Who are the best players to buy this week? GW9 next, as a reminder there's league cup this week, the following teams all play - Arsenal, Man City, Brighton, Bournemouth, Villa, Fulham, Palace, Sunderland, Brentford, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton and Newcastle. It might be sensible to wait for those games before thinking about locking in any moves just in case anyone were to get injured.
🧤 Goalkeepers
Goalkeepers first, and one of the big talking points this is Villa, first of all beating Man City but secondly their upcoming run of games, all the way from now til mid-December. Fulham, Man Utd, Sunderland, Ipswich, Everton, Palace, Coventry. Then you hop back off, when they have Chelsea, Leeds, Liverpool after those 7 games.
For GW9 Kelleher and Suzuki are joint top in FPL Review's projections. Brentford with Forest home, Villa with Fulham home. Villa seem to have turned a corner quickly in their season, 3 losses and a draw in their opening 4, 3 wins and a draw since so he's an interesting option for 5m, likewise Kelleher. There's always a couple 4.5m and 5m keepers that have a big FPL season and maybe he's the next one.
It's worth mentioning that Kinsky for 4.4m is the best budget keeper in the game and it's not close at 4.4m. No one expected the Stamford Bridge clean sheet - as much as Spurs get a lot of stick they haven't been bad defensively, their attack has generally been where there's been the main issues and that can reflect badly on the overall team when results aren't going their way. Tonali and Fernandes is a very good double pivot, they've got a strong backline boosted by Porro's return. And Tottenham's next 5 are Palace, Leeds, Ipswich, Sunderland, Fulham.
The thing with keepers in FPL is when it's not Raya that can require immense patience, unless the team is clearly in a downward spiral like Man Utd seemingly are you just have to stick with them, hopping from one to Raya is just about the only upgrade worth it I guess is the point I'm making. Going from Verbruggen to Kinsky for example just isn't worth it.
Arsenal are the best defence for xG conceded so far, followed by Forest which might surprise you. Forest have really underperformed at both ends of the pitch, 13 conceded from 8.8 xG. 6 goals from 13.8 xG. Then it's Bournemouth, then Liverpool, then Spurs, then Leeds, then Man City.
Ipswich are rock bottom and a team to target with attackers, though next week they have Hull so there's not any great options there but something to keep at the back of your head, second bottom is Palace, then Sunderland, Newcastle. Villa 5th bottom but as I say they did start the season terribly while things settled, new signings bedded in and that Joao Gomes red card GW1 meant they conceded 3.8 xG that match along which is more than half Arsenal's entire season!
🛡️ Defenders
Defenders up next. Two Spurs defender top of the table in fact, Pedro Porro and van Hecke. Van Hecke's ahead looking at the next 5 gameweek projections so there's reason to go Porro really especially when he's 0.4m more. We saw on that table before just how well Bournemouth have done, another clean sheet on Sunday at Old Trafford, Silva, Hill and Truffert all on the table here.
Again, looking at the next 5 Silva is actually the one who is ahead but of course when it's one CB vs the other anything could happen, Hill could score off a corner. Hill is a fantastic pick though it's hard to see why spending the 0.5m is worth it over Silva who has been really good too. Silva is who I'm looking to transfer in this week ahead of Leeds home.
Buying Sunderland defenders doesn't look like a good idea despite them playing Coventry and Mukiele plus Danso making the table. They're having to juggle Europa, the league cup this midweek and premier league, it's incredibly demanding especially for a team that only got promoted last year and might not have the depth to manage multiple competitions. I plan to ignore Sunderland FPL picks for a while until the later stages of the season. Of course if you've got Le Fee or Xhaka for example you keep them this week at least.
17 pointer from Gabriel vs Everton and now the second top scoring defender, seems almost a matter of time until he's #1 again. Very expensive for 7.9m but gives you guaranteed piece of mind besides an injury he's never gonna be an issue. Konsa at some point has Saliba's return coming, Calafiori saw his first benching last gameweek, White and Timber are no go's as well.
Not the best week to buy before Liverpool away but worth considering on a wildcard strongly.
A couple of other defenders to keep in mind that aren't on the table this week, Vuskovic who has City away, after that is a fantastic buy, Muharemovic as well who kept a clean sheet, defcon and a bonus point vs Sunderland for a 9 pointer. Those two are among the best defenders in the league looking longer term. If you were to ask me right now what's the best defence, I'd say Gabriel, Muharemovic, Vuskovic, Silva, and a 4m defender. Van Hecke could be in there as well instead of one of the 5m defenders.