From Gameweek 7 onwards, Fantasy Premier League managers will start funnelling their funds towards Chelsea assets as Thomas Tuchel’s side embark on a promising run of fixtures in the Premier League. At the time of writing, three of the top five most-bought players ahead of Saturday’s deadline play for the Champions League holders.
According to FPL’s Fixture Difficulty Rating algorithm, Chelsea have the best matches of any team in the division over the next five weeks, which adds to the appeal of their top assets. Conversely, Liverpool and Manchester United both have tricky games to navigate in the coming weeks and highly-owned players like Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba and Diogo Jota could soon become surplus to requirements.
Unsurprisingly, given Chelsea’s schedule, three of their players feature in our Gameweek 7 selection ahead of Saturday’s home game against Southampton. Perhaps more surprisingly given Burnley are second-bottom and without a win so far is that two of their stars also make the cut. The reasoning behind their inclusions? It’s Norwich up next. Sorry, Canaries.
Our Gameweek 6 team performed above the weekly average by scoring 44* points in total and the defenders had the midfielders and forwards to thank for bailing them out. As for our captaincy tips, eyebrows might have been raised at our inclusion of Andros Townsend, but he delivered the goods in Everton’s 2-0 win over Norwich by racking up 10 points after scoring a penalty.
Here’s how our Gameweek 7 team shapes up. It comes in at £81m and £2m short of our weekly budget.
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Edouard Mendy (Chelsea)
Although Chelsea suffered a rare loss against City, Edouard Mendy impressed upon his return to the side and could do nothing to prevent Gabriel Jesus’ deflected effort from squirming past him. The Senegalese is the fourth-highest scoring goalkeeper in FPL this season and with the top two – Alisson and Ederson – facing each other and Hugo Lloris playing behind an increasingly creaking Spurs defence, he looks to be the pick of the premium options for Chelsea’s home game against goal-shy Southampton.
Price: £6.0m Points: 28 Gameweek 7 fixture: Southampton (h)
Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea)
Although Chelsea gave up more chances than usual to Manchester City, they are without doubt one of the strongest defensive units in the division and given their upcoming run, owning at least one if not more of their defenders is a must. Antonio Rudiger is arguably the pick of the bunch, purely because he seems to be the least prone to rotation. Since Tuchel’s appointment, Rudiger has started 21 out of 24 league games, including all six so far this season, which is more than any other Chelsea centre-back.
Price: £5.6m Points: 34 Gameweek 7 fixture: Southampton
James Tarkowski (Burnley)
Sean Dyche will be acutely aware that his side need to turn Turf Moor into a fortress once more given they are without a league win there in eight months. The season is still in its infancy but Saturday’s meeting with Norwich already has the feel of a must-win for both teams. Burnley’s defence has been anything but solid of late, but James Tarkowski and co will be hoping to tighten up against the division’s lowest scorers. Along with his centre-back partner Ben Mee, Tarkowski is top for big chances (three) among defenders.
Price: £5.0m Points: 12 Gameweek 7 fixture: Norwich (h)
Kieran Tierney (Arsenal)
Although Brighton have been much more efficient this season, Arsenal will be confident of keeping them out on Saturday after tightening up considerably over their past three matches. The Gunners have conceded just once in that time and even that was when they were already leading Spurs by three goals. Kieran Tierney has created more chances (nine) and had more shots (six) than any of his colleagues and is, therefore, the standout pick from Arsenal’s defensive stable.
Price: £4.9m Points: 17 Gameweek 7 fixture: Brighton (a)
Mo Salah (Liverpool)
Mo Salah has returned in all but one of his six appearances this season to storm to the top of the FPL leaderboard on 57 points – no other player has reached the half-century mark. Salah has already scored five times and provided three assists and the underlying numbers suggest further points are on the way as he ranks top among all players for big chances (with eight). Next up is the daunting challenge of breaching a Manchester City defence that has gone 485 minutes without conceding a league goal.
Price: £12.6m Points: 57 Gameweek 7 fixture: Man City (h)
Raphinha (Leeds)
Enjoy Raphinha as a mid-priced option while you can; there is no chance FPL will be as generous when pricing up Leeds’ main man next season. On the evidence of his time in England, Raphinha is the silkiest operator in the Premier League and it feels like a matter of time before he delivers a big double-digit haul on FPL. Only five players have attempted more efforts on goal than Raphinha (19) so far this season, while he is also fourth among midfielders for chances created.
Price: £6.5m Points: 28 Gameweek 7 fixture: Watford (h)
Mason Greenwood (Man Utd)
Bruno Fernandes’ late penalty miss dominated the post-match discourse but Manchester United’s defeat to Aston Villa was a frustrating one in all aspects with missed chances and sloppy defending contributing towards a 1-0 defeat. Mason Greenwood will have been left wondering how he didn’t score after firing off eight shots in total, more than any other player in Gameweek 6. The youngster will be hoping to rediscover his accuracy against Everton, who conceded three times in their previous away match.
Price: £7.7m Points: 35 Gameweek 7 fixture: Everton (h)
Ismaila Sarr (Watford)
Ismaila Sarr was selected in our Gameweek 6 squad and showed why by popping up with a crucial equaliser as Watford came from behind to take a point against Newcastle. That strike ensured that Sarr clambered up to third in the top-scoring charts for FPL midfielders, behind only Salah and Said Benrahma and his form has led to him becoming the most transferred-in player ahead of Gameweek 7. Leeds are yet to keep a clean sheet this season and have the second-worst expected goals against tally in the league.
Price: £6.3m Points: 39 Gameweek 7 fixture: Leeds (a)
Michail Antonio (West Ham)
Were it not for Illan Meslier’s heroics, Michail Antonio could quite easily have helped himself to a fourth double-digit return of the campaign as Greenwood was the only player to attempt more shots than West Ham’s No 9 in Gameweek 6. Antonio is joint-top for shots (25) and second for big chances (seven) and xG (4.36) in the league despite missing a game through suspension and can continue his rich vein of form against Brentford this weekend.
Price: £7.9m Points: 49 Gameweek 7 fixture: Brentford (h)
Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea)
It may seem reactionary to ship Cristiano Ronaldo out after just one blank, but the switch to Romelu Lukaku is an obvious one to make given the fixture swing. Although Lukaku failed to score against Liverpool, Spurs and Manchester City, he has delivered in each of his games against non-top six opponents which bodes well ahead of the next few weeks. And with Kai Havertz, Mason Mount and the rest of Tuchel’s offensive midfield options all susceptible to rotation, Lukaku offers the safest route into Chelsea’s attack.
Price: £11.7m Points: 27 Gameweek 7 fixture: Southampton (h)
Chris Wood (Burnley)
Chris Wood only has one goal to his name this season, but he almost notched his second to secure a dramatic win for his side against Leicester on Saturday, only to be denied by VAR for an offside. Wood is top among Burnley’s squad for shots (12) and xG (1.70) this season and can take advantage of a Norwich backline that has the worst expected goals against tally in the league.
Price: £6.8m Points: 19 Gameweek 7 fixture: Norwich (h)
How i‘s Gameweek 6 picks performed
- Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal) – 3
- Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) – 1
- Tino Livramento (Southampton) – 2
- Ricardo Pereira (Leicester) – 0
- Mo Salah (Liverpool) – 7
- Demarai Gray (Everton) – 6
- Conor Gallagher (Crystal Palace) – TBC
- Ismaila Sarr (Watford) – 9
- Michail Antonio (West Ham) – 8
- Allan Saint-Maximin (Newcastle) – 8
- Cristiano Ronaldo* (Man Utd) – 4
*Ronaldo was selected as our exclusive newsletter captain – you can sign up here so as not to miss out next time
