Welcome back, everybody.
Yes, the season’s first annoying international break is past, and we’ve got a whole four gameweeks until the next one. Let’s see how much damage we can all do to our OR in that time.
Without further ado, let’s get stuck into your Gameweek 4 FPL preview.
Pre-Break Recap
The calendar might say only two weeks have passed since Gameweek 3. But I – for one – don’t have a clue what happened, off the top of my head.
Fortunately I don’t have to rely on the top of my head, because I wrote a Gameweek 3 Takeaways piece!
This reviewed all 10 games, and is still worth checking out. To quickly jog your memory, the main FPL-relevant results were:
- Arsenal 1 – 1 Brighton (Havertz and JP scored, Saka assist, Rice red card)
- Brentford 3 – 1 Southampton (Mbeumo and Wissa both look good picks)
- Everton 2 – 3 Bournemouth (Everton defence humiliates itself once again)
- Leicester 1 – 2 Villa (Watkins with another extremely frustrating game)
- Chelsea 1 – 1 Palace (Chelsea attack didn’t look great… neither did Palace’s)
- Newcastle 2 – 1 Spurs (Porro looks a great attacking asset)
- Man U 0 – 3 Liverpool (Man U were terrible… that’s it)
Far more usefully, my Full90FPL partner-in-crime, James, posted an excellent review of the entire first three gameweeks. He looked at every single team, and generally summarised everything we’ve learnt so far.
You can check that out in full here.
In the News
Transfer disruption is thankfully behind us. A few more Premier League players took the Saudi money since the last gameweek, but none we care about in FPL.
As such, we can focus on your favourite thing and mine – injuries!
- Joao Pedro is a slight injury doubt. Hurzeler said he should be back in training before the weekend though, so it doesn’t sound like a big worry
- Bruno also picked up a knock for Portugal, but is also fine. Say what you like about the guy, he just doesn’t miss games
- Fullkrug picked up an Achilles injury, and is definitely out for GW4. He wasn’t starting anyway, but… something to be aware of!
- Areola is also fine, after going off injured for Fabianski before the break
- Branthwaite is still out for Everton. Which means the torture will probably still continue for us Pickford owners
(Note: this was written before Friday’s press conferences. For the latest updates before the deadline, I recommend Premier Injuries on Twitter).
Best Upcoming Fixtures
We all had amazing masterplans based on the best upcoming FPL fixtures, right? I know I did… I just need to remember what it was.
To help jog all our memories once again, here are the five sides with the best imminent matchups.
| Team | GW 4 | GW 5 | GW 6 | GW 7 | GW 8 |
| Aston Villa | EVE | WOL | ips | MUN | ful |
| Liverpool | FOR | BOU | wol | cry | che |
| Palace | LEI | MNU | eve | LIV | for |
| West Ham | ful | CHE | bre | IPS | tot |
| Everton | avl | lei | CRY | NEW | ips |
- (Ipswich also have some of the best fixtures. They’re irrelevant in regular FPL, but I definitely don’t mind Delap as a pickup in FPL Draft, if he’s available… as you can see in my latest rankings!)
- God, just look at those defensive fixtures for Villa. Fulham look okay… but if you had to pick the five worst attacks in the league, you’d end up with a list something like this (sorry, Man U fans). Everton also look like a dream attacking matchup right now (*cough-don’t sell Watkins-cough*).
- Liverpool already look great, and they’re unlikely to be slowing down in the next three games or so. We know they can score against anyone, and all five matchups look good defensively. Oh, how I wish I had Trent for these…
- I don’t like the look of Palace’s attack so far. Liverpool aside, these are four very nice defensive fixtures though, so I’d definitely hold Munoz, Guehi, etc. for now
- West Ham have looked fine going forward and defensively, and I don’t mind any of these first four fixtures on either end. Spurs away obviously isn’t a clean… but definitely is an amazing opportunity for counter-attacking. I’ll likely hold Bowen for all of these
- Everton have been so embarrassing, and I can’t believe I bought into Pickford to start the season again. But if they ever are going to get going defensively, Leicester, Palace (currently) and Ipswich are three nice opportunities to do so
Should I Buy?
Sensible people – which I’m sure includes you – held off on their transfers through the international break. Well, now all that is over, and it’s party time once again! Let’s look at whether you should go for the most-bought players, ahead of Gameweek 4.
- Joao Pedro – Maybe. He’s an injury question mark, at the time of writing. If fit, I think he’s great value for only 5.7. Brighton’s attack looks excellent, and Ipswich/Forest is a reasonable little run
- Luis Diaz – Yes. Technically I’d still go for Jota, since he’s actually playing CF… but if you prefer the guy who just got 14 and 15pts, I can’t argue with you
- Haaland – Maybe. I know, I know, it’s Haaland. I just wouldn’t get him in right now. Brentford is fine, but he struggled against Arsenal’s robust CB’s last season, and Newcastle away isn’t great after that. If you don’t have him already (which I don’t), I prefer waiting until GW7, especially when the likes of Isak and Watkins have nice fixtures
- Salah – Yes, obviously. I don’t care if he’s expensive, he’s incredibly consistent and reliable, and now he has an excellent fixture run
- Onana (Villa) – No. It’s far too much of an overreaction to a couple of early goals.
- Lewis – No. Absolutely textbook candidate for Pep Roulette. He’s played well before, and still got benched for Walker
- Welbeck – No. I do think he’ll return this season (until he gets injured), but he’s the same price as JP, who’s on penalties
- Robinson – No. He’s massively outperforming his underlying stats, Fulham aren’t keeping cleans despite easy fixtures, and he’s got Newcastle, City, and Villa in his next five games
- Mbeumo – No. Excellent long-term pick, but don’t get him before Man City. I do like him for Spurs the week after, though. He’s played well against them in the past, and Brentford will be countering like crazy against Spurs’ shaky defence
- Mitoma – Maybe. He’s a very good player, in a very good attack, with good underlying numbers, and some nice fixtures. The only question is whether you spend 6.6 on him, or go for a Semenyo/Smith Rowe for only 5.6
- Semenyo – Maybe. On the one hand, Chelsea then Liverpool aren’t good fixtures. On the other, he’s just taking such an absurd number of shots that he could return anyway! In general he’s a fantastic enabler (that you can actually start) for the rest of your squad, at only 5.6
- Digne – No. I know he’s starting now, but the Maatsen threat is too big to ignore
Should I Sell?
Well, we’ve got to make room for all these new arrivals somehow. Let’s take a look at the most-binned players, ahead of Gameweek 4, and pass judgement.
(Spoiler alert: I can’t believe some of the players that are being jettisoned this week).
- Isak – No! He’s the most-sold player by almost 100k at the time of writing… am I missing something?! He’s played every minute, just scored, was amazing when fit last year, and now plays Wolves and Fulham, neither of whom keep cleans. Bizarre.
- Watkins – No. I know, he’s been incredibly frustrating – I own him too. But we just can’t sell him before he plays Everton’s comical defence. If he doesn’t score again, and only plays 60mins, let’s reconsider
- Saka – No. Again, bizarre. He’s returned every week, Spurs defence isn’t good, and Arsenal vs Spurs is always a crazy, high-scoring game. An obvious hold
- Gvardiol – Maybe. On paper, Brentford is an okay matchup… but City just don’t take pride in keeping cleans, they’ve struggled against Brentford before, and they have Arsenal then Newcastle after. Oh, and he costs 6.0. I’d much prefer Robertson for that money
- Palmer – No. What is going on this week?! He’s got four assists already, and now plays Bournemouth’s leaky defence
- Gordon – Maybe. I’m holding for Wolves, but I’m not massively confident. If you want to downgrade him to Mitoma, or further to Semenyo/ESR, to fund other moves, I don’t mind that at all
- Odegaard – Yes. Injured for weeks, and wasn’t returning anyway
- Jota – No. It’s annoying he’s not returning, but he’s still the CF for an excellent team, with fantastic fixtures. Definitely hold
- Porro – No. He’s taking a ton of shots, and his xA is good too. He could easily return against Arsenal (again, it’s usually a crazy fixture), and his fixtures after that are fine
- Saliba – Maybe. Obviously it’s tempting before Spurs and City (yes Arsenal kept two cleans against City last year, but you wouldn’t bet on it again). You’ll want an Arsenal defender for GW6-8 anyway though, so I’d prefer to just hold and bench him if you can
- Foden – Yes. 9.4 is vastly too much to spend on someone when we’ve got no idea if they’re starting
- Smith Rowe – Maybe? His upcoming fixtures are so-so, but he’s also only 5.6, and has been fine so far. If you’re significantly upgrading him, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t be in a rush to bin him
Captaincy Corner
Captaincy is pretty boring this season. It’s Haaland and Salah, Haaland and Salah, every single week.
And, guess what we’ve got in Gameweek 4? Haaland and Salah!
If you’ve got Haaland, it’s him home to Brentford. If not, it’s Salah home to Forest.
If you haven’t got either… firstly, how? But secondly, Diaz/Jota or Palmer would be my next favourite picks.
Final Thoughts
Well, that’ll just about do it for this week. Hopefully I overcame my own international break rust, and delivered a respectable Gameweek 4 preview.
If you also dabble in FPL Draft, we recently published our first in-season rankings update. If not, just ignore that bit.
Thanks for reading, everyone, and best of luck this week.