Gameweek 5 Debrief: winners, blanks, and what the underlying numbers say

The round in numbers

These are the figures FPL publishes about the gameweek itself rather than about any one player, and they set the bar every squad is measured against.

Metric	Value	What it means
Average score	48	What the field scored
Highest score	126	The best single squad in the game
Managers ranked	10,833,606	Squads that scored this round
Most captained	Haaland	73.6% owned, returned 6
Most selected	Haaland	73.6% owned

Chips played

Wildcard was the round's most-played chip. A chip played in the same week as everybody else converts a good week into an average one relative to the field, which is the argument for holding until your own squad is ready rather than until the template says go.

Who actually scored

Player	Team	Pos	Pts	Mins	G	A	Bonus	xGI	Owned
Semenyo	MCI	MID	17	90	2	1	2	0.31	15.2%
Brobbey	SUN	FWD	17	90	3	0	3	2.82	6.6%
Dasilva	COV	DEF	15	90	1	0	3	0.36	0.7%
Schuster	BRE	DEF	14	90	0	1	3	0.52	0.2%
Groß	BHA	MID	14	90	1	1	3	0.36	26.8%
Tarkowski	EVE	DEF	14	90	0	1	3	0.02	15.5%
Manzambi	AVL	MID	13	71	1	1	2	0.6	0.3%
Hall	NEW	DEF	13	90	1	0	3	0.3	16.4%
Buendía	AVL	MID	12	90	1	0	3	0.21	0.9%
Rushworth	COV	GK	11	90	0	1	2	0	0.8%
Anthony	BRE	MID	10	80	1	0	2	0.98	0.1%
Kostoulas	BHA	FWD	10	75	1	1	2	0.19	3.2%

The scoreline against the underlying data

Expected goals measure the chances a player got into. Goals measure what he did with them. Over one round the gap between the two is mostly noise, but it is the right place to look for the returns that have not landed yet.

Beat their chances

Player	Team	Goals	xG	Difference	Mins
Andrés	BHA	1	0.28	+0.72	84
Dasilva	COV	1	0.32	+0.68	90
Van Hecke	TOT	1	0.35	+0.65	90
Manzambi	AVL	1	0.44	+0.56	71
N.Jackson	AVL	1	0.44	+0.56	87
Barry	EVE	1	0.52	+0.48	90

Created more than they took

Player	Team	Goals	xG	Difference	Mins
Wissa	NEW	0	0.84	-0.84	90
Johnson	EVE	0	0.82	-0.82	65
Havertz	ARS	0	0.78	-0.78	90
Gonzalo	FUL	0	0.64	-0.64	79
N.Angulo	SUN	0	0.55	-0.55	59
Schade	BRE	0	0.54	-0.54	90

Wissa generated 0.84 expected goals and scored 0. That is the kind of return that tends to arrive late rather than never — provided the chances keep coming.

The defensive audit

7 teams kept a clean sheet in Gameweek 5: BRE, BHA, COV, CRY, EVE, LEE, LIV. Clean sheets are worth four points to a defender and a goalkeeper, which makes the defensive picture worth as much attention as the attacking one.

Goalkeepers

Player	Team	Price	Pts	Saves	Conceded	Owned
Rushworth	COV	£4.5m	11	2	0	0.8%
Trafford	LEE	£5.0m	10	5	0	5.5%
Pickford	EVE	£5.5m	8	4	0	9.1%
A.Becker	LIV	£5.5m	8	2	0	3.9%
Kelleher	BRE	£5.0m	6	2	0	6.2%
Verbruggen	BHA	£4.5m	6	2	0	21.7%

A goalkeeper behind a leaky defence is not automatically a bad pick: save points accumulate in exactly the weeks a clean sheet does not arrive, which is why the busiest keeper in the division is often better value than the one behind the best defence.

Defenders

Player	Team	Price	Pts	Bonus	xGI	Owned
Dasilva	COV	£4.0m	15	3	0.36	0.7%
Schuster	BRE	£4.5m	14	3	0.52	0.2%
Tarkowski	EVE	£6.1m	14	3	0.02	15.5%
Hall	NEW	£5.2m	13	3	0.3	16.4%
Thomas	COV	£4.0m	9	1	0.1	8.6%
Vuskovic	BHA	£5.0m	8	0	0	3.5%

Attacking output by team

MCI scored the most goals of the round with 5. Team-level attacking output is the cleanest signal available after a single round: it takes eleven players to create a goal and one to finish it, and the finisher changes far more often than the creating does.

The bonus point picture

Bonus is decided by the Bonus Points System, which rewards goals and assists heavily but also pays for tackles, recoveries, clean sheets and passing accuracy. Over a season it is worth roughly a point a game to the players who consistently rank in it, and it is the most overlooked component of a captaincy decision.

Player	Team	Pos	Bonus	BPS	Pts	Owned
Brobbey	SUN	FWD	3	92	17	6.6%
Buendía	AVL	MID	3	50	12	0.9%
Groß	BHA	MID	3	47	14	26.8%
Schuster	BRE	DEF	3	43	14	0.2%
Tarkowski	EVE	DEF	3	43	14	15.5%
Dasilva	COV	DEF	3	40	15	0.7%
Hall	NEW	DEF	3	38	13	16.4%
Willock	NEW	MID	3	38	10	0.5%
Trafford	LEE	GK	3	34	10	5.5%
Cunha	MUN	MID	3	32	10	5.7%

Brobbey took the maximum with 3 from a BPS score of 92. Defenders and holding midfielders who accumulate BPS through defensive actions are the ones worth identifying early, because that route to bonus is far more repeatable than the one that runs through scoring goals.

The premium watch

A premium at £10m or more is not competing with the other forwards. He is competing with the two mid-price players you could field instead, and with the 73.6% of the field who already own the most popular of them.

Player	Team	Price	Pts	Mins	G	A	xGI	Owned
Haaland	MCI	£15.6m	6	90	1	0	1.11	73.6%
B.Fernandes	MUN	£12.0m	2	90	0	0	0.45	38.9%
Palmer	CHE	£9.7m	2	90	0	0	0.31	26.5%
Isak	LIV	£9.1m	8	80	1	0	0.77	22.2%
Saka	ARS	£9.5m	2	80	0	0	0.89	13.4%

Isak led the bracket with 8. B.Fernandes returned 2, and at £12.0m that is the single largest hole a squad can have in a week. Not owning the most-selected premium is an active bet against 73.6% of the field — a legitimate one, but it should be deliberate.

Enablers and budget gems

The cheapest player who actually starts is worth more than a better player who does not. An enabler's job is to cost £4.5m and play ninety minutes; everything past that is profit that funds the rest of the squad.

Player	Team	Pos	Price	Pts	Mins	Owned
Dasilva	COV	DEF	£4.0m	15	90	0.7%
Schuster	BRE	DEF	£4.5m	14	90	0.2%
Hall	NEW	DEF	£5.2m	13	90	16.4%
Rushworth	COV	GK	£4.5m	11	90	0.8%
Trafford	LEE	GK	£5.0m	10	90	5.5%
Willock	NEW	MID	£5.0m	10	86	0.5%
Thomas	COV	DEF	£4.0m	9	90	8.6%
Gomez	BHA	MID	£5.0m	8	85	4%

Dasilva at £4.0m returned 15 points from 90 minutes, on 0.7% ownership. Enablers at that price are how squads afford two premiums without hollowing out the bench.

The differentials who paid

Points from a player most of the field does not own are worth more than the same points from one they do. These returned at least six while owned by under 8% of managers, which is where rank is actually won.

Player	Team	Pos	Price	Pts	Owned	Mins
Brobbey	SUN	FWD	£5.7m	17	6.6%	90
Dasilva	COV	DEF	£4.0m	15	0.7%	90
Schuster	BRE	DEF	£4.5m	14	0.2%	90
Manzambi	AVL	MID	£5.9m	13	0.3%	71
Buendía	AVL	MID	£5.9m	12	0.9%	90
Rushworth	COV	GK	£4.5m	11	0.8%	90
Anthony	BRE	MID	£5.9m	10	0.1%	80
Kostoulas	BHA	FWD	£5.6m	10	3.2%	75

Brobbey at 6.6% ownership returned 17. The managers who owned him gained ground on almost the entire field in a single afternoon — that is the whole case for carrying one or two genuine differentials rather than a squad indistinguishable from the template.

Looking ahead to Gameweek 6

ARS have the kindest assignment of the round on difficulty alone. That is a starting point for captaincy rather than an answer — difficulty ratings know nothing about who is injured.