Gameweek 9 Player Picks

(Note: This article was published on the Stadium Astro site on Friday, but was not published in this blog until today, and is published for completeness)

Hope you enjoyed the break, we're back for Week 9, but REMEMBER to check injury news as close to the deadline as possible due to the internationals.

There are also players flying back late from their respective countries matches, so be wary of players from South America for instance, most of whom return to England late. While it might not put you off players like Sanchez, you might reconsider captaining them. Bear in mind the Champions League midweek matches, and we could see some low-scoring matches amongst the top teams.

Strikers

Costa comes in to the spotlight, well rested after a three match ban, not involved in the internationals, and publicly admitting he had a bad start to the season due to indiscipline and weight issues. Any other result than a win for Chelsea will put serious question marks on Mourinho's ability to manage his squad into a third year. The recent criticism by the Spain manager could well become motivation, as Costa might drop all the nonsense he's been doing on field and concentrate on scoring goals.

Pelle is in fantastic form at the moment and in most other fantasy games has been touted as the ideal Aguero replacement.

Speaking of Aguero's replacement, Bony is expected to take the field but I'm really not convinced that he can do the job.

Ayoze, anyone? As mentioned in my Period 3 Preview, Newcastle desperately need to start winning matches, and the upcoming fixture list gives them an excellent chance to start doing so. Since Newcastle only play on Sunday, you can use your week's transfers to include him in the starting line-up. He also frees up funds nicely for next weekend as you will want to keep him for the Tyneside derby next week.

Dark horse: I'm looking at Mbokani of Norwich, who might be ready for a start after scoring as a sub in Norwich's last match.

Midfielders

Kevin De Bruyne finds himself as Manchester City's main man, in the absence of Aguero and Silva,  and has been brought in by many fantasy managers. Doubts have been brought up as to City's effectiveness in attack without their key players,

Christian Erikssen comes into the story as he plays Liverpool who have been very wobbly in defense since they lost 0-3 to West Ham back in August. Erikssen executed to almost perfect freekicks last week so he can cause havoc to the Liverpool backline. It remains to be seen if Klopp can galvanise Liverpool so soon, so Erikssen is a strong option.

On the cheaper scale, Sadio Mane comes into fine form having scored two and assisted one in his past two matches. Southampton play Leicester who are 3 points above them but Leicester don't seem to make clean sheets a priority. However, I'm leaning towards Tadic this week as a better performer.

While I have Mahrez in my team, it's a bit hard to recommend him because a) he clocked two 90 min appearances for Algeria and b) I actually think Southampton can hold off Leicester, despite popular theory on the web about it being a high-scoring match.

Finally, Mata has been involved in most of Manchester United's goals so far. Although it's a tough match against Everton,  he could be the difference with a set piece winner.

Defenders

I won't spend much time here, but Azpilicueta of Chelsea, Janmaat of Newcastle if fit, are good choices for the weekend. Russell Martin is useful at set pieces against a defensively suspect Newcastle. I actually fancy a Terry set piece goal in the works against a sad Villa.

Ryan Bertrand is a great attacking option as well against Leicester as he continues his return from injury.

Goalkeepers

Begovic against a goal-shy Aston Villa, and a Chelsea without Ivanovic might actually keep a clean sheet for once! Worth considering but Chelsea face a strong West Ham the following week.

Fabianski will play in the last weekend match against Stoke. Stoke have yet to find some attacking consistency and Swansea's defense this season has been fairly strong.

Myhill has a chance of a clean sheet at home to Big Sam's Sunderland which will look to make defending a priority.

That's it!

My squad as it is:

I used the international break transfers as follows:

Pedro to Costa
Aguero to Lewandowski
Darmian to Janmaat

Unfortunately, after I had done them, Kolarov got injured, teaching me a lesson that it pays to be just a bit more patient (although there is a slight chance of him recovering). Janmaat is a huge gamble, but it could really pay off in the weeks ahead.

I will not be transferring any Man City player for now as I prefer to see how they do first. Most likely I will be bringing in Gomis or Ayoze, and maybe an Arsenal defender.

Good luck all!