FPL GW6 tips: The best fixtures, who to captain, Aguero, Everton dilemma

Benedict O'Neill • 23 Oct 2020

GW5 put more distance between those with Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane and those without. Can Spurs keep up the goalscoring against Burnley?

Well, it finally happened.

46 matches of the 2020–21 Premier League had come and gone without a scoreless draw.

Sheffield United vs Wolves had the potential but blew it. A last-on-MOTD scrapfest like Newcastle vs Burnley somehow produced four goals. So did the usually uneventful Merseyside Derby at Goodison.

In the end, it took a 36-year-old Branislav Ivanovic (£4.5m) — hoofing the ball away from his own box and missing golden opportunities in the other — to secure that long-awaited blank.

But the draw between West Brom and Burnley did more than just entertain the billions of viewers who tuned in for the prestigious Monday afternoon fixture.

It also showed how hard it is to pick your Fantasy Premier League defence at the moment.

None of the West Brom rearguard is owned by more than 1% of bosses. New man Ivanovic (0.1%) is less popular than Juan Foyth (playing in Spain), Shane Duffy (playing in Scotland) and Danny Rose (not playing for anyone).

Yet the Midlands minnows were one of five teams to keep a clean sheet in GW5, alongside other notable bus-parkers like Manchester City and Aston Villa.

Defending is dead. So is it time to pick Tyrick Mitchell (£4.2m), Max Kilman (£4.1m) and Pascal Struijk (£4.0m) and simply be done with it? Where’s the “All Out Attack” chip when you need it?

These are our tips for GW6.

Best fixtures

Aston Villa – Leeds

One of the PL’s many James Milner derbies, Villa vs Leeds is an exciting FPL proposition for two reasons.

First off, it occurs almost immediately after the GW6 deadline on Friday evening, which leaves a very short window for any positive Covid results to come in. (Burnley vs Spurs takes place three whole days later! Gulp!)

Secondly, it just looks like a really promising football match. You wouldn’t want to be Luke Ayling up against Jack Grealish (£7.2m) right now, and Ross Barkley (£5.9m) is one of the game’s biggest bargains.

It’s too early to suggest that Patrick Bamford might be “doing a Daniel James” this season, but it’s getting harder to ignore the settled-in Rodrigo (£5.8m), who is surely due a haul sooner or later.

Wolves – Newcastle

That there’s even a slight chance of Karl Darlow missing this one with “pelvic bruising” means you should probably go all-in on Wolves.

Backup Magpies keeper Mark Gillespie made a blunder in his last appearance, and that was against Newport County, not Raul Jimenez (£8.5m). The Mexican striker has been dramatically discarded by about 130,000 bosses this GW, which is mad.

Even if Darlow does play, he’ll still have that pelvic bruising.

Wolves are also one of the few sides getting clean sheets on a semi-consistent basis. Roman Saiss (£5.2) has become a big attacking threat, and although the return of Marcal (£4.9m) means Saiss will likely move from wing-back back to central defence, he’s still a great option.

Burnley – Spurs

Nobody was injured in Spurs’ Europa League win against LASK, which is enough reason to put your eggs in the Lilywhites basket.

Nick Pope is a better goalkeeper than Lukasz Fabianski, but where Branislav Ivanovic tried and failed Harry Kane (£10.8m) will surely succeed. The England captain is top of the form charts and looking unplayable.

Son Heung-Min (£9.4m) somehow has the second-highest ownership (50.3%) while ranking fourth for net transfers out.

More importantly, he scored the goal of the season against Burnley last season against better defenders than the present lot.

Meanwhile, Gareth Bale (£9.5m) is still owned by just 1.2% of managers.

READ: The frightening Harry Kane stats that show his improvement on last term

Who to captain

Sergio Aguero

The Man City talisman is back. He’s fit, he’s got a silly duckling haircut, and he’s possibly taking penalties again.

Even if Sergio Aguero (£10.4m) only gets 20 minutes off the bench, you’d fancy him to grab a goal. (He did exactly that at the London Stadium last season.)

Because although David Moyes’ West Ham are in form, they’ve lost their last eight PL games against City and scored only three goals in the process. This one might be too much for them.

Son Heung-Min

Burnley’s organised and physical defence is good enough to slightly reduce the chances of Harry Kane scoring headers or tap-ins. Slightly.

As we’ve seen, that defence doesn’t have the tools to stop Son Heung-Min (£9.4m).

Unless they just kick him.

Son Heung-Min has won the Premier League's Goal of the Season award for this incredible solo effort against Burnley 👏

(via @SpursOfficial)pic.twitter.com/le0DZCs4GV

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) August 13, 2020

Mohamed Salah

Mo Salah (£12.3m) was subbed off against Ajax, which should mean he’s fit and sharp for the home match against Sheffield United.

The Egyptian has scored on both occasions he’s faced Aaron Ramsdale and is Liverpool’s PL top scorer this season ahead of Sadio Mane.

Assuming Salah plays on the right of the front three, he could be up against Liverpool graduate Jack Robinson. (Don’t captain him.)

READ: A breakdown of the stats behind Mohamed Salah’s 100 Liverpool goals

Crisis at Everton?

League leaders Everton (!) travel to Southampton on Sunday without the suspended Richarlison and injured James Rodriguez, both of whom are key players.

You can see the glass of Chang as half full or half empty.

On the one hand, replacements like Alex Iwobi, Bernard and even the bargain basement Anthony Gordon (£4.4m) are unlikely to fill the void and provide the kind of service Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been thriving on.

On the other, it does mean everything will go through Lucas Digne (£6.2m), who’ll probably take free-kicks and corners on both sides of the pitch.

Plenty of bosses are selling Rodriguez, but Everton travel to Newcastle the following weekend where there’ll be plenty of FPL points up for grabs.