FPL tips: Play the Blues in gameweek six

Chelsea and Liverpool cannot be separated at the top of the Premier League – but fantasy football tells a different story, with Thomas Tuchel’s side heading up gameweek six’s recommendations.

While Crystal Palace loanee Conor Gallagher remains the top-ranked player in the PA news agency’s Transfer Score ratings – combining form, cost, ownership and upcoming fixture difficulty (FDR) – his parent club provide the next three names on the list.

Here, we look at the names to consider before Saturday morning’s deadline.

Goalkeepers

In the defensive areas of the field, the league’s traditional big names dominate – including under-performing giants Arsenal, who have this week’s top-ranked goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

Back-to-back clean sheets at £4.5m help the former Sheffield United man to a transfer score of 70 out of 100 even as a north London derby against equally inconsistent Tottenham marks a step up in difficulty from Norwich and Burnley.

That puts him a point ahead of Manchester United’s David De Gea, whose first penalty save in 41 attempts helped him to a 10-point haul against West Ham last week, and FPL’s top-scoring keeper Alisson Becker – Liverpool’s only representative in this week’s recommendations despite their four wins and four clean sheets from five games.

Defenders

Centre-backs Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger both scored in Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Spurs last week, with the accompanying fourth clean sheet making them our top-ranked defenders this week.

Thiago shades his team-mate in the form rankings and is slightly cheaper at £5.4m, with his lower ownership helping him rank four points higher than Rudiger on a transfer score of 79.

Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo (73) fills out the defensive podium after four straight clean sheets and an assist, despite having Chelsea and Liverpool next up, leaving Spurs the only member of the possibly outdated ‘big six’ without a player in this week’s list.

Midfielders

Mateo Kovacic got his name on Chelsea’s expansive and often unlikely list of scorers in gameweek four’s win over Aston Villa and with three assists already, he is a deserving inclusion in the recommendations with a transfer score of 76.

He has to play second fiddle in midfield, though, to a player surplus to the Blues’ requirements as Gallagher (80) continues riding the high of his brace in Crystal Palace’s draw with West Ham followed by two assists in the win over Tottenham.

Brighton’s impressive start to the season sees Leandro Trossard place third on the midfield list on 72 after a goal against Brentford and an assist against Leicester.

Forwards

Allan Saint-Maximin has been a rare bright spot in Newcastle’s winless start to the season and the £6.7m Frenchman tops the attacking rankings this week with a transfer score of 70 after two goals and an assist in his last three games.

With Watford, Wolves, Spurs and Palace their next four opponents, the Magpies have the opportunity to turn around their form and Saint-Maximin will be key to doing so.

Leicester’s upcoming Fixture Difficulty Rating is even more favourable and Jamie Vardy has three goals to his name already to help him to a rating of 69, with Teemu Pukki three points behind after scoring his second goal of Norwich’s season in their defeat to Watford.