Yahoo! Fantasy Football: Chelsea to continue charge to Premier League summit

WhoScored.com have partnered up with Yahoo! Fantasy Football this weekend to provide users with the ultimate tipping guide ahead of gameweek 8 in the Premier League. Before running through our team, in which our Twitter followers voted for Harry Kane to be in the XI, we have the promotional offers available this weekend to bring to your attention!

For first time users, why not deposit £5 and get £50 in return to use on any cash games when you use promocode ‘Fantasy50”? Increase your chances of winning a share of £8,000 in Saturday’s main contest!

Make sure you head to team and preview pages to find out which players are a Yahoo! Top-20 form player. Now, here’s our XI:

NICK POPE (BURNLEY)

Tom Heaton’s long-term injury spelled bad news for Burnley, but Nick Pope has thrived between the sticks in his absence. Of goalkeepers that have made more than one Premier League appearance this season, the 25-year-old boosts the best save success rate (93.3%). The Burnley goalkeeper has saved 14 of the 15 shots he has faced during his four league appearances and his performances mean he is a Yahoo! Top-20 rated player.

STEPHEN WARD (BURNLEY)

Another Clarets player that has started the season well, Stephen Ward is Burnley’s highest scoring defender on Yahoo! Fantasy Football after playing a direct hand in two goals in seven matches from left-back. Burnley welcome an inconsistent West Ham side this weekend and have the chance to string together three consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League for the first time since May 2015.

CHRISTOPHER SCHINDLER (HUDDERSFIELD)

Swansea’s poor start to the season should give Huddersfield the platform to get back on track in the Premier League. Swansea have only won one of their opening seven matches and failed to score in five of those matches. Christopher Schindler’s performances have been integral to Huddersfield impressive start to the season. In fact, the 27-year-old is the highest rated defender in the Premier League this season (7.67), having made more tackles than any other defender (26).

DAVID LUIZ (CHELSEA)

The Brazilian returns to first-team action this weekend after a three-game absence and should be assured of a comfortable afternoon against a Crystal Palace side that are the first team in Premier League history to lose their opening seven matches without scoring. The Eagles still have no recognised striker available, but the expected return of Wilfried Zaha should pose some questions for the Chelsea defence. Anything else than a shutout victory will be a disappointment for the reigning Premier League champions. This should be the ideal way for David Luiz to ease back into action.

RAHEEM STERLING (MANCHESTER CITY)

Sergio Aguero isn’t expected to be risked against Stoke this weekend, which should guarantee Raheem Sterling can continue his impressive start to the season - the England international has scored five goals in six Premier League appearances. Pep Guardiola’s side have been scoring goals for fun this season, averaging 3.1 goals per game in all competitions and there should be no exception to the norm this weekend. City have put four goals past Stoke in three of their last five encounters.

GRANIT XHAKA (ARSENAL)

After a fairly turbulent maiden campaign at Arsenal, Granit Xhaka has settled well this time around and is now a regular at the heart of Arsenal’s midfield. No player averages more passes per Premier League game this season than Xhaka (84.6), while that figure actually increases away from home (85.7). Given only three sides average less possession at home than Watford (42.4%), the 25-year-old can expect to see a lot of the ball on Saturday and rack up those passing points on Yahoo! Fantasy Football.

FERNANDINHO (MANCHESTER CITY)

Similarly to Xhaka, Fernandinho is cheap option on Yahoo! Fantasy Football still capable of earning you points. Only Jan Vertonghen (100) averages more passes per game than Fernandinho (87) in Premier League home matches this season, while the Brazilian does so at an impressive 90% success rate.

XHERDAN SHAQIRI (STOKE)

For Stoke to have any chance of bothering Manchester City this weekend they are going to need their best players to produce a moment of magic. Looking through Stoke’s players, there aren’t many capable of special moments, but Shaqiri is perhaps the most likely. In fact, six of the eight Premier League goals Shaqiri has scored have come from shots from outside of the area. He provided two assists in his last appearance against City and Mark Hughes will need the Switzerland international to be at it again here.

So who should we pick for our @YahooFantasy_UK XI? You have two hours to vote...

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) October 12, 2017

HARRY KANE (TOTTENHAM)

The Tottenham striker has quickly cemented his position as one of the best strikers in Europe this season and he will be looking to carry his rich form into Saturday’s meeting with Bournemouth. Harry Kane has played a direct hand in 17 goals in his last 10 appearances for club and country (15 goals, 2 assists), finishing as the WhoScored Man of the Match in seven of those games. Not only that, but the England international has scored six goals in three appearances against Bournemouth.

RICHARLISON (WATFORD)

The Brazilian has debunked the myth that foreign players need time to adapt to a new league after making a flying start to life at Watford under Marco Silva. Richarlison has already established himself as one of Watford’s best players, scoring three goals and providing one assist in his first seven league appearances. In fact, no Premier League player has won the WhoScored Man of the Match award more times than the 20-year-old this season (3) and he will be keen to impress against an Arsenal side that are yet to even score away from home in the league this season.

MICHY BATSHUAYI (CHELSEA)

Alvaro Morata’s hamstring injury presents Michy Batshuayi another opportunity to convince Antonio Conte he is deserving of further game time. Despite playing a reserve role ever since joining from Marseille more than 12 months ago, Batshuayi has still scored 14 goals in all competitions for the Blues. In fact, he averages a goal every 70.6 minutes of action and he should fancy his chances against Crystal Palace this weekend. Only one team in Europe’s top five leagues have conceded more goals than the Eagles this season (17).