Fantasy football scout tips gameweek 8: Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Eden Hazard, Ben Davies and more

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The October international break is almost over, which means another week of Fantasy Premier League is coming into view.

Given the gap in the schedule and a swing in fixtures for some big clubs, many managers have decided to play their wildcard over the last fortnight.

It is not too late to do so and if you are tempted, you can always take a peek at this guide on how it works and who to select.

For the rest of you, here’s our bog-standard weekly rundown of recommended players for the fixtures ahead.

Way back before the international break, we selected Romelu Lukaku as a captain choice for gameweek 8, believing he would roll Crystal Palace over and outscore Harry Kane, who was away at Huddersfield Town. We were wrong.

We are not going to make the same mistake this week, even if Tottenham Hotspur are playing at Wembley, with all the nagging doubts that brings. Bournemouth, their opponents, should not provide the same sort of resistance that Swansea showed at the national stadium last month.

This time, we are putting our faith in the game’s most expensive player and handing him the armband.

With Lukaku at Anfield on Saturday lunchtime, the next best captaincy options after Kane arguably come over at Manchester City, who entertain Stoke City at the Etihad on Saturday.

While Gabriel Jesus, David Silva and Nicolas Otamendi are all worthy of your consideration, Raheem Sterling stands to benefit most from the likely absence of Sergio Aguero, who has resumed light training after breaking his rib in a car crash late last month.

Sterling has 35 points to his name already despite only making three starts and has shown a knack for finishing off City’s flowing team moves with a goal. Keep an eye on Aguero though, as his return may mean Sterling finds himself among the substitutes again.

It is difficult to make conclusions about Swansea’s defence, who have kept a respectable three clean sheets despite being dominated in many of their games.

Lukasz Fabianski is a big reason why Paul Clement’s side have manged to keep things tight. No goalkeeper has made more saves in the division and this week’s trip to Huddersfield Town bodes well defensively.

Bar a trip to the Emirates in two weeks’ time, Swansea’s schedule looks favourable too.

Back to Tottenham and to the stand-out fantasy player of the season so far, the scoring, assisting, marauding left wing-back Ben Davies.

After being surprisingly rested against Swansea and only picking up one point against West Ham United some of us considered shifting the Welshman, but he came good with a huge 16-point haul at Huddersfield last time out.

Danny Rose has ominously returned to light training, meaning Davies’ days as an automatic starter may be numbered, but it is still hard to ignore him with Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth at Wembley this weekend.

He has been at the back of our minds for much of the season so far but Eden Hazard is finally ready to give us a weekly headache again.

It would be remiss of us not to include any Chelsea players, what with them travelling to the pointless and goalless Crystal Palace, and after a brace for Belgium in mid-week Hazard gets the nod.

One word of caution, though. Hazard is not the most reliable player when on the road. Only four of his 16 goals came away from Stamford Bridge last season.

Another defensive options, but we really are spoilt for choice at the back right now. A lot of mangers are moving Southampton’s Cedric out of their sides, but they could do with looking at his forthcoming fixtures.

Newcastle United, visitors to St Mary’s this weekend, have scored just once away from home this season. After that, it’s West Bromwich Albion (H), Brighton and Hove Albion (A) and Burnley (H) – three more goal-shy sides.

Cedric rarely comes up with attacking returns in fairness, especially in a Southampton side that is struggling to find the net themselves, but at £5.0m you can lock him into your defence and not worry about him for a few weeks at least.