Crystal Palace are the only side with an unbeaten record in the Premier League this season after a thrilling 2-1 win over leaders Liverpool on Saturday.
From the Eagles’ in-form defenders to Alexander Isak‘s (£10.5m) first league start for the Reds, here are our latest Gameweek 6 Scout Notes.
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 6: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus + ‘DefCon’ points
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Another Bruno pen miss, Thiagoals, Sesko off the mark
HOW ISAK FARED ON HIS FIRST START
Arne Slot said on Friday that it wouldn’t be “smart” to give a-not-quite-fully-match-fit Isak 90 minutes just yet – but he wasn’t far off that at Selhurst Park.
The Swede lasted 84 minutes on his full Premier League debut for the reigning champions, with Slot explaining after full-time that the “low tempo” of the game helped Isak past the 60-to-70-minute mark that he was originally earmarked for.
“That had a lot to do with the low intensity of the game. If you face a low block, 10 players in and around their own 18-yard box, when they have to do build-up, the goalkeeper takes a little bit of time before he kicks it long, then there’s hardly any intensity in the game. So, in a more open game where both teams want to press high and want to do build-up, and you have to run a lot as a nine to press the other team, then you might not play him for 84.
“But in a game like this – which was low-tempo, I think I can say that, with some bursts of counter-attacks from them – then your no. 9 is mainly not so involved.” – Arne Slot on playing Alexander Isak for longer than originally planned
Slot called Isak’s display “quite a good performance” but “quite” is doing a lot of the heavy lifting there.
He had chances (three efforts in all), which is one encouraging sign. That fleet-footedness we saw at Newcastle saw him carve out a shooting opportunity for himself that he skewed off target, while he might have done better with a 70th-minute header as the Reds piled on the pressure.
Above: Alexander Isak’s touch heatmap above shows him struggling to make much of an impact in the final third, not helped by a lack of service, but he did find his way closer to goal as the second half wore on
At least he has the excuse of lacking match sharpness, something that will only get better with time. Had Hugo Ekitike (£8.7m) not been suspended, Isak almost certainly wouldn’t have started, and it didn’t look like he was really ready for a game of this magnitude just yet.
Others, like Mohamed Salah (£14.5m), don’t have that excuse. Another disappointing display from the Egyptian, who nevertheless could have done what he’s done on so many occasions in the past and salvaged a haul from the jaws of anonymity. There always seems to be a chance every game for Salah, no matter the level of performance, and his came when he stuck out a boot from eight yards out to divert Dominik Szoboszlai‘s (£6.5m) goalbound shot over the bar.
WHY SLOT BENCHED GAKPO
Even with Ekitike out, there was going to be one high-profile name in the Liverpool attack/midfield that missed out on Saturday.
It was Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) this time, with Slot opting to nominally play Florian Wirtz (£8.2m) on the left (but very much drifting infield), and Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister (£6.4m) in the middle:
“We wanted to overload the midfield with Florian Wirtz in the first half – that’s why we didn’t start with Cody. But if you’re 1-0 down and you need a goal, you prefer to have width on both sides – and that’s why we brought Cody in. And later on, we kept on bringing in offensive players that can score goals, taking the risk because you’re already 1-0 down.
“That was the reason to bring Cody in, because the way we played the first half wasn’t as I was hoping for before the game.” – Arne Slot on his decision to bench Cody Gakpo
The first half was about as good an outcome for Gakpo as you could get, then, as the tactics backfired. Off came the dismal Conor Bradley (£5.0m) at the break, with Szoboszlai moving to right-back, Wirtz playing more as a proper ’10’ and Gakpo brought in on the left.
This result had been coming, as Liverpool had been unconvincing in many of their five successive league victories.
And yet… even after such a wretched display, more so in the first half, they still had a catalogue of chances. Salah, Wirtz and Isak should have scored; Federico Chiesa (£6.4m) did.
There’s clearly a very good team there, as the Atletico game showed; it just needs some more fine-tuning, and extra fitness work in the case of a few.
SARR RETURNS WITH A BANG
What a fine team Palace are and, without wanting to sound harsh, very much more than the sum of their parts, thanks to Oliver Glasner.
They utterly blew Liverpool away in the first half, with Ismaila Sarr (£6.4m) giving them an early lead and Daniel Munoz (£5.6m), Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m) and Yeremy Pino (£5.9m) drawing superb saves out of Alisson (£5.5m). Mateta also hit the inside of the post and volleyed over from close range. Even after the break, when the Eagles came under pressure, Sarr fluffed a square pass to Mateta with the goal gaping and Eddie Nketiah (£5.4m) should have scored with a header before he lashed in a late winner.
Munoz owners can’t catch a break: no one had more penalty box touches at Selhurst Park (seven), or more efforts in the area (three).
There was not a bad display from the Palace ranks but Sarr was really eye-catching and is very much back on the FPL radar after his recent lay-off. Mateta isn’t getting the rub of the green, either, and you sense the goals are coming for him.
The fixtures, it has to be said, remain a mixed bag – but then Liverpool, Chelsea and Aston Villa were meant to be tricky tests. There’s also a trip to Poland this Thursday, as the UEFA Conference League group stage gets underway. Mind you, after their last European game, they beat Villa 3-0…
CASE FOR THE DEFENCE
All of Palace’s back five are now in the top 16 defenders for FPL points.
Marc Guéhi (£4.8m) leads the way, with his assist on Saturday his third attacking return of the season. Just to underscore how unlucky Munoz has been, Guehi has an xGI of 0.47 in 2025/26 compared to the wing-back’s 1.88…
The real success story, of course, are the defensive contribution (DefCon) points. Four of the back five bagged them on Saturday and Munoz was one away from the clean sweep!
Maxence Lacroix (£5.1m) is still top of the pile: he should have secured them in four of his six outings but was denied them in Gameweek 3 as the FPL cut-off had passed before the data recalculations. Chris Richards (£4.5m), however, is keeping a good pace with his more expensive teammate:
Above: Palace defenders sorted by % of games in which they’ve met the DefCon threshold
