Gameweek 5 was the round the cheap end of the market won again, and it was the round this desk got one call spectacularly right and several calls badly wrong. Both belong in the same article.
Start with the call that landed. João Pedro (£7.7m, 66.1% owned) played zero minutes. Not two points, not a cameo off the bench — zero. FPL’s second-most-owned asset carried a 75% knee flag into Brentford, we named him “one to avoid” and told you not to buy him or build anything around him, and he returned nothing at all while Chelsea lost 3-0. His ownership has already fallen from 74.6% to 66.1% — roughly 930,000 squads have moved him out.
Now the calls that didn’t. We told you to own nobody from Coventry. Coventry won 1-0 at Nottingham Forest, their first win and first clean sheet of the season, and their three cheapest players — Dasilva (£4.0m), Thomas (£4.0m) and keeper Rushworth (£4.5m) — scored 35 points between them. We said Spurs had no attacker to own at any price; they scored twice. We said the same about Aston Villa; they scored three and won at Spurs. And the wildcard fifteen we published a week ago scored 40 points with the armband in a round that averaged 48.
Here’s the full account of it.
The round in one number: 17 of the top 20 scorers cost £6.2m or less
| Player | Club | Pos | Price | GW5 pts | Owned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brobbey | SUN | FWD | £5.7m | 17 | 6.7% |
| Semenyo | MCI | MID | £8.4m | 17 | 15.3% |
| Dasilva | COV | DEF | £4.0m | 15 | 0.7% |
| Groß | BHA | MID | £5.8m | 14 | 27.2% |
| Schuster | BRE | DEF | £4.5m | 14 | 0.2% |
| Tarkowski | EVE | DEF | £6.1m | 14 | 15.7% |
| Manzambi | AVL | MID | £5.9m | 13 | 0.3% |
| Hall | NEW | DEF | £5.3m | 13 | 16.6% |
| Buendía | AVL | MID | £5.9m | 12 | 1.0% |
| Rushworth | COV | GKP | £4.5m | 11 | 0.8% |
| Kostoulas | BHA | FWD | £5.6m | 10 | 3.3% |
| Willock | NEW | MID | £5.0m | 10 | 0.5% |
| Trafford | LEE | GKP | £5.0m | 10 | 5.5% |
| Cunha | MUN | MID | £7.9m | 10 | 5.7% |
| Anthony | BRE | MID | £5.9m | 10 | 0.1% |
Across the round’s top twenty, only three players cost more than £7.5m: Semenyo, Cunha and Cherki. Seventeen of those twenty cost £6.2m or less, five cost £5.0m or less, and two cost exactly £4.0m. The round averaged 48 points — the lowest of the season — and the top score in the entire game was 126. When the average score is 48 and the top score is 126, the difference is almost never the expensive players. It’s whether you happened to own Brobbey.
The two 17s
Brian Brobbey (£5.7m, 6.7% owned) scored a hat-trick in a 5-3 defeat. Sunderland lost that match, which tells you everything about how the points were distributed: City scored five and their goalkeeper returned two, Sunderland scored three and their centre-forward returned 17 with 92 BPS — the highest single-match BPS figure of the round. A hat-trick in a loss is the most FPL thing that can happen to you, and almost nobody owned it.
Antoine Semenyo (£8.4m, 15.3%) scored twice and assisted once in the same game — 17 points, in the match where Haaland played the full 90 minutes. That is the single most uncomfortable number of the week: Haaland (£15.6m, 73.6% owned) returned 6 points from the same fixture, with an expected-goals figure of 1.09, 25 BPS and no bonus points at all. The most expensive player in the game scored, and was still outscored by 11 points by a midfielder £7.2m cheaper. We captained Haaland. He was fine. Fine is not the same as right.
The shockers
| Match | Result | Why it shocked |
|---|---|---|
| Brentford vs Chelsea | 3-0 | The most-owned player in the round played zero minutes and Chelsea were dismantled |
| Brighton vs Arsenal | 3-0 | The league’s best defence — one goal conceded in four — conceded three in 90 minutes |
| Nott’m Forest vs Coventry | 0-1 | Coventry’s first goal, first win and first clean sheet of the season |
| Man City vs Sunderland | 5-3 | Eight goals, a hat-trick for the losing side, and a 6-point haul for the 73.6%-owned captain |
| Spurs vs Aston Villa | 2-3 | Spurs scored their first goals of the season (two) against the side that had scored one goal in four |
The blankers
| Player | Club | Pos | Price | GW5 pts | Owned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| João Pedro | CHE | FWD | £7.7m | 0 | 66.1% |
| Saka | ARS | MID | £9.5m | 2 | 13.5% |
| B. Fernandes | MUN | MID | £11.9m | 2 | 38.8% |
| Palmer | CHE | MID | £9.7m | 2 | 26.4% |
| Rogers | CHE | MID | £7.7m | 2 | 40.3% |
| Szoboszlai | LIV | MID | £7.0m | 2 | 33.3% |
| Calvert-Lewin | LEE | FWD | £6.0m | 2 | 25.1% |
| Mbeumo | MUN | MID | £7.9m | 2 | 20.8% |
| Ødegaard | ARS | MID | £6.8m | 2 | 19.8% |
| Gabriel | ARS | DEF | £8.0m | 1 | 22.8% |
| Calafiori | ARS | DEF | £5.8m | 1 | 50.6% |
| Raya | ARS | GKP | £6.1m | 1 | 42.2% |
Read that table as a portfolio. The five most-owned Arsenal players in FPL — Raya, Calafiori, Gabriel, Saka and Ødegaard — returned seven points between them in the 3-0 defeat at Brighton. Gabriel, the most expensive defender in the game at £8.0m, has now returned one point in a round where four defenders costing £4.0m–£6.1m returned 13 or more. And Chelsea’s attacking assets, three of whom appear above, produced two points plus a zero in the round’s heaviest defeat.
Rewinding the tape: our Gameweek 5 calls, scored
The picks article said four things worth checking, and the wildcard playbook published a full fifteen. Here is both, honestly.
What we got right. João Pedro — the flagged, 74.6%-owned trap — returned zero minutes, exactly as warned. Tarkowski (£6.1m, 14 points) was named as a buy for Everton’s home game with Ipswich and produced a clean sheet, an assist and maximum bonus. Isak (£9.1m, 8), Schade (£6.2m, 9) and Pickford (£5.5m, 8) all returned; Tzolakis (£4.6m, 6) and Bogle (£4.6m, 5) did not embarrass us. The “dodge the flags” instruction, given a three-week break sat on the other side of it, was the right shape for the week.
What we got wrong. Coventry, as above — 35 points from the assets we told you to ignore. Spurs and Villa, whose attacks we wrote off entirely and who then scored two and three. Gibbs-White (£8.0m, 2 points), our named punt, managed zero expected goals at home to a promoted side that had conceded 10 in their first four. And the prices: Gibbs-White, Rogers, Szoboszlai, Mbeumo and Ødegaard all returned two points, which is the round’s way of telling you that a £7m–£8m midfielder is not automatically safer than a £5.8m one.
The wildcard fifteen, scored. Tzolakis 6; Calafiori 1, Gvardiol 4, Bogle 5 — Saka 2, Ødegaard 2, Gibbs-White 2, Tavernier 2, Belloumi 4 — Haaland 6, João Pedro 0. 40 points with Haaland captained, 50 from all fifteen, in a round that averaged 48. The detail that stings: De Cuyper (£4.9m) was the one player we deliberately benched — on the reasoning that Brighton hosting Arsenal was the one fixture where you don’t want a Brighton defender. Brighton won 3-0, De Cuyper returned 6 with maximum bonus, and he outscored nine of the eleven we started.
The three Arsenal names in that fifteen produced five points between them. That is the structural lesson of the week, and it is the same lesson the season keeps teaching: you are paying a premium for last season’s clean sheets, and the rebuilt bonus system is paying out somewhere else entirely.
The week’s best XI cost £61.1m
Rushworth (11); Dasilva (15), Schuster (14), Tarkowski (14), Hall (13); Semenyo (17), Groß (14), Manzambi (13), Buendía (12), Willock (10); Brobbey (17).
150 points. £61.1m of your £100m budget. Five of those eleven are owned by fewer than 1% of managers, and only one — Groß, at 27.2% — is owned by more than one manager in five. You could have fielded that eleven and spent the remaining £38.9m on anything you liked, including Haaland and Bruno Fernandes, who between them returned eight points for £27.5m this week.
This is the fourth time in five gameweeks that the cheap end has won the round, and there is a mechanism attached to it: the 2026/27 bonus changes reward defenders who make tackles and clearances, and the £5m–£6m midfielders are the ones on set pieces. Groß takes Brighton’s penalties, corners and free kicks; Buendía takes Villa’s penalties; Tavernier takes Bournemouth’s corners. The promoted clubs’ cheap assets are no longer a novelty to dismiss — and we dismissed one of them in print last week. It cost us 35 points of credibility.
Where that leaves the league
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 5 | 15 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 12 |
| 3 | Brighton | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 5 | 10 |
| 4 | Brentford | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 9 |
| 5 | Leeds | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 9 |
| 6 | Liverpool | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 9 |
| 7 | Everton | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| 8 | Hull City | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 8 |
| 9 | Newcastle | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| 10 | Chelsea | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 7 |
City have won all five and are the only side in the league yet to drop a point. Brighton have scored 16 goals and have the best goal difference in the division. Chelsea have conceded 12 in five and are still being priced like a top-four defence. And Coventry’s win at Forest means there is now no team in the league without a victory.
Nothing to do for three weeks
Gameweek 6 is not until Saturday 10 October, 10:00 UTC deadline. That is the whole point of the round that has just finished: whatever you own now, you own through international week, and the only asset that reliably improves during a break is a free transfer. So the section that normally tells you who to sell this week is, this time, a watchlist.
Hold — do not sell into Gameweek 6:
| Player | Why hold |
|---|---|
| Haaland (£15.6m, MCI) | Six points, no bonus, and an away trip to Liverpool rated 4 next. He also has 5 goals in 5 for a side that has won 5 from 5, and hosts Ipswich (2) in Gameweek 7. You do not sell the anchor into Anfield and then buy him back. |
| Arsenal’s defence | They host Leeds (2) after the break, and one bad afternoon at Brighton does not delete four clean sheets. Hold what you own. |
| Groß (£5.8m, BHA) | 14 points, 27.2% owned, and now the most reliable sub-£6m midfielder in the game. Brighton go to Sunderland (3). |
| Tarkowski (£6.1m, EVE) | 14 points and Everton travel to Hull (2). The clean sheet came and the bonus came with it. |
| Isak (£9.1m, LIV) | 8 points at Bournemouth. Liverpool host City (4), which is a hold-and-watch, not a panic. |
Sell — genuine transfer-out candidates:
| Player | Why sell |
|---|---|
| Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m, LEE) | Two points from 90 minutes, 25.1% owned, and Leeds travel to Arsenal (5). It is the hardest fixture on the board for a forward who is not involved enough. |
| Palmer (£9.7m, CHE) | The third-most-expensive player in the game has not passed seven points in a round since Gameweek 1, returned two, and now carries a 75% muscular flag. |
| B. Fernandes (£11.9m, MUN) | The 2-23-2-2 rhythm added another 2 this week. The fixture after the break — Spurs at home (3) — is not the problem. The £11.9m is. |
The João Pedro decision belongs after the break, not before it. He is a 75% knee doubt with falling ownership, zero minutes in Gameweek 5 and a home fixture with Bournemouth (3) after the internationals. If you have bench cover, there is no transfer to make in September that the news on 8 October cannot make better — the break is his best chance to heal and your best chance to know whether he has. If you need a fit body in your fifteen, he is the one to release, and you should do it in the last 48 hours before the deadline.
Watchlist, don’t buy yet: Cherki (MCI, £7.8m) returned 8 and is now 28.2% owned — the form is real, the minutes are the risk. Barnes (NEW, £6.1m) assisted twice. Willock (NEW, £5.0m, 0.5%) and Kostoulas (BHA, £5.6m) both returned 10 as cheap attacking options. And keep an eye on the international week itself: the players who get injured on duty will reshape six of these decisions.
What to bring in after the break
The rule this week is fixtures plus price, because the two softest games on the Gameweek 6 board belong to teams whose cheap assets have just delivered.
- Brobbey (SUN, £5.7m, 6.7%) — the round’s top scorer, a hat-trick, and Sunderland host Brighton (2) off the back of it. You are buying the form, not the team: Sunderland sit 14th and lost that 5-3.
- Hall (NEW, £5.3m, 13 points) — a £5.3m defender who scored, 16.6% owned, and Newcastle travel to Coventry (2), who have scored one goal all season.
- Dasilva (COV, £4.0m, 15 points, 0.7%) or Rushworth (COV, £4.5m GK, 11 points) — we spent last week telling you to own nobody from Coventry and their defence then produced 35 points. Coventry host Newcastle (2). This is bench-fodder with a real case, not a set-and-forget starter: the same defence has conceded 10 in five.
- Tarkowski (EVE, £6.1m) or Mykolenko (EVE, £4.6m) — Everton’s clean sheet and a trip to Hull (2). You own the cheap one unless you already have him.
- Semenyo (MCI, £8.4m) — the form midfielder in the game, but City go to Liverpool (4). This is a Gameweek 7 buy (Ipswich at home), not a knee-jerk on the morning after a 17-point haul. Wait for City’s fixtures to turn, because they do immediately.
Do not add Brentford’s midfield yet. Schade (9 points) and Anthony (10 at 0.1% owned) are genuinely good, and Brentford go to Villa (4) and then host Liverpool (4). Buy them in Gameweek 8 and onwards, exactly as the wildcard playbook said.
Bottom line
Gameweek 5 paid the cheap end of the market again and punished the template again. The game’s most expensive player scored and was still outscored by 11 points by an £8.4m teammate in the same match. All six of Arsenal’s most-owned assets returned two points or fewer. The single most reliable edge on the board remains the same one it has been all season: buy the £4.0m defenders and £5m–£6m midfielders who actually take set pieces and make tackles, and stop paying £8m for last season’s clean sheets.
We called the João Pedro trap correctly and we got Coventry wrong, and both of those are the same lesson told twice: the expensive certainty is the thing that has the downside, and the cheap unknown is the thing that has the points. Own it, quantify it, and spend the break with two free transfers in the bank.
That’s the way the commentary desk calls it — and this week, Coventry called it back.
Methodology & credit: All results, player points, minutes, bonus, BPS, prices, ownership, injury flags and fixture difficulties are taken from the official FPL API (bootstrap-static, fixtures and event/5/live endpoints), snapshot 22 September 2026, after the Gameweek 5 scoring lockdown. The league table is computed from the official fixture results, not from the API’s team records. Fixture difficulties are the official FPL 1-5 team values for Gameweek 6 and 7. Chip usage, the round’s average and its top score are from bootstrap-static events[]. No price, ownership figure or injury flag in this article is estimated. This is editorial analysis, not a guarantee.