This article is part of our FPL Best XI series.
Gameweek 9 of the Premier League was full of surprises, as last season's top three all dropped points.
Reigning-champions Manchester City began the weekend by losing 2-1 at West Ham, whose four wins from five matches have seen the Hammers shoot up to fourth place on the table.
Liverpool also left something to be desired by failing to score at Anfield in a nil-nil draw versus Hull City.
Then, Sunday featured Chelsea leaving Old Trafford with just one point, after a late Robin van Persie equalizer capped the match at 1-1.
Along with West Ham, fifth-place Arsenal benefitted from those results, since the Gunners were handed a 2-0 victory at Sunderland. Coincidentally, sixth-place Swansea City prevailed by the same scoreline versus Leicester City to snap their five-game winless streak.
Speaking of streaks, Southampton proved they could win in any fashion, as Ronald Koeman's second-place side gritted out a 1-0 result against Stoke City.
Meanwhile, West Brom clinched their second straight 2-2 draw in Saturday's tie with Crystal Palace.
In Sunday's pair of early games, both road teams prevailed with three points, as Everton topped Burnley 3-1 and Newcastle continued their climb by beating Tottenham 2-1 at White Hart Lane.
To close, Queens Park Rangers got a much-needed 2-0 win Monday over an abysmal Aston Villa outfit that has now lost five games in a row.
In terms of the Best XI, goalkeeper Fraser Forster notched his fifth clean sheet of the campaign during Southampton's win over Stoke.
Defensively, Ashley Williams also snatched a clean sheet for Swansea City, but neither Everton's Seamus Coleman nor Tottenham's Eric Dier could join Williams in the clean sheet club. Coleman allowed one goal to Burnley, while Dier fell asleep at the half time restart, leading to one of Newcastle's two goals Sunday.
Across the midfield, Eden Hazard's seven dribbles won weren't enough to provide the cutting edge versus Manchester United, and a yellow card hurt the Belgian's performance.
Despite Southampton's Dusan Tadic firing five shots, he couldn't bank his second goal of the season, but did earn a clean sheet to boot. In similar misfortune, Tottenham's Christian Eriksen couldn't score from any of his five shot attempts either.
Thankfully, Arsenal attacker Alexis Sanchez manufactured his own luck, putting two scoring chances away while also securing a clean sheet at Sunderland.
Up front, Southampton striker Graziano Pelle was active as ever, peppering nine shots Saturday, but with two of those attempts bouncing off the woodwork, the in-form Italian just missed on a pair of goals.
However, prior to picking up a yellow card, Everton frontman Romelu Lukaku scored for his second straight league game.
Rounding out the crew, Sergio Aguero's seven shot attempts, including one that struck the crossbar, couldn't produce a goal to save Manchester City on Saturday.
Now, let's turn the attention to Gameweek 10's fixtures. While some sides will be coming off midweek Capital One Cup matches, all 20 clubs will play between Saturday and Monday.
Fresh off a cup win over Manchester City, Newcastle will open the weekend with their sights on beating Liverpool at St. James' Park to build a three-game winning streak in league play.
Later on, West Ham will take their three league-wins streak into the Britannia Stadium, where Stoke City has won two straight.
In London, both Arsenal and Chelsea enter fantastic home matchups against the Premiership's bottom two sides. Last-place Burnley will visit Arsenal, while Queens Park Rangers travel to Chelsea for a London derby.
Behind Arsenal in the standings, Swansea heads to Goodison Park for a tightly contested match versus an Everton side rounding into form.
Additionally, perhaps this season's biggest surprise, Southampton's two-loss away record will be tested at Hull City, a thorny side for top-half teams to play.
Another close tie is West Brom at Leicester City, since one point separates the teams on the table and neither club has won in at least three matches.
Come Sunday, all eyes will be on the Manchester derby, with Louis van Gaal's United side heading to the Etihad Stadium on a four-game unbeaten streak and looking to hand mighty Man City their second straight league loss.
Conversely, Aston Villa will be desperate to end their pitiful patch of five scoreless losses Sunday versus Tottenham.
Finally, Crystal Palace host Sunderland in a matchup of struggling sides to conclude Gameweek 10 on Monday.
Per usual, it's time to zero-in on potential difference makers in this weekend's slate of games and reveal the Best XI.
Formation: 3-4-3
Goalkeepers:
Wojciech Szczesny (Arsenal)
The eccentric goalkeeper earned his second clean sheet of this season with a three-save display at Sunderland last weekend. Szczesny has a great opportunity to string together another scoreless performance this Saturday, since last-place Burnley will be his opponent. Burnley's only two away goals this season came in a game at fellow-promoted side Leicester. Furthermore, Burnley has just five goals on the season, so despite Arsenal's shuffling in defense, Szczesny probably should be expected to produce another clean sheet.
Defenders:
Leighton Baines (Everton)
With four assists in his past three Premier League games, Baines ranks only behind Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas and Swansea's Gylfi Sigurdsson in the assist department this season. Additionally, he and Everton's defense have allowed just one goal over their past three matches across all competitions. This weekend, the Toffees play host to Swansea City, who have found the going tough on the road this season. Everton posted a clean sheet in their last home game and will look to do the same this time around to jump Swansea in the standings. Baines would be a stellar selection as an attacker, making the fact he plays defense even more fruitful for fantasy owners.
Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)
Despite Ivanovic being sent-off against Manchester United last weekend, the Serbian is still eligible to play this weekend versus Queens Park Rangers. That comes as welcome news to fantasy owners, as no defender has scored more than Ivanovic's two goals, and he's also averaging 1.4 shot attempts. His Chelsea side has conceded nine times this season – the second fewest in England's top-flight – and only two of those goals have come at Stamford Bridge. Facing 19th-place QPR, Ivanovic's stellar stock is advanced by the facts that the R's have been held scoreless in six of their last seven away league matches and Chelsea have kept a home clean sheet in 10 of their past 12 Premiership outings.
Aaron Cresswell (West Ham)
With assists in consecutive games, Cresswell has revived the delivery skills that allowed him to tally a whopping 12 assists for Ipswich in the Championship last season. Now with West Ham, Cresswell has added a nice presence along the Hammers' left flank. With preferred Stoke City right-back Phil Bardsley suspended for Saturday's match, Cresswell could take advantage of projected Potters starter Geoff Cameron making his first start of the season. Additionally, only Aston Villa has scored fewer than Stoke's three home goals in the Premiership, which bodes well for Cresswell and West Ham's defense this weekend.
Midfielders:
Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea)
In setting up Chelsea's lone goal versus Manchester United last weekend, Fabregas re-claimed the league-lead for assists, with eight helpers to this point in the season. That individual total ties the amount of goals this weekend's opponents Queens Park Rangers have scored as a team this season. Not to mention, the fellow London side has leaked more goals (18) than any other club through the campaign's first nine matches. Chelsea's midfield conductor, Fabregas could very well help the Blues improve their streak of at least two goals in 23 of their last 28 home league matches.
David Silva (Manchester City)
Although Silva picked up a knock in midweek cup play, he's still expected to be ready for Sunday's Manchester derby. Considering his opponents Man United have given up seven goals over their past pair of away matches, Silva could stir the pot at the Etihad Stadium this weekend. The Spaniard scored Man City's lone goal last weekend with a fine individual effort and could take delight in driving at a vulnerable Red Devils defense. Reeling from that home cup loss Wednesday, Silva and the Citizens will be motivated to duplicate their four-goal display from the last Premiership match held at home.
Editor's note: Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini confirmed Friday that Silva has been ruled out for up to three weeks due to the knee injury suffered in the Capital One Cup match against Newcastle this week.
Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)
The Englishman hasn't scored since Gameweek 5, perhaps evidencing the tiredness he's reported to feeling lately. However, Sterling still attempted four shots last weekend and still leads Liverpool with three goals. Also, with striker Mario Balotelli finally scoring in midweek cup action, perhaps Sterling will benefit this weekend against Newcastle from less of a burden on offense. With an average of two goals per road game, Liverpool actually fares better attack-wise on the road. Sterling seems due for a goal and though Newcastle appears to be heating up, Liverpool has scored a grand total of eight goals in their past two trips to St. James' Park.
Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
From a summer that sent so many sensational talents to the Premier League, Alexis has solidified himself as a most special signing. Compared to his Barcelona days, the Chilean enjoys far more freedom in Arsenal's setup and he even featured as the Gunners' No. 10 last weekend at Sunderland. With a relentless work rate, Alexis took advantage of ripe opportunities to bag a brace, bringing his season total to five goals in seven Premiership starts. On the whole, he boasts seven goals and three assists in 12 total appearances in a Gunners shirt. Come Saturday, expect Alexis to adamantly attack a Burnley defense that has allowed 12 goals over its past four outings.
Forwards:
Danny Welbeck (Arsenal)
Besides Alexis, Welbeck is Arsenal's next most-likely scorer this weekend and despite some altered-formation-induced growing pains thus far, it's hard to see the Gunners' offense struggling at home versus Burnley. To that point, Burnley is the Premiership's only team without a win thus far and they've allowed nine goals at home. Logic leads one to believe that if Burnley finds it difficult to defend at home, then a trip to Arsenal could expose that weakness even more. Enter Welbeck, who has registered four goals from his past two appearances at the Emirates Stadium across all competitions.
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
Following a triumphant four-goal display in Gameweek 8, Aguero couldn't find the scoresheet last weekend, but it certainly wasn't due to a lack of effort. To that point, Aguero attempted seven shots, with one striking the crossbar to keep him from scoring. The Argentine's nine goals are tied for the most in the league and no player has attempted more shots than Aguero. Entering a Manchester derby at home, Aguero sports the confidence of having scored twice in the corresponding fixture last season, while the Manchester United defense has allowed two goals per game on the road this season.
Diego Costa (C) (Chelsea)
A hamstring injury has kept Costa sidelined for Chelsea's past four games across all competitions, but with nine goals in only seven Premiership efforts, he's still provided healthy returns for fantasy owners. That is especially true when Costa plays at Stamford Bridge, as the Spaniard has scored in every league game at his new stomping ground this season. Should Costa indeed pass fit for Saturday's home match, he'll surely occupy the defense of Queens Park Rangers, who have already shipped 12 away goals this season – the most of any Premier League side. Couple that with the fact that Chelsea is presently the league's highest-scoring squad, and Costa's multi-goal potential makes him the Best XI Captain for Gameweek 10.
Szczesny
Baines – Ivanovic – Cresswell
Fabregas – Silva – Sterling – Alexis
Welbeck – Aguero – Costa (C)
