Welcome to our FPL Gameweek 5 Transfer Tips article where we discuss the Top Players to Buy, Hold, Sell and Avoid ahead of GW5 based on Stats, Fixtures and Analysis. After GW5, there is a big three week international break so it is an important week for you to make your transfers or just roll and save the transfers.
Link to all our FPL GW5 blogs including scout picks, players to target, buy, hold, sell analysis, differentials, captaincy metrics, best forwards, and more. Completely free to access as well!
FPL GW5 Transfer Tips: Players to BUY
PS – I am assuming everyone has Haaland in their teams. If not, he is your priority buy.
Morgan Gibbs-White (£8.0m) – MID, Nottingham Forest – 11.9% TSB
Gibbs-White is the 4th most transferred in player ahead of GW5 at the time of writing, and the numbers tell you the story.
Among Midfielders, he is currently ranked:
- 1st for Big Chances Created (4)
- 5th for xGI (2.57)
- Joint 2nd for Bonus Points(6)
- 11th for FPL points (26 pts)
Coventry, Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town are Nottingham Forest’s opponents in 3 of their next 4 games. The three teams are the three worst defences in the league in terms of goals conceded so far, and they’re among the 4 teams to not have kept a clean sheet yet.
Gibbs White is also on penalties, and Forest are free of European competitions as well, which further improves his stocks as an FPL option. He’s also only owned by 12% of managers at the time of writing, so get him in early just as Forest’s fixtures are improving.
Everton Attackers
Kiernan Dewsbury Hall (£6.5m) – MID, Everton – 5.1% TSB
Thierno Barry (£5.6m) – FWD, Everton – 6.5% TSB
James Garner (£6.0m) – MID, Everton – 0.2% TSB
Over the last few years, we associate Everton mainly with defensive assets in FPL. But this season it’s different- They are more attacking on the eye test and committing more players forward. Two Fixtures against Promoted sides in GW5 and GW6 followed by COV(H) in GW10 is a good fixture run for any team. The fixtures between GW7-GW9 are difficult for Everton but you can either bench them or even play them if you are confident enough.
- Barry has all the good underlying data this season but unlucky to get only one goal. Barry has 14 Shots(3rd Highest), 13 Shots in the Box(2nd Highest), 5 Big Chances(2nd Highest), 2.98 xG(2nd Highest) this season. Maybe these 2 good fixtures are the games when this data transforms into FPL Points.
- Dewsbury Hall has 12 Shots, 9 Chances created and 1.11 xGI from 4 games this season. He is the creative outlet for this Everton side and most attacks go through him. If you are looking for a 2 week attacking punt, Dewsbury Hall is the man. He also averages 8.9 DEFCON/90 which is decent for a midfielder and he can get DEFCON points once in a while.
- Garner missed GW1 due to injury and has slowly made his return from injury playing his first 90 minutes in the league in GW4. In GW4 vs Spurs- Garner got a mammoth 17 Defensive Contributions. Garner got the 2nd Highest Defensive Contributions among Midfielders last season and averages 12.09 DEFCON/90 last season which suggests that last week is not a fluke. Garner will consistently get you the 4-6 Points almost every week with his multiple routes to Points- DEFCON, Likely Penalties, Corners and Set Pieces, Bonus and the odd attacking returns then and there. If you are looking for a long term pick who will surely tick along over the season- Garner is the pick.
Most Defensive Contributions among Midfielders last season:
Everton- Penalties and Set Pieces:
Garner and Dewsbury Hall share the corners for Everton. Garner is likely to be on penalties as well for Everton. With Ndiaye leaving, it is not very clear. It is very likely to be Garner with both Barry and Dewsbury Hall having outside chances. Barry took one in pre-season but Garner was not in the pitch then. Garner also took the penalty in the FA Cup game vs Sunderland last season when both Barry and Garner were on the pitch.
Forest Defenders
Daniel Munoz (£5.4m) – DEF, Nottingham Forest – 5.5% TSB
Neco Williams(£5.0m) – DEF, Nottingham Forest – 8.5% TSB
Murillo (£5.5m) – DEF, Nottingham Forest – 1.9% TSB
Nottingham Forest defence so far this season:
- 2nd fewest big chances conceded (5)
- 3rd lowest xGC conceded (4.01)
- Joint 3rd lowest shots conceded (42)
Pretty impressive numbers, and Forest are going to face Coventry at home in GW5. Coventry haven’t scored a goal yet since their return to the Premier League, and their attacking numbers look bad.
- Lowest xG
- 2nd lowest big chances
- 4th lowest shots on goal
- 3rd lowest shots on target
As a result, Forest also have the 2nd highest clean sheet odds (37%) this week, only behind Man City (47%)
Beyond GW5, Forest have decent fixtures too with Palace in GW6 and Ipswich in GW8.
Who amongst the three Forest defenders you want to go depends on your budget & preference between DEFCON & attacking returns from your defenders.
- Murillo is the most expensive but has super strong DEFCON potential, he’s one of the four defenders who have hit DEFCON in 3 out of the 4 games so far and is also 4th amongst defenders for most DEFCON (39). Go for him if you prefer consistent returns via DEFCON.
- Munoz played full 90 minutes for the first time in GW4 and created four chances, including one big chance, racking up an xGI of 0.40 in the process. He looks set to be the first choice RWB under Glasner going forward. We all know how good he is in Glasner’s system, having registered 8 attacking returns in 25/26 and 10 attacking returns in 24/25 while playing under Glasner at Palace. Go for him if you prefer attacking returns & higher haul potential in comparison to DEFCON defenders.
- Neco Williams at 5.0 million is a cheaper alternative to both Murillo & Munoz. Cheap ofcourse does not mean bad, Williams offers decent attacking potential (1 assist, 0.73 xGI) and can also hit DEFCON once in a while (6.75 DC/90). He also takes some corners as well. Go for him if you’re tight on budget.
Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating Tool
FPL Gameweek 5 Transfer Tips: Players to AVOID
Brighton Heroes
De Cuyper (£4.8m) – DEF, Brighton– 23.7% TSB
Pascal Groß (£5.7m) – MID, Brighton – 18.7% TSB
At the time of writing, Pascal Groß is the 2nd most transferred-in player for this week, with 333,447 Managers getting him in for GW5. De Cuyper is the 6th most transferred-in player, with 244,725 managers already getting him. We can understand where these transfers are coming from with Gross coming off 17 pointer(1 Goal, 2 Assists) and De Cuyper coming off a 11 Pointer(Assist, Clean Sheet).
But the fixture immediate fixture run is not great as they play Arsenal, Liverpool and Arsenal in 3 off the next 5 games. Even the medium term fixtures are not great. According to Fantasy Football Hub’s Fixture Analyzer Tool, Brighton have the 5th worst fixture run among all teams from GW5-GW15.
One more thing to consider is that Pascal Gross is 35 years old and might get his minutes reduced when Brighton play regularly in Europe and some of the players like Hinshelwood return from injury. Same with De Cuyper as well- Once Mitoma is back and fully fit his minutes as LW is a doubt.
Both these players are classic case of Don’t buy(right now), Don’t sell in our opinion due to Tough fixtures & midweek games. If you have them- Assess over International break & hold till GW7 for the good fixtures in GW6 and GW7. If you don’t have them- Reassess over International break if you actually need them or not.
FPL Gameweek 5 Transfer Tips: Players to SELL
Liverpool duo
Alexander Isak (£9.1m) – FWD, Liverpool – 22.1% TSB
Florian Wirtz (£7.4m) – MID, Liverpool – 7.0% TSB
Isak’s returns so far- 2, 8, 13, 2
Wirtz returns so far- 2, 4, 3, 3
Liverpool have not been at their best attacking form this season with 3 draw and one win coming against Ipswich. Liverpool are ranked 11th for Non-Penalty xG, 14th for Big Chances this season. Liverpool also enter a run of fixtures where they play Bournemouth(A), Man City(H), Brentford(A), Brighton(H), Arsenal(H) in the next 5 Gameweeks. With better picks available in the same price or cheaper price range to replace Isak and Wirtz.
While Wirtz is a straight forward sell, Isak is also a sell in our opinion mainly due to Liverpool attack not clicking fully yet and cheaper picks like Pedro, Barry, Delap, DCL with good fixture runs and also not involved in Europe.
Top Teams for Non Penalty xG this season- Liverpool ranked 11th
While Isak and Wirtz are easy sells, Szoboszlai is a tricky one. There are multiple routes to points with Szoboszlai- Set Pieces, Penalties, Open Play threat, DEFCON as well. If you can do a Szoboszlai to Gibbs White in one Free Transfer, it is worth it. But if you need multiple transfers to get to that, Szoboszlai is a fine hold in my opinion.
Igor Thiago (£7.9m) – FWD, Brentford – 9.6% TSB
Igor Thiago scored 22 goals last season in the Premier League, only Haaland scored more than him. This season, however, has been a struggle, having failed to score a single goal in the first four games. He’s also missed all four big chances he’s had so far, including a penalty.
At 7.9 million, you want consistent returns and Thiago sadly doesn’t fit the bill. Joao Pedro(for a similar price) is on a hot streak with 3 goals, 3 assists already from 4 games. There are cheaper decent options available for the 3rd Forward slot as well like DCL, Wissa, Delap, Barry, etc which can help you invest the money in midfield/defense.
Brentford also enter a fixture run where they play Chelsea, Villa, Liverpool in the next 3 games. He could certainly return in any of these games but just like what was mentioned on the Isak section- Cheaper Picks are already putting their hand up and also have good fixtures.
Nico O’Reilly (£6.4m) – DEF, Manchester City – 12.4% TSB
O’Reilly played just 8 minutes in the Manchester Derby in GW4 and also missed the GW3 Coventry game due to a last minute injury. Gvardiol looks set in the LB position for Manchester City and it looks like Nico O’Reilly is competing with Anderson/Boudaddi/Enzo for the 2 midfield positions. City also play Norwich in EFL cup midweek. If O’Reilly starts there and plays close to 90 minutes while the rest of competitors like Gvardiol, Anderson/Enzo get a rest it makes a strong case to sell him even before a good fixture in GW5.
If you are getting a defender for 6.4 million and sweating over every single week if they will be playing or not- It doesn’t sound good. Moving to someone with a similar upside but nailed minutes like Munoz makes a lot of more sense.
FPL Gameweek 5 Transfer Tips: Players to HOLD
Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) – MID, Man Utd – 41.7% TSB
Bruno Fernandes returns so far this season- 2, 23, 2, 2. Looks very inconsistent on the eye but the returns don’t tell the exact story. In the 3 games he hasn’t returned this season Bruno Fernandes has 8 Shots, 6 Chances created and 0.91 xGI which are all good numbers. He could have easily got an assist in GW4 as well had Mbeumo converted the chance in last minute. Bruno’s numbers are elite if you take all the 4 games data this season.
Bruno Fernandes Rank among Midfielders this season:
- Shots- 1st
- Shots on Target- 4th
- Big Chances- 3rd
- xG- 3rd
- xGI- 1st
- Chances created- 8th
- Goal Involvements- 2nd
At the time of writing- He is also the 5th most Transferred out player which is very surprising to say the least.
Fulham have also taken an attacking approach this season under Arbeloa- Leaving behind spaces for opposition teams. Expect this game to be a High scoring one as well.
Fulham Defense rank this season:
- xGC- 17th
- Big Chances conceded- 20th
- Non- Penalty xGC- 19th
- Goals Conceded- Joint 15th
If you have held Bruno till now- He is an easy hold for this Fulham fixture and can also be a differential captaincy shout if you want to go against Haaland. You would also want Free Transfers saved up after the 3 week International break to use in GW6. So hold on to Bruno for the Fulham game and then go to Palmer/Saka in GW6 to free up funds for other attacking moves.
Rayan Cherki (£7.8m) – MID, Manchester City – 28.4% TSB
Rayan Cherki is the 3rd most sold player this week with 172k+ Transfer OUTs already. Keep in mind that, Manchester City play Sunderland at Home and Foden is suspended as well after receiving a straight red car vs Manchester United in GW4. Manchester City are projected to score 2.49 Goals in GW5 vs Sunderland- Highest among all Teams by some distance.
We all know the damage Cherki can do when he gets good minutes as highlighted by his 2 Goals, 2 Assists in the first 2 Gameweeks of the season.
Even though Cherki might be a minutes risk long term- I absolutely think he is not a sell this week with a good fixture. He is likely to be rested for the midweek EFL cup game vs Norwich(Have an eye on the starting lineups) which should again improve his minutes for GW5.
Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL GW5
FPL Gameweek 5 Transfer Tips: Players to Buy, Avoid, Sell & Hold
FPL GW5 Team Selection – Wildcard and Free Hit Drafts, Notes
Best Differential Picks(<10% TSB) for FPL GW5
FPL GW5 – Fixtures and Players to Target for Gameweek 5
Top FPL Gameweek 5 Captain Picks Based on Analysis & Metrics
FPL GW5 Scout Selection- Top Picks for GW5 based on Stats and Matchups
AK’s FPL GW5 Team Reveal & Transfer Plans | 3x Top 5K Finishes
FPL GW5 Ultimate Guide: Tips, Captaincy, Differentials & More
Link to all our FPL GW5 blogs, including buy, hold, sell analysis, differentials, captaincy metrics, transfer targets, and more. Completely free to access as well!
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