Update (Tuesday 20 October): the gameweek is over. Tottenham beat Coventry 3-1 on Monday. Marmoush, Ben Davies and Maddison scored for Spurs, Rudoni for Coventry. Marmoush, whose loan move to Tottenham we covered in August, returned 9 points. Van Hecke from our Recommended Squad scored 4.
- Gameweek average: 56 points, top score 122. The game has not confirmed bonus points yet, so the average may still move.
- Our Recommended Squad finished on 54 points, two below the average. The armband made the difference: Semenyo as captain returned 2 points.
- Our league: average 65.8 points, with 57 of 73 teams above the game-wide average. Pogoń Bydło leads (569), followed by AVERAGEJOE (545), and Wojciech’s Team climbed to 3rd (519). The best score of the gameweek belongs to Bartek’s Team: 95 points.
- Semenyo is out for around eight weeks. Maresca said on Monday that it is a collateral ligament injury in the knee and that he expects him back around December. The game lists him as injured with no return date, and 12.9% of managers still own him. If you are one of them, this is a good time to move him on.
- Haaland has a 75% flag. He took a knock to his left foot against Ipswich. Maresca did not rule him out of Tuesday’s game against AEK Athens and said a decision would come after training. Our rating has dropped from 91 to 85, and on Saturday City travel to Villa Park.
- For Gameweek 8 our model ranks Rogers first (rated 89, at home to Tottenham). The deadline is Friday 23 October at 18:30 UK time.
The numbers further down were written before Monday’s game.
Nine of the ten Gameweek 7 matches have been played. Only Monday’s Tottenham v Coventry (tonight, 20:00 UK) is left. The average score across the game is currently 55 points, with a top score of 122. Both numbers are provisional: the game confirms bonus points after the last match, and the average usually still goes up. Here is the weekend in review. We will add the final result and numbers after the Spurs game.
Weekend results
| Match | Score | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Everton v Chelsea | 0-2 | Neto 2 |
| Brentford v Liverpool | 1-2 | Lewis-Potter; Muñoz, Isak |
| Fulham v Hull | 1-0 | Iwobi |
| Manchester City v Ipswich | 3-2 | Haaland 2, Foden; Maeda, Flemming |
| Newcastle v Aston Villa | 0-1 | Manzambi |
| Bournemouth v Sunderland | 2-0 | Tavernier, Evanilson |
| Brighton v Crystal Palace | 5-0 | Hinshelwood, Diego Gómez, Ayari, Kostoulas, Canvot own goal |
| Leeds v Manchester United | 1-1 | Calvert-Lewin; Mbeumo |
| Nottingham Forest v Arsenal | 0-1 | Madueke |
| Tottenham v Coventry | 3-1 | Marmoush, Ben Davies, Maddison; Rudoni |
Captaincy: the crowd was right, and our first choice played 13 minutes
Haaland scored twice against Ipswich, took maximum bonus and returned 13 points, or 26 with the armband. He is the most-captained player in the game, so most managers got exactly what they were hoping for this week.
On Thursday our model ranked Semenyo first (rated 91), just ahead of Haaland. But after Wednesday’s game against PSG, Maresca rotated: Semenyo started on the bench, came on in the 77th minute and picked up a knee problem a few minutes later. He finished with 1 point, and after the match the manager said they would have to wait for a diagnosis. The game now shows him with a 75% flag. Cherki (37% owned) did not get off the bench either; on Friday we wrote that previews saw him as the most likely player to be rested.
There is an important practical lesson here. On Thursday we advised taking your vice-captain from a different game to City. The catch is that the vice-captain only takes over if the captain plays no minutes at all. Semenyo played 13, so the armband stayed with him. Rotation after a Champions League game can hurt more than an injury, because a player who starts on the bench often still comes on for a few minutes.
| Our captain picks (Thursday) | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. Semenyo | 1 (13 min) |
| 2. Haaland | 13 |
| 3. Saka | 3 |
| 4. Rogers | 2 |
| 5. Guéhi | 1 |
| 6. Tavernier | 10 |
| 7. Groß | 5 |
| 8. Palmer | 2 |
This is not the first time this season that the managers who stuck with Haaland as captain got it right. To be fair to ourselves and to you: the model rates the player, but it cannot know that the manager will bench him after a European game.
Liverpool: Isak returned and scored the winner
On Friday all three flagged Liverpool players were listed at 25% chance of playing. Isak looked the worst bet, and we advised selling him first. He started, played 79 minutes and scored the 70th-minute winner at Brentford for 9 points. We got that one wrong. A curious detail: nobody in our league owns him, while 12.7% of managers across the game do.
It was worse for Szoboszlai. He started but went off in the 32nd minute with a recurrence of his hamstring problem. Frimpong came on at half-time and had to go off seven minutes later with a new injury. Iraola said both will be out for some time. The game now lists Szoboszlai as injured with no return date, and our model rates him 74 (“Hold”). Gakpo did not play.
Brentford finished with nine men. Yarmoliuk was sent off after a VAR review for a headbutt on Jacquet in first-half stoppage time, and Janelt picked up a second yellow right at the end. It was Brentford’s first defeat of the season.
The gameweek belonged to cheap, rarely owned players
The best score of the weekend went to Chelsea’s Neto: two goals at Everton and 15 points at 2% ownership. Brighton beat Crystal Palace 5-0 and handed points to a whole group of players almost nobody owns: Ayari 13 points (0.4% owned), Kostoulas 12, Vušković 11, Boscagli 10, Diego Gómez 8. Brighton’s popular picks returned less: De Cuyper 6, Verbruggen 6, Groß 5.
Several of our picks came good. Evanilson, whom we named on Thursday as the highest-rated forward up to £6.0m, returned 12 points. Tavernier, our suggested replacement for the injured Szoboszlai, scored 10. Iwobi (1% owned), whom we have been tipping since late September for Fulham’s easy fixtures, scored and returned 11. And Manzambi got 11 points for the winner at Newcastle.
How our picks did
Our Recommended Squad for Gameweek 7 has 50 points so far against an average of 55. Tottenham’s Van Hecke still plays tonight. The captaincy is what cost us: Semenyo with the armband returned 2 points, and Haaland as vice-captain 13.
Among the most-bought players before this gameweek, De Cuyper returned 6 points, Groß 5, João Pedro and Rogers 2 each, and Cherki 0. On the sell side the crowd was right: Bruno Fernandes, the most-sold player, returned 1 point, and Gibbs-White did not play.
Our league: 82% of teams captained Haaland
Our league now has 73 teams. The average after the weekend is 65.2 points, more than 10 above the game-wide average. The reason is simple: 60 of the 73 teams captained Haaland, and 11 played Triple Captain, all on Haaland, for 39 points from one player. That is the reverse of Gameweek 3, when 23 teams used the chip on Haaland and got 27 points.
- Pogoń Bydło leads (567 points, 86 this week), followed by AVERAGEJOE (543) and WinSquad (516, up from 8th).
- The best score of the weekend belongs to Bartek’s Team: 95 points, a jump from 21st to 6th.
- Six teams played Bench Boost and two played a wildcard.
These are live numbers, before the Spurs game and before bonus points are confirmed. The full table updates itself on our mini-league page. You can join at any time with code 3ix1cw.
Ahead of Gameweek 8
The Gameweek 8 deadline is Friday 23 October at 18:30 UK time, and the first match is Ipswich v Nottingham Forest at 20:00. Things to check during the week:
- Semenyo (14% owned) is waiting for a diagnosis on his knee. City play AEK Athens in the Champions League on Tuesday and travel to Aston Villa on Saturday.
- Szoboszlai (20%) and Frimpong will be out for longer.
- Manzambi has a 75% flag (calf), and Gibbs-White is still at 75%.
- Brentford go to Hull without Yarmoliuk and Janelt.
- Our ratings have already moved: Haaland is now on 91, Semenyo has dropped from 91 to 88, and Isak is up to 79.
Our Thursday “Who to buy” guide will be out before the deadline as usual, and the latest picks are always available in our Captain Picks tool.
Data from the official game API and our model, as of Monday 19 October morning, before Tottenham v Coventry. Averages and scores may still change once bonus points are confirmed. Written with AI assistance and checked by our editorial team.