FPL Gameweek 5: Tips, Captain, Transfer Targets & Team Selection

Short break for Fantasy Premier League managers as Gameweek 5 starts after the international break.

But still, let’s jump to our FPL GW5 Tips with the best picks, fixtures, transfer targets, odds, captain picks, and team selection.

1. The international break is a great time to:

• ease our minds a little bit, forget about FPL for a week or two, do not worry about who to captain, clean sheet odds and our squads.
• It can be a great time to regroup and come back stronger and fully concentrated.
• Especially if you were hit hard by the emotional rollercoaster that FPL is. A short break from the game (especially if you are frustrated with the game) can help you recharge the energy and bring back your focus (Read more: Essential tips for enjoyable FPL seasons without sacrificing your mental health)
• If you do not want to take a break from the game, you could study stats when you have time, and watch game highlighters that you missed
• You could also use your wildcard here, but only if your team is in terrible shape, and exploit fixture swings that occur in gameweek 5 – if this is your case, and you aim to use your wildcard now, activate it as soon as possible in order to catch price rises. Read more: Tips for efficient use of wildcard in FPL.
• You could start building your team for Champions League Fantasy, if you want to participate in this fantasy competition as well
• Read a book about FPL. Read more: 4 Books that will help you improve your FPL skills

Reading for an international break

We prepared for you a list of a few articles to read during the international break:

• Essential Tips for Fantasy Premier League Success
• Variance in FPL: How to deal with it?
• The Law of Large Numbers and its Role in FPL
• 7 Similarities Between FPL and Stock Market and How to Use Them

2. Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 5 Tips

• Having two free transfers is always handy during international breaks. If you saved on a transfer in the previous gameweek, you can use 1 free transfer early in the international break and save the other one for Saturday in case there are some injuries on international duty. If your team needs more rebalancing, you could do a “mini wildcard” with 3 transfers (2 free + one -4 points hit).
• You could also use your wildcard here, but only if your team is in terrible shape, and exploit fixture swings that occur in gameweek 5 – if this is your case, and you aim to use your wildcard now, activate it as soon as possible in order to catch price rises. Read more: Tips for efficient use of wildcard in FPL.
• If you did not save a transfer and have only one available, do not use it early as anything can happen during 2 week long break.
• Expect more rotation from now on, especially from teams that feature in the Champions League and Europe League (Manchester City, Newcastle, Arsenal, Man United, Brighton, Aston Villa, and perhaps even Liverpool – but the Premier League will be a priority to them). Make sure you have a bench in the correct order each gameweek. Read more: FPL Bench Order Guide.
• Exploit fixtures swings with your transfers (or wildcard)

Notes:

• If you are looking for a goalkeeper as Johnoste or Pickford’s replacement, consider Alisson. Liverpool might not keep so many clean sheets as for example Man City, but they will keep some, and concede a lot of shots – so Alisson will get extra points for saves and bonus points.
• Vlachodimos is joining Nottingham Forest, Turner will likely lose his number 1 goalkeeper spot over time
• Keep faith in Jackson, Sterling, and Chilwell, do not sell them, and give them more time
• Similarly, give more time to Wissa, he is just 6.2m forward, and he will not be delivering points in every match
• Archer is the best 4.5m forward to own
• Consider Edouard or Morris as Joao Pedro replacement if you cannot afford Alvarez
• Keep faith in Eze, we expect him to catch up with the other 6.5m midfielders
• There will be a double gameweek in GW7: Burnley and Luton will play twice. But do not go overleverage on their players. It will be totally OK to go with 0 Burnley and Luton players in that gameweek, as having too many of their players couldweaken your squad in the long run. But if you want to try a few punts, you could play Kaboré, Bell or Beyer (if you have some of them on your bench) or buy Morris as a Joao Pedro replacement.

Read more: When is the next double gameweek in FPL?

3. Key players to own and transfer targets for FPL GW5

Key players

• Haaland – captain option in almost any gameweek
• Chilwell – Chelsea’s fixture run is absolutely fantastic
• Saka – stable output over the last few years, bonus points magnet
• Rashford/Fernandes – a key players for United, fixtures are improving
• Maddison – key man for Spurs

Transfer targets

• Jackson/Sterling – Having Chelsea attacker up to GW8 looks the way to go
• Son – explosive asset, differential captain on GW5 if he keeps playing centrally
• Eze – underperforming so far, we expect him to catch up with other 6.5m midfielders
• Salah/Diaz/Alisson– Liverpool assets are overlooked, but no team has a better fixture run up to GW12 than them. There could be plenty of goals for the Reds in that period and perhaps even a few clean sheets.
• Trippier/Schar, Isak – Newcastle’s fixture improves now. Trippier is now our number one transfer target from them, however, you could also gamble on Isak (but be wary that he will share game time with Wilson)
• Ederson/Dias – Man City are very solid defensively, there is a high clean sheet potential in the next few gameweeks.
• Morris – double gameweek punt for GW7

4. Watchlists: Best players to pick in Gameweek 5 and beyond

We also looked at players from each position: goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards.

We examine which players are best picks in each price bracket: budget enablers, midpriced picks, and premium options. Check our watchlists here:

• Best FPL goalkeepers to pick in Gameweek 5 (Watchlist)
• Best FPL defenders to pick in Gameweek 5 (Watchlist)
• Best FPL midfielders to pick in Gameweek 5 (Watchlist)
• Best FPL forwards to pick in Gameweek 5 (Watchlist)
• FPL Differential Picks for Gameweek 5 and Beyond

7. What bookies odds say about Gameweek 5

As usual, we converted bookies odds into probabilities using our Odds to probability calculator, to assess the potential of gameweek 5.

Clean sheet odds for GW5

Tottenham leads the clean sheet odds table with 46 % of keeping a clean sheet in GW5. Spurs are Followed by Fulham with a 40 % probability – but we think, the bookies overshooted this one as Fulham conceded the highest xG of all teams. Yes, they play Luton but we do not fancy them to keep a clean sheet against them.

Bookies expect 4.96 clean sheets in gameweek 5. In the last season, we were used to a rate of 5.45 clean sheets per gameweek. So far this season we have seen 3.5 clean sheets per gameweek.

Due to correction in the number of clean sheets: Tottenham, Fulham

Spurs overperformed their defensive expectations the most of all teams. They should have kept 1.01 clean sheets instead of 2 according to our expected clean sheets table.

Due to an improvement in the number of clean sheets: Brighton, Everton

Brighton underperformed their defensive expectations the most from all teams. They should have kept 1.41 clean sheets instead of 0 according to our expected clean sheets table.

You can see the expected clean sheets table and clean sheet odds for all Premier League teams here: Premier League Clean Sheet Odds.

Goalscoring odds for GW5

As usual, Haaland leads the table for anytime goalscorer odds in GW5. He is followed by Salah and Son. Check all odds here: Premier League Goalsocring Odds

8. Using Chips in Gameweek 5

We do not plan to use any chip in Gameweek 5 – we are saving our wildcard for later.

However, if your team is in bad shape, you could use your wildcard to rebalance the squad during the international break, catch few price rises, and bring in key players you missed.

Check our Wildcard guide and team here: FPL Wildcard Team Inspiration for GW5

If you are keen on playing wildcard in Gameweek 5, activate very early: On Friday or Saturday during Gameweek 4 in order to catch price rises.

9. FPL GW5 Team selection

Now let’s look at our FPL team selection for Gameweek 5 – Scout squad. Haaland is our captain.

10. Fantasy Premier League Tips

Find more tips, strategies and picks for Fantasy Premier League in these articles:

• Beginner? Read our guide: How to play Fantasy Premier League
• Confused about the rules? Read the Official rules of the game or check our FAQs
• Want to beat your mini-league rivals? This article is for you: 7 Key Tips for Fantasy Premier League Success
• Interested in improving your decision-making process when picking players to your fantasy team? Check out Books that will help you to improve your FPL skills

We hope our FPL GW5 tips helped you to gather some useful information before the Gameweek 5 deadline.

Feel free to JOIN our Fantasy Football Reports mini-league by clicking this link or using our league code ti56kl.

Good luck in FPL GW5!