The theme of this weeks Fantasy Challenge round is playmaker. Players will score two points every time they make a key pass or cross the ball. This week's challenge also has an unlimited budget.
When deciding which five players to invest in this week it will be important to look at how they rank for both key passes and for crosses as well as the fixture.
Here, FPL expert Sam Bonfield reveals her approach for Gameweek 9.
Pick your Fantasy Challenge team NOW!
Key Passes
There are five goalkeepers that have registered a key pass so far this season - Bernd Leno (£5.0m), Ederson (£5.5m), Andre Onana (£5.0m), Sam Johnstone (£4.4m) and Jose Sa (£4.3m).
So far this season Ipswich's Leif Davis (£4.5m) leads the way for key passes across defenders with 20. Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.1m) is second with 16, followed by Pedro Porro (£5.5m) with 15.
Of the midfielders, injury doubt Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) tops the chart with 27. He is just ahead of Everton's Dwight McNeil (£5.8m) and Chelsea's Cole Palmer (£10.9m) with 25 and 24 respectively.
Matheus Cunha (£6.5m) leads the way for the forwards with 11 key passes. Liverpool's Cody Gakpo (£7.1m) is second with nine and flagged Danny Welbeck (£5.9m) is third with eight.
Crosses
Porro again tops the charts for the defenders for crosses, he has supplied 14 of them for his Spurs team-mates. Antonee Robinson (£4.7m) from Fulham is second for the defenders having supplied 10 crosses, with Leicester's Viktor Kristiansen (£4.5m) in third with eight. Lucas Digne (£4.6m) and Tyrick Mitchell (£4.9m) are notably just behind, recording seven crosses each.
McNeil was second of the midfielders for key passes, he is even better for crosses. The Everton midfielder has supplied 10 crosses so far topping the charts for midfielders. Newcastle's Anthony Gordon (£7.3m) and Spurs' James Maddison (£7.6m) are tied second with nine crosses each. Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo (£7.6m) is just behind with eight crosses supplied.
Iliman Ndiaye (£5.4m) tops the charts for crosses from forwards with four. He is two crosses ahead of injured Joao Pedro (£5.4m) and Cunha who have supplied two each.
Who to pick?
In goal I have opted for Ederson. Ederson has registered a key pass already this season and has the most attractive fixture facing Southampton at home this weekend. Southampton have scored just six goals so far in 2024/25, only Crystal Palace have netted fewer goals. Picking Ederson should hopefully be a good option for a clean sheet as well as having some potential points upgrades in the playmaker stakes.
Porro feels like an important own this weekend. He leads the way for crosses and is second for key passes. In addition, Spurs have an attractive fixture against Palace who have scored the fewest goals in the league. Spurs have won all of the last five meetings between these two clubs in the Premier League, and Porro also tops the charts for attempts on goal across defenders, with 16.
This week I have gone for two midfielders. Like Porro, McNeil ranks very highly for both the playmaker metrics, as does Maddison. Both these assets have also had 15 attempts on goal and both are a threat from set-pieces with nice fixtures at the weekend. I was tempted to go for Dejan Kulusevski (£6.2m) over Maddison. The Swede has recorded five more key passes than Maddison. However, Kulusevski has failed to supply a cross this season and this, along with Maddison's set-piece threat, meant I opted for the Englishman.
Up front Erling Haaland (£15.4m) has not registered well in the playmaker stats this season. He has registered five key passes, but no crosses. On paper I would be better off selecting Cunha, as he ranks highly of the forwards in both of these metrics. However, forwards generally don't have high numbers for either of these metrics, mostly because they are the players that are receiving the crosses and key passes. Therefore I have decided to plump for the forward who has the potential to score the most goals this weekend and Haaland v Southampton at home feels like that pick.