Gameweek 10

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Summary for the lazy.

- Gameweek 10's deadline is 13:30 BST, Saturday 8th October ⏰- Haaland and De Bruyne rested in midweek 🙏- Wolves sack Lage, Hasenhuttl rumoured to be next 🐺- Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Diaz amongst 5 most transferred out 🔴Is FPL boring now? Stick around to find out...

All the hauls.

It wasn't just Haaland who enjoyed a fruitful Gameweek 9. Trossard, Foden, Maddison and even Almiron managed 15+ point hauls, which of course means that all four are amongst the top 10 most transferred in players this week.Whenever a low-owned player scores a lot of FPL points, two camps form:Camp 1: this is a blip. There's no way he keeps up this form.Camp 2: I should get this player before he hauls again.The job of this newsletter is to tell you which camp you ought to pitch your tent in. So let's briefly look at each of 'em.Leandro Trossard (£6.7m)Definitely a Camp 2 situation. When we discussed Brighton's new management a few emails ago, we suggested the Seagulls were likely to be a more exciting team for the neutral: one that creates and concedes more chances.Early evidence suggests we were right.Trossard looks to be a big beneficiary of this new, gung-ho approach. Despite his Gameweek 9 hat-trick feeling like a flash-in-the-pan, the Belgian now has 9 goals and 5 assists from his last 13 Premier League games. His underlying stats are pretty good too.

James Maddison (£8.1m)

Camp 1. Come at us, but even you - the Maddison owner who just enjoyed his demolition of Forest on Monday - know it's true.

There's no doubt the Leicester man is a talent. Like most good players, he will outscore his underlying stats over the course of a season.

But his current form is anomalous to the point of freakish. Here are the top 20 midfielders for xG (expected goals) so far this season. Look at where Maddison places.

Exactly.In 7 games, Maddison has had one big chance and created just two. All the evidence points towards him struggling to sustain his returns.

Miguel Almiron (£5.1m)Three goals this season from an xG of 2.5 is about right for Almiron, who has the immense benefit of only costing £5.1m.Even his Mum, Susan Almiron, isn't expecting a brace every week, but with the exception of the confusing Solly March, he has the best underlying stats in his price bracket.An interesting prospect for those who can't afford Trossard. Camp 1.5.

Phil Foden (£8.1m)

Rested this week in the Champions League. Will score plenty of points this season. Proven asset with solid stats.Blanks in Gameweek 12 but still absolute Camp 2 material, despite this goofy pose:

More injuries.

Aleksandar Mitrovic

Leon Bailey (muscle issue - doubt for the weekend)

Wesley Fofana (knee injury - 4-6 weeks out)

Alexander Isak (Confirmed out for GW 10)

Nathan Patterson

PremierInjuries.com

The key stats.

Here are all the important stats ahead of Gameweek 10 (check out Haaland's scoring odds).

The best captain.

Is FPL boring now?

Some managers - perhaps you're one of them - reckon that FPL is boring now that the captaincy decision has been reduced down to a thick, Norwegian broth.

But as the old adage goes: only boring managers get bored. Norse-God aside, there are still 10 players who ebb and flow in form: for the meanwhile, they are the ones who will dictate the course of your season.

We actually think the removal of the captaincy decision makes FPL more interesting. Here's why:Lucky captaincy calls have often papered over the cracks of otherwise bad decision-making. When you have two, three or even four popular captaincy picks, luck becomes an ever-increasing factor in your success across a season.With Haaland locked in as captain, managers actually have to depend on the strength of their other picks, rather than the variance of a big captaincy haul, to move up their leagues.Inevitably, that means more of a willingness to back differentials in order to stick our heads above the proverbial parapet.In other words, if you've got a skill for spotting good players who will score FPL points, you should thrive during a time like this.Isn't that what being a good manager is about?

Expert analysis.

Making his FPLTips.com debut, former editor of Fantasy Football Scout and top FPL manager David Munday joins us. We're delighted to have him.After a challenging start to the season, David now finds himself up to around 430k overall. He's a fantastic writer, so sit back and enjoy what he has to say going into Gameweek 10:

Erling Haaland's main transgression since joining FPL is not what you think.Managers may be lamenting the Norwegian rendering the captain's armband redundant in their droves but the real issue is what fills that void. Without the big decision to make very Gameweek, Fantasy managers have been forced to argue with each other about whatever subject they can get their hands on.I'm not going to venture as far into the 'should you copy others?' debate as many might like but I want to say this: own your decisions. That's always been the best advice I've received and handed out.Each and every round is different, there are key stats and eye tests that you will be all the better for absorbing yourself before you take in the opinion of others. The thoughts of the crowd are useful, of course, but test them against established evidence. Once you rely on your own judgement of the facts, you will always make better decisions than to rely on the thoughts of others.

And now it's my turn to play the hypocrite as I regale you with my opinion!Wilfried Zaha (£7.3m). I'm excited about this man for Gameweek 10, even to the point I took a hit to sign him for the Chelsea game. While that didn't pay off, I'm looking forward to him facing Leeds and then Leicester.In their last four matches, Jesse Marsch and Brendan Rodgers' men sit in the division's bottom four for expected goals conceded (xGC). Also, when you use the Fantasy Football Scout Season Ticker to sort all teams by the attacking difficulty of their fixtures between now and the World Cup, nobody ranks higher than Crystal Palace.But, don't forget. Test what I've said against your own judgement before making that move. Own your decisions. Wishing you all green arrows!

As far as our FPL team goes, David has decided to use one of our two free transfers to take out Saka for Zaha. Here's how we're looking:

As always, we've used the Fantasy Football Hub MyTeam tool to display our team. It gives you stuff like predicted points and the ability to visualise how your team will look in future gameweeks too. We'd recommend you giving it a try.

15,000 of you.

This week we passed 15,000 subscribers, which is madness. Thanks for being one of 'em.It occurred to us that some of you may not know about our referral programme. In a nutshell: you can get free tat for getting other FPL managers signed up to this newsletter. Just send them your unique link below and, if they use it to subscribe, you can earn stuff like an FPL pint glass, special Discord privileges and even a trophy for your mini-league.⚡️ by SparkLoop

Looking ahead.

With all the talk of Haaland being perma-captain, it's easy to forget that he's only two gameweeks away from a blank.So let us remind you: City and Arsenal will miss Gameweek 12. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Last week we asked you what you'd LEAST want to happen in Gameweek 9. Our favourite answers:Cian Kennedy said Bournemouth keeping a clean sheet would be the worst thing that could happen.

And Christian Skills (cool name) told us he didn't want Maddison to get any returns.

Lovely stuff. We'll be back next Thursday evening. See you then.p.s.

Remember, it's a late deadline tomorrow (13:30 BST). Our American readers must be absolutely buzzing at the lie-in.