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 03 November 2020.
The forward look - GW8:
| Brighton | v | Burnley |
| 57% | Win % | 23% |
| 38% | Clean sheet % | 20% |
| Maupay (49%) | Anytime goalscorer | Wood (35%) |
| Maupay (5) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Wood (4) |
| Jahanbakhsh (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Westwood (2) |
| Maupay (32.8) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Pope (28.8) |
| 9 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 6 |
| 11 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 8 |
| Southampton | v | Newcastle |
| 56% | Win % | 24% |
| 38% | Clean sheet % | 20% |
| Ings (58%) | Anytime goalscorer | Wilson (38%) |
| Adams (4) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Wilson (8) |
| Adams (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Saint-Maxim (2) |
| Adams (30.0) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Wilson (39.0) |
| 8 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 10 |
| 10 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| Everton | v | Man United |
| 36% | Win % | 40% |
| 25% | Clean sheet % | 27% |
| Calvert-Lewin (42%) | Anytime goalscorer | Rashford (37%) |
| Calvert-Lewin (9) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Fernandes (3) |
| Rodriguez (4) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Fernandes (2) |
| Calvert-Lewin (30.4) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Fernandes (38.3) |
| 15 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 7 |
| 10 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 16 (most) |
| Crystal Palace | v | Leeds United |
| 33% | Win % | 42% |
| 29% | Clean sheet % | 33% |
| Batshuayi (33%) | Anytime goalscorer | Bamford (35%) |
| Zaha (4) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Bamford (8) |
| Zaha (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Harrison (4) |
| Zaha (38.5) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Bamford (37.9) |
| 9 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 15 |
| 12 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 14 |
| Chelsea | v | Sheffield United |
| 74% | Win % | 13% |
| 50% | Clean sheet % | 13% |
| Werner (56%) | Anytime goalscorer | McBurnie (25%) |
| Jorginho (3) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | McBurnie (3) |
| Mount (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Berge (1) |
| Zouma (29.8) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Ramsdale (29.8) |
| 11 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| 7 (joint least) | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 12 |
| West Ham | v | Fulham |
| 56% | Win % | 23% |
| 38% | Clean sheet % | 20% |
| Haller (41%) | Anytime goalscorer | Mitrovic (41%) |
| Antonio (4) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Mitrovic (5) |
| Cresswell (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Mitrovic (2) |
| Fabianski (29.9) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Mitrovic (35.9) |
| 10 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| 9 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 14 |
| West Brom | v | Tottenham |
| 17% | Win % | 65% |
| 15% | Clean sheet % | 41% |
| Ahearne-Grant (27%) | Anytime goalscorer | Kane (53%) |
| Bartley (1) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Kane (8) |
| Furlong (1) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Kane (7) |
| Johnstone (28.8) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Kane (50.6) |
| 1 (least) | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 22 (joint most) |
| 13 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 7 (joint least) |
| Leicester | v | Wolves |
| 47% | Win % | 29% |
| 38% | Clean sheet % | 29% |
| Vardy (40%) | Anytime goalscorer | Jimenez (39%) |
| Vardy (8) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Jimenez (2) |
| Under (3) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Neto (3) |
| Vardy (33.7) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Patricio (28.3) |
| 13 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 7 |
| 11 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| Man City | v | Liverpool |
| 53% | Win % | 29% |
| 27% | Clean sheet % | 17% |
| Sterling (50%) | Anytime goalscorer | Salah (50%) |
| Foden (3) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Mane (8) |
| De Bryune (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Salah (4) |
| Sterling (31.4) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Salah (46.4) |
| 11 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 22 (joint most) |
| 12 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 15 |
| Arsenal | v | Aston Villa |
| 62% | Win % | 20% |
| 40% | Clean sheet % | 15% |
| Aubameyang (62%) | Anytime goalscorer | Watkins (33%) |
| Lacazette (4) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Watkins (2) |
| Aubameyang (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Grealish (5) |
| Leno (28.5) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Grealish (43.8) |
| 8 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 18 |
| 12 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
Braveheart's GW7 review:
Last week I kept this section short and sweet as I was coming off a bad week. This week that is not the case as I had a very good gameweek, well above the average points total returning 70 points for a green arrow of 600k from 1.6m to an overall ranking of 1m. Grealish was the star of the week for me, returning 15 points. There was also returns from Salah, Barnes, Captain Kane, Calvert-Lewin and Mitrovic.
I have my wildcard in reserve but I do not plan on using it this week (the next international break is a possibility). For now there are a few players on my "out" list:
- Ramsdale - Still no clean sheets although Ramsdale did have a decent return of 4 points following making 7 saves against Man City. I hate wasting free transfers on goalies unless necessary if there are improvements to be made elsewhere and I think there are still improvements to be made elsewhere,
- Alexander-Arnold - I'm frustrated with Alexander-Arnold and if I wildcard next week (or relatively soon afterwards) it may be sensible to drop TAA ahead of the trickiest fixture of the season away to Man City. Chillwell is high on my watch-list offers attacking threat at a reduced price (compared to TAA) and a team with some new-found defensive solidity,
- Barnes - I was pleased to see Barnes return in GW7 when he has been threatening to score for quite some time, he may get a further reprieve in my team if I decide to transfer Mitrovic out instead but I'm eyeing up a potential move to Ziyech, Rashford and Fernandes to make use of the extra cash I have in the bank following transferring KDB out of my team quite a few weeks ago,
- Mitrovic - I'm glad I stuck with Mitrovic for the fixture against West Brom as he returned my patience with two assists, his stats are still very good for his price but how many goals are Fulham likely to get? Adams and Wilson are on my watch list as Maupay and Antonio both have question marks over them although only the latter seemingly due to injury. I'm also pondering bringing in Werner for Mitrovic (using the surplus cash from KDB and a potential TAA downgrade).
I'm not making my transfer early in the week as I want to have as much information as possible following the midweek European fixtures. Right now I'm edging towards bringing Chillwell and Werner into my team, but I will take the time before deciding.However, as always, I will confirm my move 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 GW8 reveal:
If I make the moves I'm currently liking, my team for this week is as follows:
- Ramsdale v Chelsea (a)
- Chilwell v Sheff United (h)
- Justin v Wolves (h)
- Walker-Peters v Newcastle (h)
- Salah (vice captain) v Man City (a)
- Son v West Brom (a)
- Grealish v Arsenal (a)
- Barnes v Wolves (h)
- Kane (captain) v West Brom (a)
- Calvert-Lewin v Man United (h)
- Werner v Sheff United (h)
For my captaincy, Kane, yet again, 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 GW8. But, most importantly, stay safe out there (or, more accurately, at home)!
