2021/22 – GW7 Waivers, Trades and Free Agents

Draft Hub Admin FPL Tips, Trades, Waivers and Free Agents

Welcome back to GW7 – 2021/22 of the FPL Draft Hub waivers summary.

Each week we will provide a round up of waiver options and hidden gems, as long as ones to dump in some sell-high/buy-low targets as we look ahead to GW7.

As a Spurs fan, gameweek 6 was one to forget for @FPLDraftHubPod. But as a draft player, it turned out very well for him, with returns from Michael Keane, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Gabriel Jesus and Jamie Vardy. Elsewhere, owners of the concerto of Saka and Smith Rowe will have had some decent weeks, and to the less than 1% of players out there that own Kortney Hause, you found yourselves with the player of the game week picking up 15 points.

Generally it seemed to be a fairly low scoring game week and that is usually what happens when there are a few surprising results.There weren’t too many reliable point getters this week.

Anyway, some of the players we’ll be discussing in this episode include Emile Smith Rowe, Doucoure, Tielemans and many more so let’s get into it.

Looking through the fixture list, here are the teams that have a hot run coming up:
Arsenal – BHA (H), CRY (H), AVL (H), LEI (A)
Everton – MUN (A), WHU (H), WAT (H), WOL (A)
Man City– LIV (A), BUR (H), BHA (A), CRY (H)
Chelsea – SOU (H), BRE(A), NOR (H), NEW (A)
Leeds – WAT (H), SOU (A), WOL (H), NOR (A)

Out of the big 4 teams, Man City seem to have flown slightly under the radar having dropped some uncharacteristic points early on, but since the opening day defeat they’ve kept 5 consecutive clean sheets. And while I thought Chelsea were best placed to capitalise in the big title deciding clashes this season, it could actually be Man City.

Players to Watch

Doucoure – Everton

@FPLDraftHubPod mentioned the midfielder in passing in last week’s podcast. He’s already had 5 goal involvements this season, spread out amongst the games he’s played, which indicates some consistency. On top of this, he is a nailed on starter who is also picking up bonus, collecting 7 bonus points so far:

Emile Smith Rowe – Arsenal

The young star had an excellent performance in the North London Derby. And while Spurs were below par, it shouldn’t detract from the Arsenal performance. If Arsenal continue with their attacking confidence, you can be comfortable that the attacking returns will be shared between Smith Rowe, Saka, Odegaard and Aubameyang, with Smith Rowe looking more nailed on to start. Arsenal have great fixtures for the next 4 weeks so you can expect good attacking returns in the short term.

Jordan Pickford – Everton

After Pickford’s injury we saw his ownership across all league sizes drop significantly. However he made a surprise return against Norwich with a clean sheet to boot. A lot of managers would have picked up Ramsdale for Arsenal, which we suggest they should keep. However Everton have a lot of players returning in upcoming weeks, and now is a good time to get a hold of their number 1 keeper for the favourable run of fixtures due.

Youri Teilemans – Leicester City

The usual suspects in midfield for Leicester are yet to find form, meaning a lot of their attacking output has come through the middle – through Tielemans, who has picked up 2 goals and 2 assists in his first 6 games. He is generally not considered prolific, and there is always the chance that Barnes and Maddison take back attacking responsibility, however Liecester do play Crystal Palace next and there is every chance Tielemans continues his good form.

Lindelof, Telles, Dalot – Man United

Given Man United’s current injury issues with Shaw and Maguire, it is worth looking to their replacements in the near future. Lindelof is expected to deputise for Maguire, and we think that Telles is more favoured over Dalot, however that isn’t guaranteed.

Cornet – Burnley

Someone that @FPLDraftHubPod mentioned last week. He started in GW6 and made an instant impact to the Burnley attack. The only caveat is that he was taken off as a precaution at half time to monitor a hamstring tweak. Burnley will not want to risk him especially in what should be their easiest game of the season (to Norwich), though Norwich will be saying the same thing and they need to win to have any hope of survival

Bryan Gil – Spurs

Spurs clearly need a shake up strategically, and the players need motivation. Given the quality of players in the squad, we think this will eventually happen. If there is a silver lining, every time Bryan Gil has come on, he has added energy and quality to the left-side of the Spurs attack. When he came on vs. Arsenal

Spurs have winnable games up to the November international break and Nuno really needs the points, Gil is knocking on the door of the starting spot and in the long term, picking him up could be a great investment.

Marcus Rashford

He’s now back in outdoor training. He’s not working with the squad but the original timetable for his return doesn’t seem to be met with any setback so far. So one to pick up if he’s been languishing in the waiverpile, or want to trade for if the current owner is in an injury crisis.

Hidden Gems – GW7

Pinnock – Brentford

There weren’t too many hidden gems noted for this week. The main one really is Pinnock for Brentford, who has scored 36 points so far, averaging 6 points per game. And from a newly promoted club that puts him in the top 10 point scorers. Overall, Brentford have some pretty cold fixtures, but they’re not the worst – WHU (A), CHE (H), LEI (H), BUR (A)

The Most Hidden Gem – GW7

On to the most hidden gem section, aimed at those in the larger 16 team leagues to pick out a hidden gem that’s relevant for them. So we’ve started doing this with the player who has less than 10% ownership.

Grant Hanley – Norwich

6 losses from 6 is not a good look, but Norwich must be looking to their next game to pick up their first points. Burnley are usually fairly well organised against set pieces, but they have already conceded from two so far this season, and why not this game for Hanley to get his customary goal each year.

Players to Dump – GW7

Nicolas Pepe – Arsenal

The winger is currently taken in nearly 93% of 18 leagues and obviously higher ownership numbers as the league sizes increase. If you’re in a big league, he’s probably too good to drop because he’s an injury away from being in the starting XI. But in most leagues, you need to be looking at bringing in somebody that’s going to play most weeks and that’s just not the case for him currently.

Pulisic – Chelsea

With his injury record and current injury situation he’s not somebody that’s going to get you any points anytime soon. His ownership is currently over 90% and I can’t see any managers who can afford to carry him.

Zinchenko – Man City

Even though he plays for the current best defence in the league, their defence has been pretty stable in personnel. And as the best performing defence in the league there’s no reason why that should change. I think Pep recognises the league is going to be a real battle this year, possibly the hardest fought we’ve seen for a while. And if that means less roulette with the defensive team selections, then so be it. Zinchenko is a great player to appear in their domestic cup games.

Konate – Liverpool

His ownership is well above 80%, which we think is probably still a hangover from draft day, where he was rated quite highly in preseason. And we think lots of people were backing him to be the one to partner VVD going forwards. But that’s just not the case currently. And there’s too much value in the wave pile for defenders, where you really shouldn’t be carrying the likes of Konate.

Trade Value – Sell High

The players currently scoring points are the ones who are valued highly and meeting their potential, so we don’t have much to report here on overperforming players.

Trade Value – Buy Low

James Ward-Prowse – Southampton

James Ward-Prowse has proven to be a reliable points scorer in many previous seasons, but only has one goal so far. There is a decent fixture run coming up for Southampton and we expect them to improve their performances which means more goals and assists!

Ollie Watkins – Aston Villa

The forward was really impressive last year, but has zero goal involvements so far. He is starting games and we expect him to get back in to goalscoring form soon.