GW6 Review: City Silence Anfield, Chelsea Hit Five and the Wildcard Squad Is Scored

By Geomi George · Published 14 October 2026

Football came back from the break with a 58-point average, a top score of 131, and two results that rewrote the template in a single afternoon: City won 3-0 at Anfield and took three Liverpool attackers out of the game in the process, while Chelsea put five past Bournemouth with João Pedro back and scoring twice. Here is what happened, how the Wildcard squad we published during the break held up, and what to carry into Saturday's early GW7 deadline.

The scores that mattered

The Team of the Week was led by a player almost nobody owns: Chelsea's Henderson (18 points, two goals, an assist and maximum bonus, owned by fewer than one manager in two hundred). Behind him, De Cuyper (15 — a goal, a clean sheet and three bonus in Brighton's 2-0 at Sunderland) is now the joint top scorer in the game on 53 points alongside his team-mate Groß. João Pedro (12, two goals in 71 minutes) returned from his knee injury as if nothing had happened, Cherki (10, a goal and a clean sheet at Anfield) backed up a strong September, and Everton's Dewsbury-Hall (13) scored and assisted in a 2-2 at Hull.

The rest came from the usual nowhere: Ipswich's £4.0m pair O'Shea (11) and Ouattara (10) both scored in a 2-1 over Fulham, Coventry's Cherif (12) led a 4-1 thrashing of Newcastle, and City's Doku scored and assisted in 34 minutes for 12.

Where the points went missing

• Liverpool's attack is in pieces. Isak (thigh) and Gakpo (ankle) are both out with no return date, Szoboszlai (hamstring) is a doubt, and all three scored 0. Virgil van Dijk played 90 minutes of a 3-0 home defeat for 0. Isak and Gakpo have already fallen in price.
• Bruno Fernandes blanked a fourth week running. One point from a 1-1 with Spurs; his form figure is now 1.5 and more than 280,000 managers sold him before the deadline. Mbeumo (8) and Cunha (10) scored United's points instead.
• Newcastle conceded four at Coventry. Hall finished on 0 after a full 90, Wissa on 2. The "Coventry are an easy fixture" reading has now been wrong twice.
• Arsenal's defence did not return. Raya 3, Gabriel 2, Konsa 4 in a 2-1 home win over Leeds. Calafiori's goal (9) was the exception, and Saka and Ødegaard managed 2 and 1.
• Dubravka, for the sixth week. Still owned by one manager in six, still on zero for the season.

How the Wildcard squad held up

We published a full fifteen for GW6 onwards during the break, and we are scoring it honestly. The starting eleven returned 68 points against the 58 average, with Haaland captained for 12. The three changes we made to the raw optimiser output were the difference: João Pedro (12) instead of Calvert-Lewin (2), and Cherki (10) plus Schade (1) instead of Bruno (1). Hall, our swap for Guéhi, returned 0 against Guéhi's 6, so that one went the other way. The optimiser's untouched squad, with Brobbey injured and Calvert-Lewin auto-subbed in, would have scored 54. The one-week backtested Best XI, which captained Groß, scored 48, its worst week relative to the field since GW2, and sits 15 behind the average manager over six rounds.

The squad's injuries are its real problem now: Brobbey (hamstring, back around 25 October) and Schade (shoulder, 75%) are both flagged. If you played the Wildcard and own both, Brobbey is the one to move this week.

The market has already moved

Brighton were the story of the break: De Cuyper (more than 420,000 transfers in) and Groß (nearly 390,000) were the two most-bought players, followed by João Pedro, Cherki and Rogers, and all five rose in price. Going out: Bruno, Isak, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Schade and Gibbs-White. The price predictor has the next moves.

Injuries to watch

• Isak and Gakpo (LIV) — both out, no return date. Sell if you need the money this week; Liverpool go to Brentford next.
• Szoboszlai (LIV), Schade (BRE), Shaw (MUN) — 75% flags. Wait for Friday's team news.
• Brobbey (SUN) — hamstring, expected back around 25 October. Tzolis (ARS) — out until early November. Pedro Porro (TOT) — out, no date.

Looking ahead to GW7

Another early Saturday deadline, because Everton v Chelsea is the 12:30 kick-off. The grid is kind to the big attacks: City host Ipswich, who sit on the round's hardest away rating, and Brighton host Palace. Fulham v Hull is the third difficulty-2 home game, and Spurs host Coventry on the Monday night. Forest v Arsenal and Brentford v Liverpool are the awkward ones. The full grid is on the fixtures page, the Best XI has already rebuilt for GW7, and your mini-league table has GW6 settled, with October's race now under way.