FPL Scout: Gameweek 9 hints, tips and advice | OneFootball

Brentford has teamed up with Fantasy Football Scout to help bring you hints, tips and advice during the 2024/25 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season.

Scout will be using their expertise to provide info, advice and Gameweek tips which may prove useful in ensuring you sit on top of your mini-leagues.

Best of the Bees

Brentford were defeated 2-1 by Manchester United at Old Trafford, but there were a lot of positives for FPL managers in the Gameweek 8 fixture.

Centre-back Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m) netted in first-half stoppage time to register his second attacking return of the season.

Indeed, although Mark Flekken (£4.5m) didn’t keep a clean sheet, he did make nine saves for the 1.27 million managers who own him in FPL.

At times, it felt like he was in a personal duel with Alejandro Garnacho (£6.2m), who’d racked up eight shots – five of which were on target. Flekken’s nine saves earned three save points for the shot stopper.

In encouraging news, bargain forward Yoane Wissa (£5.9m) was back in action with a 24-minute cameo. Prior to his injury in Gameweek 4, Wissa had delivered three goals in three-and-a-half matches.

The Spotlight

Last week’s focus was on creative midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.0m), having assisted both Pinnock and Nathan Collins (£4.5m) in the 5-3 win over Wolves.

The Dane quickly justified this by taking the corner that Pinnock headed home on Saturday, meaning the latter has scored in consecutive outings.

No defender has more goals than him so far, sitting joint-top in his position for shots on target (six). He ranked consistently high in 2022/23’s underlying stats too, confirming that owning the 31-year-old is about both attacking threat and clean sheet potential.

It’s also worth mentioning that he made a fantastic goal-saving tackle on Rasmus Højlund (£6.9m). Pinnock’s four tackles in Gameweek 8 was the most made by any Bees player. In FPL, this will help his ranking in the bonus points system.

Up next is an Ipswich opposition that will be without Jacob Greaves (£4.1m) or Axel Tuanzebe (£4.0m) at the back.

Best of the Rest

Everton defender Michael Keane (£4.1m), registered a goal and clean sheet against the Tractor Boys to return a 14-point haul in Gameweek 8.

Gameweek 8’s third-most sold player Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) dropped in price but responded to doubters by bringing in another double-digit haul. It’s his fifth from this season’s eight matches.

In Demand

FPL managers need to note that Gameweek 9 will have an abnormal Friday 6.30pm GMT deadline due to that night’s clash between Leicester and Nottingham Forest.

Spurs’ Son Heung-min (£9.8m) returned from injury in Gameweek 8 and immediately scored. His performance against West Ham has made him one of this week’s most-bought assets.

Meanwhile, Joško Gvardiol’s (£6.0m) second goal in three games, has made him a natural replacement for the suspended William Saliba (£6.0m).

Elsewhere, Raúl Jiménez (£5.7m) is peaking the interest of FPL managers with four goals and an assist in five starts. However, another Luis Díaz(£8.0m) benching likely signals the end of his early-season popularity.

Captaincy

Erling Haaland (£15.4m) has been the overwhelming choice for the captain’s armband for the last three weeks. However, he has failed to return in any of them.

Many FPL managers will be considering using their Triple Captain chip on Haaland in the upcoming home clash with Southampton. However, the lack of returns and the fact that he failed to deliver a single shot against Wolves in Gameweek 8 might put managers off.

Stung managers looking elsewhere won’t like Salah and Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) going head-to-head at the Emirates, so perhaps Cole Palmer (£10.8m) versus Newcastle is the alternative.