Two players topped Gameweek 5 with 17 points each: Antoine Semenyo and Brian Brobbey. A week later, both carry injury flags in the game. And managers keep buying them — 188,000 teams brought in Brobbey this week alone.
Semenyo: a swollen ankle and permission to stay in England
Semenyo dropped out of Ghana’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. The federation’s president, Kurt Okraku, put it plainly: “His leg is swollen, and we need to treat it.” The player was allowed to skip the trip and be treated where he is — Okraku framed the choice as letting him recover for his club and for the November window, rather than flying him to Ghana for an MRI only to send him back.
In the game he is now listed at a 75 per cent chance with an ankle injury. No return date has been given, and according to reports his availability for Manchester City’s fixture on 11 October is uncertain. Ghana expect him back for November.
Brobbey and Havertz: both went off in the same match
Brobbey and Kai Havertz picked up their injuries in Thursday’s Nations League meeting between Germany and the Netherlands — which, incidentally, was Jürgen Klopp’s first match in charge of Germany and Xavi Hernández’s first with the Netherlands.
Brobbey came off after 35 minutes, signalling to the medical staff about the back of his thigh. This is the same player who scored a hat-trick in the 3:5 defeat at Manchester City a week earlier — and whom we listed among the traps back in August, before our model raised his rating on its own. Havertz walked off holding his hamstring. Both are now flagged at 75 per cent.
What the numbers say
| Player | Club | Price | Ownership | Our rating | Bought this week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semenyo | Man City | £8.4m | 15.5% | 87 — buy | 119k |
| Brobbey | Sunderland | £5.7m | 7.1% | 83 — buy | 188k |
| Havertz | Arsenal | £7.6m | 8.5% | 75 — hold | 50k |
Look at that last column. 188,000 managers bought Brobbey this week against 29,000 selling — six times fewer. Semenyo is similar: 119,000 in, 45,000 out. It is the same pattern we described with João Pedro: after a big gameweek the market buys a player faster than it reads that he is injured.
Our model reacted on its own
Semenyo’s rating fell from 89 to 87 and he dropped out of the top ten in our rankings, while Brobbey slipped from 84 to 83. That is automatic: the model factors in certainty of minutes, so a flag lowers the rating without us touching anything. Both still carry a “buy” verdict, because 75 per cent is the mildest signal in this game and does not mean a player will sit out.
The catch nobody mentions: the fixture
Even if Semenyo recovers in time, he returns to the hardest possible match. Manchester City travel to Anfield on 11 October — the only Gameweek 6 fixture rated at maximum difficulty for both sides. Arsenal, in the same round, host Leeds at home in the easiest match on the card.
That tidies up the decision. If you are shopping for a midfielder in this price bracket, the model points to Bukayo Saka (£9.5m, rated 90, the only “strong buy” among midfielders) — who is at home to Leeds. Cheaper: Gibbs-White (£8.0m, 88), Mbeumo (£7.9m, 87) and Cunha (£7.9m, 86 at just 5.7 per cent ownership).
Who gains if Semenyo sits out
The simplest answer is Rayan Cherki — 28.3 per cent ownership, rated 85, and 34 points this season, more than Semenyo himself. City’s wide areas are thin right now and Cherki is first in line for those minutes. For a cheaper option at the same club, the model rates Iliman Ndiaye highly (£5.8m, 87).
What to do today
Nothing hasty. The Gameweek 6 deadline is fifteen days away — Saturday 10 October at 11:00 UK time. A flag applied a fortnight out tells you a player is not on international duty right now, not whether he will start on 11 October.
In practice: if you were planning to buy Semenyo or Brobbey after their big gameweek, simply wait. You lose nothing, because the transfer does not have to happen now, and in two weeks you will know more. If you already own them, do not sell blind — especially as both have the mildest version of the flag.
Check your squad on 8 or 9 October rather than on the Saturday morning. This international window runs until 6 October and contains four matches, so the flag list tends to grow late. The current picture is always in the Injury Centre, and the full schedule with fixture difficulty is in the fixture ticker.
Injury information is based on media reports from 24 and 25 September and on official Fantasy Premier League data read on 25 September. Ratings come from our own AI model. We are not affiliated with the Premier League or Fantasy Premier League.