Getting your team selection correct in Draft Premier League is just as essential as your pre-season draft or your weekly waiver wire claims. And that’s exactly why we’re here to help with our Gameweek 7 Start and Sit article! We’re here to help you with some of the big Fantasy EPL decisions you may need to make for the upcoming fixtures.
Gameweek 7 Start and Sit
Whether you’re an obsessed EPL fan like our Fantrax HQ team, or a casual player new to the world of Fantasy EPL, you know to start your attacking players against relegation-threatened sides. We’re not going to waste your time dealing with the obvious! The goal of this article is to delve into notable players across each Fantrax position and let you know if you should be starting or sitting those players.
Our format is as follows: We will be choosing 2 different teams. One will be our starts of the week, made up of non-obvious, low-rostered players. The other will be our sits of the week, made up of highly rostered, normally started players. We will keep track of how each team performs in next week’s article for full transparency.
Now let’s see the Gameweek 7 Start and Sit contenders!
Starts of the Week XI
| Player | Pos. | Team | Opponent | % Rostered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vicente Guaita | G | CRY | MUN | 10% |
| Joachim Andersen | D | CRY | MUN | 51% |
| Liam Cooper | D | LEE | NOT | 15% |
| Tariq Lamptey | D | BRI | @BOU | 42% |
| Cheick Doucoure | M | CRY | MUN | 9% |
| Amadou Onana | M | EVE | @ARS | 14% |
| Granit Xhaka | M | ARS | EVE | 74% |
| Sergio Gomez | M | MCI | TOT | 43% |
| Moussa Djenepo | M | SOU | BRF | 28% |
| Pedro Neto | F | WOL | @LIV | 95% |
| Jordan Ayew | F | CRY | MUN | 23% |
Average % Rostered: 33%
The lucky #7 gameweek is upon us. While the onset of European competition may force some rotation, it shouldn’t really affect our starters here. At Goalkeeper, we’re going with Vicente Guaita, who hosts seemingly improving Manchester United at home. Guaita usually gets a decent amount of saves and the Arsenal result flattered United, who should struggle more against a team like Palace (before Arsenal, Utd only scraped fortunate 1 nil wins against struggling Southampton & Leicester). In defense, we’re sticking in south London with Joachim Andersen (he scores well and, again, Palace won’t be scared of Man Utd), hoping for the long-awaited return of ghost point king Liam Cooper (Diego Llorente is on deck if Coop isn’t back yet from injury, although I suspect he will be), and angling for the diminutive Tariq Lamptey to make a rare start against lowly Bournemouth (Adam Webster can slot in if need be).
In the center of the park, we’re leaning on largely unheralded quasi-holding midfielders. Cheick Doucoure has been devouring opposition attackers, Amadou Onana will have plenty to do against Arsenal, Granit Xhaka has started to be dropped in some leagues but get into some dangerous attacking positions at home to threadbare Everton, Sergio Gomez is a LB but classed as a MID so he gets the nod in a vibrant City side, and rounding out the midfield 5 is the mercurial midfield maestro Moussa Djenepo (if he gets the start, he has it in his locker to take it to Brentford).
Up front, for our first FWD, we’re not going with a low-rostered streamer but instead cautioning against a knee-jerk sit. This is, of course, a long wind up to advise that you start your stud, Pedro Neto, against a flailing Liverpool defense that has been recently shipping goals for fun. On paper, this a bad matchup for the West Midlands outfit but, again, this isn’t your grandmother’s Liverpool defense (your grandmother, as you may remember, was very into the Red’s backline last season and during the title-winning season). While Wolves, for their part, haven’t seen the back of the net very often this campaign, Neto can still score well sans attacking returns. Barring a better option, don’t be afraid to go with the dynamic Portuguese winger at Anfield. Neto is flanked in the attack by Jordan Ayew, who is usually available and gets ghost points for fun. And that’s your lot.
Sits of the Week XI
| Player | Pos. | Team | Opponent | % Rostered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ederson | G | MCI | TOT | 97% |
| Eric Dier | D | TOT | @MCI | 90% |
| John Stones | D | MCI | TOT | 70% |
| Raphael Varane | D | MUN | @CRY | 61% |
| Anthony Gordon | M | EVE | @ARS | 99% |
| Joao Moutinho | M | WOL | @LIV | 39% |
| Rodrigo Betancur | M | TOT | @MCI | 40% |
| Conor Gallagher | M | CHE | @FUL | 75% |
| Kai Havertz | F | CHE | @FUL | 90% |
| Raul Jimenez | F | WOL | @LIV | 76% |
| Marcus Rashford | F | MUN | @CRY | 99% |
Average % Rostered: 76%
Meanwhile, these are the folks we think should see the pine this GW – many of which are playing in the seemingly marquee matchup this week, Manchester City v Tottenham. Between the sticks, poor Ederson, who usually doesn’t have much to do and doesn’t get many saves, hasn’t been keeping many clean sheets. A notoriously bad matchup against Spurs looms. Tottenham will again rely on a few counter attacks, which will likely result in a goal or two and not many shots to save given that Spurs won’t see too much of the ball – a bad combo for the fantasy prospects of the opposing GK.
At the back, we have Eric Dier (doesn’t usually ghost well & they are unlikely to keep a CS v Man City), John Stones (probably won’t very active & City is likely to concede at least 1), & Raphael Varane (I don’t think Utd keeps a cleansheet & he is useless without one).
In the midfield, Anthony Gordon may struggle without the ball or set pieces at the Emirates, Joao Moutinho is coming off a bad game and despite Liverpool’s travails he seems ready for a benching, Rodrigo Betancur faces City and has been pretty mediocre the past few games, & Conor Gallagher has been bad and won’t have enough time to adapt to a new role under new manager Graham Potter (but he is one to keep an eye on given the new developments, especially if he is given a more attacking role by Potter).
Finally, in attack, Kai Havertz has been dreadful and is the opposite of matchup-proof, Raul Jimenez has been the exact same, & it’s a controversial one given his recent success v Arsenal but Marcus Rashford could have a disappointing afternoon at Selhurst Park (2 out of the 3 games in which he has failed to get an attacking return resulted in less than 3 points & it’s a difficult matchup).
Make sure you also check out our official EPL content partners The Draft Society for all the latest! Check out their Fantrax Weekly Player Projections page for more player evaluations for the upcoming week!