We have had a few truly crazy gameweeks over the years, what some people would label “peak” FPL, in terms of unexpected results, returns (or lack thereof), starting elevens, etc… Now, we don’t immediately want to label gameweek 5 as such, but last weekend was definitely the most “peak FPL” gameweek of the season so far. Here’s just a selection of reasons why fantasy managers might’ve deleted their teams in GW5:
- There were 4 goals in the Manchester United vs Brighton game, but no returns for Rashford, Bruno, Mitoma or March. To top it off, Estupiñan was left out of the squad.
- In-form Spurs stars Maddison and Son blanked at home to Sheffield United, and the visitors also prevented a Spurs clean sheet.
- Aston Villa beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at home, but Watkins and Diaby blanked, while Palace’s Eze blanked and got a yellow.
- Chelsea keep a clean sheet at the Vitality Stadium, but Chilwell gets the 10 final minutes as sub. Also, the Blues failed to score.
- Arsenal scrape a 0-1 win at Everton, but Odegaard blanks and Martinelli gets injured. At least Saka got the assist.
Anyway, that’s why we love the game, right? And to soften last week’s disappointment a bit, gameweek 6 is offering several popular assets a chance to redeem themselves, at least from a fantasy point of view. Manchester City are playing at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, with their rivals United visiting Burnley later that day. Brighton have a home game as well, against Bournemouth, as do Chelsea, though in their current form, visitors Aston Villa could pose a serious problem. The same to an extent goes for Liverpool, who are hosting in-form West Ham United. From a neutral point of view, the North London Derby between Arsenal and Spurs on Sunday afternoon stands out, naturally.
Check out FISO’s FPL Forum for the latest discussion and don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 6 is set at 13h30 (UK time) on Saturday, September 23rd, 2023.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per September 21st, 2023)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Onana (MUN), Ramsdale (ARS), Ederson (MCI) | Areola (WHU), Leno (FUL), Pope (NEW) | |
| DEF | Chilwell (CHE), Henry (BRE), Estupiñan (BRI) | Botman (NEW), Gusto (CHE), Trippier (NEW) | Henry injury, Gusto starting, Newcastle fixtures |
| MID | March (BRI), Rashford (MUN), Martinelli (ARS) | Mbeumo (BRE), Ward-Prowse (WHU), Salah (LIV) | Martinelli injury doubt, Mbeumo form + fixtures, Salah fixtures, JWP form |
| FOR | Jackson (CHE), Isak (NEW), Watkins (AST) | Alvarez (MCI), Edouard (CRY), Hojlund (MU), Ferguson (BRI) | Alvarez form, Watkins lack of returns |
Premium pick
It’s boring and repetitive, we know, but it’s also Manchester City at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday. In other words, time for about 92% of all fantasy managers to select and captain Erling Haaland (£14.1m). Just do exactly that and use the rest of your time to focus on the remaining fourteen players in your squad. Simple as that, on to the rest of our fantasy picks for gameweek 6.
Non-premium pick
Though it feels a touch bandwagon-y, we’re staying with Manchester City for our non-premium fantasy pick of the week. Fresh world champion Julian Alvarez (£6.9m) has been one of the best-value players so far this campaign, starting with a price tag of just £6.5m and already on 2 goals and 5 assists from five league games (all of which he has started, by the way). If that’s not enough to put him firmly on your FPL radar, what about the words from the grandmaster of rotation himself, Pep Guardiola? “Gundo[gan] left and unfortunately with the injury to Kevin [de Bruyne], he has his chance and he is using it”, said Pep a few days ago about his Argentinian attacker, “Now he is almost undroppable”. Hear that? Almost undroppable, with a home game against Forest and a visit to Wolves up next. If you can make room in your squad’s attacking line, it’s still not too late to bring the Man City asset in who also scored two goals on Tuesday evening in the Champions League at home to Red Star Belgrade as witnessed by FISO admin.
The budget enabler
Ahead of the visit to Luton’s Kenilworth Road stadium on Saturday, Wolves’ attacker Pedro Neto (£5.5m) finds himself in a rich vein of form. Despite his team’s disappointing start to the 2023-24 campaign, in which they took just three points from the first five games, the Portuguese international collected 22 FPL points over the past three gameweeks. In GW3, 1 assist resulted in 7 FPL points, in GW4, a brace of assists equalled 10 points and just last weekend, another assist at home to Liverpool brought him 5 points. What makes Neto extra interesting, apart from the fact that he is a guaranteed starter under Julen Lopetegui and priced at just £5.5m, is that he is classified as a midfielder in the official fantasy game. This means that he gets an extra points for each clean sheet and against Luton, that might just happen. While Wolves are not exactly a goal-scoring machine, they did manage to score at least once in each of their last four league games and that’s in great part thanks to Neto. Why? Because no other player in the league (!) has created more chances than he has after the first five gameweeks of the campaign. The visit to Luton might end with a second double-digit haul of the season for the 23-year-old.
The differential
To be honest, we were wondering whether to include Neto in the budget-enabler category or in the differential category, because at his current price and with an ownership of just 1.5%, he qualifies for both. We decided to make him our budget fantasy pick of the week, so that we could also include Rasmus Hojlund (£7.0m) in this week’s article. The Danish forward practically meets the definition of differential in every aspect, which makes him interesting for the ballsiest of fantasy managers. There is, of course, his current 3.3% ownership that makes him a differential asset, but that’s not at all. He only just arrived in England after his £72-million-pound move from Atalanta Bergamo and plays for Manchester United, who are having a terrible start to the season. On top of that, Hojlund has played just 86 minutes of Premier League football so far, with no returns to look back on. So, it’s not that he’s just a differential FPL asset; bringing him in now is about as differential as a fantasy move will get. That’s why we end this differential fantasy pick for gameweek 6 with some positives, because in the time he did play for United so far, the Dane looked promising. He could’ve actually scored in the disaster game versus Brighton last weekend, had it not been for a marginal offside call or for Rashford seemingly playing with blinders on. As a matter of fact, Hojlund did score a few days later, in the midweek clash versus German giants Bayern Munich. We’re expecting his second league start in a row on Saturday at Burnley, who have conceded more goals than any other side in the league. In other words, the perfect opportunity to open his Premier League scoring account as well.
The (vice-)captaincy
Erling Haaland against Nottingham Forest at home is our captain for gameweek 6.
If you feel confident to take on the Norwegian’s inevitable double-digit haul, you might consider putting the armband on Haaland’s teammate Julian Alvarez, or perhaps Mohamed Salah, though the Egyptian superstar is playing a resilient West Ham defence. Higher-risk (and hopefully higher-reward) captaincy picks for gameweek 6 include Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma or Solly March at home to Bournemouth, Crystal Palace’s Odsonne Edouard at home to Fulham, and the previously mentioned Pedro Neto for Wolves’ visit to Luton.