Villa Beat City, Pedro Went Down, and Palmer Is Back: Your Gameweek 9 Weekly Review

Gameweek 8 kept the armband honest and broke almost everything else. Haaland scored at Villa Park, his seventh straight gameweek with a goal, and Manchester City lost anyway, 2-1, to two goals from Nicolas Jackson. Joao Pedro hurt his thigh in training and did not play. Bukayo Saka, the fade, did not play either. Arsenal’s two centre-backs scored 31 points between them, and the gameweek average was 45.

Gameweek 9 is back on a Saturday morning deadline, 11:00 GMT on 31 October, and has one question that most squads share: what to do about Pedro, who is in 62 percent of them and out for a few weeks. Cole Palmer is available despite last week’s red card, Arsenal go to Anfield with three doubts after a League Cup exit at Fleetwood, and City host Brighton for the second time in four days. Every section below links to its full article.

Gameweek 8 Roundup

Aston Villa beat Manchester City 2-1, their first home win of the season and City’s first league defeat. City and Arsenal are level on 21 points, with City top on goal difference after Arsenal beat Everton 2-0. Brighton lost 2-0 at Anfield and are third on 16, a point ahead of Liverpool. Chelsea lost 2-0 at home to Tottenham and had Palmer sent off. Bournemouth won 3-0 at Old Trafford, where Bruno Fernandes sat on the bench for 90 minutes. At the bottom, Sunderland drew 0-0 with Leeds and have five points, a point behind Coventry and Nottingham Forest.

The armband held up and little else did. Haaland, the most-captained player, returned eight, 16 as captain. Pedro, the most popular vice-captain, did not play. Calvert-Lewin scored two, Neto three, Cherki nothing in 45 minutes. Gabriel led the gameweek with 17, ahead of Konsa on 14 and Jackson on 13. The gameweek average was 45 and the top score 120.

Captain Recommendations

Haaland again, at home this time. City host Brighton at 15:00 GMT on Saturday. Brighton have conceded seven, the third-fewest in the league, so this is a harder fixture than Villa on paper. Haaland has nine goals, has scored in seven straight gameweeks, takes the penalties, and was rested for Wednesday’s cup tie. City have won all four league matches at home.

The second choice is Cole Palmer at home to Manchester United, who have no clean sheets and have not won in eight. He served his ban in the cup and takes Chelsea’s penalties, though his own numbers are thin and Chelsea have no Pedro. Marcus Tavernier at home to Leeds is the alternative. Alexander Isak is a hold, not an armband, against Arsenal’s league-best defence. Bruno Fernandes is the fade. Nicolas Jackson, owned by 13.6 percent, is the differential.

Read the full Captain Recommendations article

Chip Strategy

About 158,000 managers played the Bench Boost last week, 216,000 the Wildcard, 85,000 the Free Hit and 78,000 the Triple Captain. This week there is still no blank or double before Gameweek 19, and the first set of chips expires at 18:30 GMT on Friday, 1 January. Brighton at home is not a Triple Captain fixture. Fulham at home in Gameweek 11, straight after the international break, remains the target.

The Wildcard test has a new first name. Three or more of Pedro, Saka, Semenyo and Szoboszlai is a reason to press it. One or two is a job for free transfers. Gameweek 10 is the last round before the break, and a Wildcard played then gives you two weeks of injury news before the new squad plays again. Pedro alone is a sale, not a rebuild. Save the Free Hit.

Read the full Chip Strategy article

Differential Picks

Last week’s column named Foden, Evanilson and Iwobi. They returned 1, 6 and 3. This week’s list is two attacking midfielders and one who earns his points without the ball, each owned by fewer than one in twenty managers.

Johan Manzambi (Aston Villa, £6.1m). Two goals and two assists in 319 minutes, on a Villa side that has won two in a row and has one of the kindest runs in the league. The risk is minutes: four starts from eight. Rayan (Bournemouth, £6.3m). One goal from 2.44 expected goals, the widest gap in Bournemouth’s attack, and every start this season. Leeds’ defence makes this week the hardest step of a good run. Sandro Tonali (Tottenham, £5.3m). 78 defensive contributions in eight starts, and the kindest five-week run in the league, starting with a Crystal Palace side that has conceded 19.

Read the full Differential Picks article

Fixture Analysis

Gameweek 9 opens with Chelsea v Manchester United at 12:30 GMT on Saturday, 31 October. Bournemouth v Leeds, Brentford v Nottingham Forest, Coventry v Sunderland, Hull v Ipswich and Manchester City v Brighton follow at 15:00, then Tottenham v Crystal Palace at 17:30 and Aston Villa v Fulham at 20:00. Liverpool host Arsenal at 16:30 on Sunday, and Newcastle host Everton at 20:00 on Monday.

Best run: Tottenham, averaging 2.4 with nothing above a 3, though they have scored only five in four home matches. Buy the defence, not the attack. Attack runs: Aston Villa and Bournemouth, both at 2.8, with Jackson and Tavernier already the two most-bought players in the game. Worst runs: Brentford and Newcastle, at 3.6, which matters most for the 20.5 percent who own Lewis Hall.

The runs that aren’t: Coventry and Ipswich. Both average 2.6, and they have conceded 15 and 16. Target their opponents. Swing to watch: Brighton, whose hard spell ends at the Etihad on Saturday, with nothing above a 3 after it. Hold Gross and De Cuyper through City. Last week’s calls split: Leeds kept a clean sheet and Brighton lost at Anfield as expected, Villa beat City a week early, and Chelsea’s attack run started with a home defeat to Spurs.

Read the full Fixture Analysis article

Injury Updates

Everything below is the latest public information as of Thursday, 29 October, checked against the official FPL flags and this week’s press conferences. Arsenal had not held a full pre-match press conference at the time of writing. Treat anything marked “doubt” as exactly that.

Good news: Palmer is available, having served his ban in the cup. Haaland and four other City regulars were rested on Wednesday, not injured. Fernandes is back in contention after clear-the-air talks. Brighton have Wieffer and Minteh back in contention, Sunderland have Danso back from suspension, and Brentford have Janelt back from his.

Read the full Injury Updates article

Player Performance

Arsenal’s centre-backs scored 31 points between them, but both goals came from under 0.6 expected goals, so trust the clean sheets more than the scoring. Jackson’s two goals came from 0.37 expected, the same warning this site gave about Neto last week. Bournemouth had four players on ten or more at Old Trafford, and Rayan’s goal was his first from 2.44 expected. Cherki, owned by 38.2 percent, scored nothing in 45 minutes.

Read the full Player Performance Review

Predicted Lineups

These are the calls that matter. Thursday and Friday’s press conferences will settle most of them, and the Saturday deadline leaves a little more time than last week.

Chelsea (v Manchester United): Penders; Acheampong, Lacroix, Colwill; Neto, Caicedo, Henderson, Palestra; Palmer, Quenda; Rogers. Palmer returns, and nobody is sure who leads the line without Pedro. Manchester City (v Brighton): Haaland, Dias, Gvardiol, Anderson and Donnarumma were rested midweek and should start. Cherki played in the cup and may not. Arsenal (at Liverpool): Calafiori, Rice and Madueke are all 75 percent, and Hincapie is back if Calafiori misses out.

Liverpool (v Arsenal): Isak leads the line, and Wirtz is expected to recover from his ankle problem. Manchester United (at Chelsea): Fernandes is expected back in the side. Tottenham (v Crystal Palace): the tracker has Porro, Gallagher and Solanke in for Gray, Maddison and Marmoush. Bournemouth (v Leeds): unchanged after Old Trafford, and the calmest team sheet of the week.

Read the full Predicted Lineups article

Transfer Suggestions

The market this week has been written by one injury. Joao Pedro has been sold by about 1.18 million managers, followed by Calafiori, Saka, Fernandes and Cherki. Jackson, Tavernier, Isak, Evanilson and Konsa lead the purchases, and all five have already risen.

Bring in: Nicolas Jackson (Aston Villa, £6.8m). The straight swap for Pedro, with the centre-forward role to himself and a 2.8 run. The finishing will come down. Bring in: Marcus Tavernier (Bournemouth, £6.4m), five goals and goals in five of eight gameweeks. With caution: Evanilson (Bournemouth, £6.2m), the cheaper route out of Pedro. Defender: Jan Paul van Hecke (Tottenham, £4.9m), every minute this season and the kindest run in the league.

Moving on: Pedro, unless your bench covers two gameweeks, Saka, who has no return date, and Fernandes, whose form figure is 0.7. Make the Cherki and Calafiori calls after the team news.

Read the full Transfer Suggestions article

The deadline is 11:00 GMT on Saturday, 31 October, back on its usual morning. Last week the advice was to read Friday’s news and put the armband on Haaland. This week it is to sell Pedro, read Friday’s news on Arsenal, and put the armband on Haaland.