An early look ahead to Gameweek 9
| Friday | 8:00pm | Arsenal v Aston Villa | ||||
| Saturday | 12:30pm | Chelsea v Norwich | ||||
| Saturday | 3:00pm | Crystal Palace v Newcastle Everton v Watford | Leeds v Wolves Southampton v Burnley | |||
| Saturday | 5:30pm | Brighton v Man City | ||||
| Sunday | 2:00pm | Brentford v Leicester | West Ham v Tottenham | |||
| Sunday | 4:30pm | Man United v Liverpool |
Fantasy Premier League deadline is 18:30 on Friday 22 October
STRONG FIXTURE
CHELSEA
It’s top vs bottom for Saturday lunchtime, as Chelsea face a Norwich side that have scored just twice in right matches and have conceded the second most goals, despite successive clean sheets against Burnley and Brighton. It’ll be tough to predict whose turn it is for Thomas Tuchel to rest, although his line-up against Malmo on Wednesday may give us clues. Romelu Lukaku (£11.7m) and a defender such as Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.2m) will be desired by many.
EVERTON
Rafael Benitez will be confident of bouncing back from the late defeat to West Ham when Watford come to Goodison Park. The Hornets are fresh off a 5-0 humbling by Liverpool – not an ideal start for new manager Claudio Ranieri. With Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.0m) expected to miss out again, the value lies in Everton midfielders Andros Townsend (£5.7m) and Demarai Gray (£5.8m). However, the influential Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.7m) has been ruled out for five-to-six weeks with a broken foot.
CRYSTAL PALACE
The Eagles are defying their pre-season status as relegation dark horses. Patrick Vieira has quickly formed a fearless attacking side that were seconds away from a Monday night win at Arsenal and have looked good in other draws against Leicester and West Ham. Although opponents Newcastle may have a new manager bounce by Saturday, they were yet to either win or keep a clean sheet. The FPL community will be targeting Conor Gallagher (£5.7m), Wilfried Zaha (£7.0m) and Odsonne Edouard (£6.5m).
INJURIES / BANS
Here is a round-up of the injuries we know of, alongside those serving or nearing a suspension.
TRANSFERS SO FAR
As of Tuesday afternoon, these are the most transferred in and out players of the week.
These tend to remain very similar by deadline, unless a major injury or return develops.
For many, Jamie Vardy‘s (£10.6m) form has become too good to ignore, even if means arriving late to the Vardy Party. His seven goals is joint with Mo Salah (£12.8m) and managers believe he can continue this blistering form against Brentford (a), Arsenal (H) and Leeds (a).
Those buying Ben Chilwell (£5.7m) perhaps should have waited until Chelsea’s Champions League match before committing, just like those dumping Marcos Alonso (£5.9m), although Azpilicueta seems a safe pick in this unpredictable world of defensive rotations.
Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) has already suffered two recent price drops and a third could be on its way after blanking for a third consecutive game. At Liverpool, the declining popularity of Diogo Jota (£7.5m) took another hit as he watched Roberto Firmino (£8.8m) emerge with a hat-trick against Watford.
