Anfield hosts Liverpool v Man City on Sunday. Photo: Ruaraidh Gillies, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
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International breaks are the worst bit of the FPL season. Nothing happens for a fortnight, and then on the Thursday before the deadline everything happens at once.
This one ran from 21 September to 6 October, which is a long time to stare at a team you can't change. The press conferences finished this afternoon, so here's where things stand going into Gameweek 6. The deadline is Saturday 10 October at 11:00 UK time, 90 minutes before Arsenal v Leeds kicks off.
The Liverpool problem
The biggest story is at Anfield, and it's bad news for anyone who bought into the Liverpool attack.
Cody Gakpo left the Netherlands camp with an ankle injury. Alexander Isak left Sweden with a thigh problem, which Graham Potter called a "small problem" at the time. Neither trained with Liverpool on Thursday, and Andoni Iraola didn't dress it up:
"Now it's a matter of if they are going to recover in time to help us in the next game or not. But right now they are both injured."
By Friday both were ruled out of Sunday's game against Man City. If you own either, they're a bench job this week at best. Whether you sell depends on what Dutch reports turn out to mean by "weeks" for Gakpo, and nobody outside the club knows that yet. We'd hold Isak if you have a decent bench. Gakpo is harder to keep.
Jeremy Jacquet also sat out a France game with a hamstring issue but was back training on Thursday, so he looks fine.
Haaland is fine
Erling Haaland scored three times for Norway (two against Denmark, one against Portugal), then got taken off early in one of the games. That set off the usual panic. It looked like tiredness, and City have since confirmed he's fit.
He has five league goals in five games, from 4.73 xG and nine big chances, and costs £15.6m. The catch is the fixture. City go to Anfield on Sunday (16:30), and Liverpool have the third-best expected goals conceded in the division at 6.58. Fantasy Football Fix projects him for 6.1 points, which is fine but isn't the runaway number you want from your most expensive player.
City have their own doubts too. Antoine Semenyo left the Ghana squad with a swollen leg and Nico O'Reilly was sent for "further assessment" by England; both are late fitness tests. Phil Foden serves the last game of his three-match ban.
Who came back flying
Bukayo Saka scored twice in England's 7-0 win in Croatia last Saturday. Harry Kane also got two, with Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers chipping in. Rogers added an assist in the 2-0 win over Czechia earlier in the week. For Saka, it carries on from a club start of three goals from 3.21 xG and 32 points, and he has been taking more of Arsenal's penalties.
Viktor Gyökeres got four for Sweden, against Romania twice, Poland and Bosnia and Herzegovina. That's lovely, but it doesn't solve his problem at Arsenal, where he hasn't been getting the minutes. We aren't buying on the back of Nations League goals.
Bruno Fernandes set up two in Portugal's 4-2 win in Denmark on 1 October. Omar Marmoush scored twice in Egypt's 5-0 win over South Sudan, Mikel Merino got three for Spain, and Martin Ødegaard made four for Norway without scoring.
The rest of England's squad had a quieter time. Declan Rice withdrew before the games (load management, by most accounts), and Bournemouth's Alex Scott, who made his first England start in Rijeka, is now facing six to eight weeks out with a tendon problem.
Team news from Friday's press conferences
This is everything confirmed on Friday. If a name isn't here, assume no change from GW5.
Fit: Cole Palmer, João Pedro, Reece James, Erling Haaland, Lewis Dunk, Micky van de Ven, Jan Paul van Hecke.
Out: Gakpo, Isak, Benjamin Šeško, Patrick Dorgu, Pedro Porro, Jamie Gittens, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Dean Henderson, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Igor Jesus, Nikola Milenković, Alex Scott.
Late tests: Kai Havertz, Semenyo, O'Reilly, Neco Williams, Noussair Mazraoui, Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo.
The Chelsea news is the good surprise. Palmer, João Pedro and James all went missing from the training photos this week, and all three are fine. If you sold João Pedro during the break (more than 500,000 managers did), that one stings a bit.
Crystal Palace are the opposite. Without Mateta up front and Henderson in goal, we'd be wary of Palace assets at home to Forest on Sunday.
Captain
Here are the fixtures, all UK time:
| Day | Kick-off | Match |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 10 Oct | 12:30 | Arsenal v Leeds |
| Sat 10 Oct | 15:00 | Aston Villa v Brentford |
| Sat 10 Oct | 15:00 | Chelsea v Bournemouth |
| Sat 10 Oct | 15:00 | Ipswich v Fulham |
| Sat 10 Oct | 15:00 | Sunderland v Brighton |
| Sat 10 Oct | 17:30 | Man Utd v Tottenham |
| Sun 11 Oct | 14:00 | Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest |
| Sun 11 Oct | 14:00 | Hull v Everton |
| Sun 11 Oct | 16:30 | Liverpool v Man City |
| Mon 12 Oct | 20:00 | Coventry v Newcastle |
We had three names on the shortlist.
Bruno Fernandes (£11.9m) gets Spurs at home. Spurs are bottom, haven't won a league game, and have conceded eight. Bruno has three goals and an assist and has had more shots than any other midfielder (19). He also plays the full 90 every week, and Spurs are without Porro. It's a very good case.
Saka (£9.6m) gets Leeds at home in the early game. Arsenal are expected to score more than anyone this week, he's on penalties, and he has just scored twice for his country. Fantasy Football Hub's model has Bruno as the top predicted scorer this week, with Saka just behind.
Haaland is the one most people will pick because he's Haaland. At Anfield, against a decent defence, we think it's a week to look elsewhere. If he scores twice we'll look silly, and we've made our peace with that.
Our pick is Saka, by a whisker over Bruno. The penalties swing it, and an early kick-off means you know where you stand by 14:30 on Saturday. If you'd rather not go against the crowd, Bruno is just as sensible.
Quick hits before Saturday
- Thierno Barry (£5.7m) is the budget forward we keep coming back to. He's Everton's first-choice striker now Beto has gone, he's had 3.84 xG and eight big chances, and Hull away is a kind fixture.
- Morgan Gibbs-White (£8.0m) is joint-top for big chances created (five) and takes Forest's penalties. Palace have conceded 11.
- Riccardo Calafiori has two assists and a 50% clean-sheet chance against Leeds, according to Fix. He's a sound pick if you need a defender.
- If you have a Liverpool forward and a Palace player and only one free transfer, move the Liverpool one. Isak and Gakpo are definitely out on Sunday; Palace players can wait a week.
Good luck for Saturday. If Haaland gets a hat-trick at Anfield, we never said any of this.
FFMatrix is not affiliated with the Premier League or Fantasy Premier League. Team news is as of Friday 9 October 2026; check the official FPL site before the deadline.
Sources: Fantasy Football Scout team news (8 Oct), OneFPL press conference tracker (9 Oct), Sofascore internationals round-up (9 Oct), theScore (3 Oct), CaughtOffside (8 Oct), Sports Mole (8 Oct), Fantasy Football Hub and Fantasy Football Fix GW6 previews.