Fantasy Premier League 18/19: GW7 Squad Options

September 28, 2018

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A lifelong Birmingham City fan, Tom relocated to Germany for five years after graduating from university, where his interest in the Bundesliga developed. He began writing about and betting on German football for FST in 2016. He's also an avid fantasy football player and closely follows the Premier League and European competitions.

September’s football keeps coming thick and fast! And just a few days after some Carabao Cup upsets and drama we have yet another huge weekend of Premier League football ahead of us…

Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United travel to London to face West Ham in Saturday’s early kick off. Later that day, Liverpool look to extend their perfect start by making it seven wins from seven against a Chelsea side that dropped points last weekend. And Super Sunday brings a not-so-super fixture between Cardiff City and Brighton.

So… what does this all mean for Fantasy Premier League? Well, with most managers already having the likes of Sergio Aguero and Eden Hazard in their FPL teams by now, it’s time to start looking at some alternate options. Kick back and take a read of our ten squad recommendations for Gameweek 7.

Be sure to bookmark and follow our weekly Fantasy Premier League blogs for FPL tips and strategy that will see you rise to the top of leagues and earn those bragging rights at the workplace.

FST Gameweek 7 Line-up

FST FPL GW7

GW6 Points: 51
Overall Points: 384
Overall Rank: 154,312
Total Players: 5,673,537

GW7 Squad Options

Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal, £9.5m)

Lacazette Arsenal Premier League

Lacazette didn’t make his first start of the season until Arsenal’s thrilling 3-2 win away to Cardiff just before the international break. He looks to be Unai Emery’s main man up front going forward though. The Frenchman has been been a visible threat since his return to Arsenal’s starting line up – his linkup play with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been sublime – and he’s been one of the most consistent forwards in FPL over the past few weeks providing a goal or an assist in each of his last four Premier League outings.

No Gunners teammate has bettered his totals for shots inside the penalty area or shots on target either – very impressive for a player that missed most of the opening three matches. He’s the final piece of the Arsenal offensive puzzle. Arsenal host Watford at the Emirates on Saturday and Lacazette has scored 12 of his 16 Premier League goals at home. The Hornets are also in questionable defensive form, keeping just one clean sheet so far this season, and if Lacazette can capitalise on this, he could make a huge impact in FPL league rankings being owned by just 5.7% of managers.

Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham, £7.0m)

Birmingham vs Fulham Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

After six matches it would be fair to say that Fulham look comfortable enough competing at Premier League level – in terms of their attack at least! Aleksandar Mitrovic has been a pivotal figue in their attacking trio and looks a bargain option for Fantasy Premier League managers on a budget. He finished as Fulham’s second-top goalscorer in the 2017/18 season despite featuring in just 17 Championship matches and his stats as a lone striker this season are phenomenal.

His 12 shots on target so far are more than any other Premier League player – two more than Aguero, Mane, Pogba and Salah (all on 10) – and his four goals, one assist and 5 bonus points make him the second highest scoring forward in FPL. He’s well on track to outperform his only other Premier League season (9 goals and 4 assists in 15/16 at Newcastle) and with few players holding up the ball up as good as Mitrovic, he should have some potential for both goals and assists against an Everton defense that are yet to keep a clean sheet on Saturday.

James Maddison (Leicester City, £6.8m)

Bournemouth Rico Leicester City Maddison

James Maddison’s quick integration into the Leicester City system after his move from Norwich over the summer has been so smooth that his form has gone largely unnoticed, perhaps because of the popularity of similarly priced midfielders such as Ryan Fraser and Richarlison. Maddison has scored three and assisted one in his last five starts for The Foxes and he’s taken over the majority of set piece duties in the absence of Algerian Riyad Mahrez. With a player like Harry Maguire on the receiving end of these, you can only imagine the number of good opportunities he’ll have to assist from them in the future.

No player in the Premier League has bettered his four shots from direct free-kicks either, one of which he scored last weekend against Huddersfield. His 14 shots and 10 chances created are numbers bettered by no other teammate, although Jamie Vardy (12 shots) has missed three matches to suspension, so Maddison should continue to be one of Leicester’s main threats on a trip to Newcastle United on Saturday. Since the start of the 17/18 season, no team has lost more home Premier League games than the Magpies (10 – level with Huddersfield and Swansea).

Richarlison (Everton, £6.6m)

Everton Richarlison

Richarlison’s up and down 2017/18 campaign at Watford looks to be correlated to one major variable – the presence and eventual absence of manager Marco Silva. So when the Brazilian was reunited with the Portuguese manager at Goodison Park over the summer, it came as no surprise that the winger got his 18/19 season off to a flyer. Richarlison scored three goals over Everton’s opening two matches against Wolves and Southampton, but a three-match ban in the week to follow saw his popularity plummet.

Although he failed to score in his return against Arsenal last weekend, he did manage four shots on goal, a number double that of any teammate. An overall positive display shows some promise ahead of a match at home to Fulham on Saturday. Fulham are just one of three teams yet to record a clean sheet and the 43 shots on target taken against them is more than any other side in the Premier League. Richarlison has got to be the Toffees player with the best potential to take advantage of this.

Matt Doherty (Wolves, £4.4m)

Manchester City Sergio Aguero Wolves Wolverhampton Doherty Moutinho

Wolves’ Matt Doherty has impressed in his role playing right wing-back in Nuno Espirito Santo’s 3-4-2-1 formation and he looks a top budget defensive option. Like Liverpool’s Robertson, City’s Mendy or Chelsea’s Alonso, he’s an attack-minded defender. In fact, no Wolves player has tallied more crosses from open play than the Irishman. Doherty has also been a significant goal threat in the opening fixtures, totalling the second-most shots inside the penalty area of any Wolves player – only three FPL defenders have managed more.

Wolves welcome Southampton to Molineux on Sunday having recorded two clean sheets over their last three matches. Their 1-1 draw away to Manchester United was no bad feat either. Wolves rank low on the charts for allowing big chances against them – that is, opportunities where an opponent player is expected to score – and for allowing shots against them inside the penalty area. A combination of strong defensive form and attacking potential makes Doherty the sort of player that could bag you mega points.

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