Welcome back to the Hive FPL head to head league in what will be the final round of fixtures before the last international break of 2024.
During the break, I'll look to publish the league tables and some general updates on the battles in both the head to head and classic competitions. Outstanding rewards for H2H wins will also be made this weekend.
For now let's focus on the matches this weekend and the players that might make a difference for your FPL team...
With a full round of European fixtures midweek, we have a 6/4 Saturday/Sunday split in the calendar with the 3pm Saturday kick-offs containing only teams who did not play in Europe.
That means that with FPL managers tending to gravitate towards 'the big clubs' it might take a while for some sides to register many if any points in GW11.
GW11 Premier League matches and players to watch
Things start off with Brentford taking on Bournemouth. The Bees lost their West London derby on Monday night thanks to 2 stoppage time goals but Tomas Franks was quick to point out that his side hadn't played well enough throughout to justify the win. Meanwhile the Cherries are flying high after claiming another big scalp at home this season.
What you will get with Brentford matches is goals! There have been 39 of them in the first 10 EPL games they've played in this season, only bottom placed Wolves have been involved in as many.
That means that 2 of the leagues very good budget midfield picks so far could well add to their points tallies this time around. If you don't have Mbuemo (MID) and/or Semenyo (MID) in your team then you might well want to get at least one of them in now. The later appears in just over 7% of FPL Teams at the moment but Bournemouth have an appealing run of fixtures between now and Christmas which will surely see that number rise.
The aforementioned winners of Monday night's match Fulham, take on another London based club in Crystal Palace. The Cottager's victory puts them up to 9th in the league but a win here would, at least temporarily, catapult them into the Champions League spots. Their opponents Palace salvaged a very useful point at bottom placed Wolves last week and will be hoping to extend their unbeaten run to 3 after a bit of a horror start.
Robinson (DEF) got his 3rd assist of the season for Fulham. The primary issue for him or any Fulham defender is the lack of clean sheets with just 1 so far this year.
For Palace, the fact that their centre-back (Guehi) and goalkeeper (Henderson) are their top point scorers probably tells you all you need to know about how their season has gone to date. Their most popular player prior to this week, Eze (MID) , is out injured.
I don't think there's any other way to put it, this is a must win game for West Ham and their manager Lopetegui. Hammers fans were dreaming of bigger things given their outlay in the transfer market this summer but it simply hasn't worked so far and another home defeat against a struggling Everton side could well be the final nail in the coffin.
With 6 goal involvements to date, Bowen (MID) continues to be the only realistic FPL pick from West Ham. In fact, the club captain has scored in both his last 2 home games and you feel that they'll need another big performance from him in this one.
Everton's McNeil (MID) has the highest creativity ICT rating of the season so far and if he were playing in a side with better forwards around him would surely be a must have midfielder. Sadly for the 11% of managers who have put their faith in him, Calvert-Lewin (FWD) continues to tyo spurn the majority of those chances created.
I think the table has settled enough for us to call these kind of fixtures '6 pointers'. Southampton got their first win of the season at home to Everton last time out while Wolves, despite playing some excellent football, couldn't close the deal against Palace and were ultimately fortunate not to lose.
As suggested in last week's post, Cunha (FWD) and Strand-Larson (FWD) continue to look like decent options for a 3rd forward and given the attacking intent of the Wolves side will surely add to their respective tallies over the coming weeks.
The opposite is true of Southampton whose lacks of goals and creativity plus some kamakaze defending means that none of their players have breached the 30 point barrier this season. Harwood-Bellis (DEF) continues to be a good option for a budget defender with the centre-back celebrating a call-up to the England squad.
If there is ever a good-time to play Man City then this is surely it. 3 defeats on the bounce in all competitions can't have happened very often for any Pep side. Of course, you might argue therefore that they're due a performance.
If they do win at Brighton then they'll be the first visiting side to do so at the Amex this year where the Seagulls have scored at least 2 goals in 4 of their 5 home fixtures in 24/25.
Chief destroyer continues to be Welbeck (FWD) who has a goal involvement in his last 4 matches and is arguably playing the best, most consistent football of his career.
The same can't be said of Haaland (FWD) however who has just 1 goal in his last 5 Premier League appearances. That lull in form and has promoted managers to start taking him out of their team with his net transfers for GW10 in the negative for the first time this season. It wouldn't surprise me if that trend continues for GW11. Are you considering ditching the big man?
Liverpool v Villa is the last of the Saturday matches and might present the Reds with the opportunity of extending their lead at the top of the table with their nearest rivals City and Arsenal both facing tough away assignments.
Villa for their part will want to bounce back from defeat at Spurs last weekend and a loss midweek in the Champions League.
Salah (MID) continues to be Mr consistent this season with a goal involvement in 8 out of 10 league fixtures so far and 6 double digit returns in 24/25. Is this the last year that FPL managers will be able to bank on those kind of returns?
On the other side, Watkins (FWD) has had a decent season with 5 goals and 2 assists but hasn't been as consistent as last year. He still ranks 3rd on the ICT for threat amongst forwards so you'd feel that a purple patch might be just around the corner. After this match Villa do have 3 home matches in their next 4 against Brentford, Southampton and Palace.
Sunday sees Ruud Van Nistelroy in charge of his final game at Old Trafford and it's one that you'd expect United to claim all 3 points in even though they've won just 2 points more than the visitors this season.
Leicester quite frankly have over-performed their 10 points so far but there is definitely a resilience to the Foxes which means that sides will have to turn-up against them despite their obvious shortcomings.
From an FPL perspective the question remains as to whether United can finish their chances! Garnacho (MID) for example has an XG of 3.5 for the season but has found the net just twice. If he could score the tap ins as well as the occasional worldie then he'd be a must have.
For his part, Vardy (FWD) also has an XG of 3.5 and has scored 4 times in the league so far including goal involvements in his last 3 Premier League matches. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks which means that United shouldn't be surprised at the threat he brings. The real question then is can they stop it?
I might be wrong but I don't see many goals in this one!
Forest comfortably beat a woeful West Ham side here last weekend but despite their strong start to the campaign that is the first time they've scored more than once at home this season. For their part, Newcastle have been involved in matches which have seen just 20 goals so far this year, the lowest in the league.
While Wood (FWD) and Isak (FWD) might be tempting, I'd suggest the real value to be found in this fixture will be in defence and there are plenty of good options around.
Hall (DEF) was brilliant against Arsenal last week in a defensive capacity but since establishing himself as the first choice left-back, he's also managed to put up the 2nd best creativity rating for a defender on the ICT (last 6 GWs) out-performing the likes of TAA, Porro and Gvardiol. At the moment, that has resulted in just a single assist but if Newcastle can get their frontline fit and firing then you'd imagine more points will materialise for the young left-back who celebrates a debut call-up to the national team.
Of course, on the opposite side both Forest full-backs got goal involvements last week and again both are very reasonably priced suggesting that at least 1 of the 3 options should be in your team for this week and the foreseeable future.
Spurs at home is starting to look like a fixture that FPL managers should get excited about. Tottenham have scored 4 goals in 3 of their 5 home fixtures this season with a further 3 against Brentford.
The difficulty since Kane's departure is picking which Spurs player is going to find the back of the net! Johnson (MID) and Solanke (FWD) who both scored against Villa last week have 4 a piece while Son (MID) and Maddison (MID) have 3 each in the league. I'd suggest the former pair are definite starters while Son's fitness continues to be a concern and Maddison is not assured of being in the first XI.
For Ipswich the wait continues for that first win. Palace managed to break their duck against Spurs a couple of weeks ago so perhaps that's a good omen?
Davis (DEF) in defence is a player to keep in mind. He has 3 goal involvements already this season including what looked like it might be the winner against Leicester.
The weekend then finishes off with what should prove to be an absolute cracker of a fixture between 2 London based giants.
Arsenal are on a poor run of form but can take heart from the fact that they put 5 past Chelsea when these teams met in the Spring. In fact, it's a fixture that the Gunners have dominated in recent times including at Stamford Bridge. The last time Chelsea beat Arsenal here was back in 2018 and a quick look at the team sheets for that day (a 3-2 win for Chelsea) shows how much churn there has been across both clubs in the meantime. Only Jorginho who was playing for Chelsea on that occasion could potentially appear in this weekend's game.
For FPL players, the real disappointment has been in Arsenal's defence which looked solid as a rock for the first couple of months, promting plenty of investment in their high-priced defenders and goalkeeper. However, no clean sheet in their last 6 Premier League matches is arguably as much of a concern as Haaland's recent barren run.
The big talking point coming into the match will be the availability of multiple big name midfielders. Palmer (MID) suffered a knock against United but is expected to start. Rice (MID) has a broken toe but is also expected to start while Odegaard (MID) made a brief appearance in midweek but you'd imagine will be working his way back to fitness and is more likely to begin the game on the bench.
