2021/22 – GW8 Waivers, Trades and Free Agents

Draft Hub Admin Trades, Waivers and Free Agents Aubameyang, FPL Draft, GW8, Hanley, Hwang, Llorente, Wolves

Welcome back to GW – 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 GW8.

Coming out of an international break GW8 is not quite as simple as players returning going straight into the Premier League 11. Although most snippets of info we’ve seen so far this week seem to suggest he won’t be as big a problem as it was in the previous one.

I know for Tottenham in particular who I follow more than others the impression is that the South American players will be available and how clubs manage that seems to be down to them. For example, Klopp seems to have said he would probably not start the Brazilian guys due to the tight turnaround. It’s also been said that Tiago Silva won’t feature for Chelsea in their game against Brentford. But generally if you have any of the South Americans in your draft teams, just look at what the rumours are around particular players near the deadline.

Some of the plays I’ll be discussing in this episode include Ben Chilwell, Hee-chan Hwang, Curtis Jones, and a whole raft of other slightly below par defenders.

Fixture Barometer:

The teams with favourable fixtures coming up are:

Arsenal – CRY (H) , AVL (H), LEI (A), WAT (H)
Chelsea – BRE (A), NOR (H), NEW (A), BUR (H)
Everton – WHU (H), WAT (H), WOL (A), TOT (H)
Wolves – AVL (A), LEE (A), EVE (H), CRY (A)
Man City – BUR (H), BRI (A), CRY (H), MUN (A)

The teams with a tough run are:

Crystal Palace – ARS (A), NEW (H), MCI (A), WOL (H)
Burnley – MCI (A), SOU (A), BRE (H), CHE (A)
Watford – LIV (H), EVE (A), SOU (H), ARS (A)

Players to watch

Cucurella – Brighton Hove & Albion (or any other BHA defender)

You know players are your prime candidates for a one week defensive pump when they face Premier League whipping boys Norwich. Norwich did manage to get their first point of the season in game week seven with a 0-0 draw against Burnley. I think Norwich is your best chance of a result here is another 0-0 draw. They’ve only managed two goals in seven games and outside the obvious choices brighten your best ticket to a clean sheet.

Any Brighton defenders are an option but @FPLDraftHubPod particularly likes the look of Cucurella so far.

Joel Matip – Liverpool

Next is Joe Matic who’s taken in just 31% of 8 person leaks. I think I mentioned him on last week’s pod but whenever I look over the ownership numbers, he is still a standout. In 8 person leagues which is the most popular league size out there, you know he’ll be up there with some of the best FPL defenders this year barring any injuries as a starting nailed on Liverpool centre back.

Lindelof – Man United

Next is Lindelof for Man United who’s available in about half of 8 person leagues with moderate ownership even in the larger ones. Confirmation this week that Maguire and Varane will both be missing for what looks like the next two games at least. The only thing here is that United don’t have the best run of games, and you have to consider it will probably be Lindelof and Bailly at the back.

Bailly is another more likely option if Lindelof is taken in your league, with his ownership only hitting 27% in the larger 16 person leagues with ownership in ‘hidden gem zone’.

Chalobah – Chelsea

The young defender is definitely in with a good shot of starting Chelsea’s next game, depending on who ends up being fit. Thiago Silva looks set to be rested for this one due to the international turnaround and Rudiger missed Germany’s qualifier with back issue.

On a side note, we think Christiensen then seems a fairly nailed-on starter for GW8, and he’s definitely one that we would consider picking up if he was free. But Chalobah has an excellent choice of starting to and is far more available across the leagues.

Bernardo Silva – Manchester City

Whilst the technically gifted midfielder has not posted the most exciting attacking numbers for him so far this season, any player in Man City’s ‘front five’ could come away with a big haul. He could be one you want to have a go out for a few weeks and see how it goes.

Gray, Townsend, Doucoure – Everton

Any of this in-form trio is worth investing in at the moment. It’s hard to see them playing without one of them returning. Ownership is high in the larger leagues, but for those 8 person leagues, you could do a lot worse than getting one of these guys in.

Hee-chan Hwang – Wolves

There’s a new forward in town.@FPLDraftHubPod transferred the Wolves striker into his normal FPL team a couple of weeks ago on a wildcard and got a nice touch of luck last week. We fully expect him to be the most waivered in player this week across the Draft Universe, and we fully expect him to continue to start games for Wolves as they can’t afford to not play guys in form.

Some of the strikers we would consider dropping for him would be Pukki, Dennis, Josh King, any of the Southampton strikers, and probably any of the Burnley strikers,

Hidden Gems

On to some hidden gems – players with generally less than 10% ownership across Draft Leagues.

Tomiyasu, Gabriel – Arsenal

You could do a lot worse than to pick either one of these guys up at the moment. Arsenal have a fairly decent run of fixtures now and they look fairly comfortable, with a settled starting 11. Given the fixture run for Arsenal, we are expecting a few more clean sheets.

Veltman – Brighton

Under the radar, he is averaging four points per game from his opening five appearances. If the rest of the Brighton defence is taken, it is definitely worthwhile getting him, especially if you’re looking to cover a head-to-head matchup.

Curtis Jones – Liverpool

The fan favourite is fighting his way into the starting 11 spot and so far he’s auditioning very well. We’ve obviously seen a few glimpses of him already over the past couple of seasons, but he looks more decisive and confident now. He’s only played 171 minutes and has 16 FPL points from a goal, an assist and three bonus points. His ownership only hits 32% in 16 team leagues and everywhere else he’s in fully fledged hidden gem territory.

The Most Hidden Gem

Llorente vs Hanley

This section features a player who’s owned in less than 10% of 16 person leagues. The pick for this segment tends to be a player that you should bring in for 1 week, and this week the decision comes down to Llorente vs Hanley.

Both players are not a million miles apart when it comes to clean sheet potential this week. The bookies actually have Norwich the more likely to get a clean sheet than Leeds. In fact, they’re in the top half if you rank all 20 teams by bookies’ clean sheet odds.

Players to Buy Low

Reece James – Chelsea

He hasn’t really got the number of minutes some would have expected but could get a run of games up until the next international break.

Riyad Mahrez – Man City

Owners of Mahrez will probably be starting to get cold feet on him and you might be able to get a reasonable deal there.

Aubameyang – Arsenal

He’s shown some signs in the last few games of getting back to form and they have some great fixtures coming up now, so it could be a great time to get him in there ,but you might be a couple of weeks too late.

Player to Sell High

Ferran Torres – Man City

We’ve not seen the Spain forward feature in the Premier League for a few weeks. He obviously started off really well playing as a false nine, but the competition has heated up now that Phil Foden is back from what we’re seeing. It would be wise to offer him out on trades and see what you get in return.