Besides all the usual elements to take into account as preparation for a new FPL gameweek, European football is also a major factor this week. No less than seven teams are active in either the Champions League, the Europa League or the Conference League, and those seven teams represent a whole bunch of popular and potentially interesting fantasy assets. At the moment of writing, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Man City have so far played their European game this week, winning 1-0 (vs. Shaktar Donetsk), 2-0 (vs. Bologna), 0-1 (at RB Leipzig) and 5-0 (vs Sparta Prague) respectively.
| TEAM | TOURNAMENT | DATE | OPPONENT |
| Arsenal | Champions League | October 22nd | Sh. Donetsk (H, 1-0) |
| Aston Villa | Champions League | October 22nd | Bologna (H, 2-0) |
| Manchester City | Champions League | October 23rd | Sparta Prague (H, 5-0) |
| Liverpool | Champions League | October 23rd | RB Leipzig (A, 0-1) |
| Manchester United | Europa League | October 24th | Fenerbahce (A) |
| Spurs | Europa League | October 24th | AZ Alkmaar (H) |
| Chelsea | Conference League | October 24th | Panathinaikos (A) |
As for the upcoming Gameweek 9, there is plenty on the agenda as well. Two of the sides active in Europe this week, Manchester City (at home vs Southampton) and Aston Villa (at home vs Bournemouth), have a favourable fixture this weekend. Brentford’s home game against Ipswich Town stands out as well, as does Brighton’s home game against Wolves. The major clashes take place on Sunday though, when Chelsea host Newcastle in the first game of the day and Arsenal welcome Liverpool to the Emirates for the closing fixture of the day (and the gameweek).
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 9 is set at 18h30 (UK time) on Friday, October 25th, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per October 23rd, 2024)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Raya (ARS), Alisson (LIV), Henderson (CRY) | Martinez (AST), Pickford (EVE), Sels (NFO) | Alisson injury |
| DEF | Saliba (ARS), Gabriel (ARS), Andersen (CRY) | Gvardiol (MCI), Keane (EVE), Konaté (LIV) | Saliba + Andersen suspended |
| MID | Saka (Ars), Diaz (LIV), Smith Rowe (FUL) | Son (TOT), Mbeumo (BRE), Palmer (CHE) | Mbeumo form + fixtures, Saka injury doubt |
| FOR | Havertz (ARS), Pedro (BRI), Welbeck (BRI) | Raul (FUL), Wood (NFO), Watkins (AST) | Raul + Wood form + fixtures, Watkins form, Pedro injury, Welbeck injury doubt |
Premium pick
It feels a bit strange writing this, but Erling Haaland (£15.4m) has not scored or assisted in his last three league games. The cannons of the man who scored 10 goals in the first five league games of the season seems to have dried up a bit, for the moment that is. This is still Erling Haaland we are talking about and it’s not like he did not get any chances in the past few games. Also, the Man City forward did get on the scoresheet in the Champions League (a double last night v Sparta Prague and against Slovan Bratislava earlier this month) and for Norway in the UEFA Nations League. During the last international break, Haaland scored a brace in the game versus Slovenia. In other words, we’re not worried and with Mo Salah visiting Arsenal on Sunday, the Norwegian looks like the stand-out premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 9. Especially when you know that Manchester City welcome 2nd bottom Southampton to the Etihad on Saturday afternoon.
Non-premium pick
If you are amongst the roughly 70% of FPL managers who don’t own Bryan Mbeumo (£7.6m) at this moment, then we recommend you consider bringing him in finally. The Cameroon international already featured in our FPL Gameweek Previews a few times already and he has been steadily delivering meanwhile. The Brentford attacker, who is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, currently represents about everything you want from a fantasy asset: excellent form (6 goals in eight league starts), a key role in his team, a favourable run of fixtures, set-piece duties including penalties, and as a cherry on top, an affordable price tag. This weekend’s game at home to Ipswich is followed by Fulham away, Bournemouth (home), Everton (away) and Leicester (home) for Brentford. If you’re looking for a fairly priced midfielder with serious points potential and even alternative captaincy appeal over the coming few weeks, Mbeumo should probably be around the top of your list.
The budget enabler
Looking at the table, probably the biggest surprise of the 2024-25 Premier League season so far is Nottingham Forest. The Crazy Trees have taken an impressive 13 points from the first eight league games, positioning themselves in 8th place in the process. One of the reasons why the form and results of Forest are great news for fantasy managers is that their roster is full of interesting budget options. For Gameweek 9, we have not looked much further than their highest-scoring player at this moment, Chris Wood (£6.3m). The New Zealand international leads the line for Forest and does so successfully, having scored 5 goals already. That’s exactly 62.5% of all goals scored by the entire side. In Gameweek 9, Forest are travelling to the King Power Stadium in Leicester. The local FC has already conceded 14 goals this season, though it should be said that just four of those were conceded in front of their own fans. Don’t expect Nottingham Forest to walk over Leicester here, as the Foxes have certainly circled this encounter as a must-win in their agendas as well, but currently, we consider the visitors slight favourites here.
The differential
Another forward as our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 9 in the person of Raul Jimenez (£5.7m). Fantasy managers with some seasons under their belt already will light up when they hear this name, as the Mexican was a menace for most of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 season. Unfortunately, a serious head injury prevented Jimenez from keeping up the extraordinary performances from those seasons, but it looks like he is finding back some of his killer instinct this season. In the shirt of Fulham, who paid Wolves around £5.5 million for his services last summer, he is now on five straight league games with an attacking return: 4 goals and 1 assist for a total of 36 FPL points. And that’s not even the best yet, from a fantasy perspective at least, because you might still be on time to catch the Jimenez train. His ownership in the official fantasy game currently sits around 8% and Fulham have got a nice schedule coming up: Everton away this weekend, followed by Brentford (home), Palace (away) and Wolves (home). Don’t expect Jimenez to bring in back-to-back double-digit hauls, it was never his style, but we can easily see him add a few more attacking returns over the coming few gameweeks.
The (vice-)captaincy
Despite Mo Salah bringing in 25 FPL points over the last three league games, the same period of time over which Erling Haaland did not register a single attacking return, we are slapping the armband on the latter. The Norwegian is playing Southampton at home, while the Egyptian is playing Arsenal away from home.
Gameweek 9 is offering us a few very interesting alternative captaincy options though, especially for those who want to move away from the Haaland v Salah decision. Bryan Mbeumo at home to Ipswich Town and Ollie Watkins at home to Bournemouth look like solid FPL captains this weekend, while Chris Wood (at Leicester City) should have some appeal for the punters amongst us.
For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.