Hi, this is Ishaan (Twitter: @hobbes3103, FPL 21-22 OR: 3754). This is the FPL Gameweek 9 article in a series of weekly articles I’ll be writing for All About FPL where I’ll pick some players from the previous gameweek(s) who I feel are poised to make an immediate impact in the upcoming gameweek, basis a dive into their statistical data as well as their standout performances from an eye-test perspective.
These players could be differentials, could be template picks or could be somewhere in between but the idea of this weekly series is to basically try & identify the next bandwagon before the community at large identifies them.
After a bit of a break in the regularity of this column with no GW5-6 articles since I was on a personal break & no GW7 article due to the postponement, I’m back again to resume the blog with a focus on players to watch out for in GW9 basis last week’s performances.
Link to all our FPL GW9 blogs including Wildcard Guide, Fixtures to target, Predicted 11, Differentials, Captaincy metrics, transfer trends, and more. Completely free to access as well!
ANALYSIS OF GAMEWEEK 4 PICKS :
- Harry Kane: ✅
- Leandro Trossard: ✅
- Reece James: ✅
- Ivan Toney: ✖
- Mohammad Salah: ✖
- Oleksandr Zinchenko: ✖
FPL Gameweek 9 Player to Transfer In Based on Eye-Test
JAMES MADDISON
An extremely popular pick whether on a GW8 or a GW9 wildcard and not without good reason as I elucidate below.
Leicester City as a team have been atrocious this season, with Brendan Rodgers perenially being on the verge of a sack. They have lost 6 matches on the trot and have only 1 point from 7 games, sitting rock bottom on the Premier League table. However, Maddison has been playing like he’s totally unaware of the dumpster fire around him and that is evident from the numbers he has been putting up.
Just against Spurs before the International Break, Maddison took 7 shots with 3 Shots in the Box , created 4 chances and scored 1 goal. This season so far he has had 3 goals and 1 assist, failing to bag a FPL return in only 2 out of the 7 games. That means out of all midfielders, Maddison is 3rd for shots and 12th for chances created and out of all players, he is 7th for shots.
Leicester City’s poor performances is mostly stemming from issues in their defence, whereas they have looked a far more assured side offensively. Maddison is the talisman of the team having the highest xG and chances created amongst his teammates. He has either scored or assisted in 26 of his last 29 games – a truly amazing consistency & you can expect that form to continue when he faces a very leaky Nottingham Forest side this week.
They rank at the bottom for all of the following defensive statistics:
- Most shots conceded
- Most shots on target conceded
- Most xGC
- 3rd most big chances conceded
- 3rd most goals conceded (17)
In fact, the following statistic from BBC Match of the Day indicate that Maddison has many avenues to points in this fixture since NFO are prone to conceding shots from outside the box as well as from corners. Maddison is also on all set pieces and this look like an incredibly tasty fixture for him.
Maddison also makes for a good medium-term pick, at least for the next 4 game weeks since Leicester are top of the attacking fixture ticker and they have decent fixtures even after that right till GW16 when the WC break is.
TAIWO AWONIYI / MORGAN GIBBS-WHITE
The next pick(s) for this week play for Maddison’s opponents, Nottingham Forest. Both LEI & NFO are so bad defensively, that I expect this to be a goalscoring affair and that’s the basic justification picking players from the same match this gameweek.
As mentioned above, NFO have conceded the 3rd most goals this season (17) and that statistic is only bettered (or worsened ?) by Leicester who have conceded a laughable 22 goals from 7 matches which is a record number of goals conceded since 1965-66 in the English 1st division.
Adam & Baker on the Above Average FPL Pod made a great point when they said that a match against Leicester City essentially starts at 1-1 and I expect either of Awoniyi or MGW to be in the mix when (not if) NFO score.
What makes MGW an attractive one-week punt is that Leicester have conceded the most shots from outside the box and have also looked extremely shaky from defending corners & set pieces, the majority of which MGW takes for Forest.
Leicester City have conceded the most goals from corners of all teams since the start of 2021/22 & this trend extending over 20 months indicates a serious flaw in the coaching.
Let’s analyze this by looking at Leicester’s setup from corners and set pieces from their GW8 fixture v Spurs.
Spurs take the corner short and the two LEI centre-backs Faes & Evans step out to push the line high but with no lack of communication with the rest of the team, the rest of the LEI players in the box remain deep.
When they realise that they have to step out too , it’s too late as Kane is played onside. Kulusevski puts the ball at the far post and it’s an easy header from 3 yards out for Kane. What is even more astounding is that ultimately when Kane gets the final touch on the ball, there are THREE Spurs players attacking the cross but only ONE Leicester player except the goalkeeper anywhere in the vicinity to defend it.
For the second goal which was a header from a Perisic corner (image below), Patson Daka and James Justin are marking each other for some reason and Eric Dier right behind them is left free to make a movement towards the ball and glance a header to the far post beyond Ward.
If Awoniyi gets a start, which he should, then I fully expect him to take advantage of this schoolboy defending from corners especially since in the GW8 match vs Fulham, he scored one goal from a header and at another instance shrugged off his defender to find space in the box from a corner routine and should have really scored again ( images below )
KEVIN DE BRUYNE
Kevin De Bruyne has been on another plane of footballing skill this season. Just have a look at his stats from the International Break match vs Wales:
- 1 Goal
- 1 Assist
- 48 Accurate passes
- 82.8% Pass accuracy
- 7 Key passes
- 5 Ground duels won
- 4 Accurate long balls
- 3 Shots on target
- 3 Accurate crosses
- 2 Tackles
- 2 Aerial duels won
- 1 Hit woodwork
He is the highest-scoring midfielder in the game and is also (unsurprisingly) the midfielder who has created the most chances in the game (25, xA of 4.19).
Manchester City as an attack have also taken it up a notch this season with Erling Haaland in superb form and I feel that they will prove to be too much for Ten Haag’s resurgent United.
City are also odds on favourite to score more than 2.5 goals in this match and as per the FFHub Points Prediction tool, KDB is expected to be the highest scoring midfielder this gameweek.
De Bruyne is a big game player and has a good record in the Manchester derby. In their last meeting in March, KDB returned with 2 goals, 1 assist, 3 bonus, and the MOTM and it can be a fair prediction that should Man City score, KDB will be in amongst the returns.
CONCLUSION
To conclude, Leicester & Nottingham Forest play each other this week and considering how leaky both defences are it is no surprise that their attackers have found a way into the article. KDB rounds off the blog since he has been operating at a level above this season and always comes up with clutch performances in big matches.
If you liked the article, do like share, and retweet. As always all feedback is welcome – I can be found @hobbes3103.
All data from Fantasy Football Scout, Fantasy Football Hub, BBC Match of the Day, Sofascore, Fotmob & Opta.
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Hobbes3103
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