Both Chelsea and Liverpool, who are both the most well-known picks in the FPL, have some difficult decisions to make this week.
Joao Pedro has a promising start to his season, starting with Sunderland at home on Saturday, but the Chelsea striker has had just two shots in his previous four games and hasn’t scored since Gameweek three.
Salah is not providing value for his money, which is a whopping £14.3 million, and he is not playing like the typical Salah. Only 16th among the top-scoring midfielders are he.
I’ve avoided both in this team of the week, and Pras and the FPL Podcast from BBB Sport crew will be debating Joao Pedro’s form in Friday’s FPL talking point article.
As if you were playing a Free Hit, the team of the week is chosen based on the current FPL prices to fit within a £100m budget.
What was the performance of the FPL team from the previous week?
A strong defense, led by 12-point guard Gabriel, and a big return from captain Erling Haaland, who scored 66 points, did it, not another 100-pointer.
For Gameweek nine, FPL team of the week.
BBB Sport
Protector and defense
Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez, $4. 9 million move to Sunderland (h)
Sunderland have the fourth-lowest expected goals (xG) on the road and have only scored once away from home.
I have no faith in them scoring, despite the fact that their strong defense may annoy Chelsea fans who are still without Cole Palmer.
Arsenal – Crystal Palace (h) and Jurrien Timber (h) for £6 million and Gabriel (h) for £6 million.
Get some Arsenal defenders in your team, I know it’s going to sound corny.
The only thing that deters a triple-up this week is Palace’s ability to defeat anyone on any given day.
In the last two weeks, Gabriel and Timber have combined for 19 and 18.
After Burnley and Sunderland, they have two clean sheets on the bounce.
Leeds United’ Joe Rodon, £4.1 million signing, West Ham (h)
I’m so sorry for West Ham fans who endured their performance against Brentford on Monday night.
Their xG was 0.33, which was awful.
Even with a poor-performing team and little goal threat, Leeds is a difficult place to travel to this year.
Given his threat from corners, Rodon is a great budget pick because he has seven points in three of his four home games.
Only Bournemouth and Arsenal have a better record, and Leeds have allowed in just four goals at home (xGC).
Nottingham Forest, £5 million Marco Senesi, Bournemouth (h)
Senesi is a safe, well-liked option here, but it makes sense.
Sean Dyche was brought in by Forest this week, but they haven’t scored in three games and haven’t scored in their last six league games.
Midfield
Getty Images
Antoine Semenyo, Bournemouth, £8.1 million – Nottingham Forest (h)
Semenyo is currently a must-have, along with Arsenal defense and Erling Haaland.
He wasn’t given a second assist last week at Crystal Palace, which would have likely also have given him some bonus points.
You wouldn’t want to go against Semenyo in this gameup against Forest, a team in disarray who have conceded 15 times in eight games.
Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, £7 million (h) Justin Kluivert
Kluivert is one of those players who needs a punt or two.
You could expect the Dutchman to play first-choice in his first game of the season heading into the future.
I’m backing his form from the juicy match-up and last season’s FPL gold, where he had 12 goals and six assists.
He ought to be the penalty taker for Bournemouth as well.
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, £8.9 million signing, Brighton (h)
Fernandes’ price has decreased, which is interesting because Brentford’s FPL managers lost faith after he missed his second penalty of the season.
However, Fernandes doesn’t typically miss those, and if he had scored both, he would have been the clear top midfielder in the nation this year, behind Semenyo.
Of course, there are Ifs and Buts, but he always has so many options for points each weekend.
Fernandes has taken 18 shots, four big chances, and fell short of converting two defcon opportunities by just one point, five more than any other player.
Gakpo is much less expensive and as effective as a route into the Liverpool attack with Mohamed Salah’s poor form.
If you like to read these statistics and are a fan of underlying data like I do, he might have scored a hat-trick against Manchester United on Sunday.
Gakpo leads the Liverpool players in terms of:
Strikers
Getty Images
Manchester City vs. Aston Villa (a) Erling Haaland (captain), £14.7 million
This season, will Haaland be valued at £15 million?
Haaland is a fixture-proof perma-captain until further notice, but Villa away is not the most enticing fixture because they have only conceded five in four home games.
Newcastle United – Fulham (h): Nick Woltemade, £7.4 million
Fulham have conceded 75% of their goals away from home this season, making it difficult to ignore Woltemade’s goals.
Subs’ bench
Chelsea keeper Filip Jorgensen, £4.4 million (h)
Leeds United’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin, £5.5 million striker, has signed for West Ham (h)
Everton’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, a £5 million midfielder for Spurs (h)
Hugo Bueno, Wolves, £4.4 million, Burnley defenders, (h)
In its five-year plan to revive the economy, China places a lot of value on cutting-edge technology.
China’s exports, infrastructure, and affordable credit have fueled spectacular growth for decades. Despite posting a record-setting trade surplus with the world this year, that outdated model is losing steam.
Consumers are stifling the housing industry, the economy is crumbling, and consumer confidence is waning. Beijing now faces the most difficult challenge of all time: how to maintain the second-largest economy’s growth without heavily relying on the engines that once fueled it.
Pakistan’s first-ever national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine campaign, which aims to immunize more than 13 million girls between the ages of 9 and 14 in its initial phase, was launched in September.
HPV is the most common cause of cervical cancer, which kills eight Pakistani women every day, according to Dr Dapeng Luo, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Pakistan. By 2030, the UN Health Organization intends to eradicate cervical cancer globally.
But the vaccine has met resistance in Pakistan, as conspiracy theories about inoculations have circulated.
More information is provided here about HPV, how cervical cancer is caused, and why Pakistan’s vaccination campaign has received a backlash.
What is HPV and what are the symptoms?
A cut or abrasion is a typical example of a group of viruses that can enter the body through skin-to-skin contact.
There are more than 100 types of HPV, and they are often spread through sexual contact. It can take years for cancer to develop because many people who have an HPV don’t have any symptoms at all.
Some types of the virus eventually cause warts on the genitals or other parts of the body. These might appear bumpy or flat.
How does HPV cause cervical cancer?
According to the WHO, HPV accounts for more than 95 percent of the 660, 000 cervical cancer cases that are diagnosed annually worldwide. In Pakistan, more than 5, 000 new cases of cervical cancer are reported every year, it said.
Cervical cancer, vulvar cancer, or vaginal cancer are some of the cancer types that HPV strains can cause. However, cervical cancer typically develops 20 years after the onset of the HPV infection.
Within two years of infection, the body’s immune system can expel a large number of HPV strains, but some are more persistent. When the body’s immune system is unable to fight off the more persistent HPV strains, the virus interferes with normal cell growth, causing cells to become abnormal and potentially leading to a pre-cancerous state. Cancer may develop if this is not treated.
Sufferers of cervical cancer do not experience symptoms in its early stages. The Mayo Clinic recommends that women between the ages of 30 and 65 get a pap smear every three years.
How have vaccines been rolled out in Pakistan?
On September 15, Pakistan’s HPV vaccine campaign started. While the first phase was scheduled to run until September 27, it was later extended to October 1.
The WHO has provided training to some 49, 000 government health workers, all of whom are women, to administer vaccines throughout the nation. The WHO and Pakistan’s government partnered to conduct this training with funding support from GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership that works to improve access to immunisations.
In public places like schools, vaccination centers were constructed in advance of the first phase. Health workers also went door-to-door to administer the HPV vaccine.
Cecolin, an HPV vaccine developed in China, was provided for free in one dose. While most HPV vaccines require either two or three doses, WHO confirmed in October last year that Cecolin could be used as a single dose.
Girls from Sindh, Punjab, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Islamabad Capital Territory, and the first phase of the vaccination program in Pakistan were given the single-dose vaccine in the first phase of the rollout.
A health worker gives an injection of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to a girl during a campaign aiming to protect girls from cervical cancer, at a school in Lahore, Pakistan]KM Chaudary/AP]
Syed Mustafa Kamal, the country’s federal health minister, urged all parents to make sure their daughters and sisters are immunized at a ceremony held on September 16 in Islamabad. Do not fall prey to negative campaigns. This vaccine is essential for our girls’ protection because it is safe, effective, and essential.
Kamal told Al Jazeera that when the vaccine campaign started, there was a lot of criticism and scepticism towards it. “Some unidentified individuals had distributed some fake videos and information.”
He said that during the first four days of the campaign, the response to the vaccine was negative. There were schools that had already committed to use as vaccination centers, but the refusals were so high that our employees were denied entry to the school.
On the fifth day, Kamal got his own daughter publicly vaccinated during a ceremony at the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) office in Karachi. Kamal stated to reporters during the ceremony, “In my 30-year political career, I have never brought my family into the public eye.” But to put an end to these baseless rumours, I have taken this step”.
He claimed that as a result, acceptances increased and refusals decreased. He added that this upward trend of acceptance and vaccine administration continued till the end of the campaign.
“People started getting vaccines after being able to disprove rumors,” it was discovered. Especially, schools were requesting to send teams as parents were agreeing to get their daughters vaccinated”, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, the health minister of Sindh province, told Al Jazeera in a written statement.
She claimed that the initial reluctance caused the vaccination campaign to be shortened by four days.
What is Cecolin?
The live HPV virus is not present in the Cecolin vaccine. Instead, it contains recombinant L1 capsid proteins, laboratory-made proteins that mimic the outer shell of the virus but do not have any viral DNA and therefore cannot cause infection.
Other nations have used the recombinant L1 capsid proteins-containing Gardasil, which was produced in the US. It also does not contain the live HPV virus.
Why is the vaccine only being given to girls aged nine to 14?
According to the government, this particular age group of girls was chosen in accordance with the recommendations of the WHO’s National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs), which provide reliable immunization recommendations.
“As per WHO, the immune response generated by the body after the vaccine jab is maximum at this age of 9-14 years, and the child gets the best and long-term protection. Therefore, this particular age group,” Pechuho said.
“Currently, the vaccine is available free of cost for 9-14-year-old girls only. At the federal ministry level, there have been discussions about making this vaccine available for sale so that other people can also benefit, including boys, women, and adolescent girls.
What do recipients of the vaccine say about it?
After school hours, Sana Ali Manzoor and her husband, Sana Ali Manzoor, who claim to be in favor of vaccinations for their daughter, took her daughter, 11, to her private school campus in Karachi. The whole process took about 20 minutes.
Manzoor claimed to have been informed of the vaccine’s rollout through her daughter’s Haque Academy, a luxury neighborhood near Defence Housing Authority, through a mobile app. Parents were invited to register on the mobile app and accompany their children for the vaccination.
When her daughter got her vaccination, according to Manzoor, a lactation specialist who works with new mothers, 30 to 40 other children were also present.
“So we went to school, and there were two or three tables set up. There were also health professionals. They first checked if our name was on the list. After that, we traveled to the vaccination facility. And then right after that, there was a manual card entry filling that was done, then they gave us the card”.
She called the procedure “very organized.” Manzoor says she was encouraged by friends, including a paediatrician and a gynaecologist, to get the HPV vaccine for her daughter. She traveled to Dubai to get her children’s chickenpox vaccine.
How successful has the vaccination drive been so far?
Authorities claim that the rollout did not hit its mark, despite their claims that the campaign is a success in spite of this.
“Around 13 million girls were supposed to be vaccinated in the first phase of the HPV vaccine campaign. 9.2 million people have been vaccinated thus far, or 78 percent of the target total, according to Pechuho.
In the southern province of Sindh, the estimated target for the HPV campaign was 4, 081, 279 girls. 2, 674, 210 girls received vaccinations, making up 66 percent of the overall target.
The low take-up is down to a general hesitancy towards vaccines in Pakistani society, experts say. Additionally, misinformation, particularly online, has contributed to some concerns about the HPV vaccine.
Will others get the vaccine?
In 2026, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan will eventually receive the vaccine, along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan. The government has not yet announced when the next phase will begin.
According to Kamal, the federal minister, “every age girl will be vaccinated occasionally.” He added that the government hopes to vaccinate boys and men against HPV once girls and women have been vaccinated.
What causes Pakistan’s vaccine hésitation?
While vaccine hesitancy is a global phenomenon, in Pakistan it was aggravated by the CIA’s use of a fake hepatitis B vaccination campaign in Pakistan’s Abbottabad as cover for a manhunt for fugitive al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In order to find connections to bin Laden and his family, the vaccine campaign, which was carried out in collaboration with a local doctor, was used to covertly collect blood samples. The plan was to compare the DNA of any of bin Laden’s children to that of his sister, who had died in Boston in 2010. US Marines in Abbottabad ultimately shot the al-Qaeda leader in a military operation in 2011.
It was never revealed whether the CIA obtained any DNA from bin Laden’s family. However, according to the time, one source claimed the operation had failed.  , In 2014, the White House promised that the CIA would never again use a false vaccination campaign for espionage. However, there was persistent mistrust in vaccines.
This was apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when vaccines were free, but according to a recent study, 30 percent of people in Pakistan did not want to get vaccinated. A Pakistani doctor co-authored an opinion piece that read, “Misconceptions that the COVID vaccine may lead to infertility, death, or be tied to shadowy foreign agendas circulated quickly through social media and community gossip.”
Manzoor said she has herself noticed “anti-vaxxer” sentiment among some of her clients. She recalled telling a young mother to keep her unvaccinated newborn at home, explaining that the house is not sterile. The young mother responded, “It’s fine, we don’t believe in such things”.
What particular issues does the HPV vaccine raise?
The HPV vaccine has faced especially heated pushback in Pakistan.
Some claim that consensual sex before marriage is against the law and is not required because HPV is a sexually transmitted infection in Pakistan.
A Pakistani user wrote on X, “Cerv. Sexual contact is NOT permitted in Pakistan for children aged 9-14, but only in the west.
Another user wrote, referring to the vaccine, “its common in societies where women has multiple sex partners”!
Manzoor claimed that having her daughter vaccinated was because it made sense for her to keep her daughter safe from the virus.
“It’s not even about being sexually active, it’s even about, God forbid, molestation. It’s not always mutual, Manzoor said.
In 2023, Islamabad-based NGO Sahil reported that, on average, one child was sexually abused every two hours in Pakistan. In Pakistan, 5, 867 rape cases were identified in 2023, according to the World Population Review.
Another conspiracy theory circulating online is that the HPV vaccine causes infertility. This assertion lacks supporting evidence. Pakistan, with a population in excess of 250 million, is the fifth most populous country in the world, according to World Population Review. Pakistan’s birthrate is 3.32, which is above the replacement rate of 2.1 required to maintain population levels, despite the country’s birthrates having decreased, similar to the rest of the world.
In May 2020, a peer-reviewed US study found no evidence of increased infertility among women who received the HPV vaccine. This study was conducted in the US, and the sample was given a different vaccine, Gardasil.
Other rumours, along with pictures and videos, have spread online. Girls in school uniforms collapsing in a video that received more than 340, 000 views on X this year, with the claim that these girls became ill after receiving “forced vaccinations” in the caption.
In fact, the video was filmed last year and shows a scene in which police are clashing with protesters over electricity taxes in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The girls at the school suffocated because of the police’s use of tear gas shells.
Is the HPV vaccine safe?
“The vaccine has a strong safety profile,” the spokesperson said. It has been around for almost two decades now. The HPV L1 protein is the active component, Pechuho said, but it doesn’t contain any viruses.
In an assessment of Cecolin published last year, the WHO said that “the vaccine was safe and showed a good immunogenicity”.
According to Pechucho, it has a few minor side effects. “Most common side effects are related to any other vaccine, like fever, pain at the injection site and, rarely, allergic reactions”, he said.
Kamal added that an over-the-counter medication helps a fever, which is the most common side effect, which subsides in a day or two.
“People used to die of diseases like polio and tuberculosis. Because vaccines are available now, they are not dying today. People are not dying of COVID because we have vaccines. According to Kamal, “the world has moved toward prevention.”
After excluding Israeli gymnasts from the ongoing Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta, the host country reportedly said it was “maintaining public order,” the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has urged global sports federations to hold no sporting events in Indonesia.
On Wednesday, the IOC’s executive board issued a statement urging the world’s sports organizations to stop holding events in Indonesia.
Due to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population, earlier this month denied visas to Israeli gymnasts, making it impossible for them to compete in the championship that started on Sunday.
Jakarta claimed that the action was in line with Indonesia’s policy of extending diplomatic ties to Israel until the state of Palestine is recognized as independent.
The IOC stated in a highly worded statement that it would stop discussing any potential bid for the Olympics from Indonesia until the government made it clear that all athletes, regardless of nationality, would be able to compete there in the future.
Indonesia has repeatedly expressed interest in hosting the Summer Games in 2036, but the IOC’s decision almost eliminated its chances of winning in 11 years.
Sports Minister Erick Thohir said Indonesia “understands the consequences of its decision” after the IOC’s statement, adding that the action was taken to maintain public order.
Every international event is hosted by Thohir in accordance with the tenets of “maintenance, public order, and the public interest,” Thohir wrote on X.
He added that Indonesia’s constitution required the principle in light of its commitment to uphold international law.
The IOC has decided that Indonesia cannot host world championships, Olympic events, Youth Olympic Games, and other activities under the umbrella of the Olympics, according to Thohir, who acknowledged that this decision has consequences.
The IOC announced that it would update the criteria for qualification to include guarantees for access for all athletes, regardless of nationality, in any Olympic Games qualification event.
It mandated that the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the Indonesian Olympic Committee hold a meeting to discuss the issue at the IOC’s Lausanne, Switzerland, headquarters. A meeting date was not specified in the document.
The Israel Gymnastics Federation’s appeals to be allowed to compete in the championship were turned down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last week.
Additionally, the CAS rejected Israel’s request to compel the FIG to guarantee its participation, or to switch to a different artistic world.
Three suspected gunrunners have been detained by Department of State Services (DSS) operations after allegedly providing bandits with weapons and ammunition in Kaduna State.
According to the agency, the state’s Igabi and Kachia Local Government Areas were the subjects of coordinated sting operations.
A 30-year-old man was being detained along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Bypass in Igabi while carrying 200 rounds of live ammunition, four empty magazines, and two AK-47 rifles, one of which was being transported by a PKT machine gun.
In a Volkswagen Golf car, two others were detained in Kachia’s Doka village while attempting to sell three AK-47 rifles to bandits along the Abuja–Kaduna Expressway.
REPs Probe $4.6b Health Grants READ ALSO
Governor Uba Sani praised the DSS for conducting the operation and said that under his administration’s peace model, there would no place for bandits and other criminal elements to hide.
The governor thanked President Bola Tinubu and the Director-General of the DSS for continuing to support Kaduna’s security framework through his Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Sule Shuaibu (SAN).
He noted that the state’s non-kinetic peace model, which his administration introduced, has significantly lowered crime rates, and warned against engaging in criminal activity that might compromise stability.
The DSS maintained that ongoing inquiries are being conducted and that suspects would face full legal repercussions.
JavaScript must be enabled in your browser to play this video.
Paul Battison
Abu Dhabi’s BBC Sport
Nathaniel Wood’s two daughters are the first thing that he mentions when he sits down for his interview.
Wood is delighted to learn that Layla and Arla, both one, have joined him in Abu Dhabi.
The 32-year-old Londoner has invited his family over to watch his UFC 321 fight with Jose Delgado, including his wife, mother, and father.
Because things have already gone wrong without them, Wood needs to have his family with him in order to get in the right headspace before a fight.
“I’m thinking about going home if I’m not with them.” Every two seconds, Wood tells BBC Sport, “I’m checking my phone to see what’s going on.”
They can concentrate on the task at hand because I have them here. I feel much more at ease.
Wood is at ease as he shakes hands with his family and responds to BBC Sport’s questions with conviction while having a friendly family nearby.
But for him in Abu Dhabi, things haven’t always been this way.
Before his daughters were born in 2023, Wood was the subject of Muhammad Naimov’s brutal assault after having a mental health issue.
Wood has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), a mental illness that causes compulsive behavior and obsessive thoughts.
It “comes in waves.” You can be completely fine at times, but then you could experience a “dark cloud day” where you just become anxious and fixated on something, Wood says.
“Unfortunately, fight week was when I had a chance. I was having incredibly bad anxiety as I flew out.
OCD keeps telling me, “I can’t move on when I have it.” I didn’t care about the fight for the entire week. I was just obsessing over and thinking about things that I didn’t need to.
It consumes a lot of energy. You’re thinking about that thought every second of the day, not anything else. I might be talking to you right now, but I’m also considering other options.
He claims that his obnoxious thoughts can be related to a variety of subjects, but cites health issues as an “prime example.”
Wood says, “I could be having a slight headache and thinking, “I’ve got a brain bleed, or brain cancer,” and I can’t let the thought go.
“And then it makes you anxious, and then it makes you ruminate more.” When you’re in that room, you’re living a nightmare.
Before urging people to never “ever be afraid to go to the doctors” if they believe they have the disorder, Wood claims he has sought medical attention from therapists and is currently taking medication for it.
“I have a very good family, and I’m very fortunate. I have people to talk to, along with my wife, my mom, and my dad. I believe that’s a very dark place for those who don’t, he says.
Personally, I think you can get a little calm when I express my worries. Not as bad as you imagine.
You can pretend to have real nightmares while playing your own.
Getty Images
Wood jokes that he won’t be eating much because of the weight loss in his featherweight (11st 5lb) fight with Delgado after taking his family to the local mall for dinner.
With just one defeat in 11 fights, American fighter Delgado is a rising star.
Wood, who has lost just one of his previous eight matches, is the underdog.
Wood concentrates on defeating Delgado because his family is close by.
“I’ve heard that being busy and talking to someone help me.” When I’m occupied and have things in mind, my mind doesn’t go crazy like it does when I have nothing to do, says Wood.
“This is my fourth fight in Abu Dhabi,” I said. I lost two games and one win.
“I’m going into this fight with full intentions to win this fight as best and as impressively as I can,” I say.
Information and support are available on BBC Action Line if you have experienced problems as a result of the issues raised in this article.
