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            <p><strong>Cole Palmer</strong> scored four goals to register a massive 25 point Fantasy Premier League (FPL) haul in Gameweek 6 - but is he now an essential pick and who are the best premium options?</p>
<p>We take a look deep dive into the stats and fixtures for some of the game's premium picks, analyse their haul potential, assess their <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/predictions">AI predicted points</a> and more.</p>
<p>For the purposes of this article, we mainly focus on Palmer, <strong>Erling Haaland</strong>, <strong>Mohamed Salah</strong>, <strong>Bukayo Saka </strong>and <strong>Son Heung-min</strong> - but we touch on others including <strong>Phil Foden</strong> and <strong>Ollie Watkins</strong> too.</p>
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<h2>Palmer most transferred-in player ahead of Gameweek 7</h2>
<p>Transfer trends tend to mirror last week's top points scorers and it's no different heading into Gameweek 7.</p>
<p>Palmer has been brought into more than 600,000 FPL teams, well ahead of <strong>Bryan Mbeumo </strong>in second, who has been added to around 300,000 squads.</p>
<p>Sales of Salah and Saka look to be helping to fun the mass move to Palmer, while others have sold Son.</p>
<p>Mid-priced picks including <strong>Bruno Fernandes</strong>, <strong>Alexander Isak</strong>, <strong>Luis Diaz </strong>and most expensive defender <strong>Trent Alexander-Arnold </strong>are among the popular sells as FPL managers shift funds around their squad.</p>
<p>But do the fixtures support buying Palmer at the expense of his fellow premiums?</p>
<div id="attachment_67447" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-67447" class="size-large wp-image-67447" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Transfers-in-ahead-of-GW7-1024x601.jpg" alt="Transfers in ahead of Gameweek 7" width="1024" height="601" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-67447" class="wp-caption-text">Transfers in ahead of Gameweek 7</p>
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<h2>Premium FPL picks: Fixture difficulty</h2>
<p>The Hub's <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fixture-ticker">customisable fixture ticker</a> can be filtered by overall, attacking and defensive fixture difficulty .</p>
<p>With our premium picks all midfielders or forwards, we've focused on their upcoming games from an attacking perspective.</p>
<p>And of our selection, it's Haaland who has the best run over the next six games. Home matches against Fulham, Southampton and Spurs particularly stand out.</p>
<p>Manchester City rank sixth best over this period, so Haaland should have plenty of chances to add to his 10 goals.</p>
<div id="attachment_67419" style="width: 907px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-67419" class="size-full wp-image-67419" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Haaland-stats-GW1-6.jpg" alt="Erling Haaland's stats" width="897" height="731" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-67419" class="wp-caption-text">Erling Haaland's stats</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Saka should have opportunities against Southampton in Gameweek 7, who have conceded 12 goals so far. Arsenal are eighth on the ticker.</p>
<p>Chelsea and Palmer have the worst set of games, ranking 17th. It's a mixed bag, with Liverpool away and Arsenal at home the toughest.</p>
<p>Those who factor the fixtures heavily into their transfer planning may therefore have missed the boat on Palmer for now.</p>
<p>His Gameweek 7 opponents Forest have the best away expected goals conceded (xGC) in the league so far (2.1). This included a clean sheet away to Liverpool.</p>
<p>It's difficult to draw many conclusions from a small number of games, however Forest managed the sixth best away xGC over the whole of last season.</p>
<p>Nuno Espirito Santo is also unlikely to play with as high a defensive line as Brighton did in Gameweek 6. These tactics helped Palmer and Chelsea run riot.</p>
<div id="attachment_67413" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-67413" class="wp-image-67413 size-large" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Premium-player-attacking-fixture-ease-GW7-12-1024x240.jpg" alt="Attacking ease of fixtures between Gameweek 7 and 12" width="1024" height="240" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-67413" class="wp-caption-text">Attacking ease of fixtures between Gameweek 7 and 12</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Swings in Gameweek 12</h3>
<p>Chelsea's fixtures improve from Gameweek 12, which may be an alternative time to buy Palmer.</p>
<p>Arsenal's rank even better up to Gameweek 17 though, so those eyeing up a move from Saka to Palmer may not be rewarded based on the fixtures.</p>
<p>City's continue to be strong too, with Liverpool away in Gameweek 13 their most challenging test.</p>
<p>The Reds fare the worst of the bunch between Gameweek 12 and 17, although City at home in Gameweek 13 is a more natural hop-off point for Salah, with Southampton awaiting in Gameweek 12.</p>
<p>But none of the premium players have a sustained period of poor fixtures, with the difficult games tending to come in chunks of one or two.</p>
<p>Those who currently have two of these players could look at gradually moving to a three-premium squad, rather than rotating a Saka or Salah for example.</p>
<div id="attachment_67414" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-67414" class="wp-image-67414 size-large" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Premium-player-attacking-fixture-ease-GW12-17-1-1024x236.jpg" alt="Attacking ease of fixtures from Gameweek 12-17" width="1024" height="236" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-67414" class="wp-caption-text">Attacking ease of fixtures from Gameweek 12-17</p>
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<h2>Premium FPL picks: Who has the best stats</h2>
<p>Haaland and Palmer have got off to a fast start, racking up 10 goal involvements between them.</p>
<p>The Norwegian's total is made up entirely of goals. He's scored four more than Palmer, who also has four assists.</p>
<p>Salah is just two goal involvements behind on eight, while Saka has six and Son four.</p>
<p>Haaland, Palmer and Salah are ahead in FPL points terms, with Saka 21 behind third-placed Salah.</p>
<div id="attachment_67420" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-67420" class="size-large wp-image-67420" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/FPL-points-GW1-6-1024x601.jpg" alt="Total FPL points between Gameweek 1 and 6" width="1024" height="601" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-67420" class="wp-caption-text">Total FPL points between Gameweek 1 and 6</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Son missed Gameweek 6 through injury - and taking this into account gives Saka the worst points per appearance total of 6.33.</p>
<p>The Arsenal midfielder comes out top creatively. He has the best big chances created, assists and expected assists (xA) per appearance record.</p>
<p>Saka and Son's goal threat lags behind the rest, with Palmer's third best expected goals (xG) around double their data.</p>
<div id="attachment_67421" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-67421" class="size-large wp-image-67421" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Big-chances-created-GW1-6-1024x601.jpg" alt="Big chances created between Gameweek 1 and 6" width="1024" height="601" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-67421" class="wp-caption-text">Big chances created between Gameweek 1 and 6</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Palmer the biggest over-performer this season</h3>
<p>All five players have over-performed in their first six games.</p>
<p>Palmer has the biggest gap between his expected and actual points in the league, with Haaland second and Salah fourth.</p>
<p>It's worth noting however that Palmer significantly over-performed last season, with his 244 points more than 50 better than his expected points.</p>
<p>Son is another who defied expectations, scoring more than 40 points on top of his expected total.</p>
<p>Salah and Haaland performed almost exactly as expected, while Saka's actual returns were around 19 points better.</p>
<p>While in most cases we would expect the gap between expected and actual performance to narrow over time, some players have a tendency to achieve in excess of the data - and Palmer might end up being a consistent over-performer.</p>
<div id="attachment_67409" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-67409" class="size-large wp-image-67409" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Expected-points-overperformance-GW1-6-1024x601.jpg" alt="Cole Palmer has the biggest over-performance of his expected points" width="1024" height="601" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-67409" class="wp-caption-text">Cole Palmer has the biggest over-performance of his expected points</p>
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<h2>Who is the most explosive premium pick?</h2>
<p>Palmer's four goals brings players' explosive potential into consideration.</p>
<p>The Chelsea talisman has now managed this feat twice in just 37 starts.</p>
<p>Sergio Aguero holds the record with three four-goal hauls - but he had 10 seasons in the Premier League.</p>
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Is Palmer essential? FPL premium players analysed

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