Fantasy Forecast 2019/20: FPL Gameweek 9
Ahead of each Gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League, The Hype Train's three front-men, Robert Austin, Sam Austin and Phil Jones, duel for FPL supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. In addition, we provide general insight that we believe might be relevant for FPL players, such as our personal captaincy picks, differentials for the week, and more. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.
Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 9 Deadline
For the 2019/20 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. Our website provides a real-world countdown timer for the the upcoming Gameweek, whilst you can read our latest Fantasy articles from the season on our 2019/20 FPL weekly hype sub-section.
How does our Forecasting work?
For three years we invited guests from the FPL Community to tackle us with picks for the upcoming Gameweek in Fantasy Premier League. We'll be taking a break from inviting guests onto this article for a year, and have introduced a new feature, Fantasy 5's, which we'll be asking weekly guests their top pick in each position ahead of each Gameweek.
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 9
Everton 1-1 West Ham
Aston Villa 2-1 Brighton
Bournemouth 4-0 Norwich
Chelsea 3-0 Newcastle
Leicester 2-0 Burnley
Spurs 2-0 Watford
Wolves 1-0 Southampton
Crystal Palace 1-2 Man City
Man United 0-2 Liverpool
Sheffield United 1-2 Arsenal
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 9
Top FPL transfer targets for the weekend:
Goalkeeper: Kasper Schmeichel (LEI)
Defender: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
Midfield: Callum Hudson-Odoi (CHE)
Forward: Callum Wilson (BOU)
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
Man United (Avoid): After David De Gea potentially injured for the visit of the Reds, the arrival of United’s bitter rivals couldn’t come at a worse time for the Red Devils. Not only are United struggling for goals, they are also struggling in every aspect of their existence. Currently sitting at 12th in the Premier League with two wins from eight matches, they host a team who are currently eight for eight and are separated by 15pts. This could be a hard one to watch for many in attendance.
Norwich (Avoid): Since GW3 when the Canaries hosted Chelsea, Norwich has conceded a minimum of two goals per game. Bournemouth have been good going forward and will want a response after losing to Arsenal before the break. Also, I still believe the ‘Pukki Party’ is still over.
Bournemouth (Watch): See above.
Leicester (Watch): Leicester lost to Liverpool via a last-minute penalty, and this shouldn’t derail their form which has been good this season. A home tie against Burnley should yield results at both ends of the pitch.
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C) – Callum Wilson (BOU):As said, Norwich have been conceding goals like it has been their sole objective. Wilson has only blanked once this season in the FPL, and it would be the perfect time to bring in the Englishman.
(VC) – Tammy Abraham (CHE): Speaking of Englishmen, Chelsea have a forward who is in supreme form as Chelsea host Newcastle. Abraham has eight goals so far this season, and recently scored in the last Gameweek against Southampton, and is an easy choice this week.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 9
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Kepa (CHE)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
DEF: Andrew Robertson (LIV)
DEF: Ricardo Pereira (LEI)
MID: Raheem Sterling (MCI)
MID: Mohamad Salah (LIV)
MID: Mason Mount (CHE)
MID: Hueng-Min Son (TOT)
FOR: Harry Kane (TOT)
FOR: Callum Wilson (BOU) (C)
FOR: Tammy Abraham (CHE) (VC)
Substitutes
GK: Kasper Schmeichel (LEI)
MID: John McGinn (AVL)
DEF: Willy Boly (WOL)
DEF: Nicolás Otamendi (MCI)
Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 9
Everton 0-0 West Ham
Aston Villa 1-1 Brighton
Bournemouth 2-0 Norwich
Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle
Leicester 2-1 Burnley
Spurs 1-1 Watford
Wolves 2-2 Southampton
Crystal Palace 2-1 Man City
Man United 0-1 Liverpool
Sheffield United 1-3 Arsenal
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 9
Top FPL transfer targets for the weekend:
Arsenal (Auba, Saka as bench fodder), Leicester (various), Wolves (if you can suffer through the Europa League with them) and Liverpool defenders. Alisson Becker is back, which means let the good times come again with two Liverpool defensive assets in our FPL squads.
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
Liverpool (Watch): Man United are in a downward spiral right now. Their form is awful, even to the point that they lost to my beloved (though waning) Newcastle before the international break. United have also lost David de Gea to injury and Pogba is still out. Liverpool on the other hand are in great form and should be looking at their fixtures against Man United and Spurs thinking that they've got to strike when their foes are at their weakest, if they're going to win the league this season.
Spurs (Avoid): I've been living in a community that keep telling me 'Watford are really, really bad. Spurs are going to destroy them'. Have these detractors been watching football recently? Spurs and Watford fall in the same bracket right now and I think that either Manager in this encounter will take literally anything. Flores has had a few weeks to whip his team into shape, whilst Spurs players are two weeks closer to leaving the club, so this one just smells of a draw for me.
Wolves (Undecided): Europa League action beckons next week and even though the likes of Raul Jimenez have avoided rotation so far, I can't shake the feeling that they'll struggle in some of their 'easier' fixture. Nuno's side prefer to play sides like City when they can have Adama Traore cheat at the half-way, so this run of enticing fixtures needs to show some more potential before I start making moves for their FPL options (aka Raul).
Other gut instinct calls ahead of Gameweek 9:
- Just got a feeling Burnley are good for a goal at Leicester.
- Chelsea will walk to a win over Newcastle. We're not good travellers and don't fare too well in London (the Spurs result was down to Spurs being bad, not us being good).
- Everton and West Ham just screams of a dead early fixture. Will be surprised if there are goals.
- Norwich to continue their 2-0 loss streak away from home.
- Sheffield United will attack Arsenal, which is why it won't be anything like the recent Liverpool game. Aubameyang and company should their their chances.
- I really, really want to go for a City loss at Palace, but this Pep team doesn't typically lose too many games after just losing. That said, I've just got that feeling that the title race extends to 11 points this week.
- I'm refusing to be swept up in the McGinn and Wesley hype. I owned Wesley and it was disasterous, then he started scoring the second myself and thousands of other removed him. This form will fade and Brighton are a tricky test this week.
What would Phil do this week?:
Our THT member, Phil Jones, is busy with starting a new degree right now, so I'm filling in the blanks whilst he's away on educational maternity.
- Liverpool to bottle it at United. Virgil van Dijk to be proven a fraud.
- Easy three points for Spurs.
- Heung-Min SOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!
- Tammy treble
- Thoughts on Callum Wilson against Norwich? Meh.
- Vardy party is in full effect.
FPL Captaincy Picks:
(C) – Sadio Mane (LIV):A man in form right now, Mane is going to Old Trafford to cause mayhem this week, with Liverpool seeking a win at Man United that will have the larger media circus licking their lips at a week of unwatchable United spiel about how the club goes down the toilet, instead of focusing on how far Liverpool have come as a team.
(VC) – Callum Wilson (BOU): Gut instinct dictates that Bournemouth will create a lot of chances against a leaky Norwich side and we'll be in for a big haul. Mt gut also tells me that Bournemouth have a habit of letting me known when I need them most, and might have 'one of them days' when they can't string two passes together.... Or it'll be a day when Josh King scores as I own Wilson... This leads me to believe that the VC is about right with Wilson as the above statement will have me flip-flopping over the talisman until the deadline.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 9
Formation: 4-3-3
Starting 11
GK: Jordan Pickford (EVE)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
DEF: Fikayo Tomori (CHE)
DEF: Diego Rico (BOU)
DEF: Çaglar Söyüncü (LEI)
MID: Sadio Mane (LIV) - (C)
MID: Mason Mount (CHE)
MID: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)
FOR: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (ARS)
FOR: Callum Wilson (BOU) - (VC)
FOR: Tammy Abraham (CHE)
Substitutes
GK: Tom Heaton (AVL)
MID: Tyrone Mings (AVL)
DEF: Willy Boly (WOL)
DEF: Issa Diop (WHU)
Want to know more about The Hype Train?
The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.
We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.
In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles.
The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.
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All aboard.
