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 last six gameweeks and the information in this article is correct as of 18 November 2020.
The forward look - GW9:
| Newcastle | v | Chelsea |
| 15% | Win % | 70% |
| 14% | Clean sheet % | 44% |
| Wilson (7) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Werner (5) |
| Saint-Maxim (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Ziyech (4) |
| Wilson (37.5) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Chilwell (33.9) |
| 9 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 14 |
| 7 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 5 (joint fewest) |
| Aston Villa | v | Brighton |
| 46% | Win % | 32% |
| 29% | Clean sheet % | 23% |
| Watkins (9) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Maupay (3) |
| Grealish (6) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Lallana (2) |
| Grealish (47.0) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Lamptey (29.4) |
| 20 (joint second most) | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| 10 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 10 |
| Spurs | v | Man City |
| 25% | Win % | 56% |
| 18% | Clean sheet % | 33% |
| Kane (8) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Sterling (2) |
| Kane (4) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | De Bryune (3) |
| Kane (47.5) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Sterling (29.9) |
| 21 (most) | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 11 |
| 5 (joint fewest) | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 12 |
| Man United | v | West Brom |
| 77% | Win % | 10% |
| 53% | Clean sheet % | 10% |
| Fernandes (4) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Grant (1) |
| Fernandes (3) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Furlong (2) |
| Fernandes (42.5) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Johnstone (30.1) |
| 9 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 2 (fewest) |
| 14 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 12 |
| Fulham | v | Everton |
| 26% | Win % | 53% |
| 20% | Clean sheet % | 33% |
| Mitrovic (4) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Calvert-Lewin (6) |
| Mitrovic (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Rodriguez (3) |
| Mitrovic (29.6) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Calvert-Lewin (32.1) |
| 8 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 11 |
| 15 (third most) | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 14 |
| Sheffield United | v | West Ham |
| 33% | Win % | 41% |
| 29% | Clean sheet % | 33% |
| McBurnie (3) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Soucek (3) |
| Berge (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Cresswell (2) |
| Ramsdale (30.6) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Fabianski (30.7) |
| 9 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| 16 (second most) | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 9 |
| Leeds | v | Arsenal |
| 31% | Win % | 46% |
| 22% | Clean sheet % | 29% |
| Bamford (9) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Lacazette (4) |
| Harrison (4) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Aubameyang (1) |
| Bamford (39.2) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Leno (29.1) |
| 15 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 8 |
| 14 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 11 |
| Liverpool | v | Leicester |
| 53% | Win % | 28% |
| 29% | Clean sheet % | 18% |
| Salah (6) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Vardy (10) |
| Salah (4) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Under (3) |
| Salah (48.8) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Vardy (40.6) |
| 20 (joint second most) | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 14 |
| 17 (most) | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 10 |
| Burnley | v | Crystal Palace |
| 37% | Win % | 36% |
| 37% | Clean sheet % | 37% |
| Wood (2) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Zaha (3) |
| Westwood (2) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Zaha (3) |
| Pope (29.1) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Zaha (34.6) |
| 4 (second fewest) | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 10 |
| 9 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 11 |
| Wolves | v | Southampton |
| 44% | Win % | 31% |
| 37% | Clean sheet % | 29% |
| Podence (2) | Most big chances (last 6 GWs) | Adams (2) |
| Neto (3) | Most big chances created(last 6 GWs) | Adams (2) |
| Semedo (29.1) | xFPL(xG, xA and xCS combined) | Vestegaard (33.4) |
| 7 | Team big chances(last 6 GWs) | 5 (third fewest) |
| 8 | Big chances conceded(last 6 GWs) | 6 (third fewest) |
Braveheart's GW8 review:
Gameweek 8 seems like an age ago with the intervening international break (though this is one I enjoyed - Scotland are going to the Euros!). It was a good week for me returning 68 points for a green arrow of 300k to around 800k. November has been a great month for me so far, repairing the damage to my overall rank from October. I'm hoping to keep the run of green arrows going into Gameweek 9. One thing worth noting is that I decided against making the second move mentioned in my previous article (Mitrovic to Werner) so I could keep 2 FTs for over the international break, as it turns out that was a good decision given all the injuries that have arisen over the last two weeks!
My defence did the business last time out with Chilwell scoring and clean sheets for Justin and Walker-Peters. The rest of my returns were from Salah, Grealish, Calvert-Lewin and Captain Kane.
The international break has wrecked havoc on my team (as it has for a lot of managers out there). At the time of writing, Chilwell and Salah are significant doubts and Mitchell is out. My plan for this week is to wait until closer to the deadline on Saturday morning so that I have maximum information about Salah and Chilwell. If either is confirmed out for more than one gameweek, then I may consider transferring them out of team but if they aren't I'll look to the offensive with my transfers this week. I have 2 FTs this week so I've decided not to use my wildcard. The players on my "out list":
- Ramsdale - but 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,
- Barnes - I have already used one of my 2 FTs to transfer Barnes out of my team for Ziyech,
- Son - it is well documented that Spurs are about to embark on a pretty gruesome turn of fixtures, so I think I'd prefer to keep Kane and use Son's position to bring in Fernandes or a Man City midfielder. I'm strongly considering the former as a short-term move for GW9 to make sure I have a strong captaincy option,
- Mitrovic - the Serbian was responsible for one of the highlights of my season as his penalty was saved by David Marshall to send SCOTLAND TO THE EUROS (did I mention that?) but returning to domestic football I remain keen to replace him with a better cheap forward (Bamford, Watkins, Adams or Maupay) however I'm not entirely sure the move would be optimium this week given Salah's injury meaning that I'm slim on captaincy options so the Son to Fernandes move may be better.
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 GW9 reveal:
If I make the moves I'm currently liking, my team for this week is as follows:
- Ramsdale v West Ham (h)
- Chilwell v Newcastle (a)
- Taylor v Crystal Palace (h)
- Walker-Peters v Wolves (a)
- Salah v Leicester (h)
- Fernandes (captain) v West Brom (h)
- Ziyech v Newcastle (a)
- Grealish v Brighton (h)
- Kane v Man City (h)
- Calvert-Lewin v Fulham (a)
- Mitrovic v Everton (h)
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 GW9. But, most importantly, stay safe out there (or, more accurately, at home)!
