Gameweek 8 seems a long time ago now, with the international break having courted the attention of the football world for the past fortnight. But it’s easy to remember Arsenal subjecting champions Man City to consecutive Premier League defeats with a 1-0 win at Emirates Stadium. Not forgetting Man Utd’s stoppage time comeback at home to Brentford, trailing by a single goal after 90 minutes before Scott McTominay’s dramatic late brace won the day.
Spurs continued their excellent start to the season in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off, beating Luton 0-1 at Kenilworth Road despite having been reduced to ten men. We also saw a trio of Sunday afternoon draws to go with Arsenal’s victory, Brighton and Liverpool contesting a 2-2 thriller as did West Ham and Newcastle. Wolves and Aston Villa drew 1-1 at Molineux.
Following the latest raft of international fixtures across the globe, we’re now edging closer to the Premier League’s return and with that the Gameweek 9 deadline of 11:00 on Saturday. Therefore, let’s look ahead at the latest round of fixtures and which of those are most attractive from an FPL point of view.
Saturday 21st October
Liverpool vs Everton (12:30 BST)
Bournemouth vs Wolves (15:00 BST)
Brentford vs Burnley (15:00 BST)
Man City vs Brighton (15:00 BST)
Newcastle vs Crystal Palace (15:00 BST)
Nottingham Forest vs Luton (15:00 BST)
Chelsea vs Arsenal (17:30 BST)
Sheffield Utd vs Man Utd (20:00 BST)
Sunday 22nd October
Aston Villa vs West Ham (16:30 BST)
Monday 23rd October
Spurs vs Fulham (20:00 BST)
Key Gameweek 9 Fixture Ramifications
Liverpool put their brilliant Merseyside Derby record at home against Everton to the test and Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) will be looking to back up his two goals scored last time out away at Brighton. Also likely to be a popular FPL asset is Darwin Nunez (£7.4m) who has recorded at least one attacking return in each league fixture he has started so far this season. Later in the day, Pep Guardiola’s Man City look to bounce back vs Brighton and on the back of consecutive blanks, Erling Haaland (£14.0m) will be eying up a return to goalscoring ways, having scored four goals across his last two league matches at the Etihad Stadium.
Two strong backlines go head-to-head in Gameweek 9 as Newcastle face Crystal Palace in a fixture which sees the two highest-scoring FPL defenders face off in Kieran Trippier (£6.9m) and Joachim Andersen (£4.9m). Man Utd need to back up their last-gasp triumph over Brentford and travel to rock-bottom Sheffield Utd, who contain the worst defensive record in the league. FPL-listed midfielders Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) and Marcus Rashford (£8.8m) couldn’t ask for a better fixture on paper. This encounter takes place following a London derby showdown between Chelsea and Arsenal.
Sunday sees Aston Villa host West Ham, with plenty of fantasy managers having brought in the likes of Ollie Watkins (£8.2m) and Matty Cash (£5.1m) over the international break, before the conclusion of Gameweek 9 comes in the form of another London derby, as Spurs do battle with Fulham. After failing to gain an attacking return in Gameweek 8, big things are expected of Heung-Min Son (£9.5m) from an FPL perspective.