Fantasy Football: Who to buy, sell and captain for gameweek 9
The Premier League returns this weekend following another bizarre international break and it's fair to say it's a bit of minefield for Fantasy Football players. The Premier League returned a record number of positive COVID-19 tests in the latest batch of samples taken, with big players like Mo Salah now unavailable. Players travel all over the world during a pandemic for pointless international matches catch the virus. Shock!
It's particularly problematic as not all identities of those to have tested postive have been revealed, so you could be in for a couple of shocks this weekend with your Fantasy Football teams. With that in mind, we are going to do something a bit different this week. Rather than picking out players to sell and buy, we are going to offer alternatives to the big names that are now out. Remember, the deadline for gameweek 9 is 11:00 GMT tomorrow.
Sell: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) - 7.3M
Buy: Alex Telles (Man Utd) - 5.5M
Trent Alexander-Arnold is still in 23.2% of Fantasy Football squads despite being ruled out for another couple of weeks. He hasn't even been in great form to warrant keeping him for when he is back fit, returning fewer FPL points than the likes of Ezri Konsa, Fabian Balbuena and Charlie Taylor. It's a lowsy return for the most expensive defender on the game.
Sell Alexander-Arnold and invest in a much cheaper option in Alex Telles. Despite another COVID-19 scare, he is available and is set to make his league debut for Manchester United on Saturday with Luke Shaw now sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Telles has endured a frustrating start to life at Old Trafford but United fans were salivating at his debut in the 2-1 win away to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League a month ago. The Brazilian demonstrated exactly what United supporters can expect: world-class crosses.
He was even given set-piece duty right away, which was a concern upon his arrival given Bruno Fernandes' status, but will certainly help maximise his effectiveness in the final third. The left-back arrived at United following just over four seasons with FC Porto where he incredibly managed 60 goal involvements in 129 league appearances. The welcome of West Brom on Saturday offers United the perfect opportunity to get their first home league win of the campaign.
Sell: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - 12.3M
Buy: Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea) - 8.2M
This one isn't quite a priority, with Mo Salah potentially back the following weekend after recently testing positive for COVID-19. Nevertheless, as the most expensive midfielder on the game you will be without someone you would normally rely heavily on to bag big points. That could have a big impact on your performance this weekend if you opt to keep him.
You could instead turn to Hakim Ziyech, if you haven't already, with Chelsea looking to make it five wins on the spin away to Newcastle on Saturday. After an injury-hit start to life at Chelsea, Ziyech has hit top form right away, returning eight goals and assists in his last six matches for club and country.
With Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz set to miss out this weekend, there will be even more expected of Ziyech to help break down a compact Newcastle side.
Who to captain: Jamie Vardy
If there was ever a time for Liverpol's remarkable unbeaten home league record to come to an end, then this weekend would be it. The international break couldn't have gone much worse for Liverpool, with Jordan Henderson, Joe Gomez, Rhys Williams returning with injuries to add to the likes of Fabinho, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Thiago already nursing injuries. Mo Salah is also unavailable after testing positive for COVID-19. All-in-all, Liverpool may only have Alisson, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Andrew Robertson available from their strongest line-up on paper.
Jurgen Klopp's side welcome a rampant Leicester City on Sunday, with the Foxes heading into the weekend top of the Premier League. Brendan Rodgers' side have won their last six in all competitions and have already won 5-2 away to Manchester City this season. Unlike Liverpool, who have players dropping like flies, Leicester could even welcome back Ricard Pereira, Wilfred Ndidi and Timothy Castagne from injury this weekend. James Maddison will be fitter after two weeks off and Jamie Vardy raring to go. The latter is the joint-top scorer in the Premier League (8) this season and has seven goals in 11 previous encounters with Liverpool.
