With Gameweek 5 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) nearing, our pundits are starting to finalise their teams ahead of Saturday’s deadline.
FPL General, who has three top 500 finishes to his name, is fully committed to going without Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) and Erling Haaland (£14.2m) this season. He shares his Gameweek 5 team thoughts here…
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GAMEWEEK 4 REVIEW
A green arrow, finally! Getting another red at 7.9m OR would’ve been an achievement in itself. The 71 points resulted in a 1.4m jump to 6.5m. The transfer was rolled, so there are two available for Gameweek 5.
Despite the highly owned captains Salah and Haaland delivering, the green arrow gives me confidence that the ground given up over the first three Gameweeks can be made up over the course of the season. Captaincy will be key, of course. I celebrated the Viktor Gyokeres (£9.0m) return more than any Manchester United fan should, but that’s what FPL does to us! After a frustrating first few weeks with the armband, it was a relief when his goal went in. The Gameweek 5 decision is much trickier; more on that later.
Opting for differential goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m) on the Gameweek 3 Wildcard didn’t go to plan initially, with him missing the Crystal Palace fixture, but it was satisfying to see him back between the sticks to keep the clean sheet against Everton. Sticking with Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) since Gameweek 1 paid off in Gameweek 4 with a 10-pointer in his first start for the troops. Recent recruits Virgil van Dijk (£6.1m) and Daniel Munoz (£5.6m) have been great too. Hopefully, all three will be season-keepers. The Marc Cucurella (£6.2m) benching and subsequent one-pointer was frustrating, with Pedro Porro (£5.6m) locked on the bench with a clean sheet.
In midfield, it’s now 17 appearances for the season and just two players returning, Antoine Semenyo (£7.5m) last weekend and Bukayo Saka (£9.8m) in Gameweek 2. Cody Gakpo (£7.7m), Mohammed Kudus (£6.6m) and Tijjani Reijnders (£5.7m) need to start performing soon or they won’t be around for much longer.
Up front, I’m happy with Gyokeres and Joao Pedro (£7.8m). Chris Wood (£7.6m), not so much. I’m concerned about his minutes under Ange Postecoglou. However, he got a complete rest midweek and has Burnley (a) and Sunderland (h) in the next two. He’ll probably survive for those games, but Liverpool’s Alexander Isak (£10.5m) is likely to replace him when he’s fully fit.
GAMEWEEK 5 TEAM