Can you risk no Haaland? FPL tips & team of the week

The big Fantasy Premier League decision to make this week surrounds Sunday's blockbuster between Manchester City and Arsenal.

It finished 0-0 last season and there was only one goal in the two league games between the title rivals.

In an optimal line-up, would you start any attacking players from this match-up, even goal monster Erling Haaland?

The answer is no (although if you have Haaland in your squad don't do anything daft like benching him!).

The team of the week is selected based on current FPL prices to fit within a £100m budget, as if you were playing a Free Hit.

How did the last team of the week do?

The worst score of the season so far with 52 points - here is a reminder of the gameweek four team of the week.

The positives: A 13-point haul for both Haaland and Jean-Philippe Mateta up front, returns for Bruno Fernandes and Lucas Digne and a lucky Lewis Dunk clean sheet off the bench.

The bad bits: one- and two-pointers galore and Forest's surprisingly tight defence keeping Mohamed Salah quiet as captain. Should have given Forest's underlying data more kudos.

It all led to a gameweek rank of around 4.7 million.

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Goalkeeper and defence

Southampton's Yukinari Sugawara had 15 assists in his last two seasons at AZ Alkmaar

Emi Martinez, Aston Villa, keeper, £5m - home to Wolves

Clean sheets have been so hard to predict this season.

Gameweek four saw six of them from the 10 games, which means we've had 18 in 40 games - or clean sheets for 18 teams from a potential 80!

There's no standout keeper this week but Martinez has been a big-game performer in the past and derby games can be tight affairs.

Yukinari Sugawara, Southampton, defender, £4.5m - home to Ipswich

The Japanese full-back has been flying down the right flank in manager Russell Martin's progressive style of play where he likes to overload areas of the pitch.

Sugawara has put in 16 crosses, double any of his defensive team-mates and second on the team to Will Smallbone.

He's created three of Southampton's five big chances and also scored at Brentford.

Ipswich have been goal shy so far, with just two in their four games and, should Saints turn some impressive periods of play into a 90-minute performance, Sugawara has chances of a return at both ends of the pitch.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool, defender, £7m - home to Bournemouth

I may sound like a broken record by now but the attacking returns are on the horizon for the most expensive defender in the game.

Alexander-Arnold was close to another clean sheet last week before Nottingham Forest's smash-and-grab success at Anfield and it's amazing he has not got an assist yet.

The right-back's expected assists (xA) stat is an incredible 1.87 from four games. For context, that is one full expected assist higher than any other defender in the game except Villa left-back Digne (0.94). Tottenham's Pedro Porro and Sugawara are next with just 0.67.

Josko Gvardiol, Manchester City, defender, £6m - home to Arsenal

Defences are likely to be on top when City host Arsenal on Sunday and you'd expect the Gunners to set up like they did last season, to absorb City pressure and hit on the break.

Rodri should return to City's line-up which should mean Gvardiol playing a more progressive position down the left like he did at the back-end of last season.

He'll see plenty of the ball, we know he has a goal or assist in him and, if City do keep a clean sheet, the Croatian will be a strong contender for bonus points.

Midfield

Jarrod Bowen has 68 FPL returns in the past three seasons

Jarrod Bowen, West Ham, midfielder, £7.5m - home to Chelsea

Bowen has been one of the most consistent FPL assets in this price range over the past three seasons and he has started 2024-25 in a similar vein, with three returns in four games.

A bit like Spurs' Son Heung-min, you have to ignore the data a little with Bowen. Last season he outperformed his expected goal involvement (xGI) by nearly eight goals, returning in 24 of 38 games.

Same story this season but what points towards a strong chance of another return this week is Chelsea's defensive data.

The Blues kept their first clean sheet of the season at Bournemouth last time out, but you wonder how. They conceded 19 shots and their expected goals conceded (xGC) was 1.67. Take away Evanilson's missed penalty (0.79) and that's still nearly a goal they should have let in.

Mohamed Salah (captain), Liverpool, midfielder, £12.7m - home to Bournemouth

Salah had his first blank of the season last week but is still the best captain choice this week, with Haaland facing Arsenal's stiff defence.

The Egyptian is in the top five among midfielders for shots so far this season (13) and has had a league-leading eight of them on target.

Bournemouth - unlucky not to get a result against Chelsea last week - are likely to have a go at Liverpool, leaving plenty of chances for Salah to work his magic.

Cole Palmer, Chelsea, midfielder, £10.6m - away to West Ham

Palmer's stats against Bournemouth were shocking! No shots, one key pass and an xGI of zero.

So I'm expecting a bounceback game here and for manager Enzo Maresca to tweak something so that his talisman is more involved.

Palmer is definitely a stronger pick at home but the Hammers have conceded five in two home games, so play last season's top points scorer with confidence.

Kaoru Mitoma, Brighton, midfielder, £6.7m - home to Nottingham Forest

With two early returns, Mitoma has had a decent start to the season and is on his way to being Brighton's talisman again.

But he's also underperforming his underlying data and so are his team. Against Ipswich last time out they had 21 shots, 10 in the box, six on target and an xG of 1.82. The outcome - 0-0.

These things happen but the goals and returns will come for Mitoma.

Forwards

Jamie Vardy had FPL season scores of 211, 161, 183, 174, 210 and 187 between 2015-16 and 20-21

Jamie Vardy, Leicester City, forward, £5.7m - home to Everton

Don't worry about statistics with Vardy. He's scored two goals from his three shots this season and that's him in a nutshell.

While the 37-year-old is fit, he's a great budget choice. Ignore Arsenal away next week and Leicester have a kind run of games coming up.

Oh, and this week's opponents Everton have conceded 13 goals in four games!

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Everton, forward, £5.9m - away at Leicester City

DCL is another striker in the same bracket as Vardy. Great if he can stay fit and with an enticing fixture run coming up.

The Everton man has 18 FPL points in his past two games and if you watched the Villa game you'll know that should have been more - he missed a golden chance with a one-on-one in the second half.

Leicester are yet to keep a clean sheet this season and this game smacks of goals for both teams.

Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa, forward, £8.9m - home to Wolves

Two weeks ago I told you to stick with Watkins, who was performing well without the FPL points to match his XG data.

Well, if you kept the faith you were rewarded last week with two goals and a double-digit haul against Everton.

Wolves are struggling at the back and have let in 11 goals already which gives Watkins a great chance to return again.

Subs bench

Lukasz Fabianski, West Ham, keeper, £4m - home to Chelsea

Insert any £4m keeper here!

Adama Traore, Fulham, midfielder, £5.1m - home to Newcastle

The flying winger is a great first sub if any of the forward line don't start.

I don't think anyone is convinced by Newcastle defensively. They've conceded three so far but their xGC is a whopping 6.1 this season!

Lewis Dunk, Brighton, defender, £4.5m - home to Nottingham Forest

Coming off the back of a clean sheet and always presents the chance of an attacking return from corners (and the occasional free-kick).

Lamare Bogarde, Aston Villa, defender, £4m - home to Wolves

The Dutch youngster could emerge as a popular budget choice if he keeps his place in the Villa team.

Total team cost: £98.1m

Player to watch

Ipswich's Leif Davis had 32 assists in his past two seasons in the Championship

Leif Davis, Ipswich Town, defender, £4.5m

With the lack of clean sheets this season, is it time to go all-in on defenders with the best chance of an attacking return?

If so, Davis is a strong option. He had 18 Championship assists last season and one already in this campaign.

Ipswich won't keep many clean sheets but I'm eyeing Saints away this week, plus Everton and Leicester at home before gameweek 10 as games where you'd start Davis with confidence.

Team to target

Brentford - Spurs (a), West Ham (h), Wolves (h)

Thomas Frank's side proved last week that they can be a handful in tough away games so Spurs this week should be no reason to bench your Brentford assets.

And then the fixture list looks really nice all the way to week 13.

Midfielder Bryan Mbeumo (£7.1m) is a favourite of this column and one of the best value players this season, but you could also consider a defensive option with Mark Flekken in nets (£4.5m) or centre-backs Ethan Pinnock and Nathan Collins (both £4.5m) presenting big goal threats from set-pieces.

And keep an eye on defender Sepp van den Berg at £4m who could nail down a starting spot.

View from Fantasy 606...

Chris Sutton told us this week he's going to start a petition to try and get Haaland banned from FPL because he says he's making the game boring and predictable.

If you own him though, like Statman Dave and I sensibly do, the question is do you captain him in the big one against Arsenal on Sunday?

Last season the miserly Arsenal defence shut him out in both Premier League games and I think it could well be another low-scoring affair this time around, which is why I brought Salah into my squad last week ready to take the armband for Liverpool's home game against Bournemouth.

It's also why I will start Gabriel and just hedge my bets on events at Etihad Stadium.

The Fantasy 606 listeners' team moved ahead of us all in gameweek four, they've got Haaland but not Salah so this week's manager has decided to captain Diogo Jota while using their one free transfer to switch Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo in for Savinho.

And if you're one of those managers who's thinking about using their wildcard in gameweek six then it might be an idea to roll a transfer this week building up an extra free transfer when it comes to gameweek seven.

Remember if you want to have a go at managing the listeners' team then send us an e-mail on [e-mail]

The listeners brought Bryan Mbeumo into their team this week

Chris Sutton currently sits bottom of the Fantasy 606 mini-league