{"id":628806,"date":"2026-09-18T18:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T18:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/628806\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T18:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T18:40:17","slug":"the-idiots-guide-to-gameweek-5-of-fpl-2026-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/628806\/","title":{"rendered":"The idiot\u2019s guide to Gameweek 5 of FPL 2026\/27"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re in a rush and need some last-minute Fantasy Premier League (FPL) advice, here\u2019s a quick round-up of what you need to know about Gameweek 5.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget to check out our brand-new Stats Centre<\/a>, which offers a crazy amount of data<\/a>, defensive contributions (DefCon) information, points projections and more.<\/p>\n

WHEN IS THE FPL GAMEWEEK 5 DEADLINE?<\/p>\n

90 minutes before the first match. In this case, all transfers and team selections need to be done by 18:30 BST on Friday 18 September.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

FPL GAMEWEEK 5 PROJECTIONS<\/p>\n

Our Chief Scout data<\/a> has identified which teams have the best clean sheet<\/a> and goal-scoring<\/a> potential:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

As well as the players likeliest to grab an attacking return<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Erling Haaland (1.06)<\/p>\n

Yoane Wissa (0.71)<\/p>\n

Morgan Gibbs-White (0.69)<\/p>\n

Bruno Fernandes (0.69)<\/p>\n

Harvey Barnes (0.69)<\/p>\n

These odds can change, of course, so it\u2019s worth checking out our all-new FPL Market Watch<\/a> page for the latest odds!<\/p>\n

WHO TO BUY + SELL<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The above numbers are from Friday lunchtime. Our \u2018Buy, Keep or Sell\u2019<\/a> article explains some of these in more detail.<\/p>\n

BEST FPL GAMEWEEK 5 PICKS<\/p>\n

All four of our in-house Scout Squad<\/a> team unanimously back Morgan Gibbs-White (\u00a38.0m), Igor Thiago (\u00a37.8m) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (\u00a36.0m) to do well.<\/p>\n

As for the weekly Scout Picks<\/a> selection \u2013 which is essentially a Free Hit in all but name \u2013 there is a triple-up on Nottingham Forest, who are at home to Coventry City.<\/p>\n

\"FPL<\/p>\n

There are three suggested differential picks here.<\/a><\/p>\n

PREDICTED LINE-UPS<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve predicted the starting XIs<\/a> of all 20 Premier League teams.<\/p>\n

TALKING POINTS<\/p>\n

\"FPL<\/p>\n

IS JOAO PEDRO INJURED?<\/p>\n

The loveliness of some straightforward Gameweek 5 decisions was thrown into turmoil on Wednesday, when it was announced that Joao Pedro (\u00a37.8m), FPL\u2019s most owned player, has withdrawn from the latest Brazil squad<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Does this mean he\u2019ll miss the trip to Brentford? Xabi Alonso was being purposely vague<\/a> about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a possibility.\u201d \u2013 Xabi Alonso on whether Joao Pedro can play on Friday<\/p>\n

If so, FPL Meerkat thinks his top replacements<\/a> are Calvert-Lewin, Gonzalo Garcia (\u00a36.0m) and Thierno Barry (\u00a35.6m). One of the Leeds United striker\u2019s two Monday night goals<\/a> was originally credited to Jayden Bogle (\u00a34.6m), but the correction came too late<\/a> for an FPL adjustment.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, this could be a good time to Free Hit<\/a>. Our on-site draft goes heavy on Nottingham Forest, including \u2018Goals Imminent\u2019 entry<\/a> Gibbs-White. They were one of five teams not to be seen<\/a> in midweek.<\/p>\n

MIDFIELD TARGETS<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, when replacing the suspended Phil Foden (\u00a36.9m)<\/a> or otherwise, Tom Hadley\u2019s favourite budget midfielders<\/a> are Harvey Barnes (\u00a36.0m), Kevin Schade (\u00a36.1m), Marcus Tavernier (\u00a36.1m) and Pascal Gross (\u00a35.7m).<\/p>\n

The latter\u2019s 17 points<\/a> were the highest of Gameweek 4, before he and Maxim De Cuyper (\u00a34.9m) delivered once again<\/a> during Brighton and Hove Albion\u2019s EFL Cup comeback win over Manchester United. <\/p>\n

Dominik Szoboszlai (\u00a37.0m) netted the previous night<\/a> for Liverpool, frustrating four million owners who are currently debating whether to hold onto or ditch the Hungarian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WILDCARD<\/p>\n

However, Brighton must next face the champions. Penalty joy for Bukayo Saka (\u00a39.5m) and David Raya (\u00a36.0m)<\/a> helped Arsenal overcome Sunderland, so we\u2019ve tried to figure out what the best Gunners triple-up<\/a> looks like.<\/p>\n

Our latest Wildcard draft<\/a> says Saka, Raya and Ezri Konsa (\u00a34.5m), alongside a trio of Everton assets about to begin a favourable schedule. Toffees centre-back James Tarkowski (\u00a36.1m) is featured in \u2018Buy, Keep or Sell\u2019<\/a> and, as part of his weekly Q&A<\/a>, Tom Freeman thinks Wildcarders should also target Forest, Fulham and Newcastle United\u2019s appealing fixtures.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, many managers will see the upcoming long international break<\/a> as a better time to activate it. Though 44% of our 18 \u2018Great and Good\u2019 experts<\/a> have already used three of their four chips.<\/p>\n

BEST FPL GAMEWEEK 5 CAPTAIN<\/p>\n

\"Best<\/p>\n

Wondering who should get the armband? Check out our Captain Sensible article<\/a> and what our Rate My Team (RMT) algorithm<\/a> thinks.<\/p>\n

EXPERT TEAM REVEALS<\/p>\n

\"FPL<\/p>\n

So, whatever you decide to do, good luck with FPL Gameweek 5!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re in a rush and need some last-minute Fantasy Premier League (FPL) advice, here\u2019s a quick round-up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[63141,63143,63146,267055,42,267056,267057,43,40,38,41,39,63150],"class_list":["post-628806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-best-fpl-players-to-pick","tag-fantasy-premier-league","tag-fpl-in-5-minutes","tag-gameweek-5","tag-headlines","tag-how-to-play-fpl","tag-idiots-guide-to-fpl","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-who-to-buy-in-fpl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}