Hive FPL GW10 Preview - By the people, for the people
The US midterm elections on the same night as protests at Old Trafford have once again demonstrated the power of the people to make their feelings known.
When voters become fed up with those running the country, they can head to the ballot box and deliver a rather emphatic vote of no confidence to change the political landscape. The kind of mechanism that Manchester United supporters can only dream of!
On Tuesday night, thousands of miles away from Washington, disgruntled United fans were throwing tennis balls and balloons on the pitch and chanting that another inept American administration, this time the Glazer family, should finally sling their hook. Unfortunately, unlike American politicians, the Glazers don't have to worry about re-election. Despite having presided over 21 years of ownership (happy anniversary) that have left the club drowning in debt, struggling for direction and increasingly disconnected from its supporters, these Yanks appear remarkably difficult to dislodge.
It's a bit like trying to vote out an unpopular administration only to discover that they've written themselves a lifetime exemption from the democratic process - probably something that the US voters can look forward to in a couple of years too!
This is the last round of fixtures before we have another international break (boooooo) although the good news is that it's not as long a break as last time around (yeeeeaaaah).
These kind of breaks really do frustrate me, especially at this time of the season. The clocks of have gone back, there's a proper autumn chill in the air and the story of the season is taking shape - this is the time for Premier League football! But no! Let's stop playing competitive matches so that we can accommodate glorified friendlies between the likes of Andorra and Gibraltar. Absolute madness!
It's coming home!
As always, there are a number of teams and in particular their managers who really need a win before we head into the break including 2 who have been very successful in recent seasons.
Regis Le Bris did a fantastic job of returning Sunderland to the top flight and then not only keeping them there but qualifying for Europe at the first time of asking. Their 3-1 humbling at the hands of Coventry leaves his side bottom of the league with just 1 point from their last 6 games and the crowd had certainly turned on Thursday night when they lost again at home.
It would be fair to say that he has credit in the bank but in modern football we know that clubs tend to act quickly if a turnaround doesn't seem imminent.
It's also worth pointing out that even on some of the most basic metrics, Sunderland massively over-performed last season. Their xG was the 3rd lowest in the league ahead of just Burnley and Wolves who were both miles off the pace. At the other end, while they had a reputation of being solid at the back their xG against was only 12th best.
expected points during the 25/26 Premier League season
Overall this lead to an expected points tally of just 29 meaning they over-performed that stat by a whopping 25 points, by far the highest in the league! Whether you read much into these metrics or not, when they are that far off, it does suggest that they got the rub of the green on a few occasions and that isn't happening this year!
It's one of the primary reasons that I shied away from Sunderland players in my initial FPL team for 26/27 despite there being a clamour for a few of the Black Cats players.
Enzo Le Fee started the season in 9% of teams but has now dropped to 2.7% ownership and lost 0.3mil in value. Brian Brobbey, after his efforts at the World Cup was even more popular, starting in over 10% of GW1 teams but again that ownership has halved and his price has plummeted. A hattrick away at City, when I'd imagine most owners benched him anyway, are his only returns this season.
Over at Nottingham Forest, new manager Oliver Glasner is also struggling to get points on the board. Thankfully for him, he he's working with an empathetic and patient owner who likes to leave the manager to get on with the football side of things 👀
For those of you that can't lip read in Greek he's saying 'I want his entire family murdered by the full-time'
Given Marinakis' track record on sacking managers, I think odds as long as 14/1 for Glasner to be the next man to go in the Premier League are well worth a couple of quid!
It's somewhat ironic that while Glasner is struggling at Forest, Sage is also walking on thin ice at his old club Palace and Nuno, Forest's best manager in recent years is now available having just been sacked by West Sham. Call me crazy but perhaps the grass isn't always greener and a few of these egos just need to kiss and make-up so that they can go back to coaching in environments that clearly delivered them success!
Forest host Man City this weekend while Sunderland are at home to Chelsea. Both fixtures that they'll head into as underdogs but equally the kind of games that could turn the form and perhaps more importantly the mood around with a good performance and points on the board.
Since the start of last season and the addition of def con bonuses, defence has become an absolutely key area of the pitch to invest in.
At time of writing, 3 of the top 5 point scorers in the FPL this season are defenders and 5 of the top 10!
You'd have scored significantly more points this season with a back 5 of De Cuyper, Vuskovic, Gabriel, Tarwokski and Van Hecke (total starting price £29 mil) than with a midfield of Bruno, Palmer, Saka, Semenyo and Barcola - the 5 most expensive midfield options in the game, total starting price £48 mil.
The top scoring 11 players this season actually form a viable team!
In previous seasons, the emergence of a 'must-have' premium midfielder, think Fernandes last year or Salah the year before, has sustained the idea that this is an area of the pitch that you must invest in over the defence. Alongside Haaland that has always been £25 - 30mil of your budget gone on 2 players.
However, this year that doesn't appear to be the case. Fernandes and United have driven off another cliff. Palmer's consistency and tendency to go missing in big games doesn't warrant his price tag and certainly shouldn't make him a select and forget type of player. Saka's missed big chances while failing to get the assists that have propped up his points tally in recent years. He, like Semenyo, is also injured. While Barcola isn't pulling up any trees at the moment.
Only 2 midfielders make up the top 11 FPL point scorers and they are FPL legend Gross and the man that I'm contractually obliged to write about every week, Marcus Tavernier (love you Marcus).
The only premium pick that has really performed is Morgan Rogers with 50 points and to a certain extent Brian Mbeumo who has generally been deployed out of position as a centre forward.
I wrote last week about a number of midfield differentials that are well worth looking at (Kudus, Manzambi and Rayan) and I'll add 3 more names for this week too but for now, the quest to find points should probably lead you to defenders both in terms of budget spent and formation played!
Bradley Barcola (MID) - That's right, I'm contradicting myself! Having just said that Barcola 'isn't pulling up any trees' so far in a Liverpool shirt, now I'm going to tell you to consider putting him in your side! The primary reason is his low ownership at just 4.3% and Liverpool's run of fixtures that sees them play Palace this weekend before taking on United, Sunderland and Chelsea after the international break - that's 4 of the weakest defenses in the league this season!
Noni Madueke (MID) - Barely gets a look in when Saka is fit but in the last 4 GWs he's delivered an xGI of 1.7 from 3 and a half games. Like Saka, his points tally is being impacted by the fact that Arsenal still don't have a centre forward who can finish off the chances he creates. He's in 0.4% of teams at the moment and Arsenal face a Hull side at the Emirates that hasn't kept a clean sheet in 2 months and hasn't won since August!
When voters become fed up with those running the country, they can head to the ballot box and deliver a rather emphatic vote of no confidence to change the political landscape. The kind of mechanism that Manchester United supporters can only dream of!
On Tuesday night, thousands of miles away from Washington, disgruntled United fans were throwing tennis balls and balloons on the pitch and chanting that another inept American administration, this time the Glazer family, should finally sling their hook. Unfortunately, unlike American politicians, the Glazers don't have to worry about re-election. Despite having presided over 21 years of ownership (happy anniversary) that have left the club drowning in debt, struggling for direction and increasingly disconnected from its supporters, these Yanks appear remarkably difficult to dislodge.
It's a bit like trying to vote out an unpopular administration only to discover that they've written themselves a lifetime exemption from the democratic process - probably something that the US voters can look forward to in a couple of years too!
This is the last round of fixtures before we have another international break (boooooo) although the good news is that it's not as long a break as last time around (yeeeeaaaah).
These kind of breaks really do frustrate me, especially at this time of the season. The clocks of have gone back, there's a proper autumn chill in the air and the story of the season is taking shape - this is the time for Premier League football! But no! Let's stop playing competitive matches so that we can accommodate glorified friendlies between the likes of Andorra and Gibraltar. Absolute madness!
It's coming home!
As always, there are a number of teams and in particular their managers who really need a win before we head into the break including 2 who have been very successful in recent seasons.
Regis Le Bris did a fantastic job of returning Sunderland to the top flight and then not only keeping them there but qualifying for Europe at the first time of asking. Their 3-1 humbling at the hands of Coventry leaves his side bottom of the league with just 1 point from their last 6 games and the crowd had certainly turned on Thursday night when they lost again at home.
It would be fair to say that he has credit in the bank but in modern football we know that clubs tend to act quickly if a turnaround doesn't seem imminent.
It's also worth pointing out that even on some of the most basic metrics, Sunderland massively over-performed last season. Their xG was the 3rd lowest in the league ahead of just Burnley and Wolves who were both miles off the pace. At the other end, while they had a reputation of being solid at the back their xG against was only 12th best.
expected points during the 25/26 Premier League season
Overall this lead to an expected points tally of just 29 meaning they over-performed that stat by a whopping 25 points, by far the highest in the league! Whether you read much into these metrics or not, when they are that far off, it does suggest that they got the rub of the green on a few occasions and that isn't happening this year!
It's one of the primary reasons that I shied away from Sunderland players in my initial FPL team for 26/27 despite there being a clamour for a few of the Black Cats players.
Enzo Le Fee started the season in 9% of teams but has now dropped to 2.7% ownership and lost 0.3mil in value. Brian Brobbey, after his efforts at the World Cup was even more popular, starting in over 10% of GW1 teams but again that ownership has halved and his price has plummeted. A hattrick away at City, when I'd imagine most owners benched him anyway, are his only returns this season.
Over at Nottingham Forest, new manager Oliver Glasner is also struggling to get points on the board. Thankfully for him, he he's working with an empathetic and patient owner who likes to leave the manager to get on with the football side of things 👀
For those of you that can't lip read in Greek he's saying 'I want his entire family murdered by the full-time'
Given Marinakis' track record on sacking managers, I think odds as long as 14/1 for Glasner to be the next man to go in the Premier League are well worth a couple of quid!
It's somewhat ironic that while Glasner is struggling at Forest, Sage is also walking on thin ice at his old club Palace and Nuno, Forest's best manager in recent years is now available having just been sacked by West Sham. Call me crazy but perhaps the grass isn't always greener and a few of these egos just need to kiss and make-up so that they can go back to coaching in environments that clearly delivered them success!
Forest host Man City this weekend while Sunderland are at home to Chelsea. Both fixtures that they'll head into as underdogs but equally the kind of games that could turn the form and perhaps more importantly the mood around with a good performance and points on the board.
GW9 Results
Division 1
| Team | Hive Account | Score | Score | Team | Hive Account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YAGMAN FC | @Yagman01 | 44 | 64 | Seskobob | @deniskj |
| Damola's Team | @george-dee | 32 | 53 | Sutter Kane | @suttercane |
| Legion fc | @b0s | 52 | 52 | FC McKane | @mckane |
| Likodra FC | @teofilex11 | 60 | 38 | Ping Pong Frimpong | @pingpongfrimpong |
| HaaBrunoLand | @earplugs | 45 | 77 | Suffragette City | @talesfrmthecrypt |
| Hiveheadz | @borran | 49 | 38 | Ameerians | @amirtheawesome |
| The Cella's | @blanchy | 54 | 57 | BlockchainFPL H2H | @blockchainfpl |
| Top Boy | @sperosamuel15 | 66 | 61 | Red Cards of Rohan | @thoth442 |
| Hungry Lions | @gvkanten | 70 | 53 | Blue Mooners | @leebennett |
| Tengo Rangers | @tengolotodo | 55 | 27 | fpl.racibo.pl | @racibo |
Division 2
| Team | Hive Account | Score | Score | Team | Hive Account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working 9 to 5 | @aunt-granny | 48 | 64 | Bennett's Boys | @olibennett |
| It's Nice! | @workingdad | 32 | 44 | Cohlson | @cohlson |
| Top of the Pops | @elvisking | 49 | 54 | Six and the City | @princekwame |
| HappyBoys | @Happyboy1 | 35 | 53 | Simcard FC | @akomoajong |
| Corner | @artniche | 54 | 52 | Fire Power | @emekaj |
| HB-EVWU75 | @kilvnrex | 66 | 52 | Jambo Villains | @stuartcturnbull |
| Division 1 | @omrys5 | 42 | 55 | Stilgar_the_Fremen | @dune69 |
| El equipo de Roberto | @Kraken99 | 56 | 54 | Chocopram | @aaalviarez |
| twicejoy | @twicejoy | 50 | 80 | Herbae (Stevelight) | @Herbae |
| Wild XI | @wildlifelover | 61 | 71 | Hadji | @hadji |
| Dirty Leeds | @dirtyleeds | 34 | 33 | Mikmai1 | @mikmai |
| Isak's Pivot Table | @stevenson7 | 65 | 62 | Large in the Rear | @chineduokafor |
| Emeka4 | @Emeka4 | 59 | 61 | PChip FC | @livinguktaiwan |
| Blugrana | @ronnie10 | 37 | 80 | Uwabbs battalion | @Uwabbs001 |
| Blank | Blank | 47 | 57 | Skander's Team | @skanderh |
| Glasner Half Full? | @Doombot75 | 56 | 43 | dewabrata | @dewabrata |
| shamzy FC | @shamzy | 54 | 58 | Acid's Team | @acidyo |
| Kingsleyy | @kingsleyy | 34 | 52 | Dani Deuder FDA | @danideuder |
| Tangram | @desro | 39 | 51 | The Mighty Fc | @Twicejoy-sports |
| The Fantasy Devils | @stranger27 | 32 | 61 | Form Factor | @publioscelta |
| Los Magos del Balón | @el-maestro | 66 | 47 | Micheal87 | @Micheal87 |
| FC Uwelang | @uwelang | 40 | 57 | Garuda XI | @aditya-p |
| Deals on Wheels | @derek-trotter | 58 | 56 | Los Porro Hermanos | @jmehta |
| Gen2shaid | @gentleshaid | 66 | 50 | Solat | @reservedsingle |
GW10 Fixtures
Division 1
| Team | Hive Account | Team | Hive Account | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seskobob | @deniskj | v | Tengo Rangers | @tengolotodo |
| fpl.racibo.pl | @racibo | v | Hungry Lions | @gvkanten |
| Blue Mooners | @leebennett | v | Top Boy | @sperosamuel15 |
| Red Cards of Rohan | @thoth442 | v | The Cella's | @blanchy |
| BlockchainFPL H2H | @blockchainfpl | v | Hiveheadz | @borran |
| Ameerians | @amirtheawesome | v | HaaBrunoLand | @earplugs |
| Suffragette City | @talesfrmthecrypt | v | Likodra FC | @teofilex11 |
| Ping Pong Frimpong | @pingpongfrimpong | v | Legion fc | @b0s |
| FC McKane | @mckane | v | Damola's Team | @george-dee |
| Sutter Kane | @suttercane | v | YAGMAN FC | @Yagman01 |
Division 2
| Team | Hive Account | Team | Hive Account | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working 9 to 5 | @aunt-granny | v | Herbae (Stevelight) | @Herbae |
| Chocopram | @aaalviarez | v | Hadji | @hadji |
| Stilgar_the_Fremen | @dune69 | v | Mikmai1 | @mikmai |
| Jambo Villains | @stuartcturnbull | v | Large in the Rear | @chineduokafor |
| Fire Power | @emekaj | v | PChip FC | @livinguktaiwan |
| Simcard FC | @akomoajong | v | Uwabbs battalion | @Uwabbs001 |
| Six and the City | @princekwame | v | Skander's Team | @skanderh |
| Cohlson | @cohlson | v | dewabrata | @dewabrata |
| Bennett's Boys | @olibennett | v | Acid's Team | @acidyo |
| It's Nice! | @workingdad | v | Dani Deuder FDA | @danideuder |
| Top of the Pops | @elvisking | v | The Mighty Fc | @Twicejoy-sports |
| HappyBoys | @Happyboy1 | v | Form Factor | @publioscelta |
| Corner | @artniche | v | Micheal87 | @Micheal87 |
| HB-EVWU75 | @kilvnrex | v | Garuda XI | @aditya-p |
| Division 1 | @omrys5 | v | Los Porro Hermanos | @jmehta |
| El equipo de Roberto | @Kraken99 | v | Solat | @reservedsingle |
| twicejoy | @twicejoy | v | Gen2shaid | @gentleshaid |
| Wild XI | @wildlifelover | v | Deals on Wheels | @derek-trotter |
| Dirty Leeds | @dirtyleeds | v | FC Uwelang | @uwelang |
| Isak's Pivot Table | @stevenson7 | v | Los Magos del Balón | @el-maestro |
| Emeka4 | @Emeka4 | v | The Fantasy Devils | @stranger27 |
| Blugrana | @ronnie10 | v | Tangram | @desro |
| Blank | Blank | v | Kingsleyy | @kingsleyy |
| Glasner Half Full? | @Doombot75 | v | shamzy FC | @shamzy |
Where did all the points go asks @blanchy?
It's not the first time I've said it but maybe it'll be the last because if you haven't noticed yet you probably never will!Since the start of last season and the addition of def con bonuses, defence has become an absolutely key area of the pitch to invest in.
At time of writing, 3 of the top 5 point scorers in the FPL this season are defenders and 5 of the top 10!
You'd have scored significantly more points this season with a back 5 of De Cuyper, Vuskovic, Gabriel, Tarwokski and Van Hecke (total starting price £29 mil) than with a midfield of Bruno, Palmer, Saka, Semenyo and Barcola - the 5 most expensive midfield options in the game, total starting price £48 mil.
The top scoring 11 players this season actually form a viable team!
In previous seasons, the emergence of a 'must-have' premium midfielder, think Fernandes last year or Salah the year before, has sustained the idea that this is an area of the pitch that you must invest in over the defence. Alongside Haaland that has always been £25 - 30mil of your budget gone on 2 players.
However, this year that doesn't appear to be the case. Fernandes and United have driven off another cliff. Palmer's consistency and tendency to go missing in big games doesn't warrant his price tag and certainly shouldn't make him a select and forget type of player. Saka's missed big chances while failing to get the assists that have propped up his points tally in recent years. He, like Semenyo, is also injured. While Barcola isn't pulling up any trees at the moment.
Only 2 midfielders make up the top 11 FPL point scorers and they are FPL legend Gross and the man that I'm contractually obliged to write about every week, Marcus Tavernier (love you Marcus).
The only premium pick that has really performed is Morgan Rogers with 50 points and to a certain extent Brian Mbeumo who has generally been deployed out of position as a centre forward.
I wrote last week about a number of midfield differentials that are well worth looking at (Kudus, Manzambi and Rayan) and I'll add 3 more names for this week too but for now, the quest to find points should probably lead you to defenders both in terms of budget spent and formation played!
Best Differentials for GW10
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (MID) - Dewsbury-Hall continues to be a decent outside pick, appearing in just 6% of teams at the moment. The concern would be that half of his 48 points this year have come from 2 appearances, home to Palace and away at Hull. His Everton side play another bottom third side this week in Coventry. Can he put up another double digit hall against lesser opposition?Bradley Barcola (MID) - That's right, I'm contradicting myself! Having just said that Barcola 'isn't pulling up any trees' so far in a Liverpool shirt, now I'm going to tell you to consider putting him in your side! The primary reason is his low ownership at just 4.3% and Liverpool's run of fixtures that sees them play Palace this weekend before taking on United, Sunderland and Chelsea after the international break - that's 4 of the weakest defenses in the league this season!
Noni Madueke (MID) - Barely gets a look in when Saka is fit but in the last 4 GWs he's delivered an xGI of 1.7 from 3 and a half games. Like Saka, his points tally is being impacted by the fact that Arsenal still don't have a centre forward who can finish off the chances he creates. He's in 0.4% of teams at the moment and Arsenal face a Hull side at the Emirates that hasn't kept a clean sheet in 2 months and hasn't won since August!