Value hunting in GW5 comes down to reading xP per million rather than raw xP. A cheap player who returns steadily can outscore a premium name on a per-pound basis, and that gap is where squads get built. Here is how to use the numbers above to make the call yourself.
What matters this week
- Price floor efficiency: the top values across every position sit between £4.0m and £6.0m, meaning the best returns per pound are not locked behind premium tags this week.
- Concentration of midfield value at Brentford: four of the top five midfield picks by xP/£m play for Brentford, Janelt (£5.0m, xP 4.20, 0.84 xP/£m), Schade (£6.0m, xP 4.68, 0.78), M.Sangaré (£5.7m, xP 4.27, 0.75), and Lewis-Potter (£5.5m, xP 4.09, 0.74).
- Forward efficiency beats defender and midfield ceilings: Barry (£5.6m, xP 5.20, 0.93 xP/£m) and Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m, xP 5.41, 0.90) post the highest raw xP of any player on this list while still ranking near the top of value.
How to weigh it
When two players sit close on xP/£m, let raw xP break the tie, since a higher floor with the same efficiency is simply the better squad slot. When the xP/£m gap is wide, like Janelt’s 0.84 against Armstrong’s 0.74, favour the higher ratio for bench-to-first-team flexibility, because that spare budget funds a premium elsewhere. Goalkeepers and defenders bunch tightly together in value, so treat them as budget enablers first and point scorers second, freeing cash for the midfield and forward picks that carry the biggest raw xP.
Best value pick overall
Kinsky (TOT, £4.5m) tops the entire list at 1.02 xP/£m with an xP of 4.61, the only player above the 1.00 threshold this gameweek. At that price, he is the standout value play regardless of position.
Top picks by position
Goalkeeper: Kinsky (1.02 xP/£m) ahead of Suzuki (0.97) and the Austin/Dubravka pair (0.95 each).
Defender: Davis (IPS, £4.0m, xP 3.85, 0.96 xP/£m) edges Bogle (LEE, £4.5m, xP 4.25, 0.94) on efficiency alone.
Midfielder: Janelt (BRE, £5.0m, 0.84 xP/£m) leads a Brentford-heavy top five, with Schade offering the highest ceiling at xP 4.68.
Forward: Barry (EVE, £5.6m, 0.93 xP/£m) narrowly leads Calvert-Lewin, but Calvert-Lewin’s 5.41 xP is the single highest projection in this dataset.
Squad-building takeaways
Use the £4.0m goalkeepers and defenders, Austin, Dubravka, Davis, Giles, Thomas, as pure enablers, since they cluster around 0.92 to 0.96 xP/£m with minimal price gaps between them. That frees funds to stack Brentford’s midfield value cluster or to pair Barry with Calvert-Lewin up front, both of which post the highest raw xP totals on this list.
If you are unsure
Default to Kinsky in goal and Davis at the back for cheap, efficient cover, then spend the saved budget on Schade or Calvert-Lewin, who combine strong xP/£m with the highest raw xP in their positions.
See where the value is in your own squad
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