Here is Joseph’s article containing his fantasy premier league GW8 differentials. As always, he will be giving three choices of varying ownership; 5-10%, 1-5% and <1%. Joseph finished with an overall rank of 13k last season.
fantasy premier league GW8 differentials – Joseph’s picks
Last week’s picks
GW7 feels like a very long time ago now but I guess that’s what happens when there’s an international break involving England playing against Malta and Slovenia! However, I can recall some fond memories from the gameweek for my differentials. My <1% pick and also transfer for the week, Cresswell, kept a comfortable clean sheet at home to Swansea and looks a good option over the next few weeks with the fixtures for his side. There was also a goal for Mata during the thrashing of a sorry Crystal Palace team. Unfortunately, Loftus-Cheek was unable to make an appearance in that game due to an unexpected injury. He will also be missing for GW8 as he is ineligible to play against Chelsea but I still like the look of him at 4.5mil after that.
This week’s picks
Richarlison, 6.2mil MID, 7.0%
I will admit that despite his low ownership, the Brazilian is a fairly obvious pick at his budget friendly price and I have seen him in a fair number of wildcard teams. This is very understandable considering the points he has already brought in and the stats certainly back this up. He is averaging 3.6 shots per 90 mins to go along with 1.6 chances created per 90 mins which are crazy numbers for someone priced at less than 6.5mil. Only Choupo-Moting and Salah have had more total shots during the season amongst midfielders and only the Liverpool man has received more big chances. As seen in our expected goals summary, this has helped Richarlison to some impressive expected stats with an expected goal involvement of 0.68 per 90 mins.
All of this bodes well for his next fixture against a decimated Arsenal defence. Wenger has confirmed that he will be without Mustafi for a few weeks and there’s a chance that Koscielny & Kolasinac won’t make it for the Watford game as well. This presents a great opportunity for Richarlison to rake in some points for the 110,000+ that have brought him in this week. Looking further forward, he has a game at Stamford Bridge next week but there are four good fixtures after that for him to show his undoubted quality. In my opinion, he could prove to be the budget midfielder to have this year.
Watford’s next 6 fixtures:
Arsenal (H)
Chelsea (A)
Stoke (H)
Everton (A)
West Ham (H)
Newcastle (A)
Sigurdsson, 8.2mil MID, 3.2%
Sometimes it’s a good idea to look at the form of players over an international break as an indication of potential future FPL points. A good example was Lukaku last year who scored during the September break and returned to Everton to score a hat-trick in the next game. Now, I’m backing someone who moved to Goodison Park in a big money move during the summer. He scored a brace for Iceland to help take his team to the World Cup next year in Russia which should give him plenty of confidence on his return to the Premier League.
It’s a well-known fact that Everton have been struggling this year but this has not been due to a lack of trying from Sigurdsson. For example, during the 1-0 loss to Burnley in GW7, he had 3 shots on goals and created 6 chances for his teammates. We saw last season at Swansea that he is capable of returning strong FPL returns while in a struggling team when he scored 9 goals and picked up 13 assists. The Toffees’ fixtures still look good and an away game to Brighton this weekend certainly offers the chance for immediate points.
Everton’s next 6 fixtures:
Brighton (A)
Arsenal (H)
Leicester (A)
Watford (H)
Palace (A)
Southampton (A)
Batshuayi, 8.1mil FWD, 0.9%
With every unfortunate injury, there comes opportunities for FPL managers to take advantage of alternative players with low ownership. In this case, I’m of course talking about the injury to Morata who was just starting to look an absolutely key option for our teams. The back-up striker for Chelsea is Batshuayi who has yet to truly find his place at Stamford Bridge. However, looking at the next couple of matches, there is a chance for him to make an impact which offers an intriguing prospect for our team.
I am aware that he didn’t come off the bench when Morata left the pitch due to his hamstring injury with Conte preferring to play Hazard in a false 9 position. However, that game was against a very strong City side and I think that he will looking to use an out and out striker against the so-called weaker sides. Batshuayi actually averaged a goal every 51 minutes last season, demonstrating that he does have the goal-scoring ability. Returning to international form, he scored during the break and, if given starts, he could be primed for further goals. It’s also worth noting that he plays Palace next who are looking poorer and poorer as each game goes by so could be a great punt until Morata returns.
Chelsea’s next 6 fixtures:
Palace (A)
Watford (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Man Utd (H)
West Brom (A)
Liverpool (A)
That concludes my picks for this week. Let me know any of your differential picks in the comments section and feel free to ask any questions about your team for this gameweek. You can also find me on Twitter.
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