Gameweek 10 is upon us in the Fantasy Premier League game. Here’s my regular list of captaincy options, match predictions and clean sheets based on what the bookies say.

Captaincy options

The names on the left-hand side are the leaders in FFScout’s captaincy poll, while on the right are the bookies’ best bets to score. On the far right are the decimal odds.

1. Alexis Sanchez                       1. Alexis Sanchez (3/4)               1.75
2. Jame Vardy                             2. Diego Costa (EVS)                2.00
3. Riyad Mahrez                          3. Jamie Vardy (21/20)              2.05
4. Georginio Wijnaldum            4. Harry Kane (5/4)                    2.25
5. Diego Costa                           5. Mesut Ozil (29/20)                  2.40
6. Andre Ayew                             6. Christian Eriksen (17/10)      2.70
7. Kevin De Bruyne                   7. Riyad Mahrez (17/10)              2.70
8. Harry Kane                             8. Kevin De Bruyne (19/10)       2.90
9. Mesut Ozil                               9. Andre Ayew (19/10)                2.90
10. Christian Eriksen                 10. Georginio Wijnaldum (21/10)    3.10

Captaincy Analysis

Continuing last week’s trend of fixtures trumping form, the bookies have priced up the likes of Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen extremely short for the fixture against Bournemouth this weekend. However on this occasion, I am willing to back him @ 17/10. Eriksen has largely slipped under the radar recently; he has scored 22 points in his last three games and comes up against a Bournemouth team who are struggling in the absence of Callum Wilson, amongst others. Georginio Wijnaldum sits fourth in the FFScout Captain poll this week and has a huge derby match this weekend against Sunderland. He has been priced up quite nicely @ 21/10 which looks a decent bit of value, especially when I think there will be goals in the game. A home game and a likely return to the first team for Riyad Mahrez @ 17/10 completes my anytime goalscorer treble for this week:

Anytime goalscorer treble – Eriksen + Wijnaldum + Mahrez @ 22/1

The two stand-out Captaincy options this week seem to be:

1. Jamie Vardy (CPL) – His form has been outstanding this season and he is the focal point of a goalscoring Leicester side which have started brightly. He has scored five goals in his last three games and looks good to add to that tally against a Palace side who have shown plenty of attacking intent this season. A solid captaincy option.
2. Alexis Sanchez (EVE) – The Chilean will look to add too 10 goals in five games for club and country. The Gunners continued their recent hot streak with a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich. Sanchez has 46 points from the last three Gameweeks and his side play Everton who have never won at the Emirates. An obvious yet great captaincy choice this week.

Clean Sheets

Arsenal (5/4)

Stoke (11/8)

Norwich (7/5)

Liverpool (8/5)

Swansea (17/10)

Chelsea (15/8)

Tottenham (15/8)

Aston Villa (2/1)

Sunderland (21/10)

Leicester (11/5)

Man Utd (12/5)

Newcastle (12/5)

Watford (12/5)

Man City (13/5)

Bournemouth (11/4)

West Brom (11/4)

Crystal Palace (3/1)

Southampton (16/5)

West Ham (7/2)

Everton (13/2)

The Matches

Leicester (6/5) vs Crystal Palace (2/1)

Leicester have scored at least two in each of their last five games. In their four homes games there have been 20 goals. Leicester have the lowest pass completion rate in the last game at 72.8% but they attempted 33 crosses and created 15 chances.

Palace are coming off the back of a disappointing 3-1 home defeat against West Ham and their problems up front continue with Dwight Gayle getting a red card. They have been a very effective away team, though, with three wins out of their four games on the road so they will certainly be in this game. Prediction: 3-2

Norwich (19/20 ) vs West Brom (14/5)

Norwich were humiliated against Newcastle; they gave up 10 shots in the area and four big chances to a goal-shy Newcastle who doubled their tally for the season in one game. John Ruddy has now conceded 20 goals from only 45 shots.

West Brom edged past Sunderland at home with a goal from Saido Berahino and have been solid with seven points from their four away games. Craig Dawson has been one of the most impressive defenders in the Premier League this season with 181 successful passes, seven chances created, eight shots on target and a goal. Prediction: 1-1

West Ham (11/4) vs Chelsea (5/6)

West Ham continued their strong season with a 3-1 win over Palace in Gameweek 8. They now have four wins and two draws from their last six games – only Arsenal have picked up more points in that time. Everything revolves around Dimitri Payet who has two assists and four goals over this spell.

Chelsea have conceded 10 goals in their four away games.  Diego Costa is back from suspension and he came up with a goal against Aston Villa. This will be a big game for him to see if he can keep himself under control in a game where the tackles will be flying in. Prediction: West Ham to keep their run going with a 2-1 victory.

Stoke (21/20) vs Watford (13/5)

One of the form teams in the league, Stoke, take on a Watford side who are just about doing enough to keep away from the relegation zone. Stoke have now won three straight games. Over the last four games they have made zero defensive errors, only conceding three big chances and giving up 23 shots inside the area.

In stark contrast Watford are struggling with only one goal in their last three, and they have only mustered six in total this season. Prediction: 2-0

Aston Villa (2/5) vs Swansea (13/10)

Villa have lost five on the bounce and look like a poor side. They have only scored two goals in the last four whilst conceding seven and have the worst home record in the league with only one point from four games.

Swansea are also in a shocking run of form, they look bereft of ideas going forward and with only three goals in five games there are obvious problems. They only have four goals away from home this season with two of those coming on opening day. Prediction: 0-0

Arsenal (2/5) vs Everton (11/2)

Arsenal go into this game on the back of four straight wins in which they scored 13 goals and kept three clean sheets. Arsenal have lost just three of 38 home games against Everton, so they have history on their side too. Sanchez is currently on fire and cannot stop finding the net for club and country, with six goals over his last four games.

Everton will need to employ the perfect counter-attacking scheme as they did against Southampton earlier this season to win this one. Prediction: 2-0

Sunderland (11/8) vs Newcastle (9/5)

The North East derby between Sunderland and Newcastle is always a feisty affair. Sunderland look to be in all sorts of trouble having been shut out in four of their last five games. The upside is that Newcastle have lost nine of their last 10 away games in the Premier League and only have one away goal this season, whilst having conceded 10 in their four away games.

As for Newcastle, they were unrecognisable in Gameweek 8 from the side that had scored six goals in their first eight games. Against Norwich, Wijnaldum produced four goals whilst Sissoko served up three assists. Mitrovic also added to his confidence by finding the net. Momentum is on the Magpies’ side. Prediction: 1-2

Bournemouth (2/1) vs Tottenham (6/5)

Bournemouth suffered a heavy 5-1 defeat at Man City last weekend and are only two points above the relegation zone. Their four home games have been relatively low scoring, with just seven goals in them and they may struggle to find the net here against a Spurs side who have clean sheets against four of their last six opponents.

Spurs had a disappointing 0-0 home draw against Liverpool last week. They have been impressive at the back, having only conceded seven goals but their nine goals scored is a poor return. Away from home they have a five-point return from four games, with only four goals scored. Eriksen was instrumental last weekend with eight crosses and four chances created and he seems to be the key that will unlock the Bournemouth defence. Prediction 1-2

Man Utd (8/5) vs Man City (13/8)

The Manchester derby is perhaps the most anticipated match of the weekend. Manchester Utd are catching rivals Man City, who are without Sergio Aguero due to injury, and are unbeaten at home in the Premier League, with 10 points out of 12 and only one goal conceded. Juan Mata is the key to the team with 390 successful passes, of which 176 have been in the final third; he has also created 17 chances, provided three assists and added three goals. Louis van Gaal has said he wanted to rest Mata midweek, which indicates he sees the Spaniard as key to overcoming their bitter rivals.

Meanwhile, Manchester City are full of goals, with 11 in their last two Premier League games. They have won 13 of their last 15 league games, though their last away game was a 4-1 defeat. Raheem Sterling had 15 penalty box touches, while Wilfried Bony had four shots on target and two goals, so although Aguero is irreplaceable, at least they will not feel the need to rush him back with production like this. Prediction: 1-1

Liverpool (10/11) vs Southampton (11/4)

Jurgen Klopp’s first home Premier League game comes after Liverpool claimed a solid point on the road as they outran and outplayed Spurs in Gameweek 8. Liverpool will be hoping to get one of Christian Benteke or Daniel Sturridge back for this game. Philippe Coutinho is always at the centre of Liverpool’s attacking intent and his 39 shots is a strong number, but his accuracy has been lacking.

Southampton will be disappointed to have thrown away a two-goal lead against Leicester but despite that they will be relatively happy with their return of 13 points from nine games. They are unbeaten in their four away games but have drawn three whilst only conceding three goals. Dusan Tadic has 69 crosses, 26 chances created, and two assists. Meanwhile,  Sadio Mane has 14 chances created, four assists and 26 shots on goal. With these two key players creating chances for Graziano Pelle, the Saints are always a threat to score against any team. Prediction: 2-1