The Hype Train

FANTASY FORECAST 2018/19: FPL Gameweek 8

Ahead of each Gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League, The Hype Train invites a special guest onto its Fantasy Forecast, where the three members of the Hype Team and its Special Guests will duel for FPL supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for the relevant Gameweek. In addition, we give our insight into who are the players to watch and those to drop, both for traditional FPL leagues and the Draft mode, as well as providing insight into captaincy picks, differentials for the week, and more. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.

Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 8 Deadline

For the 2016/17 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. The Premier League website lists each FPL deadline, you can always ask on social media, and you can also view a real time countdown on our Weekly Hype page.

How does our Forecasting work?

We have taken to our Hype Team, and the FPL Community, to compete in a weekly head to head dual of wits. We ask the questions that dominate each week in the Fantasy Premier League: who to pick, who to avoid, who to captain, and who may surprise. The three members of the Hype Team, and a Guest, will provide weekly insight for the Gameweek ahead.

For the sake of respecting the rules of the Forecast, we have provided an example of what we're sending out to interested parties that will feature throughout the season.

Premier League Fixture Prediction: As pundits, we are testing our football acumen with PL predictions and will be providing regular updated tables and stats in each edition of the FPL Forecast. A perfect score is worth 3 points whilst a correct result is worth 1 point.
FPL Gameweek Forecasting: Answering the regular questions that come up every single week in the Fantasy Premier League community that helps with identifying captaincy picks, transfers, attacking options, clean sheet potential, teams to look our for and avoid, players to consider for the Draft game, the wildcard differential players, as well as general analysis and comments.
Scout Picks: Picking a squad of 15 for a single Gameweek, without any budget, using the rules of the FPL - formations, captains and vice captains, and the player limits of 3 per club (chips will not be feature of these weekly picks)
Each team must pick a Captain, labelled as (c) and a Vice Captain listed as (vc).

Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 8

Brighton 1-1 West Ham

Burnley 2-0 Huddersfield

Crystal Palace 0-1 Wolves

Leicester 2-1 Everton

Spurs 4-0 Cardiff

Watford 2-2 Bournemouth

Man United 2-0 Newcastle

Fulham 0-2 Arsenal

Southampton 0-3 Chelsea

Liverpool 1-0 Man City

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 8

Best GW Attacking Options:

Burnley (H) vs. Huddersfield

Leicester (H) vs. Everton

Spurs (H) vs. Cardiff

Watford (H) vs. Bournemouth

Bournemouth (A) vs. Watford

Man United (H) vs. Newcastle

Arsenal (A) vs. Fulham

Chelsea (A) vs. Southampton

Liverpool (H) vs. Man City

Best GW Defensive / Clean Sheet Potential:

Burnley (H) vs. Huddersfield

Leicester (H) vs. Everton

Spurs (H) vs. Cardiff

Wolves (A) vs. Crystal Palace

Man United (H) vs. Newcastle

Arsenal (A) vs. Fulham

Chelsea (A) vs. Southampton

Liverpool (H) vs. Man City

Who are your essential Gameweek player picks?:

Lacazette, Kane, Maddison, Shaw, and Alisson.

Who are the players that might make the difference this Gameweek in the Draft?:

Burnley defenders. Liverpool defenders. Man United forwards. Arsenal forwards.

Who are the teams to look out for?:

Spurs: Kane fever is all the rage now, and with Cardiff at their temporary home it could be another big game for the England captain.

Man United: Everyone thinks they are a team to avoid to the ‘crisis’, but I think this is a battle of two teams who need to get their act in order, and you’d favour Man United’s quality to outshine the Toon on this occasion. Everyone expects more trouble, but this is the perfect fixture to get back on track.

Who are the teams to avoid?:

Man City: Poor record at Anfield, not the time to bet on them.

Everton: The Foxes are in form, and I don’t fancy Pickford to outdo his former England teammate, Jamie Vardy.

GW Differential Picks:

Lacazette, Gudmundsson, Joe Gomez, and Hueng-Min Son are big considerations for the Gameweek with low ownership.

FPL Captaincy Picks:

(VC) Alexandre Lacazette – The Frenchman is stepping up his game, so keeping a keen eye on the Arsenal forward outscoring Aubameyang.

Other Gameweek Comments:

Picking strikers for the Gameweek gave me the biggest headache, but it is a week for plenty of goals if there ever was one.

FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 8

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Joe Hart

DEF: Kieran Trippier

DEF: Andrew Robertson

DEF: Luke Shaw

MID: Anthony Knockaert

MID: Mohamad Salah

MID: James Maddison

MID: Eden Hazard

FOR: Romelu Lukaku

FOR: Harry Kane (C)

FOR: Alexandre Lacazette (VC)

Substitutes

GK: Alisson

MID: Sadio Mane

DEF: Marcos Alonso

DEF: Cezar Azpilicueta

Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 8

Brighton 2-2 West Ham Burnley 1-0 Huddersfield Crystal Palace 2-1 Wolves Leicester 2-1 Everton Spurs 4-0 Cardiff Watford 1-0 Bournemouth Man United 2-1 Newcastle Fulham 2-4 Arsenal Southampton 0-2 Chelsea Liverpool 1-3 Man City

FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 8 Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Joe H♡rt

DEF: Marcos Alonso DEF: Kieran Trippier DEF: Cesar Azpilicueta

MID: Heung Min Son MID: Eden Hazard (VC) MID: Mesut Ozil MID: Felipe Anderson

FOR: Harry Kane (C) FOR: Sergio Aguero FOR: Alexandre Lacazette

Substitutes

GK: Ben Foster MID: James Maddison DEF: Harry Maguire DEF: Luke Shaw

Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 8

Brighton 1-1 West Ham

Burnley 1-0 Huddersfield

Crystal Palace 1-2 Wolves

Leicester 2-2 Everton

Spurs 2-0 Cardiff

Watford 2-1 Bournemouth

Man United 2-0 Newcastle

Fulham 1-3 Arsenal

Southampton 0-1 Chelsea

Liverpool 3-1 Man City

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 8

Best GW Attacking Options:

Liverpool (H) vs. Man City

Spurs (H) vs. Cardiff

Arsenal (a) vs. Fulham

Leicester and Everton

Best GW Defensive / Clean Sheet Potential:

Burnley (H) vs. Huddersfield

Spurs (H) vs. Cardiff

Chelsea (a) vs. Southampton

Man United (H) vs. Newcastle

Who are your essential Gameweek player picks?:

Alexandre Lacazette – Fulham can’t defend and Arsenal have enough attacking verve to put Stankovic’s side under real pressure.

Joe Hart – Huddersfield’s lack of goals is enough to have Hart as the must-have goalkeeper this weekend.

Anthony Knockaert – a new differential arises?

Who are the players that might make the difference this Gameweek in the Draft?:

Wolves defenders.

Brighton defenders and midfielders.

Newcastle defenders (from next week onwards)

Who are the teams to look out for?:

Burnley – A 1-0 home win is on the cards. At worst a 0-0 draw. Either way, defensive points looks likely.

Newcastle – Why not? The Magpies performed well at Man City and could do something similar against United. That said, I’m still predicting The Toon to get beat.

Arsenal – Barring injuries in the Europa League, an afternoon game on Sunday at Fulham looks like a 6th win is on the cards.

Who are the teams to avoid?:

Man United – I was going to put in Lukaku until I watched United in the Champions League. I’m avoiding them until there is an uphill in form.

Wolves – A tricky game at Palace could go either way. Just feel like you’ll be playing with fire by entrusting them this weekend.

FPL Captaincy Picks:

(C) Eden Hazard – The best player this season looks set to add a 7th return in 8 games against Mark Hughes and a bang average Southampton side.

(VC) Mohamed Salah – it’s another home fixture, so another likely FPL performance is on the cards for The Egyptian King, even though Liverpool went through a rough night in Naples.

Other Gameweek Comments:

My personal team suffered massively suffered last week as I decided to keep hold of my Wildcard. Dreading a week without Harry Kane or Eden Hazard.

FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 8

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Joe Hart

DEF: Luke Shaw

DEF: Marcos Alonso

DEF: Kieran Trippier

MID: James Maddison

MID: Mohamed Salah (VC)

MID: Eden Hazard (C)

MID: Lucas Moura

FOR: Harry Kane

FOR: Alexandre Lacazette

FOR: Romelu Lukaku

Substitutes

GK: Matt Ryan

MID: Anthony Knockaert

DEF: James Tarkowski

DEF: Cesar Azpilicueta

Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 8 Brighton 2-1 West Ham Burnley 2-0 Huddersfield Crystal Palace 2-1 Wolves Leicester 2-2 Everton Spurs 4-0 Cardiff Watford 2-2 Bournemouth Man United 1-0 Newcastle Fulham 2-1 Arsenal Southampton 1-3 Chelsea Liverpool 3-1 Man City FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 8 Best GW Attacking Options: Tottenham vs Cardiff Leicester City vs Everton Everton at Leicester City

Watford vs Bournemouth Bournemouth at Watford Chelsea at Southampton Best GW Defensive / Clean Sheet Potential: Tottenham vs Cardiff Manchester United vs Newcastle Burnley vs Huddersfield Who are your essential Gameweek player picks?: Harry Kane - brought into my team in GW7 to captain him in GW8, his form might not be quite be there yet, but I’d rather have him in my team than not for this fixture which is made for him Eden Hazard - great form at the moment, I believe he is essential essential right now Mo Salah - there will be a game when it all comes together for Salah and there’s no reason why it can’t be against City, he’s back in my team for GW9 and just hope I’m not a week too late Kieran Tripper - this GW’s most important defender, good chance of a clean sheet and the attacking potential too with assists and free-kicks, will be a contender for BPS too Who are the players that might make the difference this Gameweek in the Draft?: There is a strong case to select three from Tottenham for GW8, with attacking returns and clean sheet potential, the only challenge will be picking those three. Jamie Vardy - just starting a good run of fixtures, whilst he rarely scores massive hauls he returns consistently and is a rotation free risk, against a leaky Everton defence he should be in the points again this week. Ryan Fraser - was a constant threat for Bournemouth against Palace in GW7 and is in my FPL team, he’ll get chances in an open game against Watford who do concede a few. Who are the teams to look out for?: Watford & Bournemouth - there are goals in this Champions League 6-pointer! This fixture has produced three 2-2 draws in the last six matches and neither side have kept a clean sheet since GW1. Watford had the second highest xG last week, Andre Gray has started the season well, but I fancy Isaac Success to start featuring on a few FPL benches as an enabler, he’s looking sharp and this is the kind of fixture he could come off the bench and score. Tottenham - thankfully for Cardiff, Tottenham aren’t fully in their stride yet, but their players should be important assets this week. Some people think there may be rotations after the Champions League, but with the international break coming up I think that’s unlikely so will be having Kane and Tripper in my FPL team. Fulham - whilst Arsenal were unbeaten in September they remain unconvincing, therefore this to me has a newly-promoted side claiming the scalp of one of the big six all over it. Fulham will do well at home over the season and in Mitrovic have the kind of talisman who will help them to 3 points against the Gunners. Who are the teams to avoid?: Cardiff - the only way I can’t see Kane blanking against them is if he doesn’t play, they’ll grind out a few 1-0 gritty home wins across the season, but don’t there’ll much appeal as FPL assets. Huddersfield - the Burnley team they are playing are getting back to their 17/18 ways, Huddersfield need to rediscover what got them to 40 points last season soon, but when you are conceding on average over 2 goals per match and only scoring every other game that going to be a tough ask, can’t see them bucking the trend here with Burnley’s recent resurgence to continue. Manchester United - it’s clear things aren’t right at Old Trafford at the moment, with exception of Shaw who is decent value in the game and could get a CS return this week, as a team they are too unpredictable at the moment to bring in any decent FPL returns. GW Differential Picks: Glenn Murray (BHA) - it’s the start of a great run of fixtures for Brighton, admittedly West Ham are finding form, but under the lights and on TV I feel will give Albion who haven’t been playing too badly I believe a first win since GW2 and if they do Murray could be worth having. Raheem Sterling (MCI) - has been the overlooked premium asset despite some decent returns in recent weeks, with less than 5% ownership I guess the issue for most players is how to get him into their teams alongside the likes of Hazard/Aguero, but how good could it be for OR if you can. Isaac Success (WAT) - admittedly his six 1 point returns don’t really give me much when putting forward his case, but he’s been great off the bench and has done enough to start if Deeney’s toes don’t hold out, goals will come soon... FPL Captaincy Picks:

(C): Harry Kane (VC): Eden Hazard Other Gameweek Comments: Keep an eye on Arsenal’s Leno at Fulham this weekend - Cech is out for a month which will give opportunities for Leno to stake his claim, be interesting to see how he gets on as he is great FPL value. FPL Hype Picks: Gameweek 8 Formation: 3-4-3 Starting 11 GK: Joe Hart DEF: Kieran Trippier DEF: Marcos Alonso DEF: Luke Shaw MID: Mohamed Salah MID: Eden Hazard (VC) MID: Raheem Sterling MID: Erik Lamela FOR: Harry Kane (C) FOR: Jamie Vardy FOR: Marko Arnautovic Substitutes GK: Alisson MID: Ryan Fraser DEF: Andrew Robertson DEF: Harry Maguire

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The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in the Fantasy Premier League (#FPL), providing beautiful graphics and weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb ranking tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review movies, live sport, and professional wrestling.

As well as providing FPL articles on our website, we are a founding Contributor to the new Fantasy Football Hub, where you can find more unique articles, including weekly Power Rankings, from The Hype Team. You can support us and read exclusive members only content for just £2 per-month by clicking here.

The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog 2016' by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), with the final presentation held at Old Trafford in Manchester.

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All aboard.