After two red arrows in the last two Gameweeks, it was a decent weekend for me in every sense: 67 points in the bag, helping me propel my rankings from 287k to 204k; that’s quite a healthy place to be at the end of Gameweek 5.
Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) again proved to be the correct choice for Captaincy as the obvious picks continue to pay off so far this season. However, the most pleasing outcome for me was Emmanuel Dennis (£5.2m) bagging a goal and almost scoring a brace as my punt paid off handsomely, allowing me to keep hold of Michail Antonio (£7.9m) and not weaken my squad.
Moreover, with Gameweek 8 just around the corner and certain teams entering favourable fixture swings, a Wildcard certainly looks enticing. However, the upcoming international break will definitely throw the cat amongst the pigeons just like Gameweek 4, with players returning with injuries or certain breaches in COVID protocols.
Because of this, I have refrained myself from making any changes to the squad, since I’m quite happy by the look of it and will roll this transfer over to the next Gameweek where a double swap could really pay dividends.
Taking in all this into account, here, in this article, I bring to you the best squad and playing XI to go with, which can be moulded back with a similar profile of players without incurring too many hit points.
Gameweek 6 Deadline: Saturday, 25 September at 3:30 pm IST.
Gameweek 5 Score – 67
Gameweek 5 Rank – 1,465,141
Overall Rank – 204,195 (? 83,300)
Chips Activated: None
Gameweek 6 of the 2021/22 Premier League kicks off with a ‘Clash of the Titans’, as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City visit Stamford Bridge to take on Thomas Tuchel’s men in what will be a fascinating encounter between two title contenders. A point to note is that Pep’s men haven’t been able to beat Tuchel’s Chelsea in their last three encounters, making the Blues one of Pep’s bogey teams.
Elsewhere, Manchester City’s neighbours Manchester United host Dean Smith’s Aston Villa who are high on confidence after comfortably beating Everton three-nil on their home turf. Everton, on the other hand, are still without the services of their talisman Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.2m) but are expected to register a win against bottom-of-the-table Norwich City.
Leeds United have failed to live up to their expectations from last season and sit in the relegation places, yet to register their first win this season. However, their assignment against West Ham United is going to get that much tougher with doubts surrounding the availability of Raphinha (£6.5m), Jack Harrison (£5.8m) and Luke Ayling (£4.5m).
Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City sit 12th on the points table having lost three of their opening five fixtures. And against Burnley, though they are expected to win, it won’t be a stroll in the park as most people would like to believe. Leicester’s unsettled backline and Burnley’s “route-one” approach could certainly hurt the former.
After an entertaining 3-1 away victory against Norwich City, Xisco Muñoz’s Watford will feel they have every right to come out of their Gameweek 6 fixture with all three points. Newcastle United still have doubts over the availability of Callum Wilson (£7.5m) and will find it hard to break Watford, despite both sides being equally matched.
In our final Saturday night fixture, we have Thomas Frank’s Brentford hosting high-flying Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp’s men have created a bucket load of chances, and with Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) likely to start, Brentford will have their work cut out.
On Sunday, we have Southampton hosting Bruno Lage’s Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Saints fought valiantly to come away from the Etihad with a point and a clean sheet, and against a weaker opposition compared to Man City they will fancy their chances. Wolves, on the other hand, need three points – it’s as simple as that. How those points come will be the least of Bruno Lage’s concerns.
There’s also the first North London derby of the season to look forward to. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal started their campaign with three successive defeats while Tottenham Hotspur won all three of their games and sat at the top of the table, but since the international break, the Gunners have won both of their matches, keeping two clean sheets, while Spurs have lost both of their games, conceding six without reply. Anything more than and including a two-nil win for the Gunners will see them leapfrog Tottenham in the points table.
In the last game of the weekend, we have a late Monday night kickoff between Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion. Both clubs have made decent starts to their campaigns. In fact, this is Brighton’s best start to a league campaign. Despite having lost 3-0 to Liverpool, Patrick Vieira has a lot of positives to take into this fixture and it should really turn out to be a tightly contested battle. A draw looks the most probable outcome.
Chelsea v Manchester City (5:00 pm)
Manchester United v Aston Villa (5:00 pm)
Everton v Norwich City (7:30 pm)
Leeds United v West Ham United (7:30 pm)
Leicester City v Burnley (7:30 pm)
Watford v Newcastle United (7:30 pm)
Brentford v Liverpool (10:00 pm)
Southampton v Wolverhampton Wanderers (6:30 pm)
Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur (9:00 pm)
Crystal Palace v Brighton & Hove Albion (00:30 am)
All timings IST
FPL Team suggested for Gameweek 6
Budget Remaining: £0.1m
Free Transfers Available: 1
Transfers made: None
Point Hits (if any): 0 pts
Captain: Cristiano Ronaldo
Vice-captain: Mohamed Salah
Picking the correct captain for Gameweek 6 shouldn’t be an issue. There are many fixtures this weekend that should offer great Captaincy picks, which in turn will make things easier for every FPL manager. Cristiano Ronaldo, against Aston Villa at home, is still a very good option.
Mohamed Salah, without any doubt, will again be one of the most-Captained players this week. But Liverpool will be playing away from home against Brentford, who themselves are defensively sound compared to other teams in the league. Can Salah again score for the Reds? Obviously, he can. But between him and Cristiano, who is likely to bag more points? My money is on Cristiano Ronaldo, hence why I’ve trusted the Portuguese superstar to repay my faith.
Elsewhere, Jamie Vardy (£10.4m) against Burnley, Michail Antonio (£7.9m) against Leeds United and Patrick Bamford (£7.9m) in the same fixture are all decent Captaincy picks this weekend. Moreover, the makeup of the fixtures suggests it’s going to be a low-scoring Gameweek. Thus, having a solid backline is paramount, in my opinion.
Robert Sánchez has 17 points from Brighton’s opening five fixtures. More importantly, his yellow card for time-wasting and a fourth successive weekend where he only registered two saves meant many FPL managers missed out on two crucial points again. However, since having him has allowed me to play around with my team with a bigger budget, I wouldn’t jump the gun on him just yet.
Defensively, Brighton have been solid, having conceded just seven Big Chances in their opening five fixtures, while their Expected Goals Conceded (xGC) metric stands at a solid 5.17 as they have conceded only four goals from their first five matches.
Crystal Palace have been decent against similar midtable sides, but their attacking play certainly leaves much to be desired. Thus, if things go our way, a clean sheet is certainly a possibility.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has accumulated 34 FPL points, which is way clear of any other defender in the game. His Expected Goals (xG) and Expected Assists (xA) metrics are exceptional for a defender: 0.57 and 2.37, respectively. Moreover, he has already created four Big Chances for his teammates, of which only two have been converted.
Brentford have been really impressive since the start of the season and are quite astute defensively, quite uncharacteristic for what was one of the worst defensive units in the Championship last season. After five games, their Expected Goals Conceded (xGC) metric stands at 3.87, which is the second-best in the league, just behind Manchester City (2.01). However, their attack remains one-dimensional and needs to be polished in order to trouble teams higher up the table.
Honestly, this is my last team with Luke Shaw being a part of the defence. 18 points with one Assist and one Clean Sheet is nowhere good enough for a £5.5m priced fullback who is part of a title-challenging side. From Gameweek 7, there will be favourable fixture swings for the likes of Chelsea, so investing in a Chelsea defender makes a lot of sense.
Against Aston Villa at Old Trafford, Manchester United should register a comfortable win, provided Villa’s star keeper Emiliano Martínez (£5.5m) doesn’t produce another stellar performance as he usually does against the bigger teams.
The way Manchester United set up defensively leaves me with no trust in their backline to produce a clean sheet; they might, but it’s not a given. They’re prone to conceding ‘bizarre’ goals, and that’s where the problem lies. If they don’t fix it up, it won’t be long before Manchester United are discarded from being title challengers to title pretenders.
Southampton fought valiantly against Manchester City at the Etihad to come away with a hard-earned draw and a clean sheet. Tino Livramento has accumulated 15 points from five games; not to forget that Southampton faced Everton, Manchester United, West Ham United and Manchester City in that period, which makes it even more impressive.
Wolverhampton Wanderers, on the other hand, have been woeful in front of the goal. Against Brentford, they were completely outplayed in all departments of the pitch. They are able to get the ball into great positions, but it’s either the final delivery or the final shot that has been letting them down week in, week out.
Bringing in Livramento could certainly blow up right in my face with Wolves scoring two or three goals, but with Chelsea hosting Manchester City and Luke Ayling being doubtful ahead of Leeds’ West Ham fixture, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
I’ve been really impressed with Mohamed Salah. Despite dropping deeper compared to previous seasons and bringing others into play, Salah has slowly racked up four Goals and three Assists as he takes over from Michail Antonio (£7.9m) as the highest point-scoring asset with 50 FPL points.
Moreover, with Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) set to return to the Liverpool playing XI, it increases Salah’s chances of producing more attacking outputs this coming week. Brentford have been astute in defence and hold the second-best defensive record behind Manchester City. Thus, it won’t be a walk in the park for Jürgen Klopp’s men.
Mason Greenwood blanked last week, which is just part and parcel of keeping a young forward in your squad: there will be the occasional blank. Moreover, with Marcus Rashford eyeing a return to the left wing, Greenwood’s playing time could become limited in the coming weeks. Thus, he’s one to watch out for.
However, the young teenager has had a great start to his Premier League campaign with three Goals and one Assist against his name, having accumulated 33 FPL points in the process. Against Aston Villa, Greenwood will come in handy as Dean Smith will look to push them into the wide areas, giving their tall centre-backs a chance to counter Manchester United’s threat.
Saïd Benrahma has been a revelation this season, finally living up to the potential he showed during his time in the Championship. The Algerian creator again returned handsomely for his FPL owners as his goal and bonus points took his season’s tally to three Goals and two Assists, bringing himself level on points with teammate Michail Antonio (39 points).
Moreover, the Hammers have their talisman back, and the “Antonio-Benrahma” link-up has been vital to West Ham United’s explosive start to the campaign. With Leeds seemingly without the services of three starters (if not fit in time), West Ham will be eyeing a goal-fest. However, we’ve seen last season that Marcelo Bielsa doesn’t shy away from playing defensive football when needed, and this could just turn out to be one of those games.
When Diogo Jota came on against Chelsea as a second-half substitute for the injured Roberto Firmino (£8.8m), I, in particular, had high hopes for him to deliver given his form and Liverpool, as a unit, firing on all cylinders. The Portugal international thus far has scored two Goals and has created two Big Chances with an Expected Assists (xA) metric of 1.52 but with no assists to his name.
Given his 47 minutes against Chelsea and full 90 minutes against Leeds and Crystal Palace, Jota has failed to deliver, particularly in the latter two where he was expected to at least bag one or two goal involvements. Although he was unlucky against Leeds, he fared pretty miserably against the Eagles.
With Brentford, it’s not going to get easier for Jota. However, I will give him the benefit of the doubt, as I have a hunch he will have a part to play at Brentford Community Stadium.
Ah, this one felt really good.
Getting in Emmanuel Dennis for Gameweek 5 paid immediate rewards: he scored a powerful header and should have added a second, if not for the heroics of Norwich keeper Tim Krul (£4.5m). Dennis has two Goals and one Assist from five games and has amassed 22 FPL points at a rate of 4.40 per game. Having him available at a meagre price of £5.2m allowed me to switch to a 3-4-3 formation, just like this Gameweek.
Newcastle United have had their problems defensively and Watford have the ammunition to hurt them. This isn’t a match where Steve Bruce’s men will sit back – they’ll certainly push higher up the pitch in search for their first Premier League win this season while giving the likes of Ismaïla Sarr (£6.1m) and Emmanuel Dennis ample space to hurt them down the flanks.
Also, don’t forget Joshua King (£5.5m)!
Three Goals in two games and 19 FPL points. Even at 36, Cristiano Ronaldo is a different beast altogether. He’s my Captaincy pick for this week and that only means one thing – I expect goals from him. At least in terms of attacking output, Manchester United have a decent set of fixtures with Aston Villa, Everton and Leicester City coming up in the same order before their fixtures swing with Liverpool, Spurs and Man City as the next three.
Ronaldo has already had 13 Shots – 12 Inside the Box and 7 On Target. Ronaldo’s xG metric reads 2.76 which reflected in his three goals. Staggering.
Moreover, it is quite evident from Aston Villa’s opening five fixtures that their defence isn’t equipped to withstand a barrage from an attack of this quality. I believe Dean Smith and Co., inside their heads, will be hoping for another miraculous performance from their Argentine goalkeeper.
This guy needs no introduction. Four games, four Goals, four Assists and 39 FPL points. The West Ham United centre-forward is due to play against Leeds this coming Gameweek after serving his one-match suspension which he earned after receiving a red card during Gameweek 4 against Southampton.
Leeds United have a few injury scares to deal with and are racing against time to get their players fit before Friday’s final fitness test. Even without that, West Ham’s attacking firepower and Leeds’ defensive fragility would have always kept the former in the game, and if Leeds play without those three key players, that should only give the Hammers more encouragement.
The second goalkeeper option remains unchanged and will remain the same until and unless Sánchez gets a long-term injury or Brighton’s defence completely breaks down in the coming weeks, the latter of which is very unlikely and hence why I shall continue with this goalkeeper pairing.
I know you’ll all go back to the Fixtures section to point out that Chelsea are unbeaten in their last three encounters against the English champions. But you can’t foresee which team will turn up on that particular day. They are two closely matched squads with near equal depth and two equally matched world class managers. To be honest, I might switch it around with Tino Livramento at the last minute after deciphering all the press conferences and the message in-between the lines.
I may not have enough time to update the article later on, so I’m citing it here: Chelsea, at the moment, certainly look defensively impenetrable, but you never know what Pep Guardiola will churn up: either he’ll again shoot himself in the foot or show us a roadmap on how to penetrate the meanest defence in the world.
As stated in the previous articles, Luke Ayling is a rotation player for this squad, and exposing him in our squad against West Ham is suicidal in my opinion. Hence why I have brought in Christensen as an upgrade on Amartey and Tino Livramento to further strengthen my bench for any untimely injury scare.
Moreover, Luke Ayling is a doubt ahead of Leeds’ fixture against the Hammers. There’s a slim chance of Leeds keeping a clean sheet in this fixture, and I’m not willing to test my luck.
Jack Harrison has had a subdued start to his 2021/22 Premier League season. Eight points from four games is pretty average, but the opposition Leeds have had should also be taken into consideration. However, Harrison did miss Leeds’ last fixture against Newcastle United and remains a doubt ahead of the West Ham fixture.
Even if Harrison was fit, I feel eventually it would have been him who would sit out from my midfield to incorporate the 3-4-3 formation for this Gameweek.
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