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.