The longest international break of all time wasn’t just an eventful one for the players involved with their countries, but also in the Premier League as Manchester City were found guilty of over 100 charges of financial impropriety by an independent panel. Now FPL Gameweek 6 is upon us and there’s much to consider.
City travel to Liverpool this weekend and who knows what kind of impact the news will have had on their players, not only that, but there are plenty of injury concerns, so with that in mind, I’m hitting the Free Hit button. With Manchester City leading the Premier League table, I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but rather wait to see how they perform at Anfield and then adjust as necessary using my free transfers.
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Goalkeepers
A trip to Coventry provides Lukas Hornicek with an opportunity to keep his second clean sheet in a black and white jersey. Coventry have struggled for goals so this looks an ideal opportunity. On the bench is Christian Walton who played in Ipswich’s loss at Everton last time out but looks to be the cheapest starting keeper option this weekend.
Defenders
Ricardo Calafiori retains his place for the visit of Leeds to Emirates Stadium. Arsenal suffered a shock 3-0 loss to Brighton before the break, but a favourable home fixture opens the door to a defensive double-up for the Gunners. Jurrien Timber is the man to come in, replacing Marc Guehi, as he started the game at Brighton and is just 0.4% owned, so could be a good differential.
Lewis Hall has had a fine start to the season, with two double-figure hauls so far, and the England full-back could be on for more joy against Coventry. He rounds out a three-man backline, with Abdoul Ouattara coming in as Ipswich face a home game against Fulham, and Bobby Thomas retaining his place in the squad as another 4.0m defensive option.
Midfielders
There are a lot of unknowns this week, but one reliable midfield option so far has been Bukayo Saka, so he completes an Arsenal triple up as the first name in midfield. Pascal Gros is the highest scoring midfielder in the game so far this campaign and the Seagulls travel to Sunderland with more points on the cards for the German, after he scored and assisted against the Gunners in Gameweek 5.
Chelsea face a favourable home fixture with Bournemouth as they look to put their recent downturn in form to bed. With Cole Palmer a doubt, Morgan Rogers seems a safe option for the Blues. He’s had an attacking return in all but one of Chelsea’s matches so far.
Rogers is joined by his England teammate Morgan Gibbs-White, who’s Forest side travel to Crystal Palace, who have struggled badly so far this season. Diego Gomez takes a place on the bench to complete the midfield five, and he’ll be first priority should anyone not play.
Forwards
Erling Haaland retains his place. The Norwegian has a good record at Anfield and has scored in four consecutive gameweeks. He’s joined in attack by Charalampos Kostoulas who has had back-to-back ten point hauls and leads the line in an attack-minded Brighton side, and Nicolas Jackson, who is chanced upon after he scored at Tottenham before the international break.
FPL Captaincy
Bukayo Saka takes the armband for the visit of Leeds, with Erling Haaland demoted to vice captaincy just as we assess how Manchester City perform given all that’s gone on with the club in the last fortnight.
FPL Watch List
The Watch List will return next week after the Free Hit squad has been reviewed.
Check out more at For Foot Sake’s FPL hub here.