🚨 If you aren’t aware, the MD8 fixtures will ALL KO on Wednesday at 8pm GMT. This means we will see all the line-ups BEFORE the deadline. DO NOT MAKE EARLY TRANSFERS THIS WEEK.

✍️ 24 hours before each matchday I put together all the essential information you need to make informed UCL Fantasy decisions.

♻️ If you find it helpful please share it on X or other socials and leave a comment!

⭐ My Current OR: 70,970. Top 6%.

🎯 My 24/25 Target: Top 1k

💥 Key players who went HUGE (12+ points) in MD7: Raphina (16pts), Alvarez (13pts), Vini Jnr (12pts), De Ketelaere (12pts), Havertz (12pts)

⭐ I’ll be keeping a close eye on last minute news so make sure you follow me on X (@_FantasyEd)

🚑 Key Players - Out & Doubts: I’m not even going to fill this in this week as we’ll see ALL the line-ups before the transfer deadline! Main things to have in mind are Vini JNR suspended and Saka still out.

🔥 Players I’d love to own in MD8: Kane, Bellingham, Foden, Musiala, Olise, Sommer and Dumfries!

✅ Fixtures to target in MD8
⭐ Inter vs Monaco (target Inter defence only!)
⭐ Man City, Club Brugge
⭐ Bayern Munich vs Slovan Bratislava
⭐ Dortmund vs Shakhtar
⭐ Leverkusen vs Sparta Prague

🧢 Captaincy options: Kane, Mbappe, Haaland, Wirtz, Foden…?

💰 Potential MD8 Bargains: 
➡️ Olise (6.7m)
➡️ Gittens (5.3m)
➡️ Di Gregorio (4.2m)

💰 At the start of the season I had MD8 earmarked as the chance to play my limitless chip. Now we’re here, i’m wavering slightly. With three transfers I could get to a very good looking team and save my LL for the second leg of the playoff round - i’ll explain more about further down the email, but if I was playing my LL, this is what i’d do (see below)

Remember, it’s only the starting XI that count this week as all games KO at 8pm GMT on Wednesday. On my bench here would be Gittens, Kim, Trent & Di Gregorio.

This would give me a front three of Haaland, Mbappe & Kane.
Midfield of Foden, Wirtz, Salah & Musiala.
Defence of De Vrij, Dumfries & Grimaldo.
Sommer in goal.

TRIPLE INTER DEFENCE!

You can see the current state of my team below. Given we only need XI starters for this MD, as I said above i’m considering NOT playing my LL and just taking one hit to get me where I want to be.

This would be the plan if I didn’t play the LL ⤵️⤵️⤵️

This would give me a starting XI of

💥 FWDS: Haaland, Mbappe, Kane (same as i’d have with LL)

⚽ MIDS: Wirtz, Gittens, Salah, Olise (2/4 same as LL, Olise instead of Musiala & Gittens instead of Foden)

🛡️ DEF: Grimaldo, Hernandez/Timber & De Vrij (2/3 same as LL - moving Kounde to De Vrij unlocks the money for the other two transfers)

Remember, all these decisions are subject to the starting line-ups that we will see BEFORE the deadline. DO NOT MAKE EARLY TRANSFERS THIS WEEK.

As you’ll see from this team, it’s not THAT different from what i’d get from my LL. Is it worth using a LL if i’m still going to have the same 6 or 7 players without it? And even then, the match-ups aren’t obvious. Let’s have a look at them.

SOMMER VS DI GREGRIO

In 7 MD’s so far Inter Milan have only scored 8 goals and only conceded 1. That’s 6 (SIX) clean sheets in a row in the UCL. If there is one team to back for CS this week it’s Inter at home vs Monaco.

That said, Juventus’ Di Gregorio has three CS’s in a row in the UCL AND they’ve only conceded 19 goals in 22 games in Serie A. They are generally solid defensively.

Does this make me want to play LL? ANSWER: NO ❌

DUMFRIES vs HERNANDEZ (or Timber)

I’ve already made the case for Inter’s defence but Dumfries adds an attacking element as well. Although the Inter wing-back hasn’t scored in the UCL yet this season, he has 6 goals and 2 assists in 18 Serie A games this season - not bad at all.

With 3 goals and 2 assists in Serie A, Theo H can’t match Dumfries’ output, and Milan can’t match Inter’s defensive resilience (only 1 UCL CS so far) so it does seem Denzel is the better option here by a margin.

Does this make me want to play LL? ANSWER: YES ✅

MUSIALA vs OLISE

Both in the same team with the same fixture so lets just look at the stats

Musiala this season: 26apps, 14gls, 6ass.
Olise this season: 28apps, 10gls, 11ass.

Although Olise has more goal contributions (admittedly in two more games), it is Musiala who is the bigger threat in front of goal. Does this sway me though? No, looks like the roll of a dice to me who’ll return on Wednesday (if both start!).

Does this make me want to play LL? ANSWER: NO ❌

FODEN vs GITTENS

Man City NEED to win at home against Club Brugge on Wednesday just to qualify for the playoff round and stay in the 24/25 UCL competition. Dortmund have a chance against Shakhtar at home to get in the top eight and guarantee a knockout slot.

Foden this season: 27apps, 10gls, 4ass.
Gittens this season: 28apps, 11gls, 5ass.

Both of these players have very similar records this season. I’d suggest both teams are quite unpredictable this season, but again, I see this as a flip of the coin who’ll return on Wednesday.

Does this make me want to play LL? ANSWER: NO ❌

CONCLUSION

Unless there are some huge surprises on Wednesday when the teams come out (Liverpool rotation anyone?) then due to the reasons above, I won’t be playing my LL. It’s just not worth it (for my team) this week.