Gameweek 8 Preview

The defensive options look good this week with 4 of the better home defenses getting promising visits from teams who have struggled at times on the road. City are obviously the headliner and anyone who doesn't already have their quota of City players should strongly consider bringing in another defender for this week. Granted, you could draw a blank in next week's Manchester derby, but after that the fixtures look very good and Richards, Kompany and co could well find themselves atop the defensive listings by the time we roll into mid-November.

Offensively we have some unfamiliar names atop the standings (along with the ever present City) though it'll be a brave manager who throws anyone from that group into the below captain rankings for the week.


Captain Picks
It's a tough week to hand out the armband as no one really stands out as having the holy trinity of high upside, easy fixture and guaranteed minutes. We therefore fall into the classic argument of whether you back a player or his fixture.

City are the most promising elite team for the week though with Aguero out, the captain picks are cut down to the midfield pair of Nasri and Silva along with Dzeko who looks all but guaranteed to start the game. Dzeko has only had one bad game so far this year (GW6 vs Everton) - giving him a pass for not scoring with just 3 minutes of work last week - and probably comes with higher upside than either of the midfield duo. Of that pair, I am sticking with Silva, one has only had one poor game himself (GW3). There is of course the option of captaining a defender given the good fixture for the week and the fact that City are yet to concede at home. I struggle to make that move over the other elite City options myself but if you're money is invested with United and Liverpool players, you could do a lot worse than giving Kompany or Richards the armband this week.

The Liverpool-United game hurts the value of everyone involved as those games tend to be close affairs, often decided by just the odd goal. You wouldn't bet against Rooney getting on the scoresheet against anyone at the moment, but his upside is certainly lower than it has been recently. I would not consider Suarez, A Young or Nani for the captaincy this week.

Looking to the capital, I don't love Spurs trip to Newcastle which could just as easily peter out into a 1-0 loss as a 4-3 stormer. Van der Vaart started the season slowly but has scored in back to back games and is developing into one of the best differentiating elite options still available. Adebayor has of course played well too but the injury doubt for the week makes me hesitant to put him in the captain bracket. If you pay little attention to strength of schedule then Van der Vaart makes sense but I would rank him below all the elite City options again this week.

Arsenal at home to Sunderland would have made Van Persie, Fabregas and Nasri great captain options just a few weeks ago but with the midfield pair's departure, it's hard to be crazy about anyone in this side at the moment. Van Persie's upside matches anyone this week but with four 2-pointers already to his name, the downside is significant too. I feel it's too early to start making these kind of risky plays, but if you feel the need to differentiate, Van Persie (7% owned) is a nice option.

Moving onto those with the best fixtures, I don't see anyone from the promoted sides who has delivered consistently enough to warrant captain consideration. I'd love to tell you that Taarabt is that man or that Sinclair is locked in right now, but I just can't justify anyone of these teams as anything more than good squad men. Feel free of course to rotate them all into your side this week though. Demba Ba is finally showing the form he flashed with West Ham last year and gets another nice game this week to continue his form. I like him more than anyone on the promoted sides but I'd still be surprised if he was your best bet this week. Don't get too cute, guys.

As always, please post comments/questions below or @plfantasy and I will try and get them answered before the gameweek deadline.