Is it time to consider a 5-man defence in FPL?

Kenya 1

19 Sep 2025 — 5 min read

⏰ Deadline: Saturday, 20th September, 13:00 EAT

After four Gameweeks of the season, defenders are holding their own at the top of the player standings. As many as four of the 10 top-scoring players are defenders. Similarly to Arsenal, both Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur have kept three clean sheets. From a budget perspective, this has been good news for managers in Fantasy due to the relatively low costs of goalkeepers and defenders.

Interestingly, the current World No 1 has started with a four-man defence in three of the first four Gameweeks. As many as four clubs have kept three clean sheets over the first four Gameweeks, with Newcastle United joining Arsenal, Palace and Spurs. The main surprise has been the success of the promoted clubs, with Leeds and Sunderland among the eight clubs who have a 50 per cent success rate for clean sheets. There are only four clubs who have failed to keep a clean sheet.

In terms of reliability, defenders already look to have an advantage over midfielders in the new defensive contribution points metric. Of the 25 players to have earned at least four points for their DCs, 17 are defenders. All 17 are centre-backs, with AFC Bournemouth's Marcos Senesi (£4.6m) and Everton's James Tarkowski (£5.5m) the only players to collect two (DC) points in each of the first four Gameweeks. That's already the equivalent of two extra clean sheets each.

Injury Updates & News

“Filip Jorgensen will play games in the Premier League. We have so many games that Robert Sanchez cannot play all of them” - Maresca on Sanchez.

Cole Palmer played the full 90 and scored in Chelsea's 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich. He felt his groin after the game but Maresca has confirmed he’s okay.

Ekitike should probably be held for GW 5, but his days in your team will surely need to be numbered. Alexander Isak starts and plays 58 minutes in the UCL.

And Slot’s comments after the game: “In general I think both of them [Isak and Ekitike] are more No. 9s than any other position. Hugo could be a player who could play off the left side, not in the way Cody or Mo is playing, but he could become a second striker.”

Aston Villa are the only team of England’s 92 league sides that hasn’t scored a league goal yet.

FIFA have confirmed that starting from next season, the international breaks in September and October will be combined into a single break from September 21 to October 6.

🔁 Keep – Buy – Sell – Avoid

✅ KEEP
- Ollie Watkins (£8.8m, Aston Villa) — One of the most transferred-out players this week, so let’s focus on him. His next three fixtures are Sunderland (A), Fulham (H), Burnley (H).
- Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) — With United having Brentford and Sunderland after Chelsea, these are the games where Bruno is expected to justify his price tag and give his owners a major haul. Maintain.
🛒 BUY/MONITOR
- Antoine Semenyo (£7.5m) — Pens + great fixtures from GW5. Huge ownership likely soon.
- Cole Palmer (£10.4m) — Back fit and in form, scoring in his last 2 games, and could even have had more returns.
❌ SELL
- Florian Wirtz (£8.3m) — Poor form, Liv attack not clicking, very expensive.
⛔ AVOID
- Alexander Isak (£10.4m) — Ekitike did not start midweek and is expected to start vs Everton. Liv attack not clicking yet. Wait on Isak still.

🎯 Low-Owned Differentials

💎 Ollie Watkins (AVL, £8.8m) — 14.8% * Plays Sunderland
⚡ Igor Jesus (NFO, £5.8m) — 0.5% * Plays Burnley
🛡️ Jadon Sancho (AVL, £5.9m) — 0.2% * Plays Sunderland
🔥 Calvert Lewin (LEE, £5.5m) — 0.2% * Plays Wolves
🎩 Morgan Gibbs-White (NFO, £7.5m) — 5.6% * Plays Burnley
⚙️ Jean-Philippe Mateta (CRY, £7.6m) — 12.0% * Plays West Ham - bad defense.
⚽ Lacroix (CRY, £5.0m) — 4.1% * Plays West Ham

👑 Captaincy Rankings

Haaland has the toughest fixture he'll ever get this season, being away at Arsenal. However, if there is one player in the league who is capable of scoring at least a goal against Arsenal, it is the most in form and lethal player in the league; who just broke a longstanding Champions League scoring record midweek. Haaland still ranks top among all players for shots, shots in the box and big chances.

You may also target the 3 promoted teams by looking at a player like Ollie Watkins who faces Sunderland. However, you will surely know that it is a big gamble as Villa have been the worst attack after 4 gameweeks. Chris Wood(NFO) also play against Burnley which is probably the worst defense in the league and have conceded the most big chances. But Burnley just showed us that they can almost keep out the reigning champions from scoring a single goal.

The default pick is then Mo Salah who is at home to Everton, and he just scored and assisted against a good Atletico Madrid side on Wednesday. Considering he is also the 2nd most owned player in FPL, and this week projected by market odds to be such a low scoring week, it is wise to not overthink it this week and just give the armband to the Mr. Consistent Mo Salah who will always come out with that one return. This is a week to be defensive and not attack; Protect your Rank!

⚖️ Verdict: Salah = safe. Wood/Palmer = explosive

🃏 Should you Wildcard GW5?

“Is it worth wildcarding in GW5 or delaying the wildcard until GW7 or GW8 so that we can triple captain Haaland in GW6?”

Essentially, avoiding a wildcard in GW6 so that you can play the triple captain chip on Haaland who plays Burnley at home in GW6. However, The triple captain and bench boost chips are significantly weaker than the wildcard and free hit chips. The wildcard is the most important chip to get right. I would not wildcard in a weaker GW5 so as to triple captain in a stronger GW6.