To the relief of many, the international break is finally over and Premier League football is back.
Breaks are as frustrating for Premier League bosses as they are for Fantasy bosses with no chance of points and a high risk of losing players to injury.
Gameweek Eight left plenty of room for thought as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s woes in Istanbul were quickly forgotten, Arsenal were brought back down to earth by Aston Villa and Southampton‘s unlikely title tilt moved on with a comfortable 2-0 win on Friday night.
Ollie Watkins was lethal for Aston Villa as they defeated Arsenal 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium
Tomas Soucek (middle) earned a spot in Fantasy Team of the Week after impressing vs Fulham
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Now international breaks are done until 2021 all the focus is back on the league campaign and เว็บ-แทงบอล it remains as open as ever.
Manchester United desperately need a home win, Chelsea’s climb up the table continues in the north east and Tottenham need to prove Fantasy managers wrong and show they are built for the big occasions under Jose Mourinho.
As always, in this column I’ll be breaking down what we learned from the latest round of games, how best to utilise the free transfer for our squads and the differentials that can make the biggest difference week-to-week.
Biggest takeaways from GW8Liverpool are now completely threadbare defensively.
No Virgil van Dijk, no Joe Gomez, no Trent Alexander-Arnold. There are doubts around Andrew Robertson, Fabinho and youngster Rhys Williams.
And so if, like me, you still hold any Liverpool assets – I had Alexander-Arnold – now is the time to dump.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is too expensive to have on the bench as he is out for a month injured
Jurgen Klopp’s hands are tied until January when it comes to bringing some new faces in
More players have missed Premier League games through injury this year than at this point in any of the past five seasons, new research unveiled by fantasy football jackpot game has shown.
With Klopp and Pep Guardiola pining for five substitutions, so far 148 players have missed at least one game through injury after just eight weeks of matches – 11 per cent higher than last season.
If Liverpool are to be successful in the coming months it is unlikely to be for their watertight defence and on the eve of facing Leicester City – and with Mohamed Salah out after testing positive twice for Covid-19, things could be rocky for the champions entering winter.
Liverpool’s defenders are high value and simply haven’t provided the value they did in 2019-20.
There is no Liverpool player in the top 12 scoring defenders on Fantasy Football so far and that is in stark contrast to a year ago.
Robertson (31) is the best of the lot but a patched up defence is too unreliable to pin everything on the Scot at a price tag of £7.1m.
I suggest looking at Tyrone Mings at Aston Villa, who have the best upcoming fixtures, or look to Chelsea as they look much improved since a shake-up at the back.
Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma is the best performing defender this season in Fantasy Football metrics
Kurt Zouma is the highest scoring defender in FPL so far with 48 points, six points clear of Mings who has 42.
There was disappointment for owners of Chelsea defenders that Lampard’s side were breached in a 4-1 win over Sheffield United but in a season which is favouring attackers more than ever, Chelsea seem as close to a stable bet right now.
Elsewhere, Tottenham and Leicester once again showed they could well have the grit to linger around in a title race after grinding out 1-0 wins.
Harry Kane and Son Heung-min have huge ownership but they now face a horror run of games which will be a key indicator at where this group are under Mourinho, a year on from when he took the reins.
And, before I forget, how farcical was that Patrick Bamford offside at Crystal Palace? Those missed points were a sucker-punch as Leeds were sent packing in a 4-1 win.
Best use of the free transfer this weekJack Grealish (Aston Villa) – £7.5m
No side can boast a more favourable run of games on paper right now than Dean Smith and Aston Villa.
In the next seven league games they face Brighton, แทงบอลออนไลน์ West Ham, Newcastle, Wolves, Burnley, West Brom and Crystal Palace.
Avoiding each and every one of the ‘Big Six’ makes Villa players attractive and none more so than talisman Jack Grealish.
He returns from the international break free from injury and with his reputation enhanced having shone for England, particularly in defeat to Belgium.
Aston Villa’s favourable fixtures mean Jack Grealish represents great value for seven games
His form at Villa Park has caught the eye ahead of a meeting with Brighton on Saturday
Back at Villa Park this weekend, Grealish’s home form will come as music to the ears of Fantasy bosses.
Grealish has double-figure hauls in two of his last three games at home, recording 24 points against Liverpool and 15 points against Southampton.
He is averaging 10.8 points per home match for Villa this season which makes him a major asset when consistency is difficult to attain in such an unpredictable league.
Things get markedly tougher from Gameweek 16 but not only is Grealish good value against Brighton, he represents a sound investment for many weeks to come ensuring less surgery is required down the line on your line-up.
In this instance, follow the crowd. It’s a smart business move.
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS sport" data-version="2" id="mol-243704f0-2b47-11eb-af8c-3d75a92d317f" website FOOTBALL EXPERT: Time to cut losses on Liverpool's defence
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