Gameweek 8 Sleepers XI: Draft EPL

Bantah Boyz

16 minutes ago

8 min read

Our Gameweek 8 Sleepers XI article provides Draft managers with a lineup of Fantasy EPL hidden gems. Our starting eleven of Draft Premier League differential picks will help you find a golden ticket to a big score this weekend! These hints and tips will give you a better chance of picking up an all-important victory, as any one of these under-the-radar picks could make the difference in a head-to-head game!

Michail Antonio shooting the ball for West Ham

We'll be focusing on players that will bring us not only attacking returns or clean sheets, but also those players that score Ghost Points in the sophisticated and statistics based Fantrax Scoring System!

Gameweek 8 Sleepers XI

For this article, we use the percentage rostered calculation from Fantrax and Sleeper. Our only rule is that each player we highlight is rostered in 60% of leagues or fewer at the time of writing. Therefore, there's a good chance some of these players will be free agents in your Draft league! As always, we'll take form, fixtures, projected points, and a healthy dose of intuition into account to make our selections.

I cannot believe that we've had yet another shocker of a score. 54 FPts is all our Gameweek 7 team could muster. I might have to stop writing this article if this poor form continues! I do think we got a bit unlucky though, especially with one of our sub appearances. Anyways, let's break it down, starting with our Brighton defensive pair. Despite Verbruggen (8.25 FPts) and Kadioglu (11 FPts) keeping clean sheets, they really didn't have much to do during their 5-0 demolition of Crystal Palace. Wan-Bissaka also kept a clean sheet in his 76 minute start for the Villans, but only ended up with 8.25 FPts. Bobby Thomas continued his great ghosting ways by scoring 5.75 FPts, even though the Coventry CB conceded 3 goals. Gudmundsson was a big surprise though, especially after scoring back-to-back 15+ FPts games, he ended up with -1 FPts including a yellow card and a goal conceded. Sessegnon, who didn't even start his game, came on as a sub and got sent off, leaving us with -4.75 FPts. In our 2 man midfield, we had Nico Gonzalez (2 FPts, 1 yellow card) who scored fewer points than our halftime substitute match-winner Madueke (9.5 FPts, 1 yellow card) who scored to save the Gunners' blushes against Nottingham Forest. Up front we had Fernandez-Pardo (1.5 FPts in 55 minutes), Sorba Thomas (1 FPts in 67 minutes) and Thomas-Asante (12.5 FPts, 1 assist, 77 minutes), who barely kept the ship afloat. I'm just surprised we didn't manage to set a new low record for the season! Alas, back to the drawing board we go. So stay tuned to see the method to our madness for Gameweek 8.

The Sleepers XI table below includes a full team of Starters, as well as 5 Reserves - high-upside players with some question marks around whether or not they'll start in Gameweek 8. So keep an eye out when lineups are announced and pick them up if you see them starting, especially if you need to fill a spot on your roster. Read below for the rationale behind each of the Starter selections.

Mike Penders (G, Chelsea)

Despite conceding 11 goals in 6 games for Chelsea, Emi Martinez still scored the 5th most fantasy points of all goalkeepers in the game. He made 25 saves, which is the 2nd highest in the league, and also had the 3rd best PPS (11.08). Even with the return of Caicedo in the Blues' midfield, Chelsea are still letting up chances as Martinez faced 8 shots in his last 2 appearances. So there's definitely points on offer for Penders, who should be the nailed option between the sticks for Chelseea until Martinez recovers from his facial injury. Penders scored 5.25 FPts in 15 minutes, making 1 save, 1 clearances, 2 aerials and a high claim. An easy swap if you're frustrated with your current option in net.

Levi Colwill (D, Chelsea)

Why am I suggesting a defender from a team that has conceded the 4th most goals in the league? WELL LET ME TELL YOU! 12 of the 13 goals that Chelsea have conceded were before the International Break and pre-Caicedo. Now that the Ecuadorian destroyer is fit and starting games, Chelsea have only conceded once in the last 2 games and that goal came from a flustered clerances during a defensive corner that rebounded off Evanilson into the Chelsea net. Despite Fofana appearing to be one of the safest Chelsea defenders to pick from, he's actually not started any of the last 2 games for them. Colwill however has stayed in the team and has been averaging 7 gPPS over his last 5 games. Add a possible clean sheet to that and you're in business.

Milan van Ewijk (D, Coventry)

Since September 5th, van Ewijk has been averaging just over 10.5 gPPS. Over this period, he's been the 2nd best ghosting outfielder from Coventry City, only behind Bobby Thomas, playing 1 fewer game as well. In that time, the Dutch fullback has been 3rd for key passes (5) and 1st for tackles won (8), with an accumulation of contributions from the other default scoring categories as well. Coventry have recently picked up in form as well, having won 2 of their last 3 fixtures. Up next they've got Fulham at home who despite having played some very attractive football, have only won once themselves. So it's a great opportunity for the Sky Blues to put some distance between their competition for relegation.

Nico Elvedi (D, Leeds)

Since Elvedi became a regular starter in the Leeds backline in Gameweek 3, his scores have been 12.75, 1.5, 14, 1.75 and 11.5 FPts. So if mathematical trends are a thing, it seems like he should be scoring absolutely nothing this weekend again so why even bother? Well, Leeds are facing the worst team in the league this weekend. Sunderland are not only 20th in the league table, but over the last 4 games, they have also only scored 3 goals, which is the lowest in the league. They've only scored 1 home goal all season as well, which is only better than Nottingham Forest's zero. There could be a clean sheet on the cards for Farke and his men.

Sepp van den Berg (D, Brentford)

Sepp van den Berg finally returned to the Bees' backline after Schuster picked up an ankle injury which saw him miss out in Gameweek 7. Sepp's 0.25 FPts against Liverpool would normally scare me off him as an asset but his history of being a sub 10 PPS player is also very hard to ignore. This weekend the Bees are visiting Hull, in what seems like one of best fixtures for clean sheet odds if you're a Brentford defender. Hull also have the 2nd lowest predicted goals for the weekend, which isn't surprising as they're pretty much relying on the heroics of Belloumi to get them points this season, which isn't sustainable.

Jack Rudoni (M, Coventry)

Rudoni is Coventry's top scoring asset in the game at the moment. He's been on free kicks, corners and even recently been the penalty taker for the Sky Blues. From Gameweek 3-5, Rudoni was averaging just over 11 gPPS, but outside of that he was averaging just under 4 gPPS. That being said, he did still manage to score 11.25+ FPts in 2 of those 3 sub-par ghosting appearances scoring goals against the likes of Newcastle and Spurs. So basically he's scoring double digits regardless of what happens, which is what he's done in his last 5 games in a row. He's a reliable MID5 asset for any roster and really shouldn't be free in leagues ROS.

Jordan Henderson (M, Chelsea)

According to our Fixture Difficulty Tracker, Chelsea midfielders have the best rated fixture this weekend. It's should come as no surprise either as the Blues host Spurs in a London-derby that tends to go in favour of Chelsea in recent times, winning 5 of their last 6 meetings. Ever since coming into the Chelsea starting XI, Henderson has had a monopoly on the corners for Chelsea, taking 13 of the last 20 that they were awarded. He's been the 2nd best Chelsea asset over their last 2 outings, obviously thanks to his 36.25 FPts haul against Bournemouth, but also been 2nd for key passes (5). Even at the ripe age of 36 years old, he's still been playing 90 minute games and seems to be a lot more of a useful asset with Caicedo alongside him. This might be a ride-it-till-the-wheels-fall-off situation, so get on board!

Oscar Bobb (M, Fulham)

After a run of 6 games with only 1 double digit score against Crystal Palace in Gameweek 3, Bobb popped up again on our radar with his 11 ghost point game against Hull. He attempted 5 shots vs the Tigers, which is his highest number in a game so far this season. He's taken 20 of the 43 corners that Fulham have had this season and is 2nd for key passes (12). Both of his best scores have come against some of the worst team in the leagues, albeit at home, but Coventry are arguably of similar ilk despite their recent form, with the Sky Blues having conceded 14 goals for the season so far. This is literally a fixture play and nothing else. Likley and easy drop after this game.

Ryan Christie (M, Bournemouth)

The recent injury to Alex Scott opened up a spot for the likes of Ryan Christie to get starts and minutes in the Cherries starting XI again. Although his first start for the season against Liverpool ended with a -1 FPts score, his last 2 starts have been very promising. 6.5 FPts vs Chelsea in a 5-1 loss and 9.25 FPts against Sunderland in a 2-0, both of which included yellow cards, are decent scores if you are looking for a MID4/5. What also stood out during his last 3 starts were the fact that he led his teammates in key passes (5) and was 3rd for shots attempted (8). He's clearly one of the driving forces in their attack at the moment and is facing a Man Utd team that are in horrid form themselves. A punt until he's back to the bench.

Dan Ndoye (F, Nottingham Forest)

I personally won't be taking a punt on Dan Ndoye as every time I've gone there, he has punished me with some terrible scores. For example, this season he's had scores of 4.25, 1.5, 1, 0.75 and -0.25 against a mixed bag of opposition. However, he's also hit the lofty heights of 18 and 17 FPts. So if you can afford to take a risk or are a gambler, Ndoye vs Ipswich on the Friday night game might be for you. Ipswich have conceded 15 goals, the 2nd most in the league, whilst Nottingham Forest only seem to perform while on the road, having scored all of their goals in away games. This feels like the perfect recipe for a FWD2/3 stream, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Sidiki Cherif (F, Coventry)

After Awoniyi was sent off in Gameweek 4, Cherif was given an opportunity to make his first appearance off the bench. Since then, he has started the last 2 of Coventry's 3 games in the league. He got his first goal of the seasons against Newcastle, including an assist for the penalty, scoring 20.5 FPts. Although he started against Spurs in Gameweek 7 and got subbed after 59 minutes, he still managed to score 4.25 FPts via a key pass, interception, clearance, successful dribble and 2 aerials. If he manages to retain the starting spot, I quite fancy the striker to bag a goal against a Fulham team that is still fairly leaky at the back. He could be a useful FWD3 if your squad allows it, especially with rumours of lots of popular picks like DCL being heavy doubts for the weekend.