Another gameweek done. Seventeen goals across six matches, with Bournemouth's 3-1 dismantling of Fulham grabbing the headlines and leaving a trail of regret among managers who'd overlooked the south coast.

Bournemouth's victory was the standout result of the round, Semenyo's brace and Kluivert's opener overwhelming a Fulham side that offered little resistance beyond Sessegnon's consolation. It was the kind of performance that punishes those who'd favoured safer options, with Semenyo finishing the gameweek as the league's top scorer on 18 points courtesy of two goals and an assist. Elsewhere, Chelsea's 2-1 win over Liverpool proved the week's most intriguing contest, Estêvão and Caicedo turning the match after Gakpo had given the visitors an early lead. Arsenal's 2-0 victory over West Ham was more straightforward, Saka and Rice combining to seal three points in a match that felt settled well before the final whistle. Leeds fell 2-1 to Spurs, Mount and Šeško secured Manchester United's win over Sunderland, and the remaining fixtures played out without drama. Across The Premier Pundits, managers averaged 70 points, a respectable haul that masked considerable variation in how different squads navigated the round.

Nine of ten managers captained Haaland, who returned 4 points. That's the baseline for playing without registering attacking returns, doubled by the armband. It's a reminder that consensus picks, however logical, rarely reward the managers who back them. The one dissenter presumably watched Haaland's blank with a mixture of vindication and regret, knowing that differentiation in FPL rarely feels good in real time. Across the league, the captaincy choice left the field compressed rather than separated, with no manager able to gain meaningful ground through their armband decision. It's the sort of gameweek where captaincy becomes almost irrelevant to the outcome, a shared disappointment that levels the playing field rather than tilting it.

Bench points ranged from 4 to 16 across the ten managers, a 12-point spread that speaks to fundamentally different approaches to squad construction. Lisa Thompson's 16 points on the bench suggests either exceptional depth or poor starting XI selection, though her overall gameweek total of likely 78 points indicates the former. At the other end, Oliver Patel's 4 points on the bench hints at a squad stretched too thin, with little cover for injuries or underperformance among his starting players. The mid-table pack averaged 8.6 points unused, a figure that suggests most managers had struck a reasonable balance between investing in their XI and maintaining adequate cover. This variance matters less in isolation than it does across a season, but it does reveal which managers are building for flexibility and which are chasing short-term points. Rachel Taylor's strategic double transfer, moving Guiu and Cucurella out while bringing in Andersen, netted a +6 point swing, suggesting that transfer timing and squad construction decisions can offset even the most disappointing captaincy choices.

Nina Anderson's wildcard activation yielded 73 points with 9 on the bench, a respectable return that justified the chip's use at this stage of the season. Her single transfer within the squad, moving Wirtz to Saka, cost 3 points relative to what might have been, though the overall gameweek score suggests the wildcard rebuild more than compensated. Rachel Taylor's approach was more conservative but equally deliberate, her two transfers netting positive value despite the gameweek's modest scoring environment. Only one manager took a hit this round, suggesting the squad was largely stable heading into the week. The average of 0.5 transfers per manager indicates most had settled on their selections, with only half the league making any changes at all. This stability could reflect confidence in existing squads or simply the natural rhythm of FPL management, where some weeks demand tinkering and others reward patience.

Arsenal remain top of the Premier League table with Liverpool in second and Spurs third, a trio that's begun to separate from the chasing pack. In The Premier Pundits, the exact standings remain unavailable from this week's data, though the 30-point spread between highest and lowest gameweek scores suggests the league remains competitive. The highest gameweek score of 78 points sits just 8 clear of the average, indicating no manager has run away with proceedings despite the variance in bench management and transfer decisions.

Nottingham Forest host Chelsea in a fixture that pits a resurgent Forest side against a Chelsea team finding form. Brighton face Newcastle in what should be an entertaining encounter, while Manchester City's trip to Everton offers another test of City's consistency. Burnley's visit to Leeds and Crystal Palace's home match against Bournemouth complete the round's standout fixtures. Managers should monitor team news closely, particularly around the international break's impact on squad availability and fatigue. The fixture list offers no obvious differential opportunities, though Bournemouth's continued form suggests they remain worth monitoring as a source of attacking returns. Next week's average will likely settle around this week's 70-point mark unless there's a significant shift in goal-scoring patterns or defensive stability across the league.