Premier League 2021/22 Season: 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 - compete for FPL and league standings supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head-to-head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. We also comb over other relevant statistics, impressions and insight from around the game and the league to best navigate you through the weekly helping of fixtures. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.
Premier League 2021/22: Gameweek 9 Fixtures
Premier League 2021/22 Season: 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, or on Instagram!
Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 9
Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa
Chelsea 3-0 Norwich
Crystal Palace 3-1 Newcastle
Everton 2-1 Watford
Leeds 1-1 Wolves
Southampton 1-0 Burnley
Brighton 0-4 Man City
Brentford 1-2 Leicester
West Ham 2-1 Spurs
Man United 0-2 Liverpool
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 9
Top FPL player targets this weekend:
GK: Edouard Mendy (CHE, GK, £6.1mil, 16.3% ownership)
DEF: Ben Chilwell (CHE, DEF, £5.7mil, 8.0% ownership)
MID: Demarai Gray (EVE, MID, £5.8mil, 19.1% ownership)
FWD: Jamie Vardy (LEI, FWD, £10.7mil, 28.6% ownership)
Gameweek 9 – FPL Differential Picks:
ARS/AVL: Takehiro Tomiyasu (ARS, DEF, £4.6mil, 3.1% ownership)
CHE/NOR: Kai Havertz (CHE, MID, £8.1mil, 6.8% ownership)
CRY/NEW: Wilfried Zaha (CRY. MID, £7.0mil, 6.2% ownership)
EVE/WAT: Cucho (WAT, FWD, £5.0mil, 1.6% ownership)
LEE/WOL: Raúl Jiménez (WOL, FWD, £7.6mil, 7.3% ownership)
SOU/BUR: Alex McCarthy (SOU, GK, £4.5mil, 2.6% ownership)
BHA/MCI: Bernado Silva (MCI, MID, £7.0mil, 4.6% ownership)
BRE/LEI: Kelechi Iheanacho (LEI, FWD, £7.0mil, 2.9% ownership)
WHU/TOT: Harry Kane (TOT, FWD, £12.1mil, 6.4% ownership)
MUN/LIV: Roberto Firmino (LIV, FWD, £8.8mil, 3.6% ownership)
Differential Captain: Harry Kane (Spurs)
It is a rare time when I can have Vardy, Salah, and Kane as my captaincy options for the Gameweek. I am in the privileged position of saying Kane is legitimately a differential, the Spurs forward has had an extremely slow start to the season and in GW8 he finally broke his duck by scoring and assisting away at Newcastle. There is also the matter of West Ham playing in the Europa League on Thursday, so Spurs might want to cash in on the Europa curse. Spurs rotated heavily and lost to the ‘Chelsea Dutch B’ team, so they might be fresher than their London neighbours. Kane is a player of confidence, and now he has his first goal of the second, good chance is the next one isn’t too far behind. I no doubt believe Kane may not be a differential pick in the next month, so using him when he is overlooked.
Gameweek 9 - FPL Captaincy Picks:
Essential: Jamie Vardy (LEI)
Alternative: Mohamad Salah (LIV)
Differential: Harry Kane (TOT)
England vs. FPL:
The 3 Lions scored their most amount of individual returns for the season so far with six players who scored. The midfielders were a complete bust, and Man City really did a number on the team with rotating the two players I brought into my team in a 4-0 win. Anyway, it was still a good week with the team beating the average score for another consecutive week. It honestly feels like Mo Salah is propping up the average score all by himself.
Ins: Ben Chilwell (CHE), Demarai Gray (EVE)
Outs: Tyrone Mings (AVL), Bukayo Saka (ARS)
Some changes due to injuries and form. Mings is out for Chilwell, with the English left-back coming back into the Chelsea team and scoring plenty of points on his return. I have been looking to have the Chelsea defender in since the beginning but was shocked Alonso got the nod to start the season. Demarai Gray comes in for Bukayo Saka who has an injury doubt. Both players have good home fixtures, so fingers crossed I can easily recoup the -4pts hit for the Gameweek.
GW8 Returns: 6/11
GW8 Points: 61pts
GW8 Average Points: 49pts
England FPL XI
Formation: 3-4-3
GK: James McCarthy (SOU)
DEF: Kyle Walker (MCI)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
DEF: Ben Chilwell (CHE)
MID: Emile Smith Rowe (ARS) MID: Jack Grealish (MCI)
MID: Bukayo Saka (ARS)
MID: Curtis Jones (LIV)
FWD: Jamie Vardy (LEI)
FWD: Harry Kane (TOT) (VC)
FWD: Danny Ings (AVL)
Substitutes:
GK: Aaron Ramsdale (ARS)
MID: Conor Gallagher (CRY)
DEF: Aaron Creswell (WHU)
DEF: Conor Coady (WOL)
Other Gameweek Comments:
The Newcastle Takeover: Unbelievable. I kept believing it would just happen out of the blue, and it did. The Premier League look incredibly weak after this, when they didn’t want their dirty laundry aired in public, and with the Saudi state setting a problem with the Qatari owned beIN sports it just makes the problem completely transparent: Manchester City’s ownership lobbied against them to the Premier League’s own Richard Masters. My brother is a Newcastle supporter and I feel a great sense of vindication for him and the millions of Newcastle fans that wanted answers, and most importantly, a takeover. After eighteen months of lobbying and campaigning, Newcastle supporters won.
What a year it has been for fan power, with the shutting down of the Super League, and now the most deserving club in the nation gets a takeover. This takeover doesn’t just mean the forthcoming of some of the strangest transfer news we will ever see, but also a full redevelopment of the infrastructure at the club which has been desperately needed. Things like a new training ground, better facilities, and a stadium renovation are on the horizon. Plus, the promised redevelopment and funds into the local area.
Many do not think this will be an overnight project, but I beg to differ. Why would the Saudi PIF group want to sit back and watch Newcastle get relegated under the tutelage of the vastly incompetent Steve Bruce? If there is one thing you need to know about the Saudi Arabian PIF group is that they are relentlessly ambitious. They don’t settle for second best. They built an entire stadium in their nation for an Anthony Joshua fight, got Shawn Michaels out of retirement in the WWE by giving him a large fortune, and now have their eyes set on the Premier League crown. They want to best their Qatari rivals no matter what, so having Newcastle relegated and being subject to criticism won’t cut it. January is going to be an incredibly busy month for Newcastle, I believe they are going to try and sign seven to eight nameworthy transitional players to make sure their survival is guaranteed. I can also see Steve Bruce gone before the upcoming transfer window. By contrast to other clubs, they do have an unlimited amount of money, and under Ashley’s reign they have the lowest wage bill and operational cost of any club.
This is a perfect storm for going nuts in the transfer market, and Newcastle’s new ownership will pay whatever fees to get what they want. Within three years Newcastle could be an unstoppable juggernaut.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 9
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Edouard Mendy (CHE)
DEF: Joao Cancelo (MCI)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
DEF: Ben Chilwell (CHE)
MID: Bernardo Silva (MCI)
MID: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)
MID: Mohamad Salah (LIV) (VC)
MID: Demarai Gray (EVE)
FOR: Jamie Vardy (LEI) (C)
FOR: Odsonne Edouard (CRY)
FOR: Harry Kane (TOT)
Substitutes
GK: Alex McCarthy (SOU)
MID: Wilfried Zaha (CRY)
DEF: Takehiro Tomiyasu (ARS)
DEF: Tino Livramento (SOU)
Fixture Predictions: Gameweek 9
Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa
Chelsea 3-0 Norwich
Crystal Palace 2-0 Newcastle
Everton 1-1 Watford
Leeds 2-1 Wolves
Southampton 2-0 Burnley
Brighton 0-4 Man City
Brentford 2-2 Leicester
West Ham 2-1 Spurs
Man United 1-3 Liverpool
FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 9
What are the potential stumbling blocks to a good Gameweek 9?:
Rotation: It’s a post-European Gameweek, so of course there will be frustrations when players get injured (such as Lukaku), so just be braced as ever.
Taking Hits: A lot of FPL players will be dropping points this week. The season hasn’t settled into a pattern at all yet.
Man United vs. Liverpool: This fixture loves a 0-0 every other year, so there’s a good chance that both teams might negate one another. Here’s hoping though that Salah keeps up his godly FPL form
Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:
Chelsea & Southampton (Watch): Both are in identical positions, playing teams at the bottom at home. Both should cruise to wins and have the players I’d like to transfer in to my squad.
Newcastle (Cautious): Steve Bruce is gone, but I’m still predicting the Toon to get rallied at Crystal Palace. You never know how teams will react, but if I have my sensible hat on, the Eagles have too much power in attack for our poor defensive line to deal with.
Liverpool (Watch): Red hot, why not?
Man City (Watch): Default big win coming in. Expect rotation for the likes of Joao Cancelo to be rotated though.
Spurs (Avoid): Spurs aren’t in good form, West Ham are. Can see another long day at the office for Spurs – beating a dead Newcastle team last week won’t help them in the Capital.
Top FPL player targets this weekend:
Who replaces the injured Romelu Lukaku?: The answer is quite clear, it’s Jamie Vardy. A decent run of fixtures, isn’t risked in the Europa League, Brendan Rodgers uses Vardy as a Premier League specialist and that
Do you sell Diogo Jota?: Liverpool’s trio of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, are in seriously good form, so you don’t change that formula right now. As an FPL asset you need guaranteed starters, or in 2021’s inflated price markt you find yourself with 9-10 man squads. 12.4% own Jota and that number will decrease a lot. Getting in Kai Havertz as a replacement though isn’t solving anything as he is heavily rotated.
Gameweek 9 - FPL Captaincy Picks:
Essential: Mohamed Salah (LIV)
Alternative: Kai Havertz (CHE)
Differential: Odsonne Edouard (CRY)
Other Gameweek Comments:
On Steve Bruce leaving Newcastle:
Has Bruce been targeted for abuse online? Of course.
Does anyone deserve that type of criticism? Never.
Did Bruce though need to leave Newcastle? Absolutely.
I’m not side-stepping or attempting to reason with any of the issues surrounding Steve Bruce or Newcastle, but purely his ability to run Newcastle United had come to an end. He should have walked away at the end of last season with his head held high having kept the club in the league, but people that love their clubs don’t do that. Bruce didn’t have control of his team, his team talks and pre-match interviews were complete gibberish, and the guy didn’t have a good record with us, even though he had his hands tied behind his back.
It wasn’t destined to be and for his sakes I am glad the new ownership decided to give him his token 1000th Premier League game and then move him on.
The Newcastle Takeover:
This is the first opportunity I’ve had to talk about it and quite frankly, I’m over the moon. I actually wrote a really in-depth piece on this website about sports-washing and Saudi Arabia when the WWE made an agreement with the country, and a lot of the sentiments are still true.
I think most need to understand PIF more and how their investment structures work, in order to understand their relation to the Saudi state, as they are big investors in companies such as Disney and Uber – mass entertainment and service providers known by most around the world. Human rights is such a big issue though and I’m sure that the country is using money as some form of smoke-screen, but in all honesty I believe that most, if not all, are grossly ill-educated (myself included) to be able to answer these complex political questions.
As for the facts of the matter with the club, I am deliriously happy that a new ownership group has come in. Seeing the new owners happy and embracing the club, is great. Having met fellow Newcastle supporters out and about in life in my local Reading area (the few of us that there are), there have been long hugs and a great sense of relief.
For the first time in my life, I can start to believe that my club has a good chance of winning something before most of our loyal fanbase is dead. Above all, Newcastle supporters deserve this – we’re an intensely loyal bunch and we love our club more than anything, this is a dream and I will enjoy every single moment, even if others want to rip my head off.
FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 9
Formation: 3-4-3
Starting 11
GK: Edouard Mendy (CHE)
DEF: Tino Livramento (SOU)
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)
DEF: Ruben Dias (MCI)
MID: Wilfried Zaha (CRY)
MID: Mohamed Salah (LIV) – (C)
MID: Kai Havertz (CHE) – (VC)
MID: Raphinha (LEE)
FOR: Jamie Vardy (LEI)
FOR: Michail Antonio (WHU)
FOR: Armando Broja (SOU)
Substitutes
GK: Alex McCarthy (SOU)
MID: Emile Smith-Rowe (ARS)
DEF: Tyrick Mitchell (CRY)
DEF: Takehiro Tomiyasu (ARS)
Want to know more about The Hype Train?
The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in general football and 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. In 2021, we formed the Reading Sunday Social League (RSSL), a competitive Sunday League involving 8 teams in its debut season.
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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