#CalledIt Differential Pick - GW10

To put it out in the open, I have never been a big fan of Fernando Torres. Maybe it’s because at the beginning of his career it seemed all too easy for him. He was scoring goals for fun, having a great time doing it and he was (and still is) a babe magnet. Could you call it resentment? Perhaps. People are funny this way.

But in the last couple of years (the struggling ones) I have found myself actually rooting for the guy. Maybe it's because I would like to believe that even players who have been written off and forgotten, can have that one last great game, one last great season, to go out with a bang. You know, the BIG season that a movie could be made out of. Just like I hoped that Michael Jordan’s second comeback would see him carry the underdog team all the way to at least the Conference Finals at the age of 40. But we all know how that ended…

Anyway, I doubt that Torres "IS BACK". I doubt that he will again be the "old Torres". But darn me, he looks pretty hungry out there these days, scratching and clawing. And this is what I really like. So, despite Mourinho's knack for rotating, and despite vowing that I will not pick any Chelsea, I am doing it anyway - my #CalledIt for GW10 is Fernando Torres. May #FPL gods have mercy on my soul.

As a bonus, I am bringing you the 0,2% owned, 4.9m worth Yannick Sagbo from Hull. He is expected to start against Sunderland and has shown that he can score. Want to free some funds for Agüero for instance? He is your man. 

Last, but not least, are the only two of my former picks that did not deliver - Sessegnon and Bony. Still owned by less than 5% this could be their week to shine. 

Until next week. 

And thanks to Walt for letting me use his footer and I join him in saying that your consideration and vote (see below) for Chief's hard work would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Please remember that Fantasy Premier League Hints is a finalist in this year's Football Blogging Awards in the Best FPL Blog category.  The Chief has worked extremely hard over a number of years to build and offer a blog of high quality and consistency.  Your consideration and vote in the final round of voting would be greatly appreciated.

Visit the FBA's through this link right here.  Or cast your vote by simply tweeting the following:

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FPL Hints - Gameweek 10

Disclaimer: *FPLH reserves the right to change this team at any time. Any changes made will most likely be confirmed on FPLH's Twitter account.

Transfers: 

Gayle & Y. Toure  OUT / Aguero & R. Morrison IN (-4 Hit)

Hi all, before I ramble on about this week's preview, I would like to say...

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BEST FPL FOOTBALL BLOG

You can vote for us through Twitter, Facebook or SportsLobster.  Your vote is greatly appreciated by Walt, Matej and I.  If you have ever benefited from this blog in anyway and haven't voted for anyone else (post-nominations),  PLEASE VOTE FOR US.  I don't wish to go on about it too much, but this is the only FPL blog that has posted its own team for every single Gameweek for the past two years with decent results to boot!  More reasons as to why you should vote for us can be found on our "reasons why" post.

Ok now back to the bread and breakfast of this blog...

Unfortunately my choice of Townsend as captain didn't pay off last week, but that didn't prevent me from rising up the rankings and posting a satisfactory score.  It wasn't a good weekend for midfielders and if you didn't have Suarez you missed out!

For GW10, I decided to make Aguero my number one transfer target.  Mainly because he is on form, has good upcoming fixtures and is City's main goal threat.  I had to sell Y. Toure to accommodate him, which is fine, as the Ivorian hasn't been as attacking with the return of Silva.  

I had £5.8M to spend on a midfield replacement at the start of the week, but due to the rapid rise of Aguero's price, my budget truncated to £5.6M.  This made De Guzman out of reach, but I wasn't too keen on him anyway.  I was very tempted to buy Arnautovic but his fitness and off-field issues were a concern.  Ravel Morrison was the stand out midfielder with my budget due to his flair and potential.  Moreover, he leaves with me £1.0M in the bank.  The resulting transfer changes have left me with a talented and youthful midfield to complement my strikers.

My captain for this Gameweek 10 is Aguero (a no brainer).  My vice-captain is Ozil.

GW Reject:

RUDDY (NOR)

GW Punt:

MORRISON (WHA)

GW Hot Pick:

AGUERO (MNC)

The origin of Aguero's nickname?

Why?

He has good upcoming PL fixtures.

Least likely to be rotated from all of City's strikers.

Has scored 42 PL goals in 72 games which makes him stand out.

FPLH's GW Star Picks:

Boruc

Baines

C. Davies

Evra

Hazard

R. Morrison

Silva

Ozil

Suarez

Aguero (c)

Rooney

Subs:

Pantilimon

Reid

Michu

Ridgewell

FPLH's Projected GW Results:

FPL Hints - Gameweek 10

FPLH's GW 10 Team*

Transfers (OUT): O'Brien and Podolski

Transfers (IN): Huth and Defoe

*FPLH reserves the right to change this team at any time. Any changes made will be confirmed on FPLH's Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Team Selection Reasoning

I did it!  After four Gameweeks of having an extra transfer at hand I have finally used it.  I wanted to get rid of O'Brien and mulled over many defensive options.  I wanted an attacking defender and was close to signing Baines.  However that would have been pricey.  Instead I went for Huth, which could be a risk as I am doubling up with Begovic.  But the fact is that Stoke's fixtures are reasonable for the next 8 weeks or so (see previous post).  Moreover Huth possesses a formidable attacking threat.  He may not have scored this season, but I am confident he is due a goal - his league strike rate for Stoke is 10% + which would make any central midfielder or winger proud.  

As for the other transfer that involved ditching Podolski.  Despite being listed as a striker he has been playing as a de facto midfielder at Arsenal, with Giroud as the out-and-out striker.  That was a put off and his performance v QPR was the final straw.  Thus I decided to replace him with an on-form goal poacher, step in Jermain Defoe.  He on the other hand has been fantastic this season.  A regular run in the first team has meant that he has bagged 5 goals and 3 assists in 9 Gameweeks.  I was close to buying him last week at 7.8 but in the end forked out an extra 0.2 for waiting a week later.  So far this season Defoe has proved he can score against small teams, big teams and in derby matches.  With this in mind his upcoming juicy fixtures are of interest as follows:

GW 10 - Wigan (H) - High goal scoring potential v a leaky defence

GW 11 - Man City (A) - Mild goal scoring potential v an inconsistent defence

GW 12 - Arsenal (A) - Moderate goal scoring potential v an inconsistent defence + derby

GW 13 - West Ham (H) - High goal scoring potential + derby

GW 14 - Liverpool (H) - Moderate goal scoring potential v transitional defence

GW 15 - Fulham (A) - High  goal scoring potential + derby

Wigan have conceded almost 2 goals per away match this season, which means that I will captain Defoe.  As for the vice-captain's armband I have decided to give that to RVP following his heroics against Chelsea.

Minimum ideal gameweek 10 points:

50

Potential ideal gameweek 10 points:

70

Recommended Player for Gameweek 10

Jermain Defoe

(Tottenham)

Why?

Scored 5 goals in 9 league matches this season

Is currently Tottenham's main striker

Priced at a cheap 8.0 - Bargain!

Proven attacking threat

Attacking Assassin

FPLH's Hot Picks XI for GW 10

  Mignolet (SUN)

  Walker (TOT)

  Riise (FUL)

  Rafael (MNU)

Mata (CHE)

  Bale (TOT)

 Morrison (WBA)

Sterling (LIV)

  Defoe / cpt (TOT)

Van Persie / vc (MNU)

  Fletcher (SUN)

Subs:

  Begovic (STO)

  Olsson (WBA)

  Huth (STO)

Hazard (CHE)

8/15 Hot Picks' feature in FPLH's GW 10 Team