The stuff you should know
⏰ Gameweek 10’s deadline is Saturday, 1st November, 13:30 GMT ⏰
⚖️ Crystal Palace’s win against Liverpool keeps the possibility of a Double/Blank Gameweek alive. We’ll cover the permutations.
🤕 William Saliba is a doubt for Gameweek 10 - Arteta.
🔴 Alexander Isak is out for Gameweek 10 - Romano.
👀 The Prof has made some early transfers. Keep reading to find out who’s in and who’s out.
Alright?
The season turns double-figures tomorrow. Or, if you can only understand LinkedIn parlance, it’s thrilled to be moving from Q1 to Q2.
Whether it’s because of the extra digit or something less tangible, Gameweek 10 is when a lot of managers draw a line in the sand. “If I’m top of my league now, that’s probably where I’ll stay”, or the pessimistic version: “If I’m having a crap season, it’s too late to turn it around”.
Both are wrong. In the grand scheme of the season, Gameweek 10 is still laughably early. It’s that guest who turns up to your party before everyone else and says something annoying like, “Oh, am I the only one invited?”.
A reminder if you (or your rivals) need it: Gaps in your mini-leagues might be widening, but we’re still a long way from engraving names on the trophy.
Right then, Gameweek 10, let’s see what you’re made of.
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Gameweek 10’s fixtures.
Americans rejoice: there’s no early kick-off this weekend.
Doubles and blanks - the latest.
Lazy summary: Despite Palace’s win over Liverpool, a Double/Blank Gameweek remains uncertain.
In case you haven’t heard, Crystal Palace triumphed over Liverpool’s B-team in an EFL Cup win that some commentators are describing as “mildly intriguing”.
But for FPL managers, it was definitely the most important of the EFL Cup fixtures played during the week.
Quick recap: Crystal Palace reaching the EFL Cup quarter-finals creates a clash with the final fixture in their Conference League group phase. To navigate this clash, a Premier League fixture might need to be moved to allow Palace to play their EFL Cup quarter-final. And moving a fixture would create a Blank and a Double Gameweek. Capeesh?
No official decision has been made on this clash yet, but theories are starting to spring up.
Theory 1 - Triple T
The dominant theory, propagated by Dale Johnson in this BBC article, is that Crystal Palace will just have to suck it up and play four fixtures in eight days. We’re calling it the “Tough Titties Theory” (or “Triple T” to those in the know).
If you’re too lazy to read the article, it states that whilst “The EFL is in discussions with stakeholders and clubs, there is no other midweek slot for the match”.
Triple T is speculative at this point, but we happened to spy on the replies to a post by Ben Crellin about this topic and saw this response from Dale (the author of the BBC article) to a cynic:
A real zinger from Dale, this. Perhaps he has insider info?
No decision has been made at the time of writing.
Theory 2 - Double/Blank Gameweek
Despite all of this, Ben Crellin, the fixture guru and the first to bring the possibility of a Double/Blank Gameweek to our table, still thinks there’s a 50% chance of a Double/Blank Gameweek.
So…what do we know? And what should we do?
We know that the possibility of a Double and a Blank Gameweek is still alive, and that it’s a lot more probable than it was at the start of the season, when the notion that Palace might beat Liverpool felt far less likely.
Still, it remains to be seen whether it’ll happen. For those with chips in their cones, it’s probably worth keeping hold of them until we get clarity on the situation.
For those who have gobbled your chips already, it’s business as usual.
What happened in midweek?
Lazy summary: EFL Cup action that was actually quite interesting.
It was Forrest Gump who said, “Life is like an EFL Cup squad: you never know what you’re gonna get”, and so proved to be the case again during the midweek EFL Cup fixtures.
The headline result was Liverpool 0-3 Crystal Palace. We’ve already discussed the fixture implications, but it’s worth acknowledging that Ismaïla Sarr scored a lovely brace too. Jean-Philippe Mateta didn’t start but played the second half.
Meanwhile, Arsenal beat Brighton 2-0. Both teams took the opportunity to rest key players, but Gabriel, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were subbed on (the latter scored).
Erling Haaland was totally omitted from a Man City squad that beat Swansea 1-3 in Wales. Jeremy Doku, Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki got the goals.
Nick Woltemade scored as Newcastle beat Spurs 2-0. Mohammed Kudus played 25 minutes.
Chelsea, still on a mission to break a record for the most red cards acquired by a team in a single season, edged out Wolves 3-4. Neither team was at full strength. Liam Delap was sent off and will miss Gameweek 10.
On Tuesday, Brentford thrashed Grimsby 0-5, and Fulham went through on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Wycombe.
Teams still left in the EFL Cup:
Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Fulham, Brentford and…Cardiff.
Fixture swings revisited.
Lazy summary: Man United, Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Brighton and Everton all have good fixtures coming up.
We’re back in Swingers’ Corner, which definitely shouldn’t be misconstrued for anything other than a place to discuss the latest fixture swings.
Quick recap: A fixture swing is when a team - or group of teams - suddenly begins a run of good fixtures.
There are five swingers in Gameweek 10, and if there’s one thing we know about swinging, it’s that odd numbers definitely don’t make things awkward.
Man United - nfo, tot, EVE, cry, WHU, wol
Crystal Palace - BRE, BHA, wol, MUN, bur, ful
Arsenal - bur, sun, TOT, che, BRE, avl
Brighton - LEE, cry, BRE, nfo, AVL, WHU
Everton - sun, FUL, mun, NEW, bou, NFO
Picking players from these teams doesn’t guarantee you points, but at the very least, you’ll get the warm satisfaction of staring at your team’s great fixtures prior to each gameweek starting, before it inevitably all goes wrong.
The best captain for Gameweek 10.
Lazy summary: It’s Haaland.
Erling Haaland’s blank away at Aston Villa was disappointing, but it won’t be enough to deter good managers from captaining him again.
He’s back at the Etihad this Sunday.
His opponents, Bournemouth, have been one of the better teams so far this season, but in their four away games, they’ve conceded nine goals (including a hat-trick for Jean-Philippe Mateta in their last away game).
Captain the Norse God. Save your Triple Captain if you have it.
The Professor has made two transfers this week already:
João Pedro > Jean-Philippe Mateta
Phil Foden > Ismaïla Sarr
Erling Haaland will have the armband. Here’s his current team:
He still has two free transfers and, sound the alarm because, this week, we reckon he might actually use them all.
He remains undecided, mind you. To find out who he brings in (and, perhaps more intriguingly, who he bins), you can join LazyFPL Premium and maximise your chances of mini-league victories this season.
Player form (Last 6)
Team form (Last 6)
Other stuff we found interesting
1) Liam Delap is suspended for Gameweek 10.
2) Erling Haaland remains the only player to score against Arsenal in open play this season.
3) By the time the deadline comes around, Bryan Mbeumo will have over 1m transfers in.
4) Jeremie Frimpong is expected to be out for 6 weeks.
Right then. Feeling good? Of course you are. Gameweek 11 is incredibly by-the-book, so we’ll be back in your inbox next Friday at 11am GMT. That should give you enough time to tidy this place up a bit.
Stay lazy.
The LazyFPL Team.