Fantasy Football Scout picks out four players to get in your line-up for Gameweek 5.
After four Friday night matches and an international break, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are about to get their first Saturday deadline of the season. That means all transfers and line-ups need sorting out by 11:00 BST, ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Wolves.
Four players were backed to succeed in Gameweek 4 and three of them were successful. Jarrod Bowen (£7.1m) kicked the week off with a goal at Luton Town before Bryan Mbuemo (£6.8m) netted a late equaliser against Bournemouth.
Although Ben Chilwell (£5.8m) blanked in Chelsea’s surprise home defeat, Sunday brought two goals and 13 points from Odsonne Edouard (£5.5m).
For Gameweek 5, here are a few players we think could haul:
SON HEUNG-MIN (£9.1m)
There was an instant reaction to Ange Postecoglou placing Son Heung-min up front at Burnley rather than Richarlison (£6.8m). The South Korean star proved he can take over from good friend Harry Kane by bagging a hat-trick at Turf Moor.
Showcasing his out-of-position potential, Son totalled four penalty area shots and three on target on his way to a 20-point haul. Together with Erling Haaland’s (£14.1m) simultaneous hat-trick, it’s the season’s biggest individual score to date.
Next up is Sheffield United, another newly-promoted side that’s looked unconvincing so far. Only three players have had more penalty area touches (34) than Son, therefore it’s little wonder that he’s the week’s most-bought player.
ANDREAS PEREIRA (£5.5m)
Sticking with the theme of targeting the promoted trio, Fulham’s Andreas Pereira isn’t in as many squads as last season due to him not being a cheap midfield enabler. His £5.5m price is still good, just not the £4.5m that made him a default pick for many.
An opening day assist at Everton has since been accompanied by a goal at Arsenal after just 57 seconds.
Now it’s a home match against Luton, the only team that has conceded big chances at a bigger rate than Fulham. They’ve allowed 4.33 of them per game, so Pereira can cause some further damage.
TAIWO AWONIYI (£6.6m)
Despite Awoniyi’s brilliant streak of scoring in seven successive Premier League matches ending at Chelsea in Gameweek 4, he was still able to assist the winner that denied Chilwell a clean sheet.
His eight non-blanks can extend to nine when Nottingham Forest host Burnley on Monday night. The Clarets have conceded a league-high 11 goals even though they’ve played three matches compared to the four of most others.
In fairness, a start versus Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur is fairly brutal for Vincent Kompany’s side. But, of all the players with more than one goal, just Cristian Romero (£4.7m) and Mbeumo have a better goal conversion rate than Awoniyi’s 42.9 per cent.
MATTY CASH (£4.7m)
Former Forest winger Matty Cash has been converted to a right-back in recent years but the early weeks of 2023/24 have seen him return to midfield for Aston Villa.
Therefore, as solid as Crystal Palace look from a defensive standpoint, backing Cash makes sense if we have to choose one defender.
You see, clean sheets are in short supply. In fact, it’s been decades since there have been so few in these first four Gameweeks.
At least with Cash playing as a winger, owners have the defender with the most shots (nine) and big chances (three) in that position. He scored twice at Burnley in Gameweek 3 and is very capable of doing it again.
