What you need to know for Gameweek 8
The key news and data in Fantasy Premier League
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Fantasy Gameweek. This is our round-up of everything you need to know for Gameweek 8 in Fantasy Premier League, including the news that matters and the key data from Impect, our data partner.
The deadline for transfers and changes to your team is 11am UK time on Saturday 7 October
Here are some key news stories this week:
-Bukayo Saka is “in contention” to play for Arsenal against Man City on Sunday after going off injured in the Champions League. History suggests that Mikel Arteta will get Saka on the pitch if it is possible at all. Story here
-The top points scorer in Fantasy Premier League - Ollie Watkins - has signed a new five-year contract with Aston Villa. Story here
-Crystal Palace’s Ebere Eze could be out for weeks with a hamstring injury. Story here
-Pervis Estupinan “can’t play for a long time” due to injury, Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi has said. Story here
These are the fixtures for Gameweek 8
These are the most transferred-in players this week so far:
And these are the transfers-out:
Now for the key data from Impect, our data partner.
These are the top-five and bottom-five teams for xG per game so far. As a reminder, xG measures the quality of chances that a team creates by attributing a score to each chance based on the likelihood of it being a goal. For example, if the chance was certain to be a goal then it would get an xG score of 1. However, xG does not take into account the quality of the player with the chance or the goalkeeper they are facing. It just looks at the location of the chance and the number of players around the ball.
Top
Liverpool - 2.42
Aston Villa - 2.24
Newcastle - 2.23
Man City - 2.23
Chelsea - 2.09
Bottom
Sheffield United - 0.85
Burnley - 0.97
Nottingham Forest - 1.02
Fulham - 1.08
Bournemouth - 1.22
And here are the top five and bottom five for xG per game conceded
Top
Man City - 0.76
Arsenal - 0.84
Newcastle - 1.06
Chelsea - 1.23
Brentford - 1.35
Bottom
Sheffield United - 2.6
Bournemouth - 2.45
West Ham - 2.34
Wolves - 2.1
Luton - 2.08
Moving on to the players, these are the top-10 for Offensive Impect, which measures the attacking effectiveness of a player for their team:
Darwin Nunez -100
Ollie Watkins - 99.6
Erling Haaland - 99.2
Heung-Min Son - 98.8
Callum Wilson - 98.4
Mo Salah - 98
Hee-Chan Hwang - 97.7
Evan Ferguson - 97.3
Leon Bailey - 96.9
Diogo Jota - 96.5
And these are the players with the highest xG….
Erling Haaland - 8.29
Ollie Watkins - 5.6
Bryan Mbeumo - 4.82
Mo Salah - 3.91
Darwin Nunez - 3.77
Alexander Isak - 3.68
Callum Wilson - 3.46
Yoane Wissa - 3.28
Bukayo Saka - 3.27
Carlton Morris - 3.16
Next, these are the post-shot xG rankings. Post-shot xG measures the quality of a chance after the shot has been taken, so it also takes into account the quality of the shot:
Erling Haaland - 7.8
Ollie Watkins - 5.52
Heung-Min Son - 4.68
Evan Ferguson - 4.19
Bukayo Saka - 3.97
Mo Salah - 3.97
Jarrod Bowen - 3.75
Abdoulaye Doucoure - 3.69
Alexander Isak - 3.62
Bryan Mbeumo - 3.6
Next, these are the top-10 players for bypassed defenders, which measures how many opposition defenders a player takes out of the game with their passing or dribbling. It is a way to track a player’s attacking impact in a game:
Trent Alexander-Arnold - 12
Billy Gilmour - 11
Sean Longstaff - 10
Bruno Fernandes - 10
James Maddison - 10
Pervis Estupinan - 9
Kieran Trippier - 9
Rodri - 9
Diogo Jota - 9
Darwin Nunez - 9
Raheem Sterling - 9
Mo Salah - 9
Now let’s see the top-10 players for bypassed defenders receiving, which measures how many opposition defenders were taken out of the game when a player receives the ball. It measures the quality of the attacking positions that a player gets themselves in with the ball:
Darwin Nunez - 28.1
Callum Wilson - 21.9
Ollie Watkins - 20.6
Erling Haaland - 18.9
Odsonne Edouard - 18.6
Beto - 17.6
Taiwo Awoniyi - 17.2
Diogo Jota - 15.5
Mo Salah - 14.7
Rasmus Hojlund - 14.2
Lastly, these are the top defenders for Offensive Impect, which shows the defenders who are getting involved in attacks, which is really useful to know for FPL:
Pervis Estupinan - 100
Cristian Romero - 99
Kieran Trippier - 98
Jan Paul Van Hecke - 97
Sven Botman - 96
Trent Alexander-Arnold - 95
Virgil Van Dijk - 93.1
Andy Robertson - 92.1
Raphael Varane - 91.1
Matty Cash - 90.1
Thanks for reading and good luck in Gameweek 8…
Graham
