Arsenal bounced back from a Gameweek 5 trouncing with a victory on Saturday but were made to work very hard by a Leeds United side that continues to impress.
Here are the major Fantasy talking points from the Emirates.
ANOTHER ATTACKING RETURN FOR CALAFIORI
Riccardo Calafiori (£5.9m) made it three attacking returns in six matches with Arsenal’s first goal on Saturday. It wasn’t far off being four in six, after his disallowed goal against Chelsea.
He’s often the ‘fifth man’ in the Arsenal attack. There were multiple examples of this against Leeds United, as he joined Martin Odegaard (£6.8m) and the front three in the box as the hosts approached the visitors’ goal.
He was to get his reward just after the hour mark, when he ghosted to the edge of the six-yard box, latched onto Ben White‘s (£5.5m) knockdown, and prodded in Arsenal’s equaliser. Surprisingly for a full-back so attacking, that was his first goal since August 2025.
“I’m enjoying a lot this kind of role that I have in the team. Obviously, every every game is different, you know, so you need to be careful with this and it’s not casual as it seems. It’s a bit more study in the back but I think [attacking] is my best quality and he knows, he told me, and I can still improve a lot.” – Riccardo Calafiori
There are downsides to Calafiori: he’s never banked DefCon points since their inception over a year ago, and his minutes are sometimes managed in busy periods. Even in this match, with the game delicately poised, he came off for Piero Hincapie (£5.2m).
Still, it was just midweek cup matches he was benched for in the autumn of last season.
And few FPL defenders are offering such attacking threat from open-play:
Gabriel who?
BLANKS, BUT BIG CHANCES, FOR SAKA + ODEGAARD
It wasn’t such an enjoyable afternoon for owners of Arsenal’s other most selected assets.
The clean sheet went up in smoke after 55 minutes, while Odegaard, Bukayo Saka (£9.6m) and Kai Havertz (£7.5m) all blanked.
It was a subdued or below-par performance from many of Arsenal’s big-name players. Gabriel Magalhaes (£7.9m) was loose at the back. Havertz, an injury doubt for this one, didn’t seem fit despite starting. Declan Rice (£7.3m), meanwhile, looked rusty early on after three weeks without any football. Saka, who conversely had plenty of game-time for England, was off the boil.
The disruption caused by the international break maybe is an excuse, although everyone could say that.
Still, some encouraging signs in that Odegaard and Saka both should have scored. You’d take your player ‘getting into good goalscoring positions’, as cliched as it is, over having a stormer but not posing any threat.
Odegaard someone failed to divert this chance over the line…
…while Saka, with the last kick of the game, couldn’t convert a breakaway, one-on-one chance. That continues the winger’s record of having a ‘big chance’ in every match this season:
Above: Bukayo Saka’s goal threat by week
MADUEKE OVER EZE + ASSIST NO. 3 FOR RICE
Rice did at least bank assist number three of the season. All of them have come from open play, too, which is a bit different from last year’s steady flow of set-piece set-ups.
“I went to him and said, and it’s a private conversation, but you are not the lighthouse anymore; you are something else. At the end of the season, I can tell you what, where I want to take him, but he’s not the lighthouse anymore. He’s something else, and he needs to prove that on the pitch.” – Mikel Arteta on Declan Rice
The unexpected pick of Arsenal’s attackers was Noni Madueke (£6.2m), who got the nod over Eberechi Eze (£6.2m) in the battle to replace Christos Tzolis (£6.3m). Madueke flashed some great balls across the box, although he finished without any reward.
“What he’s done is raise the level, and in training, he’s been the best player in the last 10 days. He gave me no option not to select him and not to play him today, and you could see that every time he was in and around the box, he looked a threat.” – Mikel Arteta on Noni Madueke
For the second time this season, Bruno Guimaraes (£6.7m) emerged from the bench to score a decisive goal. He’s yet to do it over 90 minutes (he was poor on his sole start in Gameweek 5), however, and true fitness is still a consideration.
“I think all the players that were on the bench today expected to start because they’ve been doing so well for the national team. That’s what we have to manage, I have to manage. The reality as well is that he went to Australia, then to India.
“He’s not still in the best condition because he hasn’t had a pre-season, so we thought when the players that are more settled here, if we have to bring him in and change the game, do it. We play again on Tuesday night and then on Sunday, so we know that it’s going to be a lot of demands for everybody, so we manage that one.” – Mikel Arteta on Bruno Guimaraes
MUHAREMOVIC BANKS DEFCON AGAIN – AND KONSA JOINS HIM
Ezri Konsa (£4.6m) owners at least had the nice consolation of a) their cheap defender being fit in the first place and b) the former Villa man banking DefCon points for the second time this season.
Another boost was one of his positional rivals, Cristhian Mosquera (£5.3m), not even making the squad, despite being fit.
Dowman is named on the bench for the first team against Leeds, with Mosquera the extra man.
— Jeorge Bird (@jeorgebird) October 10, 2026
Really, only when William Saliba (£5.9m) returns – likely in November – will we fear Konsa’s minutes.
The only other player reaching their DefCon threshold on Saturday was Tarik Muharemovic (£5.0m). The impressive Leeds centre-half did so for the fourth time this season.
LEEDS IMPRESS
Don’t let the 1.71 xG difference fool you – this game was much closer than that metric suggests.
Leeds more than matched their hosts for the first hour. Had James Trafford (£5.0m) done better with Calafiori’s effort (he could and perhaps should have palmed it over), who knows what would have happened.
Plus, it was only after Bruno’s goal, and after Daniel Farke sent for the cavalry, that Odegaard and Saka had their huge chances.
Jayden Bogle (£4.6m) and Gabriel Gudmundsson (£4.5m) both had good opportunities saved from around the edge of the six-yard box, Anton Stach (£6.0m) saw a back-post volley inadvertently blocked by Bogle, and Ethan Ampadu (£5.4m) couldn’t get the power on a looping header with the goal empty.
Attacking defenders have been a theme of Leeds’ play this season. Bogle has been getting into some very, very good positions, Muharamovic is a menace from set plays, and Joe Rodon (£4.3m) was making lots of forward raids from centre-back before his injury. James Justin (£4.5m) took up that mantle on Saturday, getting into the box to blast Leeds into a 1-0 lead.
“Very proud of what was a top away performance. I think the first half was already on a really good level. We didn’t allow any chances; it was more the other way around. We looked more dangerous, and I told them at half-time, ‘Listen, if we keep going to have a bit more clarity and belief in our offensive actions, we will win this game’. And this is also how we started the second half. I think we fully deserved to go and lead. Also went for it, wanted the second goal, but yeah, it’s Arsenal. It’s one of the best teams in Europe, if not the best.” – Daniel Farke
Plenty of encouragement to take into Gameweek 7 and beyond, then.
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Schade + Schuster injury updates, Sangare a sub again
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 6: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus + DefCon points
