Five of the ten Gameweek 8 matches are done, and it is already a tough week for the template. João Pedro, owned by 73% of managers, was not in Chelsea’s squad. Palmer was sent off. Manchester City lost their first league game of the season. And the biggest scores came from two Arsenal centre-backs.
The game-wide average after Saturday is 27 points and the top score is 102. Both numbers are provisional: Manchester United, Liverpool, Brighton, Bournemouth, Leeds, Newcastle and the rest still play on Sunday.
Friday and Saturday results
| Match | Score | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Ipswich v Nottingham Forest (Fri) | 1-1 | N. Williams 13′, Enciso 41′ |
| Aston Villa v Manchester City | 2-1 | N. Jackson 6′, 60′; Haaland 52′ |
| Arsenal v Everton | 2-0 | Konsa 7′, Gabriel 68′ |
| Coventry v Fulham | 0-1 | Bobb 80′ |
| Chelsea v Tottenham | 0-2 | Penders 77′ (own goal), Tel 87′; red card: Palmer 80′ |
João Pedro: the most-owned player in the game, not even on the bench
There was no warning before Saturday. Xabi Alonso said before the Tottenham game that the striker felt something in Friday’s training, there was fluid and tests were needed. After the match he added that the test would probably be done on Sunday. The game only flagged him at 75% at kick-off, long after the deadline. Teenager Geovany Quenda started in his place.
What it means for your team:
- If João Pedro was in your starting XI, your first substitute comes on after Sunday, as long as he played.
- If he had your armband, it passes to your vice-captain. The most common set-up in the game is Haaland as captain and João Pedro as vice. Nothing changes there: the armband stays with Haaland.
- Hold any decision on selling him until the scan results are in. Chelsea play at Liverpool in the League Cup on Wednesday, and their home game against Manchester United opens Gameweek 9 at 12:30 on Saturday. The deadline is 11:00.
Our model still rates him 85 with a “Buy” verdict, because it does not read press conferences. Until there is a diagnosis, that number says nothing about whether he plays next week.
Palmer sent off, but he can play in Gameweek 9
Palmer was booked in the 71st minute and picked up a second yellow in the 80th for a late foul, a few minutes after Penders scored an own goal. That is -1 in FPL. It was only Tottenham’s second Premier League win at Stamford Bridge and their first since 2018. Tel got the second, running from his own half.
The key point for the 28% of managers who own Palmer: a red card for two yellows is a one-match ban, and in England it applies across all domestic competitions. Chelsea’s next game is the League Cup trip to Liverpool on Wednesday, so that is where Palmer serves it. English media have confirmed this, including Kieran Gill of the Daily Mail. He will be available for Manchester United on Saturday. Do not sell him because of the card.
City’s perfect run ends: two goals from Jackson
City had won all seven league games and were going for an eighth. Nicolas Jackson stopped them with goals in the 6th and 60th minutes (13 points, 6.3% owned). This is the same Jackson Villa bought from Chelsea in August to replace Watkins, which we covered in the Chelsea–Villa swap. He now has seven goals in all competitions this season.
Haaland headed the equaliser in the 52nd minute: 8 points, or 16 with the armband. He was the most-captained player in the game. Cherki (39% owned) and Guéhi did worse: both were booked in the first half and both came off at half-time. Zero points each.
Arsenal: 31 points from two centre-backs
Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 to draw level on points with City at the top. Konsa scored from a corner in the 7th minute, his first goal for Arsenal since his summer move from Villa: 14 points for £4.6m. Gabriel headed in White’s cross in his 200th Premier League appearance: 17 points, the best score of the week so far. White got 10 (assist) and Raya 7.
The bad news concerns Calafiori, owned by 54% of managers. He started on the bench, came on in the 68th minute, was holding his hip late on and finished the game on the wing. Arteta described it afterwards as a small issue that has not yet been identified. The game has flagged him at 75%. Saka is still out, with no return date.
How our picks did
| What we said on Friday | What happened |
|---|---|
| Rogers – our No. 1 captain (risk 31, upside 89) | 1 pt: 90 minutes, booked in stoppage time |
| João Pedro – 5th in our captain picks | 0 minutes, injured in Friday training |
| Haaland – only 9th for us (away at Villa Park) | 8 pts, 16 as captain |
| Van Hecke – budget defender in the Recommended Squad | 7 pts, clean sheet at Stamford Bridge |
| Gibbs-White – flag removed, yet 119k sold him | 2 pts, the crowd was right this time |
For the second week running our top captain pick has lost out to Haaland. In Gameweek 7 Semenyo scored 1 and Haaland 13. Now it is Rogers 1, Haaland 8. This week the model pushed Haaland down because of the trip to Villa Park, and he scored anyway. We are noting it and will keep watching.
To be fair, most of our Recommended Squad only plays today: 7 of the 11, including captain Bogle and vice-captain Tavernier.
Saturday’s cheap heroes
- Tel (Tottenham, £5.6m, 0.2% owned) – 11 pts
- Bobb (Fulham, £5.5m, 0.4%) – 11 pts, his first Premier League goal for Fulham and Fulham’s first away win in nine attempts
- Enciso (Ipswich, £5.5m, 0.8%) – 10 pts
- Kinský (Tottenham, £4.4m) – 9 pts, a clean sheet and two bonus points
Also worth noting: Delap returned to Ipswich as a Forest player and did not score despite good chances. We covered his move to Forest in August.
Our league after Saturday
Our league has 73 teams. The average after Saturday is 29.0 points, against 27 across the whole game (live numbers, before Sunday’s matches and automatic substitutions).
- Haaland captained 44 of the 73 teams (60%).
- 61 teams (84%) had João Pedro in their starting XI, and 13 gave him the armband.
- 47% of our teams own Konsa, against 19% in the whole game. That is where our league gained on the world. Only 5 teams own Gabriel.
- Palmer is in half of our teams, and five captained him: -2 points.
- Planet Lino is having the best week: 67 points and a live jump from 39th to 13th.
- Pogoń Bydło lead (593), ahead of AVERAGEJOE (581) and Wojciech’s Team (559).
The full table is on the Mini League page. You can join at any time with the code 3ix1cw.
Today and next
- Sunday, 14:00: Crystal Palace v Newcastle, Hull v Brentford, Liverpool v Brighton, Manchester United v Bournemouth. 16:30: Sunderland v Leeds. The clocks went back overnight.
- New flags after Saturday: João Pedro (75%), Calafiori (75%), Coventry’s Bobby Thomas (75%, 9.7% owned, off before the hour), Neco Williams (75%, arm). All of them are tracked in the Injury Centre.
- Midweek: League Cup fourth round, including Liverpool v Chelsea on Wednesday at 20:00. All the ties are in our draw article.
- Gameweek 9 deadline: Saturday 31 October, 11:00. First match: Chelsea v Manchester United at 12:30.
Our full Gameweek 8 review follows after Sunday’s games.
Data: official Fantasy Premier League API (as of Sunday 25 October, morning) and our AI model’s ratings. Gameweek averages are provisional until the game confirms the points. Manager quotes reported by Sky Sports, The Independent, Goal and ESPN. All times UK.