It has been way too long, how's your international break going? Back in full swing now and thinking about GW6.

Let's talk about the best players to buy by position, the team of the week for GW6 and we've got a lot of injuries over the international break to break down. We'll cover it all.

The best place to start is all the international break injuries, plus players flagged before it even began like Palmer and Joao Pedro. Some of these you won't own but worth a recap as other players may be affected as a consequence of the injuries, or even the entire team potentially where there's major injuries. Shout out to FPL Cyprus for the summary.

So definitely out injured is Scott, Havertz, Tzolis, Brobbey, Ballard, Gakpo.

Two of Arsenal's front 3 out, so Eze and Gyokeres likely to come in. Brobbey a huge loss as well, feels like months ago he bagged a hat trick vs City even though it was last match. Ballard as well, huge loss in centre half. Isak is a doubt but could be back for City game, likewise O'Reilly, Konsa, Mykolenko and Khalaili are possible doubts.

Van Hecke and Van de Ven both with minor injuries should be okay for the Man Utd game. Odegaard is already back as well after getting injured by Bernardo Silva. Haaland asked to come off against Portugal, but Norway's coach said it was essentially pre-planned because of workload so it was fatigue rather than a confirmed injury.

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🧤 Goalkeepers

So, goalkeepers first. What are even the best fixtures this week defensively? It's looking like it could be one of those unpredictable gameweeks for clean sheets and just hope you can scam one, Arsenal are home to Leeds but of course Konsa's a doubt and Leeds have been very good this season. Everton have Hull away, they're second best on the clean sheet odds and Pickford second on the table for projected points on FPL Review after Raya.

After that there's no stand out fixtures, Chelsea home to Bournemouth but they're not keeping clean sheets, Brighton away to Sunderland has potential given Brobbey's injury. Glasner faces his old side playing Palace away. 4.77 expected goals conceded by Forest ranks second best in the entire league after Arsenal. Newcastle have Coventry away but they've not looked particularly solid yet Newcastle, not helped by so many injuries.

Looking at the next 5 gameweeks Raya is top among all keepers as expected, Kelleher is one player to flag for 5m though, he's third among all keepers for the next 5 gameweeks. Brentford are fourth best for xGC after 5 gameweeks, 6.31 xGC. 2 clean sheets, only 4 goals conceded in 5. Donnarumma is slightly ahead of Kelleher in 2nd but not on the table this week since Man City are playing away vs Liverpool.

We've not even had a chance to talk about that yet either, Man City found guilty by an independent commission of 114 charges, City expected to appeal, it's a very messy situation. City players will be wondering what's going on, what will the punishment be if upheld? Will City players be less motivated? Or maybe they'll have an us vs everyone else mentality and actually more motivated. I'm not looking to add any City players to my team right now, it's a constantly evolving situation though.

What impact do you think it will have in FPL?

🛡️ Defenders

Let's move on to a defenders discussion.

So we've got the Arsenal back line of course, Everton's CBs, plus Thiaw and De Cuyper. Thiaw, Hall, Botman all neck and neck like 0.1 points between them this week and Hall's been the one doing the best recently so he looks the best pick, Thiaw is cheaper.

Very mixed opinions on the best Arsenal triple up, if you were wildcarding today what would you have? I'd be tempted to try and fit Raya, Gabriel, Saka in but probably means not owning 3 premium attackers so there is a trade off. Calafiori looks a huge goal threat always, but prone to the early subs and maybe with CL back Hincapie could get 1 start somewhere, might not happen. Timber is the highest upside pick, he's in barely any teams but feels a bit of a gamble on his fitness, he was class last season and don't forget home to Leeds in GW2 he hit a 24 pointer. Same fixture on Saturday though it definitely won't happen again, this is a very different Leeds team.

Affengruber just misses out on making the table, he's averaging 11.5 defcons per 90 and faces the 3 promoted sides next. He's been good and building a good partnership with Bassey. Only 0.1% owned and 4.5m is a nice price. If you're on a wildcard then Muharemovic and Silva are two 5m defenders to consider as well, as long as you can bench them this week since they both have tough games. Muharemovic is on 11.6 defcons per 90, 7th in the league, Silva 8th in the league with 11.2 per 90. Mendy is top for defcons per 90 with 14.1 but has come off early a few times for various reasons.

I'm looking at Silva and Muharemovic as potential transfers in the near future. Bournemouth's long term run from GW7 is great and Muharemovic from GW8 looks amazing. But again on a wildcard you can get him in now and just account for it with other defenders to play ahead of him this week. Even Mendy is fine to play vs Everton home. You might recall he missed last game with concussion, still played for Senegal over the break, 1 - 0 win over Comoros on Sunday and played 89. Egan's great as well and has been a 90 minute man, I ended up with Mendy on the wildcard as he's their club record signing and the only left footed CB.

Thomas is also a great option still for 4m, and O'Shea is fine for 4m. Both playable this gameweek.

⚽ Midfielders

Midfielders next, Bruno is home to Spurs who are rock bottom in the premier league currently, he's on 6.6 points, with Saka second on 6.0. One thing to mention is Palmer's yellow flag is penalising his projected points, assuming he's fine then without the flag he shoots up to 2nd on 6.1 projected points which makes captaincy very close. Saka played 3 games in 7 days for England, recording ahead of England's final game where I hope to see him getting a rest.

Palmer withdrew from international duty for load management and I'm fully expecting him to be fine so he's in the conversation for captaincy after a nice 3 week rest. What's your current thinking on captaincy? There's Haaland as well of course, will chat about him in just a sec.

Mbeumo is third this week on 5.6 points, then Rogers, those two are actually neck and neck for the next 5 gameweek projections. Chelsea aren't in Europe and scoring more freely so Rogers potentially better long term. Gibbs-White will remain a long term option as well for around the same price given the pens and set pices. Tzolis out for a few weeks means Eze has popped up on the table, he's a short term pick so I'd avoid despite the potential, it's another valuable transfer booked in later to get him back out.

I've been looking at Enzo for 6.9m, on an average of 85 mins per game he's actually on 21 projected points over the next 5 which places him in good company for 6.9m, takes corners on one side and free kicks. Of course he actually scored a free kick vs Sunderland last match catching Roefs by surprise.

Tavernier for even cheaper is on 21.1 points next 5, and Schade 20.7 points. That's based on 85 mins each on average. So much value in midfield right now, you've also got Dewsbury-Hall on 20 points next 5, a bit behind the other two and costs more but a much better entry point this week buying before Hull. And Gross for even cheaper, 19.4 points next 5 and at 35 years old in the form of his life and the top scoring player in FPL, who saw that coming!

Last one to mentionis King, I've got him at 85 mins average which puts him at 19.7 points for the next but there's only so much you can dissect the numbers when it's very close between players and when it's close you can form your own ideas and feeling on teams and players. And the simple fact is he faces all 3 promoted teams in the next 3 gameweeks, King has recorded 36 possessions in the opposition penalty area this season — the most of any player in the Premier League. 5.5m is a really nice cheap price point as well, and only 2.8% owned. There is potential for him to frustrate but the upside is clearly there. After the 3 promoted teams it's Villa away GW9 which isn't necessarily bad, Newcastle home after that is decent too.

🎯 Forwards

Forwards next and then team of the week.

The table is Haaland, Joao Pedro, Wissa, Barry, Thiago, Gonzalo, Jackson and Strand Larsen.

Joao Pedro's points dependent on whether the 3 week rest has allowed him to fully recover from his injury. He pulled out of Brazil duty due to a knee injury and has been receiving treatment for it over the break to speed up his return.

We'll get more news by Friday. Wissa and Barry are both on 4.6 points and are good value picks, playing Coventry and Hull respectively. Barry for 5.7m could be the better pick long term right now for 0.4m cheaper and absolutely no competition but both will get great minutes to be honest.

Brentford aren't in Europa which adds to the appeal of Schade and although he's not had a strong start Thiago would honestly still be fantastic for 7.8m, he's the third top forward for the next 5 gameweeks. Gonzalo is the alternative to King for 6m, on pens as well. You could even go for both and really push the upside, King is my favourite of the two if I was picking one. Depends on your set up though of course and what you've got room for. I'm still deciding whether to go for King or straight to one of the 6m mids, will run through my team and plans in the team selection article tomorrow.

⭐ Team of the Week

Let me finish up by looking at team of the week.

The best team you can build for GW6 using all the projections from this article.

It's Raya in goal, then Branthwaite, Gabriel and Tarkowski back 3. Bruno captain, Cunha, Mbeumo, Rogers, Saka, Barry and Wissa.

On the bench Affengruber, Thomas, Walle Egeli.

Triple Man Utd mid is fun, feels very all or nothing for free hitters but it doesn't look like a strong week for the free hit looking at this team. Especially with all the flags and uncertainty, like if you go without Palmer and Joao Pedro and they both are fine then that could be costly.

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Thanks for reading, see you soon for the next one.