Several attractive midfield options such as Bowen, Maddison and Foden embark on a great run of fixtures from gameweek eight onwards, and their numbers are compared for the last seven gameweeks using the Fix Comparison Matrix.

Jarrod Bowen

Bowen has failed to hit the heights of last season with no goal involvements thus far and the underlying numbers are poor. The 25-year-old is second in the comparison for shots in the box (SiB) (seven), but only one of these attempts has been on target. He is bottom for chances created (four) and has had just one 'big chance' involvement. He did take a penalty for West Ham in their Europa Conference fixture which boosts his appeal.

James Maddison

Maddison has notched three goal involvements (two goals, one assist) this season but all of these came in the first three matches. He is joint-bottom for SiB (six) but is second for SoT (four). He has created nine chances but it is worrying that he is yet to register a 'big chance' involvement this campaign.

Wilfried Zaha

Zaha is the standout player in the comparison, the Ivory Coast international is top for FPL points (31), goals (four), SiB (11), SoT (five) while he has been afforded as many 'big chances' (five) as the other four combined. He does not have a fixture in gameweek eight but as the below image from our Fixture Planner shows, Palace have a great run of fixtures from gameweek nine on.

Phil Foden

Foden has been starting regularly for Man. City and has decent underlying numbers with four 'big chance' involvements. He is second for chances created (10) only to Saka (11) but his shot volume seems to have dipped a bit with only six SiB. As the Stats Sandbox image below shows, Man. City are top of the league for 'Expected Goals' (xG) (14.47) so Foden should still rack up plenty of points.

Bukayo Saka

Saka has registered three goal involvements (one goal, two assists) over the last three gameweeks after a slow start to the season. The 21-year-old tops the comparison for assists (three), attempted assists (11) and SiB (11) while Arsenal are ranked second for xG (12.24). However, the fixtures are tricky for the Gunners after gameweek eight with Spurs and Liverpool to come in gameweeks nine and 10, followed by a blank gameweek in 11 (after their fixture versus Man. City was postponed to allow Arsenal to re-arrange their fixture against PSV while others have mid-week league fixtures).