Our Gameweek 8 Hot or Cold article is here to outline the current prospects of key Fantasy EPL players. The 'Hot' or 'Cold' status will help take away your emotional attachment to certain Draft Premier League players and help you bring in the players that you need to help you dominate your Fantrax Draft League!
These Hot or Cold ratings are based on the data contained within the Weekly Rest-of-Season Rankings produced by The FF Chaps. The Draft Society's exclusive weekly refresh of Fantasy EPL prospect rankings!
🔥🔥🔥 Gameweek 8 Hot List 🔥🔥🔥
These are Fantasy EPL players that have risen in our Weekly ROS Rankings! Keep an eye on these Draft Premier League players, and bring them into your Fantrax squad if you can.
Andros Townsend
Position: Midfielder
Team: Everton
GW7 Rank: 55
GW8 Rank: 42
What's Changed?: Andros Townsend is the 6th highest scoring player in Fantrax so far this season. Incredible stuff from the former Crystal Palace midfielder. I've been slowly moving the Englishman up my rankings, but I'm skeptical about moving him up too much more. He's always been a great player to roster on Fantrax, but I'm not 100% convinced he stays in the Everton side once their squad is back to full fitness. James Rodriguez leaving the club was obviously a good thing for Townsend, but Richarlison is due back very soon, and Iwobi will be pushing hard for a starting place too. He has potential to continue to score very well, but I would be tempted to try and trade Townsend out on a high for the likes of Pogba, JWP, or Tielemans.
Hwang Hee-Chan
Position: Forward
Team: Wolves
GW7 Rank: 108
GW8 Rank: 68
What's Changed?: I'll fully admit I've been sleeping on Hwang Hee-Chan. I've made a classic Fantasy Football mistake. Whilst compiling my rankings in recent weeks and months, I've obviously noticed how well Traore and Trincao have been scoring on Fantrax and adjusted my rankings accordingly to bump them up, but I didn't take into consideration their real-life performances. Take Trincao for example. His games have been full of Key Passes, Shots on Target, and Successful Dribbles. He's averaged nearly 10 Points Per Start without any attacking returns. But has he actually been performing to a standard that his manager likes? Probably not. And the same goes for Traore; he averages nearly 10 Successful Dribbles per game, but with zero end product it's no wonder he's been dropped in recent weeks.
Enter Hwang. The South Korean forward, on-loan from RB Leipzig, has come into the side and shown a clinical side which Bruno Lage will like. I've now got Hwang ranked at 68th overall, which is higher than team mate Trincao. He doesn't look to have amazing ghost points, but I can see him establishing himself in the side and leaving the aforementioned Traore and Trincao, as well as Podence, to fight it out for the remaining attacking midfield position. With Trincao testing positive for Covid-19, I would expect Traore to start this weekend.
Marc Cucurella
Position: Defender
Team: Brighton & Hove Albion
GW7 Rank: 112
GW8 Rank: 97
What's Changed?: Marc Cucurella looks like a great signing. The Spaniard arrived from Getafe in the summer, and has started every game since then. Cucurella was amazing against Arsenal in GW7, and was Brighton's main attacking threat from his left wing-back position. Tomiyasu could not deal with him! Cucurella gained 20.75 points, laying on 4 key passes and 1 accurate cross, as well as winning 3 tackles and 2 aerials. Norwich are up next for Brighton, and another clean sheet is certainly on the cards. Cucurella is up to 97th overall, and could potentially rival the likes of Wan-Bissaka, Cresswell and Tarkowski in terms of his Fantrax output. He's currently playing really far forward, and will gain points from both attacking and defensive situations. Whilst the more defensive Veltman is playing as the opposite wing-back, I see Cucurella as a must have Fantrax asset.
For the full list of all the Gameweek 8 risers, check out the Weekly ROS Rankings page!
❄️❄️❄️ Gameweek 8 Cold List ❄️❄️❄️
These are Fantasy EPL players that have fallen in our Weekly ROS Rankings. This may be due to poor form, dropping out of the starting XI, suffering an injury, or receiving a suspension. It's time to consider trading out these Draft Premier League players from your rosters!
Martin Odegaard
Position: Midfielder
Team: Arsenal
GW7 Rank: 51
GW8 Rank: 77
What's Changed?: I think we all feared this would happen. Odegaard's ghost points have been poor during his five starts so far this season, averaging just 4.3 per game per our Ghost Point Tracker. This is not good enough for a player who should be on the cusp of the Top 50 overall players. I've dropped the Norwegian down to 77th overall, but that was potentially too generous. Odegaard was the first Arsenal player to make way during the drab display at Brighton in GW7. If we take away his goal against Burnley in GW5, his numbers are really, really bad. Improvements are needed fast, or Odegaard will start dropping further down my rest-of-season rankings very quickly.
Recommendation: I would look to move Odegaard out of your Fantrax roster as soon as you can. Try and upgrade him to the likes of Trossard, Smith Rowe, Hwang, Gray, Tarkowski or Pinnock before his value falls further.
Kurt Zouma
Position: Defender
Team: West Ham United
GW7 Rank: 80
GW8 Rank: 106
What's Changed?: I had really high hopes for Kurt Zouma after his move to West Ham. The Frenchman performed really well for Chelsea last season when called upon, ending the season with 10.7 Points Per Start and 8.4 Ghost Points Per Start. But so far at West Ham it hasn't really happened for him. Zouma has a decent average of 7.6 Ghost Points Per Start, but with just 3.6 Points Per Start his overall output has been poor. With clean sheets harder to come by at West Ham, maybe this was always going to be the case. Hopefully his numbers will improve, but Zouma has now dropped out of my overall Top 100.
Recommendation: Zouma is borderline droppable in 12 team leagues, and should probably be dropped in 8 or 10 team leagues. I'm personally keeping faith for now, but if you're struggling with injuries and need to bring in a more trustworthy defender, then dropping Zouma is probably the right call. I've now got the likes of Pinnock, Tomiyasu, Duffy and Cooper ahead of the Frenchman; see if you can agree a 1-for-1 trade for one of those players.
Chris Wood
Position: Forward
Team: Burnley
GW7 Rank: 69
GW8 Rank: 91
What's Changed?: I drafted Chris Wood in the 8th round of the DPL Community League, and I was confident I had picked up a forward I could keep for the season, and plug into my starting eleven when required. I'm not sure if that's still the case. Wood has dropped down to 91st overall in my rankings, and he's borderline droppable in a 12 team league at the moment. With an average of 6.4 Ghost Points Per Start and just one goal to his name, its been a really poor start for Wood. He has averaged 4.7 headers per game, so there is potential there, but he needs to add more to his game right now to warrant a place in our Fantrax rosters. As per our Useful Draft Metrics page, Wood has an expected Points Per 90 (xPP90) of 9.7 so again, there is potential there.
Recommendation: I'm at breaking point with regards to Wood. I've been offering him up as the 'sweetener' in a few trade deals, but managers in my league aren't biting. I'm going to keep hold of Wood personally, but whilst playing for a Burnley side who just aren't getting results, I can see the big Kiwi dropping outside of my Top 100 rankings in the near future.
For the full list of all the Gameweek 8 fallers, check out the Weekly ROS Rankings page!
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