Any round of Premier League fixtures immediately following an international break is met with trepidation by many FPL managers. With plenty of players returning to their clubs late in the week, rotation can prove frustratingly rife. We pick out those assets that could be most at risk of starting on the bench in Gameweek 5.
Players who spent their international break playing in a different continent to Europe, are the ones who tend to arrive back with little time to prepare for Gameweek 5. With that in mind, Argentinian and Brazilian players in particular could pose a rotation risk. Man City’s Julian Alvarez (£6.7m) started for Argentina against Bolivia late this past Tuesday evening and will have likely only returned to club training on Thursday. With Pep Guardiola boasting a plethora of attacking options amid his squad, Alvarez could find himself on the bench for the gameweek this season.
Arsenal defender Gabriel (£4.8m) has already found himself on the bench of three of the opening four gameweeks after being a regular starter in 2022-23. But after recording his first Premier League start of the campaign in Gameweek 4, it seems inevitable that the Brazilian will end up back on the bench in Gameweek 5, having started for the five-time world champions on Wednesday away in Peru.
Diogo Jota (£8.0m) has spent Liverpool’s last two league fixtures on the substitutes bench, but after having scored twice for Portugal this past Monday, he has made his case for a recall to the Reds’ starting XI. Cody Gakpo (£7.3m) also found the net twice for Netherlands and like Jota, was on the bench in Gameweek 4. With Liverpool playing on Saturday lunchtime away to Wolves, both must be prime candidates for starting berths ahead of Luis Diaz (£7.7m) in particular, who played over 70 minutes for Colombia in Chile on Wednesday night. Darwin Nunez (£7.4m) also played in South America over the international break, twice featuring in Uruguay’s starting XI.
