Another interesting FPL week goes by. While I’ve not personally been scoring too well, what I’ve loved so far about this season is the variety of players hauling. Not a week goes by without the narrative changing.
Haaland’s two hat-tricks in a row. Salah’s bright start under new management. Watkins turning around his slow start. Isak’s surprising lack of goals. Bruno and United’s poor form. Palmer’s 4 goals this week. That’s to name just a few of the players who have got FPL manager’s thinking and rethinking their teams.
Don’t forget, if you have any questions about the team selection, FPL in general or topics you want us to cover in future posts, you can contact me on @FPLwithStu on X.
Gameweek 6 review
41 points (against an average of 50) saw a return of the dreaded red arrow. Palmer stole the show this week while many of my players blanked so it’s no surprise my rank fell. Consistency has not been a strength of mine so far this season but I suspect I’m not the only one!
Henderson was back to his usual, with another blank. Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do until I wildcard out because I have other priorities.
I came so close to transferring Gvardiol out for Rico Lewis or Gabriel but I instead brought in Rico Lewis for Newcastle’s Lewis Hall. Robinson grabbed a clean sheet plus 1 bonus point. Overall, my defence propped up my team (after my complaints a week ago that they were my weak link).
It could have been even better had I played Harwood-Bellis but his goal against Bournemouth was far from predictable and I chose the most sensible back 3.
The midfield completely blanked and, call it knee-jerk, but it’s here I’m going to focus my transfers.
I captained Haaland, a logical choice given his form, but away to Newcastle produced a draw and a blank from him. Thankfully, Solanke has continued his good form with another goal and Spurs fixtures look good for some time so he’s going nowhere.
Gameweek 7 team and transfers
Again I only have 1 transfer and I’m decided that I’m going to hold Wildcard untill as late as possible. This means I don’t have much room for manoeuvre this week and I’m probably going to take a hit.
I had planned to take out Gvardiol for Gabriel, and while that is still a good move, I don’t believe Gvardiol is a bad hold. Man City have good fixtures (there’s not many which aren’t for a team like them!) and game-time for him looks pretty good, although I do expect some rotation given it’s City.
I’ve chosen to focus my attention on the midfield with Mitoma and Eze not providing great returns since I’ve had them and fixtures in the short term aren’t the best. I’d love to get Palmer in, he’s one of the best players in the league and his underlying stats are insane. I don’t just mean his expected goal involvement but every aspect of his attacking play (progressive carries, take-ons, forward passes etc), basically he’s central to all good attacking play that Chelsea do.
I’m not willing to sacrifice Saka, especially with a game against Southampton at home up next which means I need 2 transfers to afford an upgrade elsewhere. Selling Mitoma and Eze nets me £13.4m plus £2.9m in the bank gives me £5.6m to spend after buying the £10.7m Palmer.
In that price bracket sits Rogers of Aston Villa but I’m weighing up McNeil of Everton. Fixtures are a lot better for Everton and McNeil has been heavily involved in most of Everton’s goals so far. Rogers is cheaper and Villa are a better team so it’s not an easy choice. The extra cash Rogers leaves will give me more flexibility for next week.
Image source: fpl.team
Fulham players are probably dropped to the bench with a tough away fixture at Man City. I’m nervous of Smith-Rowe given his returns have all happened while I’ve put him on the bench.
Captaincy is on Haaland but it could literally go to him, Palmer or Saka. On paper, such good fixtures and I’m not decided which I’ll go with yet.
A couple of targets for future weeks are Mbeumo. His fixtures and form make him a bargain but I’d have to let Luis Diaz go for him and it’s not a clear cut enough decision. I’ll see how Diaz goes for another week or 2.
Henderson has not been great in goal so I’d love to get Arsenal’s Raya but his price puts him out of reach in 1 move. This will have to wait and I’ll just have to hope Henderson pulls off a few, unlikely, clean sheets.
Conclusion
Most likely a hit this week but the longer term upgrade across midfield should be worth it. On the face of it, taking a hit to get Palmer in is a knee jerk reaction but I believe my team will be better placed for the coming weeks and to stave off using the Wildcard sooner than I’d like.
Get your thoughts over to us, tell us what you plan to do and any questions you want answering to @FPLwithStu on X.
