villa) – Yes. Even if he’s fit, he’s not a good pick regardless 
• ESR – No. Being benched was odd, but maybe it was a City-related tactical decision. His attacking fixtures are nice, after Villa
• Havertz – No. I assume he plays this weekend, and if he does Bournemouth is a nice fixture
• Semenyo – Maybe. He’s been good, but Arsenal, Villa, Man City is a nasty fixture run. As noted, a move to McNeil feels pretty straightforward right now

Captaincy Corner

Haaland is the easy and safe choice. Wolves’ defence is rubbish, and he scored twice against them last time they played. 

Also… there just aren’t really any other outstanding choices. Saka will almost certainly return against Bournemouth, but obviously doesn’t have close to Haaland’s upside. I like Salah against Chelsea at home too… but I just like Haaland much more!

This feels like a ‘let’s not overthink it’ week for captaincy. 

Final Thoughts

Well, that’ll do it for the FPL Gameweek 8 preview. Let’s cross our fingers and hope we all hit the ground running. We should also be putting lots of effort into doing research and analysis too, of course… but the finger-crossing is still important. 

Oh, and as always, a follow on Reddit would be much appreciated.

Best of luck out there, everyone!