Who are the players to add to your Fantasy Premier League team for Gameweek 8 of 2025-26? We use data to bring you our under-the-radar picks.
The big match in the Premier League this weekend sees Liverpool host Manchester United. It’s usually a good watch but is it worth your time from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective?
We’ve crunched Opta data to identify five players you should consider including in your team, even though they are currently being picked by fewer than 10% of FPL managers.
GK – Robin Roefs | 4.6m | 4.9% Ownership
There are two goalkeepers tied at the top of the FPL points standings for the position. However, while 10% of you have Newcastle’s Nick Pope, only 4.9% have his derby rival Robin Roefs of Sunderland in your team.
Granted, the Englishman plays for what should be the stronger club. But the latter is cheaper and has fixtures marked green for favourable in the FPL transfers hub for two of the next three matchdays.
This is very apparent this weekend. Newcastle are off to play Brighton whereas Sunderland host Wolves, who are bottom of the table with just two points. Only Burnley (4.9) have generated a lower total of expected goals than Vitor Pereira’s side (6.1) this season, with Wolves joint-bottom for goals scored (alongside Nottingham Forest) on just five.
That immediately makes Roefs a decent candidate for a clean sheet. That idea grows stronger once you see his team are only allowing 1.15 non-penalty expected goals per Premier League match in 2025-26. While Sunderland have had a relatively kind start in terms of fixtures, only three of their seven games have been at home too.
With bonus points on offer for making at least three saves, even if Wolves are more potent than usual, Roefs looks up to the task of repelling them. He’s averaging 3.4 saves per game, making three or more on four different occasions in 2025-26.
DEF – Joachim Andersen | 4.5m | 4.1% Ownership
You will struggle to find a more reliable presence in a starting XI than Fulham defender Joachim Andersen.
He fell just five minutes shy of completing the full Premier League season in his final campaign with Crystal Palace. The Dane has played every minute of every league match so far in 2025-26, captaining Marco Silva’s side in the last four games.
It seems certain Andersen will play this weekend but is it smart to include him when he will be facing league leaders Arsenal?
Yes. Andersen is one of three players to have collected 12 defensive contribution points (DEFCON) this season, with 14 the maximum anyone could have potentially earnt. Defenders earn two FPL points if they record a combined total of 10 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles in a match.
Andersen has hit double figures on the first of those four metrics alone twice already this season. Given Arsenal lead the league for shots blocked and clearances by opponents, the Fulham defenders will likely be kept busy on Saturday evening.
If you still need convincing, the Gunners scored just once in each of their last two visits to Craven Cottage, so a clean sheet for the home side is a realistic possibility.
MID – Donyell Malen | 5.1m | 0.6% Ownership
The problem with the international break is that it makes the previous round of Premier League fixtures feel like it was months ago.
In case you’ve forgotten, Aston Villa beat Burnley 2-1 to continue their weird start to 2025-26. Winless in the first six matches in all competitions having scored just two goals, Unai Emery’s side have since won their last four on the spin and scored eight times.
Donyell Malen was a two-goal hero last time out versus Burnley, delivering a performance that will surely mean he retains his place for the trip to Tottenham. While this clearly represents a far tougher assignment than hosting a newly-promoted club, Spurs have not been playing well in front of their own fans.
Their last three home matches in the Premier League or UEFA Champions League have not been pretty. There was a 1-0 loss to Bournemouth, a 1-0 victory over Villarreal in which the visitors’ goalkeeper settled the match with a calamitous own goal, and a 1-1 draw versus lowly Wolves where João Palhinha scored the equaliser in added time.
The Bournemouth game could prove particularly instructive given both they and Villa tend to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Every player in the Cherries’ front four had at least three shots against Spurs, with three of them having an effort on target. While there are no FPL points for this, chances should fall Malen’s way.
As Antoine Semenyo is the only midfielder with more points-per-start this term, please put Malen in your starting XI, Unai. Pretty please.
FWD – Jarrod Bowen | 7.7m | 7.2% Ownership
Monday’s match with Brentford will be Nuno Espirito Santo’s first home game in charge of West Ham United. As he started with two away fixtures prior to an international break, the former Nottingham Forest manager has been waiting a long time to taste the London Stadium atmosphere, such as it is.
Nuno will be looking towards Jarrod Bowen to help steer the Hammers away from the wrong end of the table. He scored the opener in their 3-0 win at Forest, then grabbed the equaliser at Everton. Without Bowen’s goals, West Ham would likely be in even deeper trouble.
It’s too early in the season to really say, but as he is third in the Premier League for overperformance against expected goals (+2.2), perhaps a cold spell is coming. It’s feasible Bowen could stay hot a little longer given the opponents on Monday, though.
West Ham have only won four home league games by at least two goals since the start of 2024. The only one against a team currently in the Premier League was a 4-2 triumph over Brentford in which Bowen scored a hat-trick.
The Bees have been far too open on the road this season too. Only two teams have conceded more away goals, both of whom have played an extra game. In Forest, Sunderland and Fulham, Brentford haven’t had the toughest fixtures either.
Over to you, Jarrod. Make Nuno proud.
FWD – Jean-Philippe Mateta | 7.5m | 9.9% Ownership
Selecting any attacking player in a match between Crystal Palace and Bournemouth is always a risk. Both meetings last season ended 0-0, with no more than two goals scored in any of the last nine meetings in all competitions.
If this trend is to end at Selhurst Park on Saturday, we’ll need a man who is due to score a goal. Jean-Philippe Mateta is overwhelmingly that player in the Premier League as we head into week eight.
The Palace forward has scored 2.08 goals fewer than expected this season, the biggest shortfall of any player in the division. In the early weeks of a campaign, numbers like this can be generated by missing a couple of absolute sitters, but that hasn’t been the case here.
Only Erling Haaland has had more shots on target than Mateta. The Norwegian is also the only player to have fired off at least 12 goal attempts in the Premier League who has a higher xG per shot than our man. The Eagles have been creating a lot of very good chances for Mateta, it’s now time for him to take them.
*FPL player values and ownership data accurate as of 13 October 2025
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The 10% Club: Opta’s Best Under-the-Radar FPL Picks for Gameweek 8 Opta Analyst.
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