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Today, I’m going to look at top transfer tips and captaincy for FPL gameweek 5.
In case you missed it, we reviewed last gameweek and looked at the fixtures going forward here. There we set out the reasons why you might not fear a Mo haul at the moment and reviewed the weekends action.
We also used our awesome fixture ticker and saw that Liverpool, City, Villa, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Spurs have the best attacking fixtures with Arsenal, Liverpool, City, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Newcastle and Notts Forest having the best defensive fixtures.
You should read it in full. It’s great.
Done? Okay, let’s get into this one
This will be a key question for many of you this week and I’m here to tell you there are no easy answers here.
I think the key consideration is can you get Haaland without taking a hit? If the answer is no, then ignore this decision for a week. Haaland is playing the best defence in the league this year, it is unlikely that he will return big this week. Salah has an easier fixture – it’s not easy, but it’s easier. I don’t think you will get any benefit from a hit because you need Haaland to score twice to equal a Mo blank if you take a minus 4.
If you already have both or can make the move to Haaland for free then I think there are more considerations.
The first consideration is who do you captain? Spoilers for later. Captaincy is really tough this week. With Haaland playing the aforementioned Arsenal, Salah is probably the better captaincy shout out of the two of them.
The second consideration is who else do you get? Because clearly you can get any midfielder you want.
As I trailed earlier in the week, I am looking closely at Palmer this week. But that’s crazy. I was so happy to bin him two weeks ago. Besides last week, the last open play goal he scored was in January.
Of course, his underlying numbers remained very good. So, the range of outcomes I expect from this guy is wild – he could hit a hat-trick or he could blank this week and I wouldn’t be surprised with either. The fixture this week is pretty good for him. Man United are showing the world that they cannot defend the half space between the DMs and defenders and he could eat up there.
If you are moving to Haaland, then maybe you are shopping in a cheaper bracket and looking at B. Fernandes, Mbeumo or my old fave Semenyo. I don’t mind any of these moves, but its not like I look at them I think they are obvious picks. Is Bruno and Haaland way better than Salah and Mateta this week? I don’t think so.
The third consideration is what do you do with the money? If your moving to Haaland then maybe the money is already accounted for. But if you just straight up switch to Palmer, you could be left with 4.0 in the bank and not much to do with it.
At the moment, the expensive options aren’t delivering on their price tag and you may want to spread the money. But, that’s not very feasible if you have limited transfers.
“Blah, blah, blah – it’s team dependent.”
Yawn.
Take a stand James you coward.
Alright you demanding fuckers.
If I owned Mo, I would hold him and cap him this week.
This may sound contradictory to my earlier statement in the week that I don’t fear him. But I am a human being and therefore I am full of contradictions and hypocrisy. I am not Jesus.
And, more importantly, there is a logic to my decision. In the absence of any great captaincy choices this week, I think you can take a reasonable bet against the Mo doubters this week and ride out with Mo. One. Last. Time.
I can see the upside being substantial and the risk is minimal. Active managers will hesitate to captain a guy we called the GOAT last year. And, they will captain a bunch of guys with not great fixtures.
Yeah. Here I go. Weasling my way out of it.
If I had three or four free transfers and some shit picks in my team and I wanted to prevent an early wildcard, I could see myself selling Mo to finance a bunch of moves.
I haven’t watched any of these games. This is just info from sofascore, livescore and the BBC.
Brentford rested Thiago and Schade for Dango and Carvalho up top. Damsgaard made a return appearance off the bench.
Nathan Collins went off injured in the 52nd minute.
Harvey Elliot was gifted a goal by Valdimarsson suggesting Villa attack still sucks. But they did manage 3 big chances.
Watkins and Rogers were rested.
Mateta, Munoz and Pino played the full 90.Guehi and Richards did not.
They played the first team with Saliba on the bench for fitness reasons.
After we all waxed lyrical about Eze and Madueke at the weekend, it was Trossard and Martinelli both scored – and assisted one another – after coming off the bench
Interestingly, Trossard replaced Gyokeres up top at 65 mins
They played the first team with Richarlison at striker and Kudus and Xavi in the attacking midfield/winger spots.
[UPDATE: 18/09/25:
It is hilarious that Ange lost after being 2-0 up but it is worth noting Forest rotated 10 players. Morato is the only one who didn’t rotate. I wouldn’t read that much into it.
Chelsea were outclassed by a much more experienced team. The stats suggest that Bayern just dominated.
Palmer scored a second open play goal in as many games.
After all I just said about the concerns around Mo, he scored, assisted and shot six times against what I understand to be a good defensive side.
There is a lot of squad management here at the moment: Isak started and last 58 mins before Ekitike came on. Gakpo and Frimpong were taken off at the same time. Kerkez came off the bench for Robbo at 86 mins. Ngumoha came on after 74 mins.]
[UPDATE 19/09/25:
Woltemade stayed on the bench – good sign he will play this weekend.
Stats wise it looked like Barcelona dominated possession and number of chances but Newcastle had some quality chances and it could have finished in a draw.
Fabian Schar and Kieran Trippier went off and appear to be injured.
Napoli went down to 10 men after only 20 minutes – can’t read too much into this.
Haaland scored his 50th CL goal and became the fastest man to reach 50 – he is quite good, you heard it here first.]
As always, check the injury status of these guys before you buy.
Semenyo – 100% yes. The closest thing this season has to a cheat code at the moment.
Guehi – No. All the Palace defenders look good right now but you have missed the best fixtures. I would ignore them and hop back on in gameweek 10 or get the guy with the attacking threat too Munoz.
Haaland – Yes. He seems like the best asset in FPL at the moment. You don’t need to do it ahead of Arsenal away but its fine to do.
Van de Ven – Sure. Good player with good fixtures and low defcon chance but some attacking output. Romero is also a decent pick – Frank has them delivering good set pieces now.
Woltemade – No. I think you want to be more certain of his nailedness. Just get Evanilson at this price or Joao Pedro for a bit more.
Grealish – No. You don’t want him before the difficult Liverpool fixture and he cannot play in game week 8 against his parent club.
Joao Pedro – Yes. He is great. Possibly he and Semenyo are the underpriced assets we all need.
Palmer – Yes, I think so. Fixtures are still good and he could be back to his best. He massively underperformed his underlying numbers towards the end of the season last year so I can only imagine he returns to the mean.
Caicedo – Yes. His floor appears to be 4 points because he always gets defcon. I’d rather have him than Reijnders at the moment. Equally, don’t rush to buy him. He won’t keep scoring. He is the kind of guy I would have on a wildcard.
Timber – No. I still think there is a rotation concern and I don’t want to play him against Man City this week.
Xavi – Yes. He looks fun and there aren’t many midfield options at this price point.
Isak – No. We need to see him play.
Senesi – Yes. Fixtures are good and he has 55 DC from 4 games. For 4.5 that is ludicrous.
Anyone injured for a decent time is an obvious yes, at least if you have any amount of money tied up in them – you can bench cheap guys.
Wood – No. Absolutely not. You crazy people. He has two very nice fixtures!
Saliba – No. I think he is going to be fit for the next game. Wait for more info.
Johnson/Richarlison/Kudus – Yes. Too many doubts about minutes.
Ekitike/Wirtz – I’d happily sell Wirtz and I’d happily keep Ek until Isak starts. Wirtz is looking increasingly like the guy who passes it to the guy who assists. But Ekitke is the starting striker for the most gung-ho attack in the league. Wait for that to change.
Cunha – I think there is a chance he is fit for Chelsea and then the next two are really nice fixtures. I would probably wait.
Watkins/Rogers – No. You can’t do that ahead of the Sunderland game.
Reijnders – I am not sure why you would sell him. He has been fine which is fine for 5.5. I don’t think there is anyone hugely better than him at his pricetag and the gameweek 6 fixture is nice.
B. Fernandes/Mbeumo – No. I don’t know why you would and who you think is much better this week.
Sarr – Sadly I would. He won’t be back early enough to hold.
Cucurella – Nah. He’s fine. They were bad without him and he plays as a left-back/striker. He remains a good pick.
As trailed, there are no easy captaincy options in FPL Gameweek 5.
You can view that one of two ways: either you see this as a fun opportunity or a dangerous risk. I am choosing to view it as the former, after all, if you aren’t having fun then why are you playing this game?
That’s why I don’t like Haaland for the captaincy. I think his ceiling is probably one goal in this game and I want more than that.
I prefer Salah to Haaland but obviously if you don’t have him I wouldn’t rush to get him.
I don’t think Palmer is a bad shout either. United are a mess still and they should attack enough that it creates gaps for him and Chelsea to exploit. Which also makes Joao Pedro a possible option – but obviously he doesn’t have pens so is less safe than Palmer.
Besides those guys I don’t think you are crazy to captain Semenyo. We think Newcastle defence is pretty damn solid but that didn’t stop Bournemouth putting four past them at St James’ Park last season.
Finally, I don’t mind a B. Fernandes captain – just because he has so many routes to points.
Good luck in FPL Gameweek 5 all!
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