Premier League 2020/21: FPL Gameweek 9 Fantasy Forecast

Ahead of each Gameweek in the Premier League, The Hype Train's team, Robert Austin, Sam Austin and Phil Jones, duel for FPL and league supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. With the 2020/21 Premier League season starting tomorrow, we provide our Gameweek Forecast predictions, speculating how we think the first round of games will be played out. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.

Premier League 2020/21: Gameweek 9 Fixtures:

Premier League 2020/21: FPL Gameweek 9 Forecast

Enjoy our FPL Forecast article, with each of our team forecasting how we think the Premier League will shape up this upcoming Gameweek. If you agree or want to challenge us on our point of view, get in touch with us on our main Twitter account, @RealHypeTrain.

Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 9

Newcastle 1-1 Chelsea

Aston Villa 2-0 Brighton

Spurs 2-2 Man City

Man United 1-0 West Brom

Fulham 1-2 Everton

Sheffield United 1-1 West Ham

Leeds 1-0 Arsenal

Liverpool 3-1 Leicester

Burnley 0-2 Crystal Palace

Wolves 2-0 Southampton

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 9

Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:

Arsenal (Avoid): Mikel Arteta has transformed Arsenal into an expensive anti-football team, playing with a deep block akin to West Brom of past, currently Burnley, and Sheffield United. The big difference is that Arteta has traded all creative flair for all-out solidity on the pitch. As such, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been stifled after an okay start to the season. I can see Leeds causing them LOTS of problems, so I wouldn’t be confident picking up any Arsenal assets for this game.

Man United (Watch): If you can’t beat West Brom at home then you aren’t a Top Six club. The team that loves a penalty should easily brush aside Slavan Bilic’s side at the weekend. If not, says it all.

Man City & Spurs (Watch & Avoid): Yeah, this game is a tough one to call. Both teams have been scoring lots of goals, but not keeping clean sheets. Kane and Son will be up for it, but you can never discount City’s FFP breaking levels of depth and quality. This game has a score-draw all over it.

Southampton (Avoid): I like Southampton, the problem is I also like the look of Wolves. This game requires someone of Ings’ quality to do the job for Southampton, and due to the Englishman’s injury I can see the scales tip over to a stubborn Wolves side who should edge this match.

SAM – FPL Differential Picks:

NEW/CHE: Tammy Abraham (NEW, FWD, £7.2mil, 2.3% ownership)

AVL/BHA: Ross Barkley (AVL, MID, £6.0mil, 4.3% ownership)

TOT/MCI: Rúben Dias (MCI, DEF, £5.5mil, 1.9% ownership)

MUN/WBA: David de Gea (MUN, GK, £5.4mil, 3.9% ownership)

FUL/EVE: Aleksandar Mitrović (FUL, FWD, £5.7mil, 7.0% ownership)

SHU/WHU: Pablo Fornals (WHU, MID, £6.4mil, 1.9% ownership)

LEE/ARS: Jack Harrison (LEE, MID, £5.5mil, 1.7% ownership)

LIV/LEI: Roberto Firmino (LIV, FWD, £9.2mil, 2.2% ownership)

BUR/CRY: Patrick van Aanholt (CRY, DEF, £5.4mil, 0.7% ownership)

WOL/SOU: Daniel Podence (WOL, MID, £5.5mil, 3.6% ownership)

Differential Captain: Ross Barkley (Aston Villa)

The Villains have been a different force this season, after a season of struggling for goals, a few extra faces in Ross Barkley and Ollie Watkins has seen a rise in their fortunes. Barkley has been top quality since getting regular minutes in midfield for Villa, building on his form at Chelsea that he couldn’t sustain because he was constantly rotated in and out of the Blues team. Barkley is affordable and has three returns from his last five Premier League games. Better yet, Villa host Brighton on Saturday in what is likely to be an entertaining encounter between two team’s setup to get goals.

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 9

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: David de Gea (MUN)

DEF: Kurt Zouma (CHE)

DEF: Tyrone Mings (AVL)

DEF: Nélson Semedo (WOL)

MID: Jack Grealish (AVL)

MID: Bruno Fernandes (MUN)

MID: Sadio Mane (LIV) (C)

MID: Hueng-Min Son (TOT)

FOR: Raul Jimenez (WOL)

FOR: Harry Kane (TOT) (VC)

FOR: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE)

Substitutes

GK: Edouard Mendy (CHE)

MID: Hakim Ziyech (CHE)

DEF: Patrick van Aanholt (CRY)

DEF: Max Kilman (WOL)

Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 9 Newcastle 0-2 Chelsea Aston Villa 3-0 Brighton Spurs 2-2 Man City Man United 2-1 West Brom Fulham 1-3 Everton Sheffield United 1-1 West Ham Leeds 2-1 Arsenal Liverpool 1-4 Leicester Burnley 0-2 Crystal Palace Wolves 0-0 Southampton

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 9 Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Edouard Mendy

DEF: Ben Chilwell DEF: Tyrone Mings DEF: Lucas Digne

MID: Bruno Fernandes MID: Jack Grealish MID: Wilfried Zaha MID: Heung Min Son

FOR: Timo Werner (C) FOR: Jamie Vardy (VC) FOR: Dominic Calvert-Lewandowski

Substitutes

GK: Rui Patricio MID: Kevin De Bruyne DEF: Harry Maguire DEF: Patrick Van Aanholt

Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 9

Newcastle 0-1 Chelsea

Aston Villa 1-1 Brighton

Spurs 0-1 Man City

Man United 3-1 West Brom

Fulham 0-2 Everton

Sheffield United 0-0 West Ham

Leeds 1-2 Arsenal

Liverpool 2-1 Leicester

Burnley 1-1 Crystal Palace

Wolves 1-0 Southampton

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 9

Top FPL player targets this weekend:

I’ve thrown caution to the wind. -8 points dropped because, why not? The FPL is just something to enjoy (if you can) right now so I’ve actually stopped caring about dropping points as I find myself doing it most Gameweek’s.

Salah out. Trent out. Podence out.

Fernandes in. Ruben Dias in. Grealish in.

Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:

Man City (Watch): Pep has just signed a new deal and if I’ve learnt anything from individuals putting pen to paper, it means an immediate response. Might be a good day at the office for Man City if you believe in superstition, even against a well-drilled Spurs side.

Brighton (Watch): If there is one banana peel this week, it’s Aston Villa. Brighton are a decent side and Villa might become prime 2019/20 against a highly-drilled defensive unit. I only say this as it always happens – FPL players don’t always get what they want.

Leeds (Avoid): I’d love to say that an energetic Leeds side that will press a lazy Arsenal side will prevail, but Leeds have been shipping goals for fun and this screams of a game with more question marks than answers.

Liverpool (Watch): I think the Champions will by hook or crook get a win, even without Salah, Trent and Virgil. Klopp’s that good and the Reds have built solid foundations at the club.

Everton (Watch): This should be a walk in the park for a team that needs to get back their early form.

Chelsea (Watch) & Newcastle (Avoid): The early kick-off, yes, but a game that doesn’t present Newcastle fans like myself with a lot of confidence. My general rule of thumb is to avoid watching the first-half of Newcastle matches as they’re usually depressing, miserable slog fests. Add in injures and doubts to both teams and this is one game I’m not setting an alarm for. Chelsea have a lot of firepower and we might be missing Wilson.

FPL Gameweek 9 - FPL Captaincy Picks:

Essential: Bruno Fernandes (MUN)

Alternative: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE)

Differential: Ollie Watkins (AVL)

With Mohamed Salah preferring to party at his brother’s wedding, and Pep Roulette visiting Spurs this week, the door has fully opened for Man United and Everton to take advantage of the ‘relegation tag’ associated with Fulham and West Brom.

The basics of all basics highlights that Bruno Fernandes (£10.6m) has 5 goals and 3 assists and only has 1 of those returns, a penalty against Spurs in the 6-1 loss during Gameweek 3, so please be mindful that the Portuguese international is an away day players.

Calvert-Lewin (£7.8m) is the other stonewall option with 8 goals in 8 games, scoring in 6 of the 8 league matches this season ahead of a trip to defensively weary Fulham. It’s an easy choice, though it’s the early kick-off on Sunday, and I am very pessimistic of captaincy picks in earlier fixtures as games often fail to wake up to become anything – so beware ofa few small mental caveats ahead of Gameweek 9.

Other Gameweek Comments:

I was prepared for a big rant about international football being a ridiculous idea in a time of a global pandemic, especially as so many Premier League players have caught the bug over the past few weeks, but I don’t have the energy to fight the reality that these elite clubs and institutions don’t listen to reason, logic or public safety, so they’ll just keep going about their business regardless of the points of a small-fry journalist and his realistic views.

Instead, I’ll just promote near and dear to the team at the Hype Train right now as we’re raising money for charity through our football team, Hype Train FC. Our community of grassroots players and fellow teams have organised a FIFA tournament that we’re reporting on and it’s been a big hit – I’d rather utilise my time fighting for a good charitable cause, so check out the embedded tweet below that will take you to the action… It’s not strictly fantasy football related, but it’s the best community effort from people within said sub-community I’ve seen in a long while, so why not shine a light of something good.

Aside from that, play your own game this week and if you need to drop points, do it. Want to captain a complete random, more power to you. Here’s hoping your arrows are green and everyone is staying healthy in a time when I’ve left the house a grand total of two times in the past three weeks.

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 9

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Edouard Mendy (CHE)

DEF: Ruben Dias (MCI)

DEF: Tyrone Mings (AVL)

DEF: Kurt Zouma (CHE)

MID: Bruno Fernandes (MUN)

MID: Sadio Mane (LIV)

MID: Jack Grealish (AVL)

MID: Wilfriez Zaha (CRY)

FOR: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (EVE)

FOR: Raul Jimenez (WOL)

FOR: Ollie Watkins (AVL)

Substitutes

GK: Alex McCarthy (SOU)

MID: Mason Mount (CHE)

DEF: Max Kilman (WOL)

DEF: Aaron Cresswell (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. We won both Goal of the Season Awards in the Berkshire and County FA regions, with Callum Parr-Jones winning the Berks & Bucks FA award, whilst Martin King won the PlaySport UK award.

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.

You can follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, follow Hype Train FC on Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive content, or visit our website here at www.thehypetrain.co.uk