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FPL Wrapped Premium - Gameweek 9
FPL Harry, FPL Raptor, FPL Focal
FPL Wrapped
October 20, 2025
Hello everyone! Back in the swing of things after the international break, and plenty to talk about ahead of Gameweek 9 after an eventful weekend of football. Let’s jump straight into it!
Table of Contents
Gameweek 9 Fixtures
5 of your early questions for this week!
Harry is unavailable this week, so I (Ross) have taken over for this one.
Is it too early to buy Mateta? Should you wait one week?
Short answer - probably. That isn’t to say it is a bad transfer at all, but if you are removing someone like Gyokeres or Joao Pedro, despite their disappointing form, both have better fixtures. I would personally wait a week. That being said, it is not a bad transfer at all, and I wouldn’t try to put you off it massively.Do I prefer Woltemade or Mateta?
Short answer - Mateta, just about. I think both of these offer excellent value, but one of them has guaranteed penalties, is playing for the best attack in the league, and is always on the pitch. Mateta is the better option for me, but in an ideal world you own both.Could triple Arsenal defence be an option?
Short answer - yes. Arsenal are the best defence in the league, and their only excellent attacking option is Saka who is £10.0m. As a result, yes, triple Arsenal defence could work really well, especially something like Gabriel, Timber and Calafiori.Best Cheap Midfielders
Short answer - Xhaka. I do think there are some places to back against DEFCON, such as lower priced midfielders (e.g., Minteh), or premium defenders (e.g., Munoz or James), but there are no cheap midfielders that offer lots of attacking potential. As a result, I would go for someone like Xhaka, Longstaff, or Garner. A small amount of attacking threat, but mainly DEFCON beasts.Haaland perma-captain, or will he slow down?
Short answer - captain for now. I think Haaland will slow down. In fact, I know he will. Be trying to anticipate the week it happens, before it happens, feels unnecessary. Just captain him until he shows signs (e.g., drop in data, City not clicking, small injury), and then we can look to captain someone else.
Harry’s players to consider buying in every position this week!
Pope
Newcastle have conceded 5.81 xG which ranks second best, which makes Pope an incredibly appealing option for .5m cheaper than Raya, and afford you the luxury of an extra outfield Arsenal player.Cucurella
Chelsea have a fantastic fixture run coming up starting with SUN (H) with tons of clean sheet potential, plus with Cucurella there’s always a potential goal involvement in there. SUN (H), TOT (A), WOL (H), BUR (A). The next four are ridiculous.
Enzo
Following on from that point on the fixtures, if Enzo is back and available I really like him as an option this week. Potential to be on penalties, should benefit from Palmer’s absence in terms of positioning and role too, plus his underlying data is fantastic in terms of NPxGI.Woltemade
Marco Silva sounded utterly defeated in his press conference as their injury list seems to just be getting worse and worse, Andersen off last match with a possible hamstring injury, Robinson injured, Lukic injured, Muniz injured. This could be a goal fest for Woltemade, who has only failed to score in one league game since his debut.
Ross’s Dream Team / Free Hit Draft!
Harry’s Team
Rank | 850k |
|---|---|
Total Points | 492 |
Transfers Available | 4 FTs |
Money in the bank | £0.6m itb |
Chips used | WC, BB |
A small green arrow so far but one I’m actually very happy with if it holds after tonight’s games. Having what felt like a slightly sub par team with Bruno & Ndiaye with difficult fixtures and defenders playing against attackers I’ll take it!
Now, 4 free transfers! To be honest the players I actually want to buy this week are Saka and Enzo Fernandez. I do also like Woltemade but I think Mateta in Gameweek 10-12 is my preference over him.
So on Saka, I would have to sell Gyokeres to get him and if my favourite replacement is Mateta away to Arsenal, it does not make sense currently to make the switch this week.
Then it leaves Enzo Fernandez who is currently flagged and a doubt for the midweek champions league game and as a result Gameweek 9.
If Enzo Fernandez is still a doubt I think I will roll my transfer.
If he is available I need to free up £1.1m to get him from Stach. To do that I’d look at selling Tarkowski to Rodon or Gyokeres to Mateta.
I will be keeping a close eye on all Chelsea training photos, quotes and press conferences as the week progresses.
Ross’s Team
Rank | 2.9m |
|---|---|
Total Points | 450 |
Transfers Available | 2 FTs |
Money in the bank | £0.0m |
Chips used | WC |
Despite getting a small red arrow in GW8, I am quite happy with the team at the moment.
The players that I have concerns over are: Stach, Reijnders, Gyokeres. I could also end up selling Tarkowski to free up funds or to move to someone more exciting (e.g., Munoz or James). I of course have Andersen’s injury to think about as well.
I think it is quite unlikely I make a transfer this week, unless I decide I want to bench boost AND Andersen is out injured. At that stage, I have two possible options:
Andersen to Richards/Diouf
Gyokeres to Mateta, Andersen to Timber
I feel like the 2nd option might be more likely, simply because I love Timber and Mateta, but of course not the ideal week to bring them in as a pair.
If Andersen is fit, I will likely bench boost. And if he isn’t fit, I might just decide to delay the bench boost.
A long week ahead, so I’ll see how the team looks after the mid-week games!
Oscar’s Team
Rank | 692k |
|---|---|
Total Points | 497 |
Transfers Available | 5 |
Money in the bank | 0.3m |
Chips used | WC, BB |
Wow, last gameweek couldn’t have gone much better. Mukiele with a goal, clean sheet, defcon and 3 bonus for 17 pointers, 96 points all out which places me about 700k after auto-subs, but before West Ham v Brentford. Big jump from 2.1m so I couldn’t be happier, with 5 free transfers and still a couple chips in my pocket. Perspective is everything though, I’d still like to be much higher than where I am so I have to keep the climb going and this week it’s very tricky because there’s so many possibilities with 5 free transfers. Some examples:
Ndiaye → Enzo
or
Gvardiol → Diouf/Mavropanos/Rodon
Stach → Enzo
or
Gyokeres → Marc Guiu
Stach → Saka
The combinations go on and on, in a nutshell I really want to buy Enzo, the second combination is very appealing assuming Enzo is fit and available for GW9. We’ve got midweek games to assess anyway. Stach is seemingly off corners and not got 90 the last couple games, while Gvardiol was very unexpectedly benched, given he was rested in Croatia’s final game over the break as well, so I could spend 2 moves there on 2 potential issues.
⭐ Who has the best team this week? |
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Next 6 Fixtures Ranked by Overall Difficulty.
Burnley kept a clean sheet from 2.63xGC and Chelsea kept a clean sheet from 2.35xGC in GW8 - fortunate!
Florentino (£5.0m) is averaging 15.12 DEFCON per 90, the highest of any player getting regular minutes. A potential enabler!
Palace are slyly transitioning from a defence first team to an attacking powerhouse. They are 1st in the league for npxG this season at 16.21, with City in 2nd at 14.45 and Man Utd in 3rd at 12.80. However, they are 13th for npxGC, similar defensive numbers to Wolves.
Mateta accumulated 3.48xG, and managed 6 big chances. The 3.48xG accumulated is the most xG accumulated by a player in the Premier League since records began. Mateta now has 15 big chances this season. Haaland has 17 big chances. Semenyo is in 3rd with 7 big chances. Mental numbers.
Gabriel is averaging 9.38 DEFCON per 90 this season, a massive increase from the 6.13 per 90 he managed last season.
There are lots of games throughout this week, here they are:
Monday 20th October
West Ham vs. Brentford
Tuesday 21st October
Arsenal vs. Atletico Madrid
Newcastle vs. Benfica
Villarreal vs. Man City
Wednesday 22nd October
Chelsea vs. Ajax
Frankfurt vs. Liverpool
Monaco vs. Spurs
Thursday 23rd October
Go Ahead Eagles vs. Aston Villa
Palace vs. AEK Larnaca
Forest vs. FC Porto
As per the above section, there are lots of mid-week games so unless you have already gone early, we recommend holding those transfers and assessing the current landscape on Friday morning ahead of the Friday evening deadline! Have a great week!