Man City’s Aguero is still injured and Arsenal’s Steve Bould could still do a job

Oct 22

#FPL Gameweek 10 Preview

You can also listen to Craig, Tom and Ash on their Fantasy Football Podcast – The Gaffer Tapes

DEFENDER: Hector Bellerin, Arsenal

My Dad says “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. He also sometimes says “Craig, you’re 31 and you’re not married and don’t own a house. Grow up”. Anyway, I read between the lines and decided it means we should stick with Hector Bellerin. Last week I said once Arsenal started adding clean sheets, he would step up from 5 or 6 average to 9 or 10 and he delivered with a double figures points week. An assist, a clean sheet and bonus points against Watford, he then did the same thing against the best team in Europe midweek and it still surprises me he is below 20% picked.

MIDFIELDER: Nathan Redmond, Norwich

If you had told me a West Ham midfielder would be the top scoring FPL midfielder in mid October I’d have laughed so much even Bobby Moore would’ve heard me. However, it is their opponents Norwich who have this weeks midfield tip. It feels obvious telling you that Nathan Redmond is worth having in your side and yet only 7% of you worldwide have him. He can be hit and miss but the same can be said for David Silva, Theo Walcott or Yaya Toure whom he currently outscores. West Ham are about as reliable as as a Jeremy Kyle step-dad and after a great result against Palace, could well lose at Carrow Road. Obviously the likes of Sterling or Wijnaldum are very tempting and can’t be ruled out but that could be some serious bandwagon jumping.

FORWARD: Wilfried Bony, Man City

Sergio Aguero is injured. Long live Sergio Aguero. That right there is about as useful as my history degree has ever been and for those of you less versed with monarchy terminology, what it means is all hail Wilfried Bony. It’s a tried and tested technique to simply bring in the injured players real life replacement as a much cheaper option. What it means is you getting the same service and team advantage that Mr Aguero gets but for just over 8 million. Bony took his chance well last week with 16 points and as the only real striking option in that mould he is almost guaranteed to start.

OUTSIDER: Aleksandar Mitrović, Newcastle

My under 5% pick this week is a man that makes Duncan Ferguson look a little bit tetchy. Alek Mitrovic started the season by making his mark both on goal and on a few people’s legs but as Newcastle seem to calm along with Mitrovic’s temper, he has bagged two goals in two weeks and although a bit overpriced at 6.2m is only 1.1% picked with a very winnable game against Sunderland. Newcastle have a great few weeks ahead of them and if they get wins you can be certain Hannibal Mitrovic will get a couple.

CAPTAIN: Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal

It can only be one man to captain this fictional ship this week. Alexis Sanchez has been in unstoppable form and if you are lucky enough to have him in your team then it would be crazy not to give him the armband. With Super Sunday throwing out some pretty unpredictable matches, Arsenal at home to Everton seems like the most certain of all the fixtures this gameweek and you wouldn’t put it past Alexis to score three, set up three, house a refugee and give Steve Bould hair implants all in one foul swoop.

by @CraigHazell

Craig Hazell is a television professional, writer and Heart of Midlothian fan who makes up one third of the popular FPL podcast The Gaffer Tapes. As a student, Craig won the BBC Sports Broadcaster and Comedy Broadcaster of the year, before going onto to be a regular on the London open mic comedy circuit. He now writes about anything from TV & Movies, to food and of course football, providing he can shoehorn a 90s pop culture reference into just about anything.