With another gameweek in the books, we look at the key talking points from the weekend’s action.
It was certainly a gameweek for premium midfielders with several managing to hit double figures for points. The most expensive of those – Mo Salah (£12.5m) – continued his relentless form with a goal and ten points against West Ham. That is now 12 Premier League games in succession that the Egyptian has either scored or assisted for Liverpool, which fully justifies his hefty price-tag.
Matching Salah’s haul was Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m), whose superb first-time volley was the only goal of the game in Man Utd’s 0-1 win away at Burnley. That is the Portuguese star’s second double-figure haul of the season, although it is mixed in with four blanks, so his FPL owners have had to endure some disappointment among the highlights. The same can be said of Tottenham’s Heung-Min Son (£9.2m), whose brace against Arsenal yielded 14 points – also his second double-figure return of the campaign. By contrast, Bukayo Saka (£8.7m), who likewise produced the goods in the North London Derby, has been far more consistent having only blanked once in his six Premier League appearances this season.
Elsewhere in the midfield department, James Maddison (£7.9m) reached six attacking returns for the season when he assisted both of Son’s goals, while the budget-friendly Kaoru Mitoma (£6.6m) sat out the first half of Brighton’s clash with Bournemouth, but came on to devastating effect with two second-half goals propelling him to 14 FPL points – his highest return of the season.
Those who brought in Newcastle defenders ahead of Gameweek 6 will have been feeling smug on Sunday afternoon when the Magpies’ 0-8 win at Sheffield Utd resulted in three defenders reaching double figures. Leading the way was Kieran Trippier (£6.6m), whose three assists landed him an incredible 18 points, while goals for Sven Botman (£4.7m) and Dan Burn (£4.5m) handed the pair 12 points apiece.
James Tarkowski (£4.4m) played every minute of Everton’s Premier League campaign in 2022-23 and recorded one goal and one assist in the process. Gameweek 6 saw the centre-back achieve that in one game as he played an integral role in the Toffees’ victory over Brentford – their first league win of the season.
In the forward department, there were no standout performers although the heavily-captained Erling Haaland (£14.1m) got his customary goal in Man City’s 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, while Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez (£7.4m) logged his fifth attacking return in the last four gameweeks with a fine goal in the win over West Ham.
Ollie Watkins (£7.9m) helped himself to his first league goal of the campaign to add to the four assists he has already registered, while budget forward Carlton Morris (£5.5m) delivered a fine audition for the upcoming double gameweek as he finished on nine points in Luton’s draw with Wolves on Saturday.
