By Enitan Abdultawab

Premier League football is back!

Ahead of Game week Nine (9) and, most importantly, mouthwatering fixtures this week, FPL managers should be ready to set up their team and make necessary transfers if need be.

As expected, managers have had to deal with a lot of issues ranging from injuries to underperformance, and personal preferences. It will get more complicated now that top players are returning from tiring European fixtures to face teams rested well in the midweek.

The deadline for this week’s team management is 11 a.m. on Saturday, the 21st.

AI team

Ahead of this week’s quest, AI has released its traditional first XI for this week. AI canvasses for a team set-up by taking into consideration their past performances and their chances of performing against the opposition(s) they will be playing against.

Below is Fantasy League Hub’s best AI team:

GK: Matt Turner (LUT)

GK: Alphonso Areola (AVL)

DEF: Wily Boly(LUT)

DEF : Kieran Trippier(CRY)

DEF: Pedro Porro(FUL)

DEF: Reece Burke( NOT)

DEF: Charlie Taylor(BRE)

MID: Son Heung-Min(FUL)

MID: Mohammad Sallah(EVE)

MID:  James Maddison(FUL)

MID: Moussa Diaby(AVL)

MID: Phil Foden(BHA)

FWD: Erling Haaland(BHA)

FWD: Yeone Wissa(BUR)

FWD: Cameron Archer(MAN)

Tips

AI’s best wildcard team comes out so well, although you can work on your own too.

For defensive confidence, you can look forward to getting Max Kilman, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Dan Burn into your team.

Don’t neglect Salah yet again. Trust him to deliver an outstanding performance against Everton. Keep him in your team and can also reward him with captaincy.

Some managers do not always cherish the idea of including Manchester City players because of Guardiola’s tweaky formation. However, Erling Haaland and Ruben Dias are sure starters against Arsenal.

You can place a trust on Rodri too who will walk back into the starting XI after missing out on suspension.

Work out your permutations well and review your predictions. Check out for injured and suspended players. Most importantly, ensure you do not set two players who will face each other. Look out for Manchester City and Brigton players; Chelsea and Arsenal; West Ham and Aston Villa. Results can be difficult to predict. Thus, be careful not to pit players against one another.

Wildcard

As the season draws closer into more serious heat, you can start preparing your wildcard or use it(if you want it).

Here’s an AI wildcard prediction for a 3-5-2 formation;

GK: Matt Turner

GK: Alphonso Areola

DEF: Burn

DEF: Boly

DEF: Saliba

DEF: Trippier

DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold

MID: B. Fernandes 

MID: Mohammad Sallah 

MID: James Maddison

MID: Son Heung-Min

MID: Moussa Diaby

FWD: Erling Haaland

FWD: Archer

FWD: Darwin Nunez