Fantasy Forecast 2019/20: FPL Gameweek 10

Ahead of each Gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League, The Hype Train's three front-men, Robert Austin, Sam Austin and Phil Jones, duel for FPL supremacy in predicting Premier League scores, as well as going head to head in picking a Scout Picks squad for each round of games. In addition, we provide general insight that we believe might be relevant for FPL players, such as our personal captaincy picks, differentials for the week, and more. Welcome to the Forecast. All aboard.

Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 10 Deadline

For the 2019/20 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. Our website provides a real-world countdown timer for the the upcoming Gameweek, whilst you can read our latest Fantasy articles from the season on our 2019/20 FPL weekly hype sub-section.

How does our Forecasting work?

For three years we invited guests from the FPL Community to tackle us with picks for the upcoming Gameweek in Fantasy Premier League. We'll be taking a break from inviting guests onto this article for a year, and have introduced a new feature, Fantasy 5's, which we'll be asking weekly guests their top pick in each position ahead of each Gameweek.

For the sake of respecting the rules of the Forecast, we have provided an example of what we're sending out to interested parties that will feature throughout the season.

Premier League Fixture Prediction: As pundits, we are testing our football acumen with PL predictions and will be providing regular updated tables and stats in each edition of the FPL Forecast. A perfect score is worth 3 points whilst a correct result is worth 1 point.
FPL Gameweek Forecasting: Answering the regular questions that come up every single week in the Fantasy Premier League community that helps with identifying captaincy picks, transfers, attacking options, clean sheet potential, teams to look our for and avoid, players to consider for the Draft game, the wildcard differential players, as well as general analysis and comments.
Scout Picks: Picking a squad of 15 for a single Gameweek, without any budget, using the rules of the FPL - formations, captains and vice captains, and the player limits of 3 per club (chips will not be feature of these weekly picks)
Each team must pick a Captain, labelled as (c) and a Vice Captain listed as (vc).

Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 10

Southampton 1-2 Leicester

Man City 4-0 Aston Villa

Brighton 1-1 Everton

Watford 1-2 Bournemouth

West Ham 2-0 Sheffield United

Burnley 1-3 Chelsea

Newcastle 0-1 Wolves

Arsenal 3-1 Crystal Palace

Liverpool 2-0 Spurs

Norwich 1-1 Man United

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 10

Top FPL transfer targets for the weekend:

Goalkeeper: Ederson (MCI, GK, £6.1mil, 21.7% ownership)

Defender: Virgil van Dijk (LIV, DEF, £6.5mil, 45.7% ownership)

Midfielder: Callum Hudson-Odoi (CHE, MID, £6.0mil, 2.9% ownership)

Forward: Raul Jimenez (WOL, FOR, £7.1mil, 10.0% ownership)

Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:

West Ham (Watch) – I think that West Ham will edge it in this fixture against Sheffield United, it is just a gut feeling, but the Hammers have direct players that can hurt Sheffield in ways Arsenal couldn’t. Subtly, West Ham are the most improved team from last season.

Man City (Watch) – This one really doesn’t need any explaining as City host Villa.

Liverpool (Watch) – Undefeated in the league, but not at their best against United last week. Champions League final PTSD should affect Spurs, and with Mo Salah on a good run against Spurs I can see Liverpool continuing their good form.

Everton (Avoid) – One win in their last five league games, and only one point on the road all season. I have gone into greater length below.

FPL Captaincy Picks:

(C) – Kevin De Bruyne (MCI): The fixture is the best one on paper as City host Villa, and it could be one of them games where City score four, five, or six. De Bruyne is City’s chief creator and if there is anyone to depend in this game, and I think it will be the Belgian.

(VC) – Mohamad Salah (LIV): The Egyptian King scored an absolute ridiculous goal against Genk in the Champions League on Wednesday. Salah has a good scoring record versus Spurs and will cause more problems for their defence this weekend.

Other Gameweek Comments:

This week is a strange one for FPL managers as there are lots of ‘so-so’ fixtures between teams around the same level, form, and overall performance. Let me explain:

Southampton vs. Leicester – Ings in form, as is Vardy. Tricky away game for Leicester to navigate, but only attacking returns would be preferable.

Brighton vs. Everton – What can I say about Everton? This isn’t my deluded view as a Liverpool fan, but Everton are straight up all over the place. GW9 was the Toffees first win in five games. Everton only have one draw from their four away games, which was the 0-0 to start the season against Palace. I have every right to air caution for a team who should be doing much better in the league table than 15th place. Brighton can cause Everton problems, but I can see this being a fixture to not even think about for your Gameweek plans.

Watford vs. Bournemouth – Both have quality players, Bournemouth are tricky on the road to predict, and home advantage for Watford could see a similar game last week when Bournemouth drew 0-0 with Norwich. Also, it will be sooner rather than later that Watford will eventually get their first win of the season. Could be this weekend. Who knows?

West Ham vs. Sheffield United – Both teams have alright defences, and Sheffield could negate the Hammers. I think West Ham will win, but the Blades can shut this result down to a low scoring affair if they are resolute like they were against Arsenal.

Newcastle vs. Wolves – One Europa League team, one hugely disappointing buffoon in charge of the other. If there is more than one goal in this game, I will be hugely surprised.

Norwich vs. Man United – Norwich can cause United problems, and both teams have been struggling for wins. Norwich have appeared better against top six teams than those directly competing for the honour of staying in the Premier League next season.

Chelsea, Liverpool, City, and Arsenal (to a lesser extent) are the main teams to look out for this week. In weeks like this it is either good to trust your gut or stick with dead set options from the top two teams (Liverpool & City) and from the best of the rest.

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 10

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Alisson (LIV)

DEF: Virgil van Dijk (LIV)

DEF: Ricardo Pereira (LEI)

DEF: Marco Alonso (CHE)

MID: Callum Hudson-Odoi (CHE)

MID: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)

MID: Raheem Sterling (MCI)

MID: Mohamad Salah (LIV)

FOR: Tammy Abraham (CHE)

FOR: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (ARS)

FOR: Sergio Aguero (MCI)

Substitutes

GK: Roberto (WHU)

MID: Nicolas Pépé (ARS)

DEF: Lewis Dunk (BHA)

DEF: Issa Diop (WHU)

Fixture Prediction: Gameweek 10

Southampton 1-1 Leicester

Man City 3-0 Aston Villa

Brighton 1-0 Everton

Watford 2-2 Bournemouth

West Ham 1-0 Sheffield United

Burnley 1-3 Chelsea

Newcastle 0-1 Wolves

Arsenal 2-2 Crystal Palace

Liverpool 2-0 Spurs

Norwich 2-1 Man United

FPL Forecasting: Gameweek 10

Top FPL targets for the weekend:

Major aim: Be alive come Monday to do it all again.

Would be nice: To get more than 35 points.

Actual expectations: Captain blank and a sub 35-point Gameweek.

Transfer targets:

Looking to get in: A cheap Goalkeeper, but there are very, very few options. Maybe Mat Ryan (BHA) as a short-term option, or Patricio (WOL) who is in half-decent form.

Looking to ship out: Pope (not cutting it) and Cantwell (looking done as an option)

Attacking targets: There isn’t a lot happening that us Premier League fans don’t already know right now and the ‘hot’ players right now just don’t tickle my fancy. Vardy’s too expensive and I’m scared of David Silva’s minutes, hence why I’m looking to shape up other areas of my teams.

Who are the teams to look out for and avoid?:

West Ham (Watch): Would be typical of this bipolar Hammers squad to beat an in-form and defensively compact Sheffield United side.

Wolves (Watch): Just not got the belief that my beloved boys will beat a Wolves side that will match Newcastle’s defensive 3 at the back style.

Man United (Avoid): Norwich will actually attack United and cause them more problems than Liverpool did, with the Reds playing to the occasion, and in turn losing the dual of minds at Old Trafford.

What would Phil say?:

Our THT member, Phil Jones, is busy with starting a new degree right now, so I'm filling in the blanks whilst he's away on educational maternity.

- Liverpool to bottle it against Spurs. Virgil van Dijk to be proven a fraud.

- Easy three points for Spurs.

- Heung-Min SOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!

- Tammy treble

- Aguerrrrrrrooooooooooo!!!

- Thoughts on Callum Wilson against Watford? Meh.

- Vardy party is in full effect.

FPL Captaincy Picks:

(C) – Mohamed Salah (LIV): Blank after blank for me. I’m just going to leave the armband on Salah until he breaks my curse. I’d loved to have gambled with KDB, but City’s rotation game is raising my blood pressure on a weekly basis so I’d rather not live with the stress.

(VC) – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (ARS): I’m half shrugging my shoulders over this pick, though given Auba’s history, he doesn’t go long without a goal or assist and Palace at home is a good time to add to his account.

Other Gameweek Comments:

I’ve been on the wrong end of 8 consecutive captaincy blanks, so it might be best to take my picks above with a pinch of salt.

This season is quickly becoming a write-off for most people as there is a general low with FPL and the world around it – that includes the way the official account does its social media and its irritating reporting, FPL social ‘Community’ accounts putting everything behind a paywall regardless of quality, and of course the biggie being player price rises in the game meaning we as players can only do a few things with our squads meaning that everyone is playing a templated game this season.

I’d best summarise the current state of the game as being in a long-term relationship where you continue to put in the hard work and show unwavering commitment every single week and you put up with the abuse because you’re nostalgic and remember the good times, even though in reality they’re a long way in the past.

FPL Scout Picks: Gameweek 10

Formation: 3-4-3

Starting 11

GK: Rui Patricio (WOL)

DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV)

DEF: Nicolas Otamendi (MCI)

DEF: Marcos Alonso (CHE)

MID: Mohamed Salah (LIV)

MID: Mason Mount (CHE)

MID: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)

MID: Andriy Yarmolenko (WHU)

FOR: Callum Wilson (BOU)

FOR: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (ARS)

FOR: Tammy Abraham (CHE)

Substitutes

GK: Mat Ryan (BHA)

MID: James Maddison (LEI)

DEF: Fikayo Tomori (CHE)

DEF: John Lundstram (SHU)

Want to know more about The Hype Train?

The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.

We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.

In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles.

The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.

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