Update (Friday 16 October, revised after the press conferences). Since Thursday afternoon the game has moved several flags, including one on a player owned by a quarter of all managers. The deadline is tomorrow, Saturday, at 11:00 UK time. Here is what has changed.
- Saturday morning: Gibbs-White (12.7% owned) now has a 75% flag. It is a minor muscle injury from the game against Crystal Palace. Oliver Glasner said on Friday that he had not trained with the group all week, but may join Saturday’s session, and a decision will be made after that. Forest host Arsenal on Sunday at 16:30 UK, so this is another blind call. A 75% flag usually means the player starts, but make sure you have a reliable substitute on your bench. Szoboszlai is now the most-sold player in the game (826k).
- Szoboszlai (26.2% owned) has dropped from 75% to 25% chance of playing. On Thursday Andoni Iraola said that neither he, Isak nor Gakpo had trained with the group yet, and that Friday’s session would decide. He left the door open for all three, but a 25% flag means that, at best, you can realistically hope for a few minutes off the bench. Our rating has fallen to 77 and the verdict is now “Hold”. 392k managers have already sold him this week.
- What to do with Szoboszlai? If the first player on your bench is certain to play, you can keep him: at 25% your substitute will most likely come on automatically, and Iraola says all three are close to a return. If your bench is weak, or you were planning a transfer anyway, this is a good moment to make the move. At a similar price our model rates Groß (£6.0m, 88) and Tavernier (£6.1m, 88) higher. If you want to keep a Liverpool player, Wirtz is fit (£7.3m, 83, 5.1% owned).
- Isak (13.4%) and Gakpo (7.2%) have moved from “out” to 25%. A small step in the right direction, but both are still unlikely to start. Thursday’s advice stands: if you are selling a Liverpool player, start with Isak (rated 69, “Risky”, £9.0m).
- Brobbey (5.2%) is available after all. On Thursday the game gave his expected return as around 25 October, which is why he appears in the list of certain absentees further down. Today the flag is gone and our rating is 81 (“Buy”). If you own him, you can keep him in your team. Sunderland play at Bournemouth on Sunday. His strike partner Isidor has picked up a new 50% flag instead.
- Reece James (4.9%) is out for longer. Chelsea said on Friday morning that he has had “successful minor knee surgery”. The club gave no return date, but according to Sky Sports and journalist Kieran Gill he is expected to be out for around three months, which takes him into next year. The game lists him as injured with no return date and our rating has fallen to 60. If you own him, this is a good time to sell. A cheap defensive replacement: Van Hecke (£4.9m, 88).
- Cherki is the third most-bought player of the week (510k, 33.6% owned). Our model likes him (rated 88, risk 33 and upside 88 in our captain picks), but some previews see him as the most likely player to be rested after Wednesday’s game against PSG, where he was taken off at half-time. City report no injuries, so rotation will decide who plays. We will only see the line-up at around 14:00 UK on Saturday, three hours after the deadline.
- After the press conferences: Michael Carrick would not commit on whether Shaw (6.5%, 75% flag) and Mainoo will play at Leeds on Sunday, so that one stays open until the weekend. There is a new flag on Hull’s Mendy (6.2% owned): a groin injury with an expected return around 31 October, so he will not play against Fulham on Saturday. Bruno Fernandes is now the most-sold player of the week (396k), although our model still rates him 87.
The Gameweek 7 deadline is Saturday 17 October at 11:00 UK time, earlier than usual. The first game, Everton v Chelsea, kicks off at 12:30. Three things decide your team this week: Liverpool’s injuries, City’s Wednesday night against PSG, and the mass sell-off of Bruno Fernandes. Below we go through each one, give our model’s picks by budget, and list what to check before the deadline.
Three question marks at Liverpool
The biggest unknown of the gameweek is Szoboszlai. He is owned by 27.5% of managers, carries a 75% flag (hamstring) and missed both of Liverpool’s last games: the league match against City and Wednesday’s trip to LASK. At his Thursday press conference Andoni Iraola said it was too early to say whether he, Isak or Gakpo will be fit. A decision is due after Friday’s training. Gravenberch is also suspended after his red card against City. Liverpool play at Brentford at 15:00 UK on Saturday, four hours after the deadline, so you’ll only see the line-up when it’s too late to change anything.
- If you own Szoboszlai and have a decent bench, you can keep him. If he doesn’t play, your first substitute comes on automatically.
- If you have to sell a Liverpool player, start with Isak. The game lists him as injured with no return date, our model rates him 66 (“Risky”) and he costs £9.0m. 305k managers have already sold him this week, and this time the crowd is right.
- There’s also a flag on the other side of the same game: Brentford’s Schade (14.9% owned, shoulder, 75%).
Captaincy: City at home to Ipswich, but after 90 minutes against PSG
Our model is clear: the top two spots in our captain picks go to Semenyo (rated 91, risk 32, upside 84) and Haaland (90, risk 32, upside 88). Both play promoted Ipswich at home at 15:00 UK on Saturday, a difficulty-2 fixture. But the model misses one thing: on Wednesday City lost 4-2 to PSG, and Haaland, Semenyo and Guéhi played the full 90 minutes. There are less than three days between the games, the shortest gap of any English club. We covered the details in our Champions League round-up.
That’s not a reason to avoid City. It is a reason to pick your vice-captain from a different game. In fairness, our own recommended squad does the opposite: Semenyo is captain and Haaland vice, because the module picks them automatically by rating. Better vice-captain options are:
- Groß (Brighton, £6.0m, rated 88). He has the highest upside of anyone in our top ten captain picks (89), plays at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday (difficulty 2), and so has more time to recover than City’s players.
- Saka (Arsenal, £9.6m, 89). He played only 25 minutes on Tuesday and plays at Nottingham Forest at 16:30 UK on Sunday after almost five days’ rest.
Who to buy: picks by budget
| Player | Price | Rating | Owned | Gameweek 7 fixture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semenyo (MCI) | £8.3m | 91 | 13.8% | home, Ipswich (2) |
| Saka (ARS) | £9.6m | 89 | 16.7% | away, Nottingham Forest (3) |
| Rogers (CHE) | £7.9m | 89 | 45.2% | away, Everton (3) |
| Cherki (MCI) | £7.9m | 88 | 32.3% | home, Ipswich (2) |
| Groß (BHA) | £6.0m | 88 | 39.9% | home, Crystal Palace (2) |
| Tavernier (BOU) | £6.1m | 88 | 7.3% | home, Sunderland (3) |
| Guéhi (MCI) | £6.0m | 89 | 17.9% | home, Ipswich (2) |
| Van Hecke (TOT) | £4.9m | 88 | 6.3% | home, Coventry (2), Monday |
| De Cuyper (BHA) | £5.1m | 86 | 35.8% | home, Crystal Palace (2) |
| Verbruggen (BHA, goalkeeper) | £4.6m | 74 | 22.0% | home, Crystal Palace (2) |
The number in brackets is the official opponent difficulty on a 1–5 scale. Verbruggen shares the highest goalkeeper rating in the game (74) with Donnarumma, yet costs only £4.6m. Brighton have one of the easiest fixtures of the gameweek, which is why three of their players made the table.
The crowd and the model mostly agree this week
The five most-bought players are De Cuyper (471k), Groß (431k), João Pedro (412k), Cherki (405k) and Rogers (284k). All of them carry a “Buy” verdict in our model. After several weeks in which the market and the model pulled in different directions, that is information in itself.
On the selling side the crowd is mostly right: Isak, Gakpo and Szoboszlai are injury cases, and Wissa (rated 73) isn’t one of our picks. There are two exceptions:
- Bruno Fernandes is the most-sold player in the game (321k), yet our model still rates him 87 with a “Buy” verdict. This is the third time this season the crowd has dumped him en masse. Before Gameweek 2 he answered with a hat-trick; before Gameweek 4 the crowd was right. This time the backdrop is United’s crisis, the defeat in Madrid and Martínez’s interview, none of which the model can see. United are at Leeds at 14:00 UK on Sunday. It’s your call, but don’t sell him just because everyone else is.
- Gibbs-White (131k sellers, rated 88). Here the crowd has a point: Forest host Arsenal, a difficulty-4 fixture for them.
Differentials: high rating, low ownership
- Ndiaye (MCI, £5.8m, 88, 5.7% owned). He came on at half-time against PSG on Wednesday and crossed for Haaland’s first goal.
- Le Fée (SUN, £5.7m, 87, 3.1%). He plays away at Bournemouth (difficulty 3).
- Evanilson (BOU, £6.0m, 86, 3.6%). The highest-rated forward at £6.0m or less. He plays at home to Sunderland.
- Diego Gómez (BHA, £5.0m, 86, 3.6%). A cheaper way into Brighton’s easy fixture.
- McGinn (AVL, £5.4m, 85, 2.6%). He played the full 90 in Wednesday’s 6-0 win and goes to Newcastle on Saturday.
Other flags and some good news
Apart from Liverpool and Schade, flags are on Shaw (MUN, 6.7%, 75%), Reece James (CHE, 5.0%, 75%) and Mykolenko (EVE, 3.2%, 75%). Definitely out are Tzolis (until 1 November), Pedro Porro, Brobbey (until 25 October), Scott and Elanga, and Bentancur is suspended. Good news for Brighton: Struijk’s red card has been overturned, and Hinshelwood is back in contention. The current list is always in our Injury Centre.
Since the Gameweek 6 deadline there have been 56 price changes, 43 of them falls. The risers are mostly the popular buys: João Pedro (£7.8m), Rogers and Cherki (both £7.9m), Groß (£6.0m), De Cuyper (£5.1m) and Gvardiol (£5.8m). A curiosity: Semenyo, the highest-rated player in the game, has dropped to £8.3m.
Gameweek 7 fixtures
| Day | Match | Kick-off (UK) |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday | Everton v Chelsea | 12:30 |
| Saturday | Brentford v Liverpool | 15:00 |
| Saturday | Fulham v Hull | 15:00 |
| Saturday | Manchester City v Ipswich | 15:00 |
| Saturday | Newcastle v Aston Villa | 17:30 |
| Sunday | Bournemouth v Sunderland | 14:00 |
| Sunday | Brighton v Crystal Palace | 14:00 |
| Sunday | Leeds v Manchester United | 14:00 |
| Sunday | Nottingham Forest v Arsenal | 16:30 |
| Monday | Tottenham v Coventry | 20:00 |
Five minutes before the deadline
- Own Szoboszlai? Make sure your first bench player is certain to play.
- Captain and vice-captain from different games, especially if your captain is a City player.
- Check for guaranteed zeros in your team: Isak, Gakpo, Tzolis, Pedro Porro, Brobbey, Scott, Elanga, Bentancur.
- Don’t take a −4 hit for a player whose line-up you won’t see before the deadline anyway.
- Keep an eye on Friday’s press conferences. If anything changes, we’ll add it to the top of this article.
All ratings are in our AI rankings, and the full fifteen for this gameweek is in our recommended squad. We covered how our league did in Gameweek 6 here. You can join at any time with league code 3ix1cw.
Prices, ownership, transfers, flags and ratings come from the official game API and our own engine, as of Thursday 15 October afternoon. Press-conference information checked against external sources (including Fantasy Football Scout, RotoWire and ESPN). This article was produced with the help of AI and checked by our editors. This is not betting advice.