Get those teams in order
Fantasy Premier League rolls back into view this weekend with the final set of fixtures before the international break, making gameweek eight of vital importance to your teams and more importantly, your own morale for the fortnight ahead.
Couch potatoes will no doubt be in position for the cheeky treble on offer on Sunday, starting with Fulham’s match with Arsenal before fellow Europa League also-rans Chelsea head to Southampton. Of course, the premiere match-up features Liverpool and Manchester City, in a truly definitive moment for fantasy league managers around the world.
With that absolutely unpredictable toss-up put to one side, we offer you five guaranteed point scorers* for gameweek eight.
*May only score one point.
Alex Iwobi – Arsenal, £5.5m
Ah, Alex Iwobi. It feels like the wiry attacking midfielder has been a too-good-to-be-true fantasy football letdown since the dawn of time. But now is the time to back him. Unai Emery is moving the Nigerian into a more dangerous, advanced role than he has previously occupied and he followed up a decent showing off the bench last weekend with an assist in the Europa League.
The question is, will he start away to leaky Fulham? With the game won in Azerbaijan, Iwobi was substituted off after 71 minutes and Emery could have been keeping him fresh to replace the underperforming and likely soon to leave Aaron Ramsey in his league XI.
Harry Kane – Spurs, £12.5m
Hopping across the North London divide, Tottenham’s Harry Kane is back on form with four goals in three games and it feels unlikely that Neil Warnock will be the man to mastermind an away day masterclass for Cardiff at Wembley. Sure, at £12.5m you will have to sacrifice a player of Sergio Aguero or even Eden Hazard’s abilities to find the funds for Kane, but a chance to carry forward his momentum at home to the division’s joint-worst defence is fantasy football’s equivalent of a gimme.
Joe Hart – Burnley, £4.6m
With Liverpool and City facing off in what is quite likely to be a goalfest, the need for a good alternative goalkeeper is high in gameweek eight. Crystal Palace’s Wayne Hennessey (£4.6m) and Watford’s Ben Foster (£4.5m) are decent propositions but Burnley take on a Huddersfield side with relegation written all over them at Turf Moor on Saturday. Joe Hart has the most saves of any Premier League goalkeeper so far this season (35) and the Clarets are back into their usual, well-guarded groove following an early season flirt with Europe.
Kelechi Iheanacho – Leicester, £5.9m
Down at the King Power, Leicester are on a run of three wins in a row and welcome a wavy Everton side to the East Midlands on Saturday. Operating rather more under-the-radar than usual, Claude Puel’s side have banished the ghost of Riyad Mahrez and Kelechi Iheanacho is among the Foxes’ new attacking order. A partner for Jamie Vardy that offers something different to the bouncy England forward, albeit with a similar penchant for rifled finishes, Iheanacho netted against Huddersfield a fortnight ago and should be kept in the team for a third week running.
And while Everton are a fierce attacking unit slowly improving under Marco Silva, they have only shut out one side all year and Iheanacho offers a relatively cheap, and very exclusive, option for your forward line.
Will Hughes – Watford, £5m
Watford versus Bournemouth may have ‘draw’ written all over it – seven of their last nine meetings have ended all square – but there is plenty of room for Will Hughes to show Gareth Southgate exactly what he’s missing at Vicarage Road. Javi Gracia’s narrow 4-4-2 setup allows the midfielder plenty of space to roam forward and, in Troy Deeney, Hughes has the ideal target man to play off of.
Bournemouth have certainly started well but defence has never been their strongest asset, with seven goals shipped in three away trips so far, and fantasy managers will find it hard to match Hughes’ combination of being a cheap, forward thinking midfielder up against a potentially iffy opponent this weekend.
