The key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Manchester City v Arsenal and Brighton and Hove Albion v Nottingham Forest are covered in this article – including a fresh injury concern for Joao Pedro (£5.6m).
HAALAND BREAKS RECORD
Erling Haaland (£15.3m) is now up to 63 points in FPL, the most ever by a player after five Gameweeks.
The Norwegian raced onto Savinho’s (£6.5m) through ball before slotting home on Sunday, subsequently securing maximum bonus for the fourth match in a row.
Haaland is remarkably more prolific than ever this season:
| Season | Goals | Assists | Bonus | FPL points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 63 |
| 2023/24 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 45 |
| 2022/23 | 9 | 1 | 9 | 58 |
Above: Haaland after five Gameweeks in his first three seasons at Man City
With Arsenal down to 10 men (more on that later), City racked up 33 shots in total.
Most of those efforts, including five from Ruben Dias (£5.5m), were from outside the box, but a short corner from City deep into injury time finally caught Arsenal off guard, with substitute John Stones (£5.4m) scrambling home the equaliser.
“He wanted me to play closer to Erling, get higher up the pitch so when we got crosses in we could start to win more aerial duels. [Has he asked you to do that before?] Not really, but the team is so interchangeable. Everyone is in and out of the pockets, so fluid in movements and recognising if someone is out of position, you have to occupy it.” – John Stones
The absence of Kevin De Bruyne (£9.5m), who missed out after failing to recover from the thigh injury he sustained against Inter Milan, explains some of that lack of creativity.
His replacement, Ilkay Gundogan (£6.5m), missed a decent chance early on and later hit the bar.
Phil Foden (£9.3m) failed to impress from the bench, however.
As for Rodri (£6.4m), he could be set for a spell on the sidelines after he was forced off with what appeared to be a knee injury.
It is well-known exactly how important the Spaniard is to this City team, so if he is ruled out for any period of time, it is bound to have an impact on their clean sheet prospects.
On Rodri’s injury status, Pep Guardiola said:
“I don’t know, I didn’t speak to the doctor. [But] Rodri is strong. He leaves the pitch in this action because he felt something, otherwise Rodri stays there.” – Pep Guardiola on Rodri
SAKA>GABRIEL/RAYA CONCERN
Arsenal will look back and be a bit disappointed by this result, but they should take confidence from their performance.
After going behind through Haaland, Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) scored his first goal for the club with an excellent finish.
The second goal had a much more familiar feel about it, with Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.1m) heading home a Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) corner.
In doing so, Gabriel has now scored in successive matches, with his five shots inside the six yard box the most by any player in Gameweeks 1-5:
As for Saka, he’s now registered an assist in all five of his matches so far, with newly-promoted Leicester City and Southampton up next.
He was unfortunate to be sacrificed at half-time, after Leandro Trossard (£6.9m) had been sent off for two bookable offences.
As a result, the Belgium international will sit out Wednesday’s EFL Cup tie with Bolton Wanderers, rather than Gameweek 6.
Saka’s replacement, Ben White (£6.5m), was introduced despite carrying an injury, as Mikel Arteta understandbly opted for a defensive 5-4-0 formation once down to 10 men.
“Yeah. We didn’t want to [play him that long], but we had to. I spoke to him yesterday and I wanted to protect him. He’s not going to ever tell you that he’s not fit. He will run through a brick wall for you. The intention was not to use him today. But I’m very grateful because he performed extremely well.” – Mikel Arteta on Ben White
Finally, David Raya (£5.6m) was spotted limping out of the Etihad Stadium after the clash, a situation to monitor ahead of Gameweek 6.
GIBBS-WHITE BAN, PEDRO INJURY WORRY
Nottingham Forest skipper Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.4m) was sent off on Sunday, after collecting his second yellow card for a foul on Joao Pedro.
He’ll now miss the trip to Fulham in Gameweek 6.
Pedro, who was “very close” to starting according to Fabian Hurzeler, completed the match but was walking gingerly after the challenge, with Brighton coach Andrew Crofts discussing the Brazilian after full-time:
“The tackle on Joao [Pedro] looked like it wasn’t a great tackle. We were upset with it. The reaction is to see what the referee does. I didn’t see it because I was communicating with a player. Next thing I saw the red cards to the managers. Joao took a nasty hit. Hopefully he’s OK.” – Brighton coach Andrew Crofts
More intrigue was added on Monday night when crutches were sighted in a social media post from Pedro – 24 hours after he was apparently spotted exiting the Amex on walking aids.
This definitely felt like two points dropped for Brighton, but there were positives to take.
With Yasin Ayari (£5.0m) ill, Jack Hinshelwood (£5.0m) stepped into central midfield and his towering header drew the hosts level, before Danny Welbeck’s (£5.8m) excellent 25-yard free-kick put them ahead.
Welbeck is now up to third in the Fantasy forward standings, but Brighton face a daunting run in the next six, including matches against Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Manchester City.
WOOD ON PENS
Chris Wood (£6.1m) tucked away his early penalty on Sunday, as Nottingham Forest maintained their unbeaten league record.
Many had expected Gibbs-White to step up from 12 yards, but this latest development significantly raises Wood’s appeal, with some decent forthcoming fixtures to tap into:
Like last week, Nottingham Forest’s substitutes came on and impacted the game, with Roman Sosa (£5.5m) levelling it up against the run of play midway through the second half.
They were particularly dangerous on the counter-attack throughout, with Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.4m) an impressive outlet on the wing. He’s now delivered a goal and an assist in the past two Gameweeks.
Elsewhere, Alex Moreno (£4.5m) was surprisingly hooked at half-time, with no mention of a knock in any of Forest’s post-match interviews.
