GW6 of the Fantasy Premier League ended in tears for most of us after it saw an decrease in the average score to 48 (60 in GW5). There wasn’t a lot in the scorelines too as majority games had scores of 0,1 and 2 except for Leeds. Overall, there were only 19 goals scored in GW6 and six teams managed to keep a clean sheet.
Moving on to GW7, we hope for some better results and more goals from the marquee signings and as usual we got you covered with our GW7 preview as we discuss the top 5 differentials, team selection and our opinion on the change Edouard Mendy has brought for Chelsea and FPL. So, let’s get started.
Top 5 differentials for GW7
5. Daniel Podence (WOL)
TSB – 3.7% Price – £5.5m
Quite promising performances in recent games but failing to find the net has been the case for a young Daniel Podence who has the opportunity once again as oppoents Crystal Palace are sweating over the fitness of their defenders with Joel Ward, James Tomkins and Gary Cahill out injured while Paul Mitchell faces a late fitness test to make the squad.
4. Che Adams (SOU)
TSB – 2.1% Price – £5.8m
Our top differential for GW6, Che Adams delivered yet again for the Saints and his FPL owners after scoring a goal and grabbing two bonus points against Everton. Adams has now scored 26 points in his last four games at 6.5 points per game which is a huge boost ahead of the game against Aston Villa.
3. Phil Foden (MCI)
TSB – 8.9% Price – £6.6m
While it has been a ‘keeping up with Liverpool and Man City’ season for the other teams, we have both Liverpool and City with a number of injuries to key players preventing them from playing their top football this season. Man City striker Sergio Aguero, who returned after four months had to be subbed off last weekend with a hamstring injury. With second choice striker Gabriel Jesus also injured this forces Pep Guardiola to tweak his system yet again and this could benefit Foden who scored Man City’s only goal in the 1-1 draw against West Ham last week.
2. Marcus Rashford (MUN)
TSB – 8.1% Price – £9.5m
After the end of the september international break, Man United had probably the most toughest fixtures out of everyone and many predicted that they would crumble, but here we are with United winning three of their last four games against Newcastle, PSG and RB Leipzig. One of the major reasons for this winning run is Marcus Rashford, the man of the moment. Rasford scored a goal and two assists against Newcastle, scored the winner against PSG and finally scored a hat-trick in the 5-0 thrashing of RB Leipzig. He could’ve easily scored a brace against Chelsea too, not only for some brilliant keeping by Edouard Mendy.
Generally while looking at differentials, we tend to prefer the players with the easier fixtures but Marcus Rashford has proved us all that always pick form over fixtures.
1. Christian Pulisic (CHE)
TSB – 4.0% Price – £8.3m
Over the past week, we have seen Frank Lampard focusing a lot on his defense due to which the attackers have found it tough to find many goal scoring opportunities. However, Blues new goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has been assuring everyone that he can be relied upon and now Chelsea might start playing their aggressive style of football yet again and that could be a joy for a certain Christian Pulisic, who scored a perfect hat-trick last year against upcoming opponents Burnley. The American winger started the season on the sidelines so he had to wait a bit for his chance and as soon as he got his, he scored in the midweek against Krasnodar.
What’s more exciting is Burnley are not the same resiliant side as they were last year, the Clarets are placed 18th in the league with them failing to win any of their first five games.
Team selection for GW7
GK : Emiliano Martinez
DEF : Max Kilman
DEF : Ben Chilwell
DEF : Andrew Robertson
MID : Phil Foden
MID : Marcus Rashford
MID : Jack Grealish
MID : Heung-Min Son (V)
FWD : Timo Werner
FWD : Raul Jimenez
FWD : Harry Kane (C)
How Edouard Mendy is giving FPL owners more options at defense
Since his signing from Rennes this summer, Edouard Mendy has completely revamped Chelsea’s defense and given new hope to Chelsea fans. The Senegalese International has kept four clean sheets in his first five games including teams like Sevilla and Manchester United. This is a huge boost for Chelsea boss Frank Lampard who seemed to be out of ideas regarding the Chelsea defense last season. Both goalkeepers Kepa Arrizabalaga and Willy Caballero struggled to make saves, let alone keeping clean sheets. However, much has to be said about Thiago Silva too for his contribution to this Chelsea side, adding leadership and composure in the backline.
So, how does Edouard Mendy’s form impact FPL owners? First of all, you get a decent goalkeeper option but secondly and this is the most important part, you can actually pick Chelsea defenders without having to worry about being 1-0 down before the start of the game. We know, how the likes of Reece James and Ben Chilwell bomb forward and deliver some beautiful crosses for the forwards but it was always the fear of conceding goals that led people to look away from Chelsea defenders. Now that it looks like the defense is sorted, there has been an instant increase in Ben Chilwell’s ownership. It’s his turn to return the favor now.
