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It feels like an eternity since week 7 of the Premier League season. That’s what the darn international break does to us. Just to recap, we had another good draft in gameweek 7 with goals for Nacer Chadli and Diego Costa, plus an assist for Jose Holebas. If West Brom could have clung on to their clean sheet against Sunderland, our points tally would have been very large indeed, if we do say so ourselves…So we move on to Week 8 and a great slate of Saturday matches. That includes a number of the ‘big boys’ and plenty of great value to sink our teeth into! Without further ado, here is our EPL Team of the Week 8 for this coming weekend.
Arsenal will be very confident of seeing off Swansea on Saturday afternoon. They should be able to keep a clean sheet along the way: great news if you draft Petr Cech in goal.
The Gooners’ shot stopper has played his part in keeping three clean sheets in his side’s last six games and just three goals conceded in total. Swansea has only scored six in seven starts, and new manager Bob Bradley will surely have placed his emphasis on making his new team more solid at the back, rather than exciting in attack.
As such, we’re anticipating an Arsenal clean sheet and, more likely than not, an Arsenal victory seeing as they have won five matches in a row.
Antonio Conte shuffled his Chelsea pack after a poor run which saw his side take a solitary point from three matches, and the main beneficiaries of the strategy change were Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses (more on him later), who came to the side as wing backs.
The great thing about wing backs from a DFS perspective is that Alonso is likely to score points on defence and attack, and up against a Leicester side that looks vulnerable at the moment, he should spend plenty of his time in the opposition half of the pitch.
This is one of those picks that is based on saving money, rather than any obvious point-scoring rationale, but then let’s look at the bigger picture: Spurs have kept four clean sheets so far this season, and Vertonghen is a key part of their backline.
Saturday’s opponents, West Brom, have netted eight goals in seven starts this season but four of those came in a single match, and so we have to fancy Tottenham to potentially keep a clean sheet once again.
Confession time: Townsend is probably a little overpriced here.
But he’s scoring at 14.6 FPPG and is clearly worth the investment – especially against a West Ham side with the worst defensive record in the division.
The reason why we are so keen on the Crystal Palace man here is that he is celebrating after earning a recall to the England squad for the midweek World Cup 2018 qualifiers. That should serve as extra motivation to keep his place on that particular roster.
Expect him to get plenty of shots away here and land crosses on the head of the deadly Christian Benteke.
A man-of-the-match performance from Moses last time out highlights why Antonio Conte made the right call switching his Chelsea team to a 3-5-2 formation. The Nigerian international is clearly enjoying a new lease on life under the Italian’s watchful gaze.
Quick, tricky, and a decent crosser of the ball, Moses should enjoy plenty of action against Leicester on Saturday. He will look to add width to an already powerful-looking Chelsea frontline. Contributing to numerous phases of play, he should accumulate lots of points here.
He’s already netted three goals for Crystal Palace since his Deadline Day move from Liverpool. Including that sublime header against Everton last time out. The Belgian should be in business again here against a West Ham side in absolute free-fall.
In our pre-season preview we hinted that Benteke would enjoy himself at a club that deploys genuine wide men and sling plenty of crosses into the box. So far he has proven us right. There really are few natural goalscorers as deadly as Benteke in the English Premier League.
When constructing our DFS Premier League Team of the Week, we always look for form horses to take advantage of. Son is just one of those guys that is playing too well to be ignored.
Thrust into an attacking role in the absence of Harry Kane, the Korean has responded in fine style with four goals in as many games and a series of match-winning performances.
When the dice are hot you just have to keep rolling ‘em.
Goals are the only commodity of interest to strikers. For that reason Callum Wilson is well worth a pick here.
He netted his second of the season last time out, and is just starting to find his feet again after a horrific knee injury.
Saturday’s opponents Hull City have conceded eleven goals in their last three games, so don’t be afraid to get involved.
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