Another gameweek done. Twenty-one goals across six matches, with Wolves 1-3 Leeds grabbing the headlines as the week's standout result. The league averaged 41 points, a figure that masks considerable variance in how managers navigated a week where the football itself offered plenty, but the FPL returns proved frustratingly uneven.

Leeds' trip to Molineux turned into a rout. Stach opened the scoring early, then Calvert-Lewin and Okafor added gloss to a performance that left Wolves looking thoroughly second best. Across the Midlands, Fulham dismantled Brentford 3-1 with Damsgaard, Iwobi, and Wilson all getting on the scoresheet, a result that sent the hosts tumbling toward the relegation zone. Manchester United's 2-1 win over Chelsea proved messier than the scoreline suggests, with Chalobah's own goal handing United an early gift before Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro sealed matters. Liverpool edged Everton 2-1 in a game that saw Gravenberch and Gana both score, while Crystal Palace's 2-1 away win at West Ham showed enough character to suggest their early-season struggles might be easing. Across The Premier Pundits, managers averaged 41 points, though the 37-point spread between highest and lowest told a story of divergent decision-making rather than simple luck.

Five managers captained Mohamed Salah this week. He returned 4 points. That's not a blank by any means, but it's precisely the sort of modest return that leaves a captain pick feeling like wasted opportunity. The alternative captaincy choices scattered across the league offered little comfort. Ekitiké, Wood, Palmer, and João Pedro all returned between 2 and 4 points when captained, meaning there was no obvious differential play available. The broader pattern here is one of consensus failure rather than tactical divergence. When the league's most popular captain pick yields only baseline returns, it compresses differentiation at the top of the league. Five managers all took the same route and all arrived at the same modest destination. That's not strategy; that's just shared disappointment.

Nathan McBannister's bench accumulated 22 points this week, the highest in the league. Ordinarily, that would suggest poor squad planning, players left unused when they should have started. In McBannister's case, it was genuinely unlucky. The problem was his captaincy choice: Ekitiké, who returned just 2 points. That 22-point bench, rather than being a sign of poor management, was simply the cruel mathematics of FPL. You can make all the right decisions on squad selection and still watch 22 points sit unused while your captain blanks. Meanwhile, Emily Davies salvaged an otherwise modest week when Muñoz returned 14 points, a performance that offset her Salah captaincy miss and kept her competitive. The bench point variance this week ranged from minus 3 to plus 22, a 25-point swing that had nothing to do with tactical acumen and everything to do with which players happened to start and which didn't.

Nina Evans made a transfer that backfired. She moved Rice out for Semenyo, a swap that cost her 11 points this week. Rice, despite West Ham's 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace, registered an assist. Semenyo returned nothing. It's the sort of decision that looks clever in hindsight only if it works, and it didn't. Emma White's transfer proved marginally more successful but still illustrative of the week's risk-taking. She traded Dorgu for Guéhi, gaining 4 points in the process. Neither was a standout performer, but the direction of travel mattered. The mid-table pack averaged around 41 points, and transfers that went against the grain of actual performance simply added friction to an already difficult week. When the football itself offers limited standout returns, sideways moves become expensive luxuries.

Five midfielders returned double figures this week, with Gravenberch and Stach both hitting 15 points through goal and assist combinations. What's worth noting is how defenders increasingly featured in the scoring narrative. Maguire, Cash, N.Williams, and Mitchell all registered attacking returns, a pattern that reflects both the open nature of this week's football and the new defensive contribution bonus points now in play. Defenders hitting 10 or more defensive actions earn a 2-point bonus, and midfielders and forwards need 12 or more. That mechanic is beginning to reshape how attacking returns distribute across the pitch.

Arsenal remain top of the Premier League on 13 points, with Liverpool second on 11 and Spurs third on 10. Burnley, West Ham, and Wolves occupy the bottom three, all struggling to find consistency. Within The Premier Pundits, the league remains tightly bunched, with the 37-point spread suggesting no manager has yet pulled clear.

Brentford host Manchester United in what shapes as a test of both sides' recent form. Chelsea face Brighton at Stamford Bridge, while Crystal Palace travel to Anfield to face Liverpool. Leeds visit Bournemouth in a fixture that could define both teams' trajectories, and Manchester City host Burnley in a match that looks decidedly one-sided on paper. Managers should watch for any squad rotation hints, particularly at City and United, where midweek fixture congestion could force selection decisions. The upcoming week offers clearer fixture differentiation than this one did, which may finally allow genuine tactical divergence to emerge.