GW8 Review: A 45-Point Average, João Pedro Absent and a Preview That Got It Wrong

By Geomi George · Published 27 October 2026

Gameweek 8 was the lowest-scoring round of the season: a 45-point average, a top score of 120, and a weekend in which the game's second-most-owned player did not play, the most popular midfielder scored an own goal, and Chelsea lost at home to Spurs with a red card thrown in. Here is what happened, an honest score for a preview that had a bad week, and what to carry into Saturday's early GW9 deadline.

The scores that mattered

Arsenal's defence, quiet for a month, returned all at once: Gabriel (17 — a goal, a clean sheet and maximum bonus against Everton) led the Team of the Week, with Konsa (14, also a goal) and White (10) behind him. Villa beat City 2-1 through two goals from N.Jackson (13), who has since been bought by more than 450,000 managers. Bournemouth won 3-0 at Old Trafford and put three players in the XI: Hill (11), Rayan (10) and Tavernier (10), the latter now rising £0.2m in a week. The rest of the eleven, as has become the pattern, was owned by almost nobody: Bobb (Fulham), Tel (Spurs), Dedić (Newcastle), O.Dango (Brentford) and Leeds' keeper Trafford, who made four saves in a goalless draw at Sunderland.

Haaland scored at Villa for 8 and now leads the season on 66; Isak (9, a goal in Liverpool's 2-0 over Brighton) is up to 51. De Cuyper (60) and Groß (58) stay second and third despite blanking, and Gabriel's haul lifts him to joint fourth on 52 with Tavernier and Vuskovic.

Where the points went missing

• João Pedro did not play. An unspecified injury flag appeared after Friday's deadline and he missed Chelsea's 0-2 home defeat to Spurs. He was captained by a large share of the 71% who own him. Palmer compounded it with a red card and -1; Rogers returned 1 and Neto 3.
• Brighton's trip to Anfield went as badly as the rating said. Groß finished on 0 with an own goal, De Cuyper on 1, Vuskovic on 1, Verbruggen on 2.
• City's midfield returned nothing. Cherki and Guéhi played 45 minutes each for 0, O'Reilly did not play, Gvardiol managed 1. Only Haaland scored.
• Bruno Fernandes did not feature in United's 0-3 home defeat, after five blanks. Mbeumo returned 2 against the Bournemouth defence we had him down to punish. Both have now fallen in price along with Saka, whose thigh injury has no return date.
• Calafiori, owned by more than half the game, went off after 22 minutes with a hip injury for 1 point and is now a 75% doubt.
• Dubravka, week eight. Owned by one manager in six, still on zero.

How our preview calls landed

This was the preview's worst week, and most of it was our judgement rather than bad luck. We backed Haaland as captain, and 16 points against a 45 average is fine, but we also wrote that there was "nothing wrong with" João Pedro as the home alternative, and anyone who took that got 0. We argued against our own model to keep De Cuyper and Vuskovic in for Anfield; the model benched them and was right, they returned 1 each. We called Chelsea v Spurs the softest fixture of the round; Chelsea lost it without scoring. We put Mbeumo up as the third captain and he scored 2. Of the three differentials, Evanilson returned a goal and a clean sheet for 6, Iwobi 3 and Neto 3.

What held: the Arsenal clean-sheet call produced Raya (7) and Konsa (14), the Ipswich v Forest warning was right (1-1), Saka was correctly left out, and "sell the injured, not the flagged" kept people away from a hit on Semenyo and Szoboszlai. The backtested Best XI scored 39, six below the average, and is now 24 behind the average manager over eight rounds. We do not dress that up: following the model blindly this season would have cost you ground, and so would following us this week.

The market has already moved

Buyers have gone to Tavernier (469,000 in, up £0.2m) and N.Jackson (453,000), then Isak, Konsa, Evanilson, Gabriel and Manzambi. Sellers have left João Pedro (294,000 out), Calafiori (218,000), Saka, Bruno, Cherki, Calvert-Lewin, Palmer and Szoboszlai. Saka, Bruno and Szoboszlai have all dropped in price. The price predictor has tonight's likely moves.

Injuries to watch

• João Pedro (CHE) — unspecified, 75%. With Chelsea v United the Saturday opener there will be no team-news window, so this needs the Friday press conference.
• Calafiori (ARS) — hip, 75%. Arsenal go to Anfield.
• Palmer (CHE) — red card. Check the suspension before the deadline.
• Saka (ARS), Szoboszlai (LIV), Semenyo (MCI) — all out, no return date.
• Thomas (COV), N.Williams (NFO), Wirtz (LIV) — 75% flags.

Looking ahead to GW9

The deadline is Saturday 31 October at 11:00, with Chelsea v Man United the 12:30 opener, and the clocks have gone back, so check the time rather than assuming last week's. It is a hard round for the big attacks: Liverpool v Arsenal on Sunday, City v Brighton with Brighton on the hardest away rating of the weekend, and Chelsea v United rated hard for both. The softer games are Hull v Ipswich, rated easy for both sides, Spurs v Palace, Villa v Fulham on Saturday night, and Sunderland at Coventry. The grid is on the fixtures page, the Best XI has rebuilt for GW9, and your mini-league table has GW8 settled, with October's winner decided after this round.