Forward planning for FPL Gameweek 8 and 9

We take a look at forward planning for FPL Gameweek 8 and 9. With the help of the Fantasy Football Scout members area we can utilise its fixture ticker and underlying stats to pick out the best teams and players to target for the Gameweeks ahead.

Forward planning for FPL Gameweek 8 and 9 can be absolutely vital to the success of any given managers season. The early stage of the campaign is one of the most important periods in FPL so being able to target the right teams and players could be key.

Gameweek 8 & 9 fixtures

Who has the best fixtures?

Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Manchester United all rank amongst the top five teams with the easiest fixtures.

Who has the worst fixtures?

Brighton, Arsenal, Manchester City, West Ham and Everton all rank amongst the bottom five teams with the toughest fixtures.

Best players for Gameweek 8 & 9

Tottenham – Tottenham are in fantastic form and they face Luton and Fulham up next, two of the worst defensive and offensive sides in the league. With that in mind we could stock up on some defensive assets like full-back Destiny Udogie (£4.8m) who has picked four returns in his first six matches. In attack there are plenty of options. The standouts are midfielders Son Heung-min (£9.2m) who has been playing in a strikers role and James Maddison (£7.9m) who has returned in four of his first six matches.

Aston Villa – The fixtures are starting to ease for Aston Villa now as they face Wolves and West Ham next up. In defence the standout pick is Matty Cash (£4.8m) who ranks above all other defenders for non-penalty expected goal involvement. There are two great options in attack that managers could select. One of them is of course striker Ollie Watkins (£7.9m). He has bagged a return in all but one of his matches so far. Another brilliant option could be midfielder Moussa Diaby (£6.7m). Diaby plays out of position up front with Watkins and picked up a return in half his matches so far.

Manchester United – It may have been a tough start to the season for the Reds but they have great fixtures ahead. They come up against Brentford and Sheffield United and its their attackers that could be great selections. Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) is one of those picks. He has sustained some great distribution data this campaign and takes his side penalties. The other pick is fellow midfielder Marcus Rashford (£8.9m).

Who else should we be targeting?

Newcastle – They seem to be picking up their form as their fixtures ease. They have matches against West Ham and Crystal Palace up next. Although there has been plenty of rotation in attack one player could avoid that, Anthony Gordon (£5.6m). He bagged a huge 17 points in his last two matches and looks set to maintain minutes with the injury to Harvey Barnes. Most will be picking up the Newcastle defenders. Centre-backs Sven Botman (£4.7m) and Fabian Schar (£5.1m) are great options but full-back Kieran Trippier (£6.7m) looks like the standout option. He racked up 18 points in his latest game due to three assist and bonus.

Other assets with potential

Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) – Liverpool face two teams struggling to keep clean sheets, Everton and Brighton. The Egyptian has managed to return in every match he has played so far and also takes his sides penalties.

Bryan Mbeumo (£6.9m) – Brentford have games against Manchester United and Burnley over the next two Gameweeks. Both teams have shown signs of having extreme defensive fragilities in the early stages of the campaign. Mbeumo has had more big chances than any other midfielder in the game so far and is also on penalty duty.

Manchester City – Although tough fixtures lay ahead they are the best team in the division and so most of their assets should be considered.

Should we use a chip?

The most experienced managers usually use their Bench Boost, Triple Captain and Free Hit chip during medium or large blank and double Gameweeks. For those looking to utilise their Wildcard then now could be a great time, especially to target the big fixture swings ahead.