🚨 GW11: Your FPL 24h briefing

⏰ Gameweek 11’s deadline is Saturday, 8th November, 11:00 GMT ⏰

😭 Confirmed: There are no Double or Blank Gameweeks scheduled in the first half of the season.

⛔️ Wolves have sacked manager Vítor Pereira.

🤕 Viktor Gyökeres will be out until after the November international break (or Gameweek 12, if we’re using the common tongue).

🤞 Mohammed Kudus missed Spurs’ midweek UCL game with a knock. When asked about his availability for Gameweek 11, he said, “It’s getting better, yes”.

🙏 Moyes on Iliman Ndiaye’s injury: ”I don’t think it’s anything serious”.

👀 Keep reading because it’s gotta be better than whatever you’re supposed to be doing.

Alright?

With all the recent managerial sackings in the Premier League, you might be worried about your own job security where your FPL team is concerned.

Fear not: We’ve already spoken to the board, and you have their full backing.

…Even if your midfielders only score points in the pointless midweek fixtures.

…Even if you’ve only owned João Pedro exclusively for the games in which he’s blanked.

…Even if Steven from marketing - who doesn’t even watch football but made an FPL team “for the vibes” - is winning your mini-league after tripling up on Burnley attackers in Gameweek 1.

It’s fine. The board are confident you’ll have a fantastic Gameweek 11. Here’s how to ensure you reward their inexplicable faith in you.

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It’s been 10 gameweeks, which feels like enough time to give us some meaningful data. Occasionally, we like to use these man-made landmarks to take stock of what we know so far.

Here are five observations from 10 gameweeks of underlying stats:

1) Crystal Palace really are quite good.

They’re top of the league for xG (expected goals) at the moment with 19.0, ahead of Manchester City (18.0) and Manchester United (17.7).

Jean-Philippe Mateta is already popular (and the most transferred in this week), but it feels like it’s only a matter of time before Ismaïla Sarr is owned by more than his current 12%.

2) Sunderland shouldn’t be considered an easy fixture.

Statistically, only Arsenal (5.7), Newcastle (9.2) and Man City (9.9) have a better xGC (expected goals conceded) than Sunderland’s 11.4.

The Premier League’s fixture tracker has cottoned on to this, and it’s time managers did too. Continuing to view them as an easy fixture will lead to more poor decision-making.

3) Spurs’ overperformance.

Remarkably, Spurs are the biggest overperformers for both goals scored and goals conceded. They have 17 goals from an xG of 10.6, and they’ve conceded just eight goals from an xGC of 13.6.

In layman’s terms, they’ve been lucky. It might be time to look elsewhere.

4) Arsenal’s defence could be the best we’ve ever seen.

Arsenal’s run of clean sheets isn’t luck. They’re just not allowing their opponents many meaningful chances.

We don’t usually advocate for a double-up, or even triple-up, in defence, but on current form, this is the best defence in Premier League history.

5) Man United ought to be the most entertaining team in the league.

Their combined xG and xGA is higher than any other team. In other words, they look like scoring a lot, and they also look like conceding a lot.

That’s great for their attackers, who should continue to profit from their cavalier approach to football this season, but it should give you pause if you’re considering their defenders.

Lazy summary: Europe returned and all your players did well.

Tuesday

Arsenal 3-0 Slavia Prague

Goals: Bukayo Saka (penalty), Mikel Merino x2
Assists: Leandro Trossard, Declan Rice

Merino started up top for Arsenal with Viktor Gyökeres being ruled out until after the November International Break (Gameweek 12). We know what you’re thinking, but be warned: Merino is a short-term pick. Prepare for disappointment if you’re moving players around to fit him in.

Liverpool 1-0 Real Madrid

Goals: Alexis Mac Allister
Assists: Dominik Szoboszlai

Liverpool lined up with a front three of Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, and Mohamed Salah.

While Wirtz was covering the left flank out of possession, he would roam inside and was heavily involved when Liverpool had the ball. A worry for Cody Gakpo owners if Slot continues with Wirtz in this role.

Spurs 4-0 F.C. Copenhagen

Goals: Brennan Johnson, Wilson Odobert, Micky van de Ven, João Palhinha
Assists: Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo Muani, Cristian Romero

Mohammed Kudus picked up a knock and was not in the squad for this game. We’re still waiting for an official update, but he did say “it’s getting better, yes” when asked whether he’d be fit for Gameweek 11 (presumably by an FPL manager).

Brennan Johnson was sent off and Micky van de Ven might’ve scored the goal of the season already.

Wednesday

Newcastle United 2-0 Athletic Club

Goals: Dan Burn, Joelinton
Assists: Kieran Trippier, Harvey Barnes

Anthony Gordon was substituted in the 41st minute due to injury, which Howe described as "a recurrence of the hip injury that has been plaguing him in recent weeks." Nick Woltemade started and played ‘83.

Burn scored perhaps the most sumptuous header since that Robin van Persie one in the 2014 World Cup.

Qarabağ FK 2-2 Chelsea

Goals: Estêvão, Alejandro Garnacho
Assists: Andrey Santos

Chelsea mildly rotated, with Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo both rested, but Caicedo was forced to come on in the 8th minute due to an injury to Roméo Lavia.

Estêvão was Chelsea's standout performer, and it'll be interesting to see when he becomes a more reliable FPL pick.

Manchester City 4-1 Dortmund

Goals: Phil Foden x2, Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki
Assists: Tijjani Reijnders x2, Jérémy Doku

A good performance from a full-strength City side.

Thursday

Aston Villa 2-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv

Goals: Donyell Malen, Ian Maatsen
Assists: Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa

Ollie Watkins didn’t start this game. Malen’s goal was a penalty (won by Ezri Konsa).

Sturm Graz 0-0 Nottingham Forest

Morgan Gibbs-White missed a penalty in this game, which was the most notable action.

Crystal Palace 3-1 AZ Alkmaar

Goals: Ismaïla Sarr x2, Maxence Lacroix
Assists: Jean-Philippe Mateta, Marc Guéhi

Aside from his characteristic two midweek goals, Sarr also won a penalty (which Mateta duly missed). A full-strength Palace had 21 shots in this game, and 3-1 was actually quite flattering for their opponents. Glasner did report some “very, very small tightness” in Sarr’s hamstring after the game.

Lazy summary: Gameweek 18 is worth highlighting.

Sound the alarm: Burnley have a relatively decent fixture this week.

It feels like whenever that happens, the Bench Boost gets dusted off, like that posh set of plates your Mum only brings out for guests.

Managers with Maxime Estève and Martin Dúbravka amongst their substitutes might well be looking slatheringly at this week’s West Ham fixture and thinking “well, when else are they going to score me any points?”.

The answer might be Gameweek 18.

Gameweek 18 - i.e. the gameweek that immediately follows Christmas - is intriguing for those still with their Bench Boost or Free Hit intact. Burnley play Everton at home, whilst Sunderland - another big team for FPL benches - host Leeds.

In fact, a lot of popular FPL teams have a decent fixture that gameweek:

Man City visit Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal host Brighton.
Liverpool host Wolves.
Crystal Palace host Spurs.
Man United host Newcastle.
Bournemouth travel to Brentford.

The problem with saving your chips for that time of the year is, of course, rotation. Even the most thoroughly made chip plans can be ruined because Mikel Arteta had one too many glasses of sherry with his Turkey and decided to bench Gabriel for a laugh.

Still, the rewards could well be worth it, and if you’re not tempted by any of the gameweeks before Gameweek 18, you might find you’re out of options regardless.

Lazy summary: It’s Haaland.

Erling Haaland plays a Liverpool team that is suddenly finding its defensive form again, having just kept out Aston Villa and Real Madrid on the bounce.

But Liverpool at Anfield and Liverpool on the road are two different beasts. Cue the meme:

They’ve only kept one clean sheet away this season, and that was against Burnley.

In every other Premier League away game, they’ve conceded at least two goals.

The Norse God gets our armband.

After making four free transfers last gameweek, the Professor’s cortisol levels still haven’t recovered from their dangerously high peaks.

A source close to the Professor has told us that he’s rolling a transfer this week for the sake of his own health.

Erling Haaland gets the armband. Here’s his team:

The Professor has had quite the climb in recent weeks, by the way.

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1) Micky van de Ven is Spurs’ top scorer this season with six goals.

2) Florian Wirtz and Ollie Watkins become the first players to drop by £0.5m this season.

3) The current world #1 has only made two transfers this season. He’s owned Benjamin Šeško all season and has Cole Palmer sitting on his bench.

Are you sitting down? Good, because it’s an international break next week.

There there. Wipe those orifices.

We’ll be back in a few weeks, after which point, it’s a straight road to the fixture carnage that is December. Who’s excited?

Stay lazy.

The LazyFPL Team.