Introduction
This season FPLbet will have a weekly series of forward look articles designed to try and improve your points and profits. Whether you are an avid FPL player or whether you like to dabble in Football Index, Footstock, Sportstack or traditional betting, this article should be your first port of call before picking your teams or placing any bets for the week's Premier League fixtures.
All data is from the first four gameweeks of the 2020-21 season and the information in this article is correct as of 28 October 2020.
The forward look - Gameweek 7:
| Wolves | v | Crystal Palace |
| 53% | Win % | 24% |
| 45% | Clean sheet % | 27% |
| Jimenez (45%) | Anytime goalscorer | Batshuayi (25%) |
| Jimenez (4) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Zaha (6) |
| Podence (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Townsend (4) |
| Saiss (30.9) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Zaha (42.0) |
| 7 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 11 |
| 9 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 11 |
| Sheffield United | V | Man City |
| 11% | Win % | 77% |
| 9% | Clean sheet % | 45% |
| McBurnie (27%) | Anytime goalscorer | Sterling (58%) |
| McBurnie (3) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Foden (3) |
| Baldock (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | De Bryune (2) |
| Ramsdale (27.8) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Sterling (26.0) |
| 9 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| 13 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 11 |
| Burnley | v | Chelsea |
| 17% | Win % | 67% |
| 14% | Clean sheet % | 41% |
| Wood (33%) | Anytime goalscorer | Werner (58%) |
| Wood (4) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Jorginho (4) |
| Westwood (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Werner (1) |
| Pope (23.3) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Jorginho (32.1) |
| 5 (2nd least) | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 10 |
| 6 (1st least) | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 8 |
| Liverpool | v | West Ham |
| 75% | Win % | 12% |
| 44% | Clean sheet % | 9% |
| Salah (70%) | Anytime goalscorer | Antonio (37%) |
| Mane (8) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Antonio (4) |
| Salah (4) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Cresswell (2) |
| Salah (52.6) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Cresswell (29.8) |
| 23 (1st most) | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 10 |
| 15 (2nd most) | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 8 |
| Aston Villa | v | Southampton |
| 40% | Win % | 35% |
| 27% | Clean sheet % | 23% |
| Watkins (45%) | Anytime goalscorer | Ings (55%) |
| Watkins (6) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Adams (5) |
| Trezeguet (4) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Adams (2) |
| Grealish (33.5) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Adams (31.5) |
| 14 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| 8 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| Newcastle | v | Everton |
| 25% | Win % | 53% |
| 20% | Clean sheet % | 37% |
| Wilson (38%) | Anytime goalscorer | Calvert-Lewin (45%) |
| Wilson (7) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Calvert-Lewin (8) |
| Saint-Maxim (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Rodriguez (5) |
| Wilson (34.2) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Calvert-Lewin (37.0) |
| 7 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 16 (3rd most) |
| 8 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 8 |
| Man United | v | Arsenal |
| 49% | Win % | 29% |
| 31% | Clean sheet % | 22% |
| Rashford (42%) | Anytime goalscorer | Aubameyang (48%) |
| Fernandes (3) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Lacazette (5) |
| Fernandes (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Aubameyang (2) |
| Fernandes (35.2) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Bellerin (28.1) |
| 7 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 10 |
| 15 (2nd most) | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 12 |
| Tottenham | v | Brighton |
| 62% | Win % | 18% |
| 38% | Clean sheet % | 15% |
| Kane (55%) | Anytime goalscorer | Maupay (35%) |
| Son (8) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Maupay (6) |
| Kane (8) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Trossard (2) |
| Kane (48.4) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Maupay (36.7) |
| 21 (2nd most) | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 11 |
| 9 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| Fulham | v | West Brom |
| 41% | Win % | 34% |
| 31% | Clean sheet % | 29% |
| Mitrovic (50%) | Anytime goalscorer | Ahearne-Grant (31%) |
| Mitrovic (5) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Bartley (1) |
| Mitrovic (1) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Furlong (1) |
| Mitrovic (34.5) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Johnstone (29.5) |
| 7 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 1 (1st least) |
| 17 (1st most) | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 15 (2nd most) |
| Leeds | v | Leicester |
| 38% | Win % | 39% |
| 27% | Clean sheet % | 27% |
| Bamford (37%) | Anytime goalscorer | Vardy (50%) |
| Bamford (5) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Vardy (8) |
| Harrison (3) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Castagne (1) |
| Dallas (33.3) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Vardy (34.1) |
| 12 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 12 |
| 12 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 8 |
Braveheart's GW6 review:
I'd like to say as little about GW6 as possible. Only two of my players earned attacking returns (late on in the final match with Kane assisting Son). In terms of xFPL, Grealish was the third best performing player last week with 8.0 and so was unfortunate not to return, so too was Salah and Alexander-Arnold with 7.6 and 6.3 in xFPL respectively. To me this suggests that GW6 was more about bad luck than poor performances. Either way, I ended up with 38 points and a red arrow down to 1.6m. Not good but we go again and as you'll see in the next section, a lot of my players have promising fixtures this week!
I'm still considering when best to use my wildcard, for now there are a few players on my "out" list:
- Ramsdale - Sheffield United are looking poor defensively and there fixtures for the foreseeable as very poor, but I hate wasting free transfers on goalies unless necessary if there are improvements to be made elsewhere and while I might not make improvements this week, having two transfers in GW8 will be very useful as there are some fixture swings incoming,
- Alexander-Arnold - I'm starting to get frustrated with paying 7.5m (well, now 7.4m due to the price drop) on a player who has performed poorly so far in FPL this season, I will likely persevere for a few more weeks (unless I elect to wildcard during the next international break which, depending on how my team looks at that point is a possibility),
- Barnes - Barnes has only returned in one match this season, against one of the worst teams in the league defensively. Zaha, Foden and, if spending a little bit more, Rodriguez are all far better options in the mid-price midfield bracket (I already have Grealish) but Barnes is taking a good number of shots so hopefully some of those shots are converted before I pull the trigger on transferring Barnes out of my team,
- Mitrovic - Fulham are one of the least creative teams in the Premier League so I expect I'll be transferring Mitrovic out of my team in the not too distant future however they have West Brom at home next so, begrudgingly, I think I will persevere with Mitrovic until after the West Brom match (to be replaced by Maupay or Antonio).
I'm currently edging towards making no transfers this week, and rolling my transfer into GW8. With the exception of Ramsdale, my whole team has fair to favourable fixtures.However, as always, I will confirm my move (or lack of moves in this case) on Twitter and it'll depend on whether my team has a clean bill of health from the end of week press-conferences.
Braveheart's GW7 reveal:
If I make no transfer, my team for this week is as follows:
- Ramsdale v Man City (h)
- Alexander-Arnold v West Ham (h)
- Justin v Leeds (a)
- Walker-Peters v Aston Villa (a)
- Salah (vice captain) v West Ham (h)
- Son v Brighton (h)
- Grealish v Southampton (h)
- Barnes v Leeds (a)
- Kane (captain) v Brighton (h)
- Calvert-Lewin v Newcastle (a)
- Mitrovic v West Brom (h)
For my captaincy, Kane has the form and the easier fixture (when compared with Salah, and my preference is always to captain a penalty-taker) so he has the armband.
The team is not set in stone until the deadline so please follow me at @FPLBraveheart on Twitter for any updates. All the best and I hope everyone reading gets green arrows in GW7. But, most importantly, stay safe out there (or, more accurately, at home)!
