Six of Gameweek 6’s ten matches are done. The most-owned player in the game came back from the international break and scored twice straight away, and Saturday’s top scorer was a 36-year-old midfielder owned by 0.1% of managers. The gameweek average currently stands at 37 points and the highest score at 114 — both will rise after Sunday’s and Monday’s games.
Saturday’s results
| Match | Score | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Arsenal – Leeds | 2-1 | Justin 55′ · Calafiori 62′, Bruno Guimarães |
| Aston Villa – Brentford | 2-2 | Yarmoliuk 10′, N. Jackson 12′, McGinn 77′, Ajer 79′ |
| Chelsea – Bournemouth | 5-1 | Henderson 2, João Pedro 2, Rogers · Evanilson |
| Ipswich – Fulham | 2-1 | Sessegnon 55′ · Ouattara 88′, O’Shea 90+1′ |
| Sunderland – Brighton | 0-2 | De Cuyper 53′, Hadjam 90+3′ |
| Manchester United – Tottenham | 1-1 | Mbeumo 73′ · Solanke 90+ |
João Pedro came back exactly when we said he would
For most managers this is the story of the day. João Pedro is owned by 67.4% of the game, and against Bournemouth he played 71 minutes, scored twice and collected 12 points. The first goal came straight after the restart (set up by Pedro Neto), the second in the 67th minute from a Pep Chavarría cross.
We come back to this because on 18 September, deadline day for Gameweek 5, more than 400,000 managers were selling him. We wrote then, citing ESPN Brasil, that the lay-off was expected to last around three and a half weeks, and because Chelsea’s next match after Brentford was not until 10 October, he would realistically miss one gameweek, not three — and return for the home game against Bournemouth. That is exactly what happened.
To be fair, there is another side to it: on Thursday, while João Pedro still had a flag, our Recommended Squad left him out. He came back into it on Saturday morning, once the game removed the flag and Xabi Alonso said the player was training and ready. Managers who waited until Saturday to decide came out of it well.
In the same match Cole Palmer, who also carried a flag before the gameweek, provided two assists (8 points), and Morgan Rogers scored (9 points, 43% owned). Chelsea ended a run of three matches without a win.
Henderson: 18 points at 0.1% ownership
The best score of Saturday, and so far of the whole gameweek, belongs to Jordan Henderson, the 36-year-old former Liverpool captain who is now a £4.9m Chelsea midfielder. He scored after 66 seconds, set up Rogers’ goal and wrapped things up with a free kick from around 25 yards. Two goals, an assist and the full three bonus points made it 18 points. He is owned by 0.1% of managers — roughly 11,000 teams out of more than 11 million.
Should you buy him? Our rating is 71, “Hold”, and that is deliberately cautious. Henderson did not play a minute in the first four gameweeks and has played 90 in each of the last two. The model rewards repeatability, not a single match. If you are looking for the cheapest midfielder who starts, he is a candidate — but 18 points is one evening, not a trend.
Our captain picks: João Pedro and Rogers yes, Saka and Bruno no
In Thursday’s guide, “Who to buy before Gameweek 6”, our captaincy list started with Saka, Rogers and Bruno Fernandes. The best profile — lowest risk with the highest upside — belonged, according to the model, to Bruno and Mbeumo. In Saturday’s update we added João Pedro in fifth place once the game removed his flag.
| Player | Our rank | Points | As captain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saka (ARS) | 1st | 2 | 4 |
| Rogers (CHE) | 2nd | 9 | 18 |
| Bruno Fernandes (MUN) | 3rd | 1 | 2 |
| Tavernier (BOU) | 4th | 1 | 2 |
| João Pedro (CHE) | 5th (from Saturday) | 12 | 24 |
| Mbeumo (MUN) | 7th | 8 | 16 |
Our number one, Saka, played 90 minutes and scored 2 points, although he was involved in the move for Arsenal’s winner. Bruno, whom we credited with the best profile, finished with one point. On Thursday we pointed out that the crowd was selling him in large numbers despite a strong profile — this time the crowd was right. From the same match Mbeumo scored United’s goal and has 8 points, so the model picked the right fixture but the wrong United player. Tavernier got one point in a 5-1 defeat for Bournemouth.
Guéhi and Haaland, who were also on our list, do not play until Sunday.
Where the model beat the crowd, and where it did not
- De Cuyper — 15 points. On Thursday 360,000 managers were buying him, and our rating agreed. A goal at Sunderland, a clean sheet and three bonus points. The crowd and the model were right together.
- Kostoulas — 1 point in 59 minutes. On Thursday we noted that almost 400,000 managers were buying him with our rating at 74. The model was right.
- Brobbey — 0 points. More than 200,000 managers bought him despite a flag that was never lifted. He did not play.
- Groß — 6 points. The most-bought player of the gameweek delivered an assist and a clean sheet. Decent, nothing spectacular.
- Konsa — 90 minutes and 4 points. He faced a late fitness test and played the whole match.
Fulham: the first test of our fixture analysis did not go well
In our fixture analysis for Gameweeks 6–10 we named Fulham as the club with the easiest run in the league. Fulham lost the first of those matches. They led at Ipswich from the 55th minute through Ryan Sessegnon, but Abdoul Ouattara equalised in the 88th minute and Dara O’Shea headed the winner in stoppage time from a Jack Clarke free kick. Both Ipswich scorers are £4.0m defenders.
It was a poor day for our picks: Leno, who was in our Recommended Squad as the highest-rated goalkeeper in the game, scored 2 points, Iwobi 4, and Castagne did not get on the pitch. Fulham have 2 points from six matches and sit in the relegation zone.
In that piece we did note that Fulham score few goals and that these were clean-sheet picks rather than big-haul picks. But it has to be said plainly: fixture difficulty measures the strength of the opponents, not Fulham’s own form — and that form is poor so far. One match is not enough to throw out the whole idea, but it is a reason to treat the next two gameweeks with more caution.
The other matches
Arsenal 2-1 Leeds. Leeds led through James Justin in the 55th minute. Seven minutes later Calafiori equalised (Trafford could not hold his effort), and substitute Bruno Guimarães scored the winner after a move involving Saka, Ødegaard and Rice. Guimarães collected 9 points in 27 minutes, Calafiori (51.7% owned) also 9.
Aston Villa 2-2 Brentford. Four goals and two quick swings: Yarmoliuk in the 10th minute, Nicolas Jackson 88 seconds later, McGinn in the 77th from a Manzambi pass and Ajer in the 79th. Brentford remain unbeaten after six gameweeks; Villa are still waiting for a first home league win. Important for FPL: Kevin Schade (15.9% owned) went off early in the second half with a shoulder injury. Head coach Keith Andrews gave no timescale after the match; the game has given him a 75% flag. Brentford host Liverpool in Gameweek 7.
Sunderland 0-2 Brighton. De Cuyper scored in the 53rd minute, four minutes later Pascal Struijk was sent off after a VAR review (a foul denying a clear goalscoring opportunity), and substitute Jaouen Hadjam sealed it in stoppage time from a Georginio Rutter pass. Brighton’s third league win in a row. Verbruggen (21% owned) scored 9 points. Struijk is suspended until 25 October.
Manchester United 1-1 Tottenham. Mbeumo put United ahead in the 73rd minute from a Cunha pass (10 points, including defensive contribution points). Shortly afterwards Rodrigo Bentancur, on as a substitute, was sent off after 11 minutes on the pitch following a clash with Luke Shaw. Down to ten men, Tottenham still equalised in stoppage time: Solanke headed in a Tonali cross. There were boos at Old Trafford at the final whistle. Bentancur is suspended until 7 November.
Our league after Saturday
The Fantasy PL Edge league has 71 teams. The average after Saturday is 45.1 points against 37 across the whole game, and 47 of the 71 teams are above the global average.
- Best score on Saturday: Top Mark — 74 points with João Pedro as captain, up from 58th to 39th. Behind them, WinSquad (72 points after a wildcard, up from 16th to 6th) and Better Call Cole (70, Palmer as captain).
- At the top: Pogoń Bydło lead (470), ahead of AVERAGEJOE (459) and Maciej’s Team (438, up from 7th to 3rd).
- Captains in our league: Haaland 24 teams (plays on Sunday), Saka 15, Bruno Fernandes 13, Palmer 5. So 28 teams got 2 or 4 points from the armband, while the five teams who captained Palmer got 16.
- Chips: 16 of the 71 teams played a wildcard and one a free hit. That is almost one team in four — the international break was a natural moment for a rebuild.
What’s left today and on Monday
Four matches remain: Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest and Hull v Everton (Sunday, 14:00 UK), Liverpool v Manchester City (Sunday, 16:30 UK) and Coventry v Newcastle (Monday, 20:00 UK).
Everything revolves around Anfield. Haaland is the most-owned player in the game (74.6%) and the most-captained one. In our league 63 of the 71 teams have him. Our model only had him sixth among captaincy options, because this is the only fixture of the gameweek rated 4 for both sides. Liverpool will be without Isak and Gakpo, while for City Semenyo and O’Reilly are doubts (75% each).
Our Recommended Squad for Gameweek 6 has 39 points after Saturday (with Saka as captain), with Guéhi and Haaland still to play on Sunday and Hall and Barnes on Monday.
Ahead of Gameweek 7
The Gameweek 7 deadline is again on Saturday 17 October at 11:00 UK, because the first match (Everton v Chelsea) kicks off at 12:30. Until then, keep an eye on Schade’s shoulder and the suspensions: Struijk until 25 October, Bentancur until 7 November. Reece James has also been given a 75% flag. We will publish the full Gameweek 6 review, with our league table and the final average, after Monday’s match at Coventry.
Results and scorers verified against external sources (including NBC Sports, ESPN, beIN Sports, Sky Sports and Brentford FC), while points, ownership and our league data come from the official game API, as of Sunday 11 October morning. Gameweek averages and scores keep changing after the final whistle, so the figures above are provisional. This piece was produced with the help of artificial intelligence and checked by our editors. This is not betting advice.