FPL Captain Picks · Updated for Gameweek 8 — 20:21 BST, 18 October 2026
FPL Captain Picks: João Pedro, 8.0 projected
João Pedro at home to Spurs is the armband call for Gameweek 8: 8.0 projected, and 72.4% of managers already own the player.
Measured in public: 79% of player scores land within two points per gameweek. The full record →
Made for Fantasy Premier League managers.
THE WAR ROOM · GW8
Gameweek 8 armband: four angles, one call
Tailor it to my team →
GW8 options side by side
The engine’s highest gameweek-8 projections among fit players, at any price: the best six show, and the chips and the budget in the finder pick the best six that match.
The full per-player figures are free in the Fantasy Football IQ app: https://play.fantasyfootballiq.app
Nobody on the list matches. Try another position or a higher budget.
The full Captaincy Court
● Updated 10:00 BST, 16 October 2026 — latest edition written for Gameweek 7
Written on 16 October 2026. The cards and tables above are read off today’s numbers, so a figure in the column can sit a point or two from the one beside it. The column is kept as it was written.
FPL Gameweek 7 Captaincy: Who To Captain
Written for Gameweek 7. The Gameweek 8 edition publishes when the team news lands.
Captaincy Court, GW7: Two Analysts, One Armband
Four names on the shortlist this week: Haaland at home to Ipswich, Palmer away at Everton, Saka at Forest, and Semenyo also facing Ipswich. Our two resident loudmouths have had their say — and for once, the ceiling man and the floor man walked into court with the same verdict.
Haulage King says:
Haaland. IPS (H). Next question.
Look, I'm paid to find the big score, and nothing on this list comes close. Our projections have him pencilled in for over 10 points this week — double what Palmer, Saka or Semenyo are expected to return. On a normal week he's good for about 9, and when it clicks he can hit 16-plus. The clincher is the haul odds: roughly a one-in-two shot at a monster. One in two! Palmer at Everton is one in six. Saka at Forest, same. Semenyo gets the identical Ipswich fixture and he's one in seven. There's no debate here — if you want the week that wins you your mini-league, it's Haaland, and you don't blink at the £15.6m price tag because this is exactly the week it pays for itself.
Cheapy says:
I came here to argue the boring case, and the boring case is... also Haaland.
My job is to stop you burning the armband, and the numbers say he's the safest pick as well as the biggest. Even on a stinker of a week he's projected around 2 points — Palmer, Saka and Semenyo all bottom out at 1, with typical weeks of just 3. Nailed minutes, home fixture against Ipswich, and about 7-and-a-half in 10 managers already own him, so captaining him isn't a punt — it's self-defence. If half the game hands him the armband and he hauls without it on your captain, you've lost ground for nothing. The cautious play and the greedy play are the same play. That almost never happens. Take it.
The verdict:
When the man chasing hauls and the man dodging blanks land on the same name, you don't overthink it. Palmer at 25.5% owned and £9.7m is a fine differential *transfer* conversation for another day — but with a one-in-six haul shot against Everton, he's not an armband this week. Captain Haaland. Everyone else is a hit to your own team.
