Brobbey Pulled Up, Haaland Didn’t, and City Lost a Case: Your Gameweek 6 Weekly Review, Week Two

The second week of the break did what international football usually does to Fantasy squads: it sent players home. Brian Brobbey lasted 35 minutes for the Netherlands before pulling up with a hamstring problem, five days after his hat-trick at the Etihad. Kai Havertz went off with a muscle strain in the same match. Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo, Patrick Dorgu and Dan Ballard followed, and Antoine Semenyo never reported for Ghana at all. Erling Haaland, meanwhile, scored three times in two games for Norway and came through untouched.

Then, on Tuesday, an independent commission found Manchester City guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules. That’s the biggest football story of the year, and it changes nothing about your Gameweek 6 team. The deadline is still 11:00 BST on Saturday, 10 October, ninety minutes before Arsenal host Leeds. Nine days remain, and England’s last match is on the 6th. The advice from last week stands: plan now, act late.

International Roundup

England opened against the world champions and lost. Lamine Yamal scored inside two minutes at Wembley, Anthony Gordon and a Harry Kane header turned it round by half-time, and then Kane missed a second-half penalty with England 2-1 up. Alex Baena came off the bench to equalise and set up Mikel Oyarzabal’s winner. Spain won 3-2. Three days later England won 2-0 in Prague against a Czechia side reduced to ten men after 25 minutes, with Gordon heading in a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross and Kane adding the second. Spain beat Croatia 4-1 in the meantime, so England sit second in Group A3 with Croatia away on Saturday and Czechia at Wembley on Tuesday, 6 October.

For FPL purposes, the England story is about the Premier League players around Kane. Lewis Hall missed training early in the week, sat out the Spain game unused, then started in Prague and was one of England’s better players; his low cross was turned onto the post by Ladislav Krejci. Morgan Rogers hit the post on the turn. Eberechi Eze came on at half-time and changed the tempo. Bukayo Saka started and had a quiet night. Elliot Anderson was the player Pavel Sulc was sent off for fouling.

The Netherlands and Germany drew 1-1 in Amsterdam on the debuts of Xavi and Jurgen Klopp, and the result mattered less than the casualty list. Felix Nmecha put Germany ahead, Virgil van Dijk had a header ruled out for a Brobbey foul on Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and Gakpo volleyed a 92nd-minute equaliser. Brobbey went off clutching his hamstring after 35 minutes and Havertz after 30. The Dutch then beat Serbia 2-1, but Gakpo lasted 17 minutes before an ankle injury from a Sasa Lukic tackle. Germany lost 1-0 to Greece, Klopp’s first defeat.

Norway beat Denmark 3-2 with two goals from Haaland and one from Oscar Bobb, then lost 2-1 at home to Portugal. Haaland scored again in that defeat, his 65th goal for his country, but the story was a stoppage-time tackle from Bernardo Silva on Martin Odegaard’s ankle. Portugal’s goals came from Joao Felix, set up by his Chelsea teammate Pedro Neto, and Goncalo Ramos after a goalkeeping error. Bruno Fernandes sat that match out after Portugal’s manager revealed he had been playing through pain for three matches. Denmark beat Wales 2-0 but lost Dorgu to a thigh problem.

Further afield, Isak scored in Sweden’s 2-1 win over Romania and then went home with a thigh problem. Northern Ireland won 1-0 in Georgia without Ballard finishing the game. Brazil needed a 95th-minute header from Rayan to draw 1-1 with Australia in Townsville; Chelsea’s Estevao had a goal ruled out by VAR before being substituted. They play India in Kolkata on Saturday. Semenyo withdrew from Ghana’s squad before their AFCON qualifiers with what Ghana’s FA president described as a swollen leg.

Captain Recommendations

Still provisional, and still Bukayo Saka at home to Leeds. A quiet game in Prague doesn’t change a fixture this good, and Arsenal remain the clearest favourites of the round. What has changed is the supply line. Havertz has a muscle strain with no published timeline and Odegaard was limping after Sunday’s tackle, which leaves Saka and Eze carrying more of Arsenal’s creativity than usual. That cuts both ways: more of the ball, fewer people to share it with. England’s last match is on Tuesday night, four days before kick-off.

Erling Haaland stays the shield, with a stronger case than a week ago. Three goals in two games for Norway say the legs are fine, and Liverpool may be without Isak and Gakpo, which makes the Anfield fixture slightly more open at one end. It doesn’t make Liverpool’s defence any worse, so this is still not a fixture to back him over Saka. Last week’s differential armband, Bruno Fernandes, has been playing through pain for three matches. That ends the case. The replacement is Gonzalo Garcia away at Ipswich, a forward on penalties facing a side that lost Abdul Fatawu to suspension.

Chip Strategy

The case for a Gameweek 6 Wildcard got stronger this week, and the case for timing it late got stronger with it. Anyone who drafted last week’s suggested team is now carrying Brobbey on a hamstring and Semenyo on a swollen leg. Anyone who pressed the button early has no way to fix either without a hit. That’s the whole argument for waiting, made by events.

The window is unchanged: activate between 7 and 9 October, after England finish and once clubs start reporting. Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool will all hold press conferences before the weekend, and those are worth more than any international team sheet. Two adjustments to the draft: Brighton assets move up because of Sunderland’s injuries, and City assets need a small discount for the Liverpool-then-PSG week. Fulham’s run of three promoted opponents remains the backbone.

Triple Captain stays in the drawer for the same reason as last week: a good captaincy fixture is not the same as a great Triple Captain one. Bench Boost’s earliest sensible slot is still Gameweek 7. Free Hit stays saved. If you have no Wildcard left, this is a week for two free transfers aimed at the injury list, made on the 9th.

Differential Picks

Last week’s lead differential was Brobbey. That lasted until Thursday night. The replacement list is built around what the injuries did to other teams’ plans.

Charalampos Kostoulas (Brighton, £5.6m). Promoted from last week’s second pick. Brighton go to Sunderland in Gameweek 6, and Sunderland may be without Brobbey at one end and Ballard at the other, alongside Romaine Mundle and Habib Diarra. Kostoulas already has six goal involvements for the league’s highest-scoring side. Palace at home follows. It’s a two-week pick with a better first week than it had seven days ago.

Gonzalo Garcia (Fulham). Third week running, because nothing has happened to the argument. Fulham’s run is Ipswich away, Hull at home and Coventry away. Alex Iwobi and Calvin Bassey were among the first players back from international duty, with Nigeria’s games finished by 29 September.

Jeremy Doku (Manchester City). The minutes argument. Phil Foden is banned for Gameweeks 6 and 7, Semenyo is a doubt, and Doku is back in contention after his own injury. Liverpool away is not the fixture to buy him for; Ipswich at home a week later is. Only worth it if City’s pre-match briefing confirms he’s fit to start.

Fixture Analysis

The fixtures didn’t move this week. The teams playing them did. Gameweek 6 still opens with Arsenal v Leeds at 12:30 BST on Saturday, 10 October, has Liverpool v Manchester City on the Sunday, and closes with Coventry v Newcastle on the Monday night.

Best run: Fulham. Unchanged and uncomplicated. Three promoted opponents, a winless start that keeps ownership low, and a Nigeria contingent that got home early.

Improved: Brighton at Sunderland. This was a mixed fixture last week. It’s a better one now. Sunderland’s spine for the Brighton game may be missing its striker and a first-choice centre-back, and they have a Europa League campaign pulling at the rest. Brighton’s run cools after that with Palace and then Anfield, so treat this as one good week, not three.

Still kind: Newcastle. Coventry away, Villa at home and Palace away. Lewis Hall coming through England duty is the good news; the midfield injury list from the Leeds defeat is the reason it stops short of a must-own.

Hardest run, softer edges: Liverpool. City at home, then Brentford away and Brighton at home. The defence that kept three straight clean sheets is intact. The attack may be without Isak and Gakpo for the City game. That’s a reason to avoid Liverpool’s forwards rather than a reason to buy their defenders.

Europe after Gameweek 6: City host Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on 14 October, three days after Anfield. Arsenal host Lille, Aston Villa host Fenerbahce, and Sunderland and Bournemouth return to the Europa League. Rotation risk rises for anyone on the margins of those sides.

Injury Updates

A player sent home from international duty is the club’s problem now, which means the useful updates arrive next week, not this one. Everything below is the latest public information as of Thursday, 1 October. Several diagnoses are still outstanding.

Antoine Semenyo (Man City, £8.4m): withdrew from Ghana’s squad before reporting, with a swollen leg after the Sunderland game. He has played every Premier League minute this season. No timeline has been given, which is the reason last week’s “bring in” becomes a “wait” below. Cody Gakpo (Liverpool, £7.2m): ankle, off after 17 minutes against Serbia, scan due on Monday. No result has been published at the time of writing.

Still with their countries, but flagged: Bruno Fernandes has been playing through pain for three matches and missed Portugal’s game in Oslo; Portugal hoped to use him against Denmark tonight. Martin Odegaard took a hit on the ankle in stoppage time against Portugal and said he hoped it would settle within days. Lewis Hall missed training sessions early in the week but started in Prague.

Carried over from last week: Cole Palmer (muscle, load management) and Joao Pedro (knee) at Chelsea; Declan Rice (hamstring and back) at Arsenal; Tino Livramento at Newcastle; Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Benjamin Sesko at Manchester United; Justin Kluivert at Bournemouth. None has had a public update since withdrawing.

Player Performance

There were no FPL points on offer this week, so this section tracks who looked sharp in international colours. It’s a weak signal. A good Nations League game says a player is fit and in form; it says very little about what his club manager will do with him.

Haaland scored twice to beat Denmark and once in the defeat to Portugal, taking him to 65 goals for Norway. He was also denied twice by Diogo Costa in that second game, which is the closest thing to bad news. The point for FPL is fitness: he arrives at Anfield with minutes in his legs and no knocks. Isak and Gakpo both scored and both got hurt, which neatly sums up the week for Liverpool.

Chelsea had a good week by proxy. Felix finished a Neto pass in Oslo, and Estevao had a goal ruled out for Brazil before being substituted. With Palmer and Joao Pedro still unconfirmed, both Felix and Neto have a route into Chelsea’s front three against Bournemouth. Hall and Rogers were among England’s best in Prague. Saka was among the quietest, which matters less than the fact that he played and finished fit.

Predicted Lineups

These are the calls that changed this week. Press conferences on 8 and 9 October will settle most of them, and anyone Wildcarding should wait for those.

Manchester City (at Liverpool): Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol; Fernandez, Anderson; Semenyo, Cherki, Ndiaye; Haaland. Semenyo is the question. If the swelling hasn’t settled, Doku is the obvious replacement on the flank, with Foden still banned. PSG at home three days later makes some rotation likely either side of Anfield.

Liverpool (v Manchester City): the front line is the uncertainty. Isak’s thigh was described as minor, Gakpo’s ankle is unconfirmed. If both miss out, Liverpool’s attack against City looks thin, and the case for owning their forwards in this fixture looks thinner.

Arsenal (v Leeds): Havertz has started every league game and is now a doubt, which hands the striker role to Viktor Gyokeres, yet to score in the league this season. Odegaard’s ankle and Rice’s back are the other calls. Saka, Eze and Konsa all have England’s Tuesday match to get through first.

Sunderland (v Brighton): without Brobbey, Sunderland lose their focal point; without Ballard, they lose a first-choice centre-back. Both await assessment. Manchester United (v Tottenham): Bruno Fernandes, Dorgu, Rashford, Mainoo and Sesko are all on the list in some form, which is more than any side should carry into a home game it is expected to win. Chelsea (v Bournemouth): Palmer and Joao Pedro decide the front three, with Felix and Neto arriving in form.

Transfer Suggestions

The rule from last week survived contact with reality: anyone who moved early for Brobbey or Semenyo is now worse off than anyone who waited. Keep waiting. The only exception is a player certain to start whose price is moving, and there are very few of those this week.

Bring in: Lewis Hall (Newcastle, £5.3m). Promoted to the top of the list. He survived the injury scare, started in Prague, and Newcastle’s run of Coventry, Villa and Palace hasn’t changed. Bring in: Gonzalo Garcia (Fulham). The fixture case, restated. Bring in: Kostoulas (Brighton, £5.6m) for those wanting to target Sunderland’s absences.

Wait: Antoine Semenyo. Last week’s top target. The role is still his and the Ipswich fixture in Gameweek 7 is still the one to buy him for, but a swollen leg with no timeline is not something to spend £8.4m on blind. Revisit after City’s press conference. Wait: Brobbey owners. Hold until Sunderland publish the scan result. A minor strain and he’s worth keeping for Leeds at home in Gameweek 8; anything longer and he goes.

Hold: James Tarkowski, now £6.2m after another price rise. Isak, unless Liverpool rule him out; the City game is a poor one for him anyway. Bruno Fernandes, pending Portugal’s handling of him. Move on: Tottenham assets, Rashford, Chelsea defenders and Trai Hume, as last week.

The next deadline is 11:00 BST on Saturday, 10 October. A week ago the advice was to do nothing yet. This week proved why. Next week’s review lands after England’s final match, with the club updates that actually decide the Wildcard.