GAmeweek 5 review
My gameweek 4 at a glance-
Gameweek points: 57
Gameweek average: 58
Overall Points: 357
Overall rank: 483,186
Gameweek rank: 5,550,284
Free transfers remaining: 0
Transfers made: 1
A very mixed bag this week with some really good returns and points from players, but also some benching mistakes and several things going awry. This meant that unfortunately I was once again below the average and took another red arrow down to 483,186 overall. This is still not bad though and in retrospect I am still just in the top 500,000 and where I want to be at the end of the season, however, I do need to make some adjustments, which I will get onto.
My defence this week summarises the mixed week that I had. Dean Henderson got an unexpected clean sheet in goal for Crystal Palace against Manchester United, in addition to this he got his points for playing the full game, two bonus points and made seven saves for two points, but a yellow card meant a -1 for nine points overall- the best return he has hauled for me this season. On a similar note, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s first assist of the season came against Bournemouth in the 3-0 win as he made the pass for Luis Diaz's second goal. With the three points for an assist, four points for a clean sheet, playing points and two bonus points, Trent hauled me 11 on the Gameweek. However, this was where the returns at the back stopped for me. Spurs conceded against Brentford so Pedro Porro only got the two points for playing, made worse as the scorer was Bryan Mbeumo who is on my high priority list and who I do wish I started the season with. Lucas Digne only played 45 minutes against Wolves which is another concern so he only scored one point. Overall though, I will take 23 points from my defence.
My midfield was a similar Jekyll and Hyde story. Mohamed Salah was my captain and he bagged an assist and clean sheet for six points, so doubled to 12 as he was my captain. While I hoped for more, he does continue to return, however, Luis Diaz is on fire and only costs 7.9 million and is currently the highest scoring midfielder with 51 points. Emile Smith Rowe continues to be a fantastic budget option as he bagged me eight points this week with a goal, one bonus points and the two minutes points.
Eberechi Eze continues to be frustrating to own as he plays really well, gets into great positions but this has not transpired into many attacking returns yet, so he only got me three this week with the two points for playing and one for a clean sheet.
Finally, the major villain of my gameweek was Morgan Gibbs-White who was sent off against Brighton- in my opinion rightfully so as it was a rash tackle and he was already on a yellow, however Nottingham Forest should feel aggrieved as I do think the referee allowed the Brighton reaction to play into his decision. The other bad thing about Gibbs-White was that he was supposedly on penalties but Chris Wood ended up taking their penalty and scored to rub salt into my wounds. I must confess that I had just turned this game on when I saw him sent off and in a rash rage transfer immediately sold him for Harvey Barnes of Newcastle while the game was still going on. While this was not smart, I was worried about losing yet more money on him and after Man City I do think Barnes is a good option as he is getting attacking returns and the fixtures get a little better, however, I probably did overreact slightly.
Up front, Joao Pedro was benched to start but of course annoyingly came on for one appearance point. Kai Havertz just got the two appearance points for Arsenal, but I didn't really expect him to do great and given how the game went with Trossard getting sent off before halftime, Arsenal were going to struggle to score in the second half anyway. Finally, Erling Haaland’s inevitable goal to put Man City in front alongside his appearance points and all three bonus points hauled him nine on the Gameweek, he now has a whopping 63 points in five Gameweeks meaning he is averaging over 12 points a game so far which is out of this world.
On the bench, obviously Valdimarsson did not play. But what made the Gibbs-White sending off and Joao Pedro coming on for one point even more frustrating was that Morgan Rogers finally broke his duck of attacking returns with two assists and all three bonus points against Wolves for ten points. I really could have used these extra points this week as I would have had 66 which makes the Gameweek look a lot better, however, this happens in FPL. Robinson and Faes also only picked up two points each so at least there were no more returns on my bench.
In summary, this Gameweek promised a lot but quite a few setbacks has left me wondering whether or not to wildcard this week. I do still think I can ride this rough patch out but having already used my one free transfer this week by selling Morgan Gibbs-White for Harvey Barnes I am leaning towards perhaps taking a hit or wildcarding, however I am mostly against both. The only reason I want to take a hit is because I still really want Bryan Mbeumo and expect his price to sharply rise with Brentford’s nice fixture run and he has already gone up 0.1 million from last week.
Although there are several issues I need and want to deal with I do not think there are enough yet with my team to wildcard so will likely hold off at least another week with the hope of getting this team through a few more gameweeks. However, with Arsenal’s fixtures taking a turn for the better and Bryan Mbeumo still one of my favourite current FPL players without owning him I am very close to hitting the button but my head also says to stay calm and not overreact. I do not regret selling Gibbs-White early either as since his goal against Southampton he has not returned but I will give an update on my plan later this week.