It’s Gameweek 9 in the middle of October, which means that the European competitions are well underway by now and, as a result, us fantasy managers have a major extra factor to take into account again this week. Below are the results of the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League games this week for the Premier League sides active in Europe.
Champions League
| HOME SIDE | AWAY SIDE | DATE | SCORE |
| Villareal | Manchester City | TUE October 21 | 0-2 |
| Newcastle United | Benfica | TUE October 21 | 3-0 |
| Arsenal | Atletico Madrid | TUE October 21 | 4-0 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | Liverpool | WED October 22 | 1-5 |
| Chelsea | Ajax | WED October 22 | 5-1 |
| AS Monaco | Tottenham Hotspur | WED October 22 | 0-0 |
Europa League
| HOME SIDE | AWAY SIDE | DATE & SCORE |
| Go Ahead Eagles | Aston Villa | THU October 23 – 2-1 |
| Nottingham Forest | Porto | THU October 23 – 2-0 |
Conference League
| HOME SIDE | AWAY SIDE | DATE & SCORE |
| Crystal Palace | AEK Larnaca | THU October 23 – 0-1 |
Don’t forget, the deadline for Gameweek 9 is set at 18h30 (UK time) today Friday, October 24th, 2025. 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, 2025)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Vicario (TOT), Alisson (LIV), Sels (NFO) | Raya (ARS), Pope (NEW), Donnarumma (MCI) | Alisson injured |
| DEF | Van de Ven (TOT), Van Dijk (LIV), Romero (TOT) | Gabriel (ARS), James (CHE), Timber (ARS) | Most transferred-in defenders are all in good form with good fixtures coming up, Romero injury doubt |
| MID | Salah (LIV), Reijnders (MCI), Enzo (CHE) | Saka (ARS), Caicedo (CHE), Rice (ARS) | Caicedo keeps scoring in PL and Europe, Arsenal fixtures, Salah drop in form |
| FOR | Pedro (CHE), Gyökeres (ARS), Richarlison (TOT) | Woltemade (NEW), Mateta (CRY), Haaland (MCI) | Woltemade form + fixtures, Haaland red-hot form, Mateta hattrick in GW8, Richarlison benched |
Premium pick
With Salah seemingly off the boil a bit and with Liverpool facing their first real downturn in form and results since the arrival of Arne Slot, and with Haaland playing away at Villa on Sunday, we are selecting Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) as our premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 9. Arsenal are coming off a resounding 4-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, a game in which Saka did not get a single attacking return. That also immediately brings us to the main downside of this premium pick, namely his lack of returns so far this season. The England international is obviously nailed-on as manager Mikel Arteta’s left winger, but that he so far resulted in just 2 goals in five league starts. Of course, the fact that Saka was out for 2.5 gameweeks at the start of the season has to do with that as well, which is why we are not too worried. He got 179 FPL points in 2022, 202 FPL points in 2023, 226 FPL points in 2024 and 127 FPL points last season, despite having played just twenty league games. In other words, we are confident that Saka will get back to his scoring and assisting ways rather sooner than later, and he might just get started this weekend when Crystal Palace visit the Emirates Stadium following their defeat at home last night in the Conference League.
Non-premium pick
More often than not, players who are new to the Premier League need some time to adjust, especially if they come from outside of England. Not Nick Woltemade (£7.4m), whose arrival from Stuttgart for around £65 million this summer was hailed by some as a major waste of money, but who already sits on 4 goals after his first five league starts including a fabulous backheel last weekend. That means that the German striker is running a current average of just over 6 FPL points per game. On top of that he has also scored a goal in the Champions League already, as part of the 0-4 away victory at Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise back at the start of October. Woltemade played 85 minutes this week in Newcastle’s impressive home victory over Portuguese giants Benfica on Wednesday in which he did not score or assist, so do keep that mind. Having said that, with the German’s current form in mind and the fact that the Magpies have more than two days of full rest before the home game against Fulham on Saturday afternoon, we believe that he will be heading the Newcastle attack over the weekend as well.
The budget enabler
To say that there is “crazy value” to be found among the midfield players this season is an understatement. Of the midfielders with the highest points average per match, no player in at least the top 8 costs more than £8.1m and that’s Semenyo, who is actually by far the most expensive one in that list. The most expensive midfielder in the list after the Bournemouth man is Jack Grealish, who currently comes in at £6.9m. Neither of them is our budget fantasy pick for Gameweek 9 though, because that “honour” goes to Moisés Caicedo (£5.9m). The Chelsea midfielder has been somewhat of a revelation this season, in part thanks to the new DefCon system in FPL and in part thanks to his sudden hunger for goals. The Ecuadorian plays as a defensive midfielder for the Blues, at least in theory, but under manager Enzo Maresca, he can often be found way higher up the pitch. The result, in FPL terms? Nailed on as a starter, 3 goals in seven league games, a total of 46 FPL points so far, and all that for just £5.9m. Add to that the fact that Chelsea have one of the best fixture runs of all teams and we are honestly wondering why Caicedo is currently still sitting in just 17% of all squads in the official fantasy game.
(Extra: Caicedo also scored a shot from distance against Ajax in the Champions League this week)
The differential
Our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 9 comes with a major disclaimer: he is very injury-prone, or at least, he has been in the past few seasons. Having said that, a fit Reece James (£5.4m) is a player whose (potential) attacking output can barely be matched by any other defender in the Premier League. Case in point: fit since GW4, 1 goal and 3 assists since that game, good for 29 FPL points over that same run. In Wednesday’s Champions League game in Amsterdam, the England international remained on the bench, which makes us confident in saying that he will be starting against Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. We mentioned Chelsea’s favourable run of fixtures at this current moment, which also applies to James. On top of that, he is currently sitting in just 6% of all teams and at a slightly reduced price of £5.4m. In other words, with the home game versus Sunderland followed by Spurs away, Wolves home and Burnley away, now seems like a good moment to invest in the relatively expensive but also differential right back (who has been playing as a midfielder under Maresca as well).
The (vice-)captaincy
Once again, we have got a few very good options for the armband this week. We have ended up going with Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka for the home game against Crystal Palace on Saturday, but honestly… the alternatives are still looking at us seductively as well.
These alternatives include Joao Pedro for Chelsea’s home game against Sunderland (or even his teammate, the previously mentioned Reece James), Nick Woltemade at home to Fulham and Viktor Gyökeres at home against Crystal Palace. Of course, there is also Erling Haaland, who is in scorching form and who is visiting Aston Villa (who just lost against Go Ahead Eagles last night in the Europa League) on Sunday.
For further discussions have a look at FISO’s FPL forum where you can also see the FPL mini-leagues and FPL side-games available.