Dugout Discussion

King, Son and Doherty benched as Gameweek 9 continues

Fantasy Premier League managers who took the cheaper route into Bournemouth’s attack for Gameweek 9 were left disappointed on Saturday afternoon.

Ahead of a plum home clash with an out-of-form Norwich City side, Josh King (£6.3m) has been named on the bench – after picking up 100,000+ new owners this week.

The Norwegian international has largely operated from the left-flank of midfield in a 4-4-2 system this season but Ryan Fraser (£7.1m) reclaims his berth for a first start since Gameweek 4.

This news is potentially massive for those who possess Callum Wilson (£8.0m) this weekend as King’s absence might see the England centre-forward take over penalty kick duties for Gameweek 9.

Meanwhile, Lewis Cook (£5.0m) and Adam Smith (£4.3m) return to the starting line-up for Bournemouth.

Opponents Norwich look to have altered their system after running into a poor patch of form in 4-2-3-1 before the international break.

Marco Stiepermann (£5.4m) drops to the bench to potentially facilitate a 4-1-4-1 formation with Alex Tettey (£4.5m) at the base of midfield.

Meanwhile, Kenny McLean (£4.9m) and Moritz Leitner (£4.5m) take up the central roles in the main midfield quartet, flanked by Todd Cantwell (£4.9m) and Emi Buendía (£6.0m).

Naturally, Teemu Pukki (£7.1m) retains his place up-front.

Also causing Fantasy managers frustration on Saturday afternoon is Son Heung-min (£9.8m) who finds himself on the Spurs bench for a favourable home meeting with Watford.

Mauricio Pochettino has handed a recall to Dele Alli (£8.4m) and Lucas Moura (£7.1m) in support of centre-forward Harry Kane (£10.9m).

Meanwhile, Watford go for a back-three for the second match in a row as Quique Sanchez Flores tries a 3-5-2 formation which features Roberto Pereyra (£5.7m) in a strike pairing with Danny Welbeck (£5.9m).

Suggestions of a return to FPL viability for Matt Doherty (£6.0m) were quashed by a second successive benching.

Adama Traoré (£5.1m) gets a second start in a row in place of the Irish international.

Aston Villa line-up as expected for the visit of Brighton, with John McGinn (£5.9m) in the central midfield trio and Jack Grealish (£5.9m) in the front-three.

Meanwhile, Graham Potter’s men are led in attack by Aaron Connolly (£4.5m) and Neal Maupay (£6.0m), while Pascal Groß (£6.4m) and Aaron Mooy (£4.8m) provide the width.

After missing the last four Premier League matches with injury, Leandro Trossard (£5.8m) has been named on the Brighton bench.

Chelsea line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation against Newcastle, with Fikayo Tomori (£4.7m) alongside Kurt Zouma (£4.7m) in defence.

Mason Mount (£6.8m) and Tammy Abraham (£7.7m) come into Gameweek 9 both owned by more than 35% of Fantasy managers.

It will be interesting to see how the Chelsea attack fares against Newcastle’s back-five, as Steve Bruce goes for the usual 5-3-2 system.

Both Longstaff brothers feature in midfield while Miguel Almirón (£5.8m) continues to be used out of position in the front-two.

Jay Rodriguez (£5.7m) comes in for the injured Ashley Barnes (£6.4m) as Burnley travel to face Leicester.

The Foxes are led by Jamie Vardy (£9.0m) while James Maddison (£7.2m) looks set for a central role in the 4-1-4-1 system.

The Starting XIs

Aston Villa XI: Heaton; Targett, Mings, Engels, Guilbert; McGinn, Hourihane, Nakamba; El Ghazi, Wesley, Grealish.

Brighton XI: Ryan; Burn, Webster, Dunk, Montoya; Groß, Pröpper, D Stephens, Mooy; Connolly, Maupay.

Bournemouth XI: Ramsdale; Rico, Ake, S Cook, Smith; Fraser, Billing, L Cook, H Wilson; Solanke, C Wilson.

Norwich XI: Krul; Lewis, Godfrey, Amadou, Aarons; Tettey; Cantwell, McLean, Leitner, Buendía; Pukki.

Chelsea XI: Kepa; Alonso, Zouma, Tomori, Azpilicueta; Jorginho, Barkley; Hudson-Odoi, Mount, Willian; Abraham.

Newcastle XI: Dubravka; Willems, Clark, Lascelles, Schär, Yedlin; Saint-Maximin, M Longstaff, S Longstaff; Almirón, Joelinton.

Leicester XI: Schmeichel; Chilwell, Söyüncü, Evans, R Pereira; Ndidi; Barnes, Pérez, Maddison, Tielemans; Vardy.

Burnley XI: Pope; Pieters, Mee, Tarkowski, Lowton; McNeil, Westwood, Hendrick, Brady; Rodriguez, Wood.

Spurs XI: Gazzaniga; Rose, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Aurier; Winks, Sissoko; Moura, Alli; Kane

Watford XI: Foster; Kabasele, Dawson, Cathcart; Holebas, Chalobah, Cleverley, Doucouré, Janmaat; Welbeck, Pereyra.

Wolves XI: Patrício; Boly, Coady, Bennett; Jonny, Neves, Moutinho, Dendoncker, Traoré; Cutrone, Jiménez.

Southampton XI: Gunn; Bertrand, Yoshida, Vestergaard, Bednarek, Valery; Ward-Prowse, Højbjerg, Romeu; Redmond, Ings.

1,961 Comments Post a Comment
  1. tm245
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Craig Dawson is starting to have some Scott Sterling moments.

  2. Eat my goal!
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Levy transfers in VAR to save spurs

  3. Epic Fail
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Villa goal \o/\o/\o/

    VAR?

  4. have you seen cyan
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    villa get the winner

  5. Doctor Evil
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Pukki to Jimenez done.

  6. tiger
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Targett hits the target at the death

  7. SomeoneKnows
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    McGinn > Maddison

    Yay or Nay? Got the exact funds...

    1. WVA
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Tielemans

      1. SomeoneKnows
        • 7 Years
        4 years, 5 months ago

        Please elaborate as Madison's stats seen better 🙂

        1. SomeoneKnows
          • 7 Years
          4 years, 5 months ago

          *seem

  8. Slitherene
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Rico with 3 BP's?

    1. NIGHTHIKER - I Kane, I Shaw…
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Would be a small glimmer of hope following those dire 3pm kick offs. Getting him off the bench for Otamendi.

    2. Pukki Party
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Yes.

  9. Team Cruel
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Heaton A?

  10. NIGHTHIKER - I Kane, I Shaw…
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Took a break from FPL last season for university finals. Am back this season, but wow what a frustrating one! Been on WC for the past two weeks, picked Abraham, Wilson, Kane, Mount, Maddison, Pereira - all blanks. Is it me or are there very few consistent options this season compared to last year. Maybe it makes it more interesting as teams are less template, but it sure is frustrating!

    1. Salah’s Sonnet
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      The game is a joke in one sentence

      1. fusen
        • 12 Years
        4 years, 5 months ago

        this game is heavily based around luck and always has been.

  11. have you seen cyan
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    pack your things Poch

  12. JJO
    • 11 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Contra Wilson is continuing to ... 3rd season in a row

  13. Rainer
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    McGinn assist?

    1. Wild Rover
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Grealish

    2. Hazz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Grealish.

    3. Forza Papac
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Grealish

  14. RealVirg
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Don't tell me it is a McGinn assist!?

  15. Granville
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 14 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    8 Villa goals now with no McGinn involvement.

    1. RealVirg
      • 4 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Right he is going from my team today, absolute tosh!

      1. Granville
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • Has Moderation Rights
        • 14 Years
        4 years, 5 months ago

        Well he did get a hatrick during the week and is Villa's best attacker. It's just the way the dice rolls.

    2. Epic Fail
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      McGinn only being involved with the ones that get ruled out by VAR.

  16. Tsparkes10
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Grrr, saw Perreira on the commentary and thought he'd got the assist. Glad the Hudson odoi punt paid off :). Rico on bench ain't ideal but owell

  17. Bartowski
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Team if the week is gonna be some guy with 30 points...

    1. El Matador
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      I'm on 44

  18. Forza Papac
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Rico off the bench for Ota will do nicely

    1. Pras (FPL)
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Same here - jam jam jammy

  19. xtina
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Got CHO in for -4, enabling Rico to be benched. yay

  20. SirStevieG
    • 11 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    24 from 6 and captain, I'm having a pretty good gameweek, right?

    1. TheDragon
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      That’s way above average (genuinely)

    2. Magic Zico
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Congrats

    3. HamezMace
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Yes

  21. suddenorgan
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    this season is lol

    1. Salah’s Sonnet
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      It’s defo already over, maybe we can all play for fun soon 🙂

      1. suddenorgan
        • 13 Years
        4 years, 5 months ago

        I'm enjoying the chaos tbh

  22. aborg
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Incredible....Bournemouth vs Norwich, a game that should have been full of goals, ended up in a DRAW !! Unbelievable!
    Norwich kept a clean sheet away, unbelievable !

    1. P-h-o-e-n-i-x
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Logic is not in fashion in FPL these days

  23. Wild Rover
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Yarmolenko, King, Otamendi, Aguero(c)

    1. Rainer
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Show off

    2. Piggs Boson
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      This game is fun 🙁

    3. HonestBlatter
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Add Lamela

  24. Fudgy
    • 4 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    All these stats are made up nonsense. Not looking at stats again.

    1. Salah’s Sonnet
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      They never mean anything

  25. Do I Not Like Orange
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Pukki out for Jimenez before drop tonight?

    1. TheDragon
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Yes

    2. Firminooooo
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      What I did before this GW.

  26. Hazz
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Rico 9 points 1st on the bench hurts.

  27. Paul Psychic Octopus
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    No Palace centre forwards = no Man City centre backs

  28. Brosstan
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Fair play Grealish owners. Great pick.

    1. The Ejiptian King
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      What a shout by AVFC82.

  29. ChelseaGuy
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    That Grealish HT
    +999

  30. 1zverGGadeM
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Zaha brace is all I need!

    C'moon Wilfred!!!