For me, Football Exchange takes on an entirely different complex as we move to GW5.
Players prices are no longer directly dictated by last season's averages and as such, it is now well truly this season's form that will drive price rises and price falls.
As a result of this, I'm shifting my attention to players who had a poor start to the campaign but who are ready to explode as the season goes on.
For GW4, my team delivered a fairly modest profit of 10 MEDALS. Nothing personal guys but you're all getting sold this week!
At the moment I've got just 10 players in the GW5 squad below with no 4th midfielder.
You could consider a couple of the City players in Anderson or Semenyo who, based on their form last year, have had quiet starts to the season. However, I don't expect either to reach the heights of 25/26. Anderson will not get the advantage of as many set-pieces with City nor is he likely to get a many def con points in a side that dominates possession. Semenyo meanwhile is yet to score and has only registered xG of 0.2 total across the 4 games.
GK - Lammens (United) 23 MEDALS
No clean sheet for United yet this season but they do face Fulham and Spurs in their next 2 matches, 2 clubs yet to win a match. You feel those fixtures will be defining moments for all 3 sides. With Leeds and Bournemouth to come after that, I'm banking on Lammens to give me at least 1 shut out in his next 4 games in order to increase his value.
DEF - Munoz (Forest) 27 MEDALS
A fantasy football favourite. His start to the season was disrupted by the move to join his former manager, Oliver Glasner, at Forest resulting in just 2 sub appearances in the first 3 weeks. However, he started in the win at Villa and based on his relationship with Glasner and the returns he's managed in his system, he looks like a good bet for the next few weeks. He may have only scored 2 points in GW4 but delivered an xGI of 0.4.
DEF - Lindelof (Villa) 19 MEDALS
Nightmare start for Villa which included 3 of their players delivering minus scores in the opening game including Lindelof. Villa play a Spurs side yet to score this season so certainly an opportunity to improve on the -2 he got against Brighton.
DEF - Cash (Villa) 32 MEDALS
Exactly the same rationale as above. Villa started very slowly last season as well and while there are mitigating circumstances after so many first team players left the club, I do expect them to get progressively better.
MID - Gibbs-White (Forest) 67 MEDALS
Is at the centre of everything Forest do and with a home game against Coventry, you'd expect Gibbs-White to deliver. Needs to beat his GW1 score of 2 points in order to rise again in price.
MID - Garner (Everton) 27 MEDALS
Had a really strong 25/26 season but carried a little bit of niggle into the new campaign. Appears to be fully fit now and capable of delivering both attacking and defensive returns for his club. Everton have back to back games against promoted clubs either side of the international break.
MID - Fernandes (United) 76 MEDALS
Bruno is an interesting one because he's delivered 4 goal involvements but all in the same match, otherwise, he's done jack shit! He might well be the sort of player to bring in for this round, then sell while his 23 point haul versus Ipswich continues to impact his price and then bring back for a couple of matches after that.
FWD - Haaland (City) 86 MEDALS
Has scored in every match this season with the exception of GW1. His pick is purely a gamble on him being able to better the 2 points he got against Bournemouth in the opening game when City face Sunderland at the Ethiad in GW5.
FWD - Thiago (Brentford) 21 MEDALS
No goal in his opening 4 games for the Brazilian. I don't think anyone expected him to be able to deliver quite what he achieved last year but the drought must surely end soon. Delivered a big fat zero in GW1 after missing a penalty. On paper Brentford have some tough fixtures against Chelsea, Villa and Liverpool but none of those sides have water tight defenses and Brentford have a habit of upsetting the odds.
FWD - Calvert-Lewin (Leeds) 53 MEDALS
He's just destroyed Newcastle which means his price is high but a home game against a flaky Palace defence suggests that there is every chance it will keep on going up! Needs to score higher than 2 points to trigger another price rise...
