FPL Fantasy Forecast 2025/26 Season: Gameweek 5

The 2025/26 Premier League season is back for a 5th round of fixtures, with the team at Hype Train providing an in-depth look at the week ahead. We have covered our top players selections, tips, differentials, and provided a scout picks squad of picks for a standalone Gameweek 3. All aboard.

What should we expect during FPL Gameweek 5's fixtures?:

Some weeks have brilliant fixtures, others are a mixed bag to predict, and on a few occasions, you don't know where to start. Gameweek 5 is the latter, with a real open book of potential outcomes.

We've seen a lot of FPL content creators, including the official FPL website itself, prioritising 4 clubs based on their fixtures this week: Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, and Spurs.

We're not sold. Liverpool are favourites for their home clash with Everton, but there's a few doubts in our perspective due to the 12:30pm kick-off and the fact this is the Merseyside derby. Liverpool have won 4 consecutive home ties in the Premier League against Everton and have only suffered 1 loss in 28 PL games at Anfield. So, on paper this is a good fixture to bank on, but with Mo Salah the best FPL captain option in the early kick-off on Saturday, it does feel like a diminishing timeslot for captaincy potential.

Crystal Palace are the one team we'd call favourites for GW5 away at West Ham. The London Stadium has been quickly evacuated in recent games against Chelsea and Spurs, and with a lot of dissatisfaction on the surface at the club, a loss to Palace will tip the scales further. This outcome is a likely outcome too given that alongside Chelsea and Liverpool, Crystal Palace haven't lost a game this season and are an organised, robust outfit - though without Eberechi Eze (ARS, £7.5m) in the team, the attacking impetus has altered and in the form of Yéremy Pino (CRY, £6.0m) there is a lot of potential, but might take some time to bed in the same level of attacking returns.

Lastly, Spurs away at Brighton is not a sure-fire win by any means. Brighton recently outclassed Man City during Gameweek 3 and at home are a decent outfit, though the 1 goal conceded and 3 wins does make Spurs favourites. We're waiting with bated breath as we see this fixture as anything but a nailed-on win for Thomas Frank's outfit. The same applies for Nottingham Forest away at Burnley - Ange Postecoglou's side are in transition and were outclassed against Arsenal, whilst Burnley defended for their lives and were seconds away from a clean sheet against Liverpool. It wouldn't surprise us if Burnley kept a clean sheet and got a result in this one.

Elsewhere, Arsenal vs. City and United vs. Chelsea dominates the casual viewing and, in these fixtures, they'll be close games on the field and from an FPL perspective, only Chelsea players feel 'safe', and loosely so. Sunderland vs. Villa and Fulham vs. Brentford are unpredictable clashes, whilst Wolves and Leeds have no form to back on in FPL, currently.

Gameweek 5 might be one to stay true to the form charts, as history proves form trumps fixtures.

Gameweek 5 Score Predictions:

GW5 Score Predictions: Sam Austin

Liverpool 2-0 Everton

Brighton 1-3 Spurs

Burnley 0-1 Nottingham Forest

West Ham 1-2 Crystal Palace

Wolves 2-1 Leeds

Man United 0-1 Chelsea

Fulham 2-2 Brentford

Bournemouth 1-1 Newcastle

Sunderland 2-1 Aston Villa

Arsenal 0-1 Man City

GW5 Score Predictions: Phil Jones

Liverpool 2-1 Everton

Brighton 2-1 Spurs

Burnley 0-1 Nottingham Forest

West Ham 1-0 Crystal Palace

Wolves 1-2 Leeds

Man United 0-2 Chelsea

Fulham 1-1 Brentford

Bournemouth 2-1 Newcastle

Sunderland 2-0 Aston Villa

Arsenal 2-1 Man City

GW5 Score Predictions: Robert Austin

Liverpool 3-1 Everton

Brighton 1-1 Spurs

Burnley 0-0 Nottingham Forest

West Ham 1-3 Crystal Palace

Wolves 1-0 Leeds

Man United 0-3 Chelsea

Fulham 2-1 Brentford

Bournemouth 1-2 Newcastle

Sunderland 0-2 Aston Villa

Arsenal 1-1 Man City

FPL considerations and musings ahead of Gameweek 5:

How long can you wait if you don't have Antoine Semenyo (BOU)?:

41.8% of FPL players currently own Semenyo, who with 36 points is only behind Erling Haaland (37pts). Having risen in price by £0.5m already, the Cherries winger is set for another price rise to £7.6m and for over half the game that don't own the winger, it might become too little too late if you don't jump on his current form.

Bournemouth play Newcastle (H), Leeds (A), Fulham (H), Crystal Palace (A), and Nottingham Forest (H) in their next 5 fixtures, so the sight of Semenyo will be weekly in FPL squads, captaincy considerations, and general analysis.

If you don't own Semenyo and need to accommodate the midfielder alongside Haaland, you'll need to downgrade a premium defender (or have £4.5m options solely) or only have 2 high priced forwards.

Which transfers are worth the move this week?:

If you have transfers to burn, you may need to move some money around in your squads to accommodate Semenyo, Haaland, and a potentially resurgent Cole Palmer (CHE).

Faith is waning on Hugo Ekitiké (LIV) due to mounting pressure from Alexsander Isak's arrival, and with Isak starting against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League in midweek, we're one step closer to a big fall for Ekitiké current 28.8% ownership. If you need to make an immediate one-week transfer, Jean-Philippe Mateta (CRY) may be the go-to selection. West Ham have shipped 8 goals against Chelsea and Spurs on home soil, gifting promise to Mateta's 12.1% of owners. If you believe in fate over form, Ollie Watkins (£8.8m) may be the differential that might come alive against Sunderland (A), Fulham (H), and Burnley (H).

To get Semenyo in your team, if your own Ekitiké, you could move down to a rogue selection of Nick Woltemade (£7.0m) who scored on his debut against Wolves, with the Newcastle attacker the second most transferred in Forward behind Haaland, then upgrade a MID around the £6.0m mark (for example, shifting on Tijjani Reijnders), though you'll then be in direct conflict against one another. If you move to Viktor Gyökeres (£9.0m) for a similar price, you'd need to move down a premium midfielder or defender to make room for Semenyo, though you'd need to navigate tough fixtures against both City (GW4) and Newcastle (GW5) for the Swede striker.

On a budget, Marc Guehi (CRY) and Micky Van de Ven (TOT) are in high demand and both quickly risen from £4.5m to £4.7m and are the fan favourite picks to transfer out Rayan Aït-Nouri (10.7% ownership).

Budget midfielders also need to be looked at. Moises Caicedo (CHE) hasn't dropped below 4 points-per-game and at £5.6m is real value. Josh King (£4.5m) for Fulham is also a good 5th enabler in midfield, with a potentially good fixture against Brentford at home. We also think that Harvey Elliott (£5.4m) is a differential pick should he get a first start away at Sunderland is one to keep an eye on for the future.

Who are the top captaincy considerations ahead of FPL Gameweek 5?:

A tough week to nail down a captain, in all honesty. We'd advise FPL players to go with form, so Salah, Semenyo, and Haaland, are the frontrunners. Most players will likely back Salah against Everton in the early game on Saturday, though it may be the Gameweek to trust a rogue/differential pick as this week will be heavily templated with similar selections.

1) Mohamed Salah (LIV) vs. Everton (H)

2) Antoine Semenyo (BOU): vs. Newcastle (H)

3) Jean-Philippe Mateta (CRY): vs. West Ham (A)

4) João Pedro (CHE): vs. Man United (A)

5) Ollie Watkins (AVL): vs. Sunderland (A)

Erling Haaland (MCI) and Viktor Gyökeres (ARS) make the bottom of our considerations, but we're cautious about backing either due to the nature of the fixture against one another.

Hype Train's Scout Picks for Gameweek 5:

Our Gameweek 5 squad picks utilise a £100.0m budget, and we have used this just for a squad of players for GW5's fixtures. Click the link here or below to see our picks on social media.

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