Who are the best players to buy for GW5? We had some crazy hauls on the weekend, and everything points towards many more next week with how some of the fixtures have fallen. So let's break it down nice and simple by position.

🧤 Goalkeepers

Goalkeepers first. There's genuinely 5 or 6 fixtures with big potential, whether that's defenders or attackers. Everton have got Ipswich home. Newcastle have got Hull home. Forest have got Coventry home. Leeds have Palace home, Man City have Sunderland home. You could include Man Utd vs Fulham even.

Looking at the goalkeepers it's Donnarumma top this week for the Sunderland game at the Etihad, on 4.2 points, followed by Hornicek facing Hull, then Raya, Pickford, Sels, Trafford, Kinsky and Martinez.

Well done if you kept the faith in Kinsky, he now has 2 clean sheets in his last 2, it's the other end of the pitch that's the issue, it's hard to see where the goals are going to come from right now. Verbruggen also has two clean sheets this season now, he was fantastic vs Coventry and if not for a bunch of hauls by teammate it's the sort of game a keeper usually collects lots of bonus in. Verbruggen has Arsenal next so it's not the time to buy.

Excluding the premium keepers, looking all the way until GW30 the top keeper is Sanchez, I think long term we can expect Alonso to fix the defensive issues but even then the outfield players are better and it could be a mistake to use up a Chelsea spot in goal. Then it's Verbruggen, then Kinsky. Now that is very telling that the #2 and #3 keepers outside of premiums from now all the way until GW30 are 4.5m, it suggests the 5m keepers are not worth it, and that's somewhere you can shave 0.5m.

Raya is now the top scoring keeper in the game after that clean sheet, penalty save 14 pointer and you get what you pay for with him, don't expect pen saves but tons of clean sheets is what I mean. So yeah if I were wildcarding this week, it would be Raya and a 4m dead spot, or Verbruggen and Kinsky on rotation.

🛡️ Defenders

Defenders next and Hall shoots up to the top spot this week, or joint top with Tarkowski in fact. Hull home and Ipswich home respectively. 29 points after 4 gameweeks for Tarkowski, what a start he's had, two clean sheets, a goal, and defcon twice.

On the statistics tool on my site there's presets which are basically data tables that I've curated for you to plug and play, one is defcon players. So this measures total defcons, defcons per 90 and also hit rate. It's really interesting reading.

• Mendy is top in the league for defcons per 90, so there's big potential there but he came off with a suspected concussion last game, not that you really want to ever play him but I've got him in my team for that reason - once he builds his minutes up he could be a reliable source of those extra 2 points.
• Egan's 55 total defcons is top in the league, he's on 13.75 per 90.

The other top players for defcons per 90 are Richards, Murillo, Silva, Ajer, Thomas, Branthwaite, and there's Tarkowski among the top players as well. Expensive isn't he for 6.1m, but if you can find room it's Ipswich home followed by Hull away. Branthwaite is there but he's so injury prone it's off putting. Tarkowski could be one of those picks you have to stay really patient with because Everton will concede in games but those trickle of defcons add up, he was among the best last season for defcons and the year before.

Silva in fifth place for defcons per 90 is who I'm targeting in GW7, he's startable in all but like 3 or 4 games until the second wildcard, if he keeps performing. Bournemouth are in Europe though so let's see how they get on.

Hall has taken 7 corners this season, he's got the assist potential, Thiaw long term better for defcons and .2m cheaper. Both are fantastic buys this week given Newcastle's long term fixtures.

That's two benchings in a row for O'Reilly who has to be a sell now. So many good defenders that didn't make the table this week who are worth a mention being good for GW5 and long term:

• Muharemovic
• Van Hecke
• Konsa

Timber returned from injury, coming on for White who had a groin injury, so he's a sell now, Timber could be a crazy differential if he's back and nailed on but a little risky so early in to his return.

⚽ Midfielders

Midfielders next and for GW5 Bruno tops the table, facing Fulham away. A much more disciplined performance from Fulham last match, taking a point at Anfield a really good result. Only 1.3 xG conceded ranked midtable in GW4. But if you have Bruno definitely do not sell, could even be a buy though it's Palmer and Saka that are looking better value premiums right now aren't they, both on pens as well and about 2.5m cheaper. They're both on the table this week and not far behind Bruno on the next 5 gameweek projections either.

Gibbs-White is the #1 player I'd love to have this week, he was quality in their win over Villa on the weekend, earned max bonus just off an assist, he's on pens as well so you really can load your team with pen takers when there's Gibbs-White, Palmer, Saka, Gross, Szoboszlai, Wissa, Haaland. That's a front 7 on pens which is crazy! 🎯

Szoboszlai has been frustrating with 3 blanks on the bounce, but he fits the same mould as Gross who has shown us the value of being on the set pieces and pens having returned in both ways this season including the pen on Sunday for that 17 point haul. Patience required with those guys.

Dewsbury-Hall looks so good to buy this week too for 6.5m with those next two fixtures, 15 goal involvements last season, if you're planning an international break wildcard then he works as a one week pick as well if you need one, though Gibbs-White better if you have the funds.

Gross is now the top scoring player in FPL, who saw that coming? It's Arsenal next for Brighton though so their assets are nowhere near the tables this week and you don't need to be buying him unless on a GW5 wildcard and benching him.

Mbeumo just misses out the table, easy hold if you have him. Barnes another one, he's on 4.8 points, same as Mbeumo and Dewsbury-Hall. Looks like a really fun differential for Hull home and he's always struck me as the type of player capable of a big haul on his day, like a 2 goals 1 assist type game if you time buying him right. Also 6m is Garner who's a different type of pick, has some free kicks and a chance of goal involvements, think he got 7 last season but he's a defcon pick primarily.

Here's that same defcon table but midfielders instead:

• Garner with 13.61 per 90 ranks third best in the league among mids
• Sangare just behind with 13.5 as well
• Scott with 13.15 is a great option for 6.1m
• Anderson has done really well too unsurprisingly

https://fpl.page/statistics to play around with those more and other presets.

Odegaard not quite high enough to make the table this week, on 4.2 points. You get what you pay for with Saka, pen duties and corners on the right side. But something worth noting is Saka's 2.5 non-pen xGI is barely ahead of Odegaard's 2.3 xGI. And although last gameweek Saka did better there's every chance going Odegaard over Saka and redistributing the money is better long term. Though that's a non-pen xGI comparison and of course with pens included Saka is clear. He didn't have the best game against Sunderland and that's why pen duties are so useful in FPL, a player can have an average game and do well if they get a pen.

Mbeumo by the way is the top mid so far in the league for non-pen xGI with 3.3, next closes Bruno with 2.6 but that Ipswich game will have helped pump those numbers. Then Rogers, Saka, Tavernier, Foden, Odegaard.

🎯 Forwards

Let's take a look at the forwards next then team of the week.

Haaland top this week on 7 points, the obvious captain choice, 4 goals in 4 games - and hopefully even gets a rest midweek. As a reminder there's a lot of midweek games again this week, the following teams all play before GW5. Fulam, Ipswich, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Brentford, Everton, Coventry, Villa, Man Utd, Brighton, Sunderland, man City, palace and Bournemouth.

Wissa comes in as the 2nd best forward this week, the perfect time to buy before playing Hull home who have finally conceded, twice vs Chelsea last match. 6 xG conceded this season over all. Barry is worth considering though given he's 0.5m cheaper and as we were saying with Tarkowski and Dewsbury-Hall, it's Ipswich home then Hull away. And he feels cheap enough where you're pretty comfortable benching him GW7 and 8 vs Chelsea and Arsenal.

Chelsea feels fine to play him in doesn't it actually but Arsenal away definitely bench. So just check if you have the rotation option on your team. We suspect Wissa and Barry will be on pens but don't know for 100% certainty, Gordon and Woltemade gone who were takers at Newcastle before, Ndiaye gone who was Everton's taker before. Could be Garner on pens.

Joao Pedro was priced too cheap and he's the most owned player in the game at about 75% ownership, three quarter of all teams is wild so in most cases the likes of Wissa and Barry are for a 3-4-3 set up, and that's another thing that makes Gross, Sangare and those 5.7m ish mids so great, they're cheap enough to bench when they have really bad fixtures. DCL is playing Palace home, the projections suggest selling to Wissa but given Henderson is out injured, Disasi suspended it does feel like a good game for Leeds so that's a tough one this week in my eyes.

⭐ Team of the Week

Finishing up with Team of the Week, what's the best team you can build with these projections? Team is from fpl.page and keep an eye on the tool throughout every week because it updates itself all the time when there's injury news or anything that could affect a player's output. Like if Iraola were to come out and say Isak takes our next pen then Szoboszlai would automatically drop out of the team for example.

The team is Donnarumma, Hall, Tarkowski, Thiaw, Bruno, Dewsbury-Hall, Gibbs-White, Szoboszlai, Barry, Haaland and Wissa.

On the bench Dubravka, Williams, Thomas and Slater. How many players have you got from the team?

We'll leave it there, thank you as always for reading. If you didn't know I post these articles on fpl.page every week for those of you that like to read, same with my team selections. https://fpl.page/subscribe to become a member for 77p per week.

See you soon for the next one.