TOP 5 PLAYER TOPICS AHEAD OF GW9 (Thread)

Back again with the series that got so much appreciation and kind feedback last time around!

This series will take a look at 5 players that are hot in the FPL community currently ahead of the upcoming gameweek. Let's go!

1. Joao Cancelo (5.4)

4 straight 90 minutes appearances for the team that held the most clean sheets last season, 1.8% ownership, a bonus points magnet and an amazing fixture run coming up. For only 5.4, Joao Cancelo is a hot topic in the community. He managed to got a bonus...

point in GW8 despite blanking and Pep seems to have prioritized the defense heavily after they dropped points against both Leicester and Leeds in GW3-4. Since GW4, Cancelo has played every single minute and Man City have put up some impressive defensive numbers. 2nd in lowest...

xGC (expected goals conceded) and big chances conceded while no team can beat their 2 goals conceded and 2 clean sheets despite them having played Liverpool during these 4 games.

Cancelo looks to be the best FPL asset in that Man City backline by far with no other defender...

coming close to Cancelo’s 11 key passes in the last 4 GWs which is a major reason behind his bonus points. No defender can beat his 1.17 xA or his 2 big chances created either and with fixtures like BUR (H), FUL (H) and WBA (H) in the next 5 games, he is a 100% on my watchlist

2. Hakim Ziyech (8.1)

With back-to-back hauls in his first 2 Premier League starts, Ziyech is the player with the most transfers in ahead of this gameweek by far. It should be said that he has played BUR (A), and SHU (H) in those games which are two of the worst defensive...

teams in the league statistically so our sample size when it comes to Ziyech in the PL isn’t amazing but he has already shown us that he will be the creator for this Chelsea team, very similar to the role James Rodriguez plays for Everton. Over these 2 games he has the highest...

xA, the most big chances created and the 2nd most key passes in the league. Maybe was a bit fortunate with his goal that he scored which came from a mistake from Pope and that is his only shot on target so far but we know since before that he takes a lot of shots outside the...

the area. The fixtures coming up for Chelsea look exciting with NEW (A), LEE (H) and EVE (A) in their next 4 games which from an attacking perspective is enticing even though the long-term fixtures are far from perfect. I think his output will be very similar to Rodriguez...

over these upcoming games but I still prefer Grealish over both of them. The fixtures for Grealish are incredible, he’s cheaper and has put up even better underlying numbers than Ziyech over the same period. If you already own him however, Ziyech is probably next on my list.

3. Ollie Watkins (6.0)

After the Liverpool game, the hype sort of died down when it comes to Watkins but with a brace against Arsenal and an incredible fixture run he is definitely back on people's radar and rightly so. So far this season his underlying stats are extremely...

close with the very highly owned Bamford and DCL and even looks to be a decent playmaker, having the 2nd most key passes among forwards so far behind Kane. There is an obvious comparison to be made between him and Bamford because of the extremely similar underlying stats and...

and price point. Who do I prefer for these upcoming games? I can’t call this one since it’s so close. Watkins has the better fixtures but Bamford has put up the better stats more recently since a lot of Watkins’ amazing stats came from that Liverpool game.

4. Jamie Vardy (10.1)

I’ve seen a lot of people in the community planning to swap out Kane for Vardy very soon because of the negative fixture swing for Spurs. Vardy has the highest xG, the most big chances and the most goals in the league so far this season so you can...

easily see why he is such a popular asset right now. I need to address the penalty situation however for Leicester. They have gotten 8 penalties in the first 8 games of the season with Vardy taking 6 of them. If they keep that ratio up it will be 38 penalties by the end of...

the season. Manchester United became a meme because of them breaking the penalties record last season and they “only” managed to get 14 penalties in the league. So this of course won’t continue the way it has so far for Vardy but I still really like Vardy as an asset...

However it has been pretty easy to follow a pattern with him. The 3 goals he has scored from open play have all come against teams with a high defensive line (Leeds, Man City and Arsenal) while the games he hasn’t scored in from open play and struggled has been against...

much more defensive teams (West Brom, Burnley, West Ham and Wolves). So his fixture vs LIV (A) in GW9 looks to fit Vardy almost perfectly while SHU (A) in GW11 maybe isn’t a great fixture for him if you’re not relying on him getting penalties.

5. Bruno Fernandes (10.5)

Last but not least I have to talk about the highest point scorer in GW8 which was Bruno Fernandes. His 17 points vs EVE means that he is still yet to blank in an away fixture since he arrived in England which is an incredible stat. Here is a...

comparison between his stats per game at home vs away so far this season:

Home vs Away

FPL points: 3.25 vs 13.33
xG: 0.28 vs 0.87
Shots: 2 vs 4
Shots in the box: 0.5 vs 1.67
Big chances created: 0 vs 1
xA: 0.13 vs 0.57

Even though the sample size is small and he has faced...

tougher teams at home so far than away it’s still pretty amazing how big the difference is. WBA (H) looks to be a fixture where a lot of people will captain him and it’s understandable with a lot of premium assets having relatively tough fixtures. After that the fixtures don’t...

look amazing for Man Utd when they face SOU (A), WHU (A) and MCI (H) which are teams that have all shown that they are solid defensively so far this season. I feel like I am repeating myself by this point but I still actually prefer Grealish over Bruno as of right now but if...

you want to bring in a great captaincy shout for GW9 despite his lacking form at home, Bruno is probably the best pick!

Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read my thread. Hopefully you enjoyed it and want me to continue the series! The support was amazing on the last one so want to thank you so much as always

Will be back after the international break with more content!