Gameweek 5 Waiver Wire: Buy the Fixture, Not Last Week’s Score
Thierno Barry is the best Gameweek 5 waiver claim. Harvey Barnes is the midfield priority, while Jayden Bogle offers the strongest blend of availability and immediate defender upside. Vitalii Mykolenko, Liam Delap and James McAtee complete a six-player board built around verified difficulty-one fixtures—not simply the highest Gameweek 4 scores.
This advice is for draft leagues, where every player has one owner. The roster rates come from completed private Draft Fantasy leagues and estimate availability rather than guarantee it. Check the transfer market in your Draft Fantasy Premier League league before ordering claims.
Scoring note: the board uses Draft Fantasy regular scoring, which matches official FPL scoring. Custom-scoring leagues calculate points from commissioner-defined values, so rewards for shots, chances created or defensive actions can change the order.
The Gameweek 5 one-week board
| Player | Pos | Rostered | Current case | GW5 | FAAB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Thierno BarryEVE | Forward | 44.6% | 327 min · 3.12 xGI |
| 10–15% |
 Harvey BarnesNEW | Midfielder | 38.0% | 360 min · 0.88 xGI |
| 7–11% |
 Jayden BogleLEE | Defender | 18.9% | 299 min · 37 pts |
| 6–10% |
| Vitalii MykolenkoEVE | Defender | 13.2% | 360 min · 33 DC |
| 3–6% |
 Liam DelapNFO | Forward | 35.9% | 90 GW4 min · 0.71 xGI |
| 3–6% |
| James McAteeNFO | Midfielder | 1.5% | 334 min · 1.08 xGI |
| 1–3% |
Official FPL stats and Draft Fantasy roster rates, 15 September 2026; fixture difficulty runs from 1 (easy) to 5 (hard).
The percentages are editorial ranges from your remaining FAAB, not fixed player prices. Spend near the top only when the player improves your starting lineup. In rolling or weekly-reset leagues, keep the order but price each move in waiver priority rather than budget.
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Buy the process after a quiet score
Barry played 90 minutes in Gameweek 4 and recorded 0.67 expected goals plus 0.03 expected assists, but scored only two points. Across four starts he has 2.98 xG, 0.14 xA and 14 points in 327 minutes. That gap between chances and points, combined with Everton’s difficulty-one home fixture against Ipswich, is the reason to make another strong claim rather than drop him after a blank.
Barnes also returned only two points last round despite playing 90 minutes and producing 0.60 expected goal involvements. He has started every match and has not missed a league minute. Newcastle’s difficulty-one home fixture against Hull gives that secure role an immediate ceiling, so he is the first midfielder to claim even though his 19 total points do not lead the available pool.
McAtee is the deep-league version of the same bet. Four starts have produced 334 minutes, 1.08 expected goal involvements and 35 defensive contributions, but only ten points. A 1.5% roster rate means he should be available almost everywhere. Use a small bid: the role and Forest’s fixture justify the move, not a promise that the missed returns must arrive this week.
Buy one defender, not an entire matchup
Bogle’s 15-point Gameweek 4 will attract claims, but the better evidence is that his playing time recovered to 82 minutes after falling in each of the first three rounds. He now has 37 points and 1.39 expected goal involvements in 299 minutes. The role risk has eased, not disappeared, which is why his range stays below Barry’s despite Leeds’ difficulty-one home fixture.
Mykolenko is the lower-cost alternative. He has completed all 360 available minutes, collected 22 points and recorded 33 defensive contributions. His 11-point Gameweek 4 is not a new attacking expectation: the reliable minutes and Everton-Ipswich matchup are the reasons to start him.
Murillo is another defensible route into Nottingham Forest’s home fixture with Coventry. He has played 359 minutes, scored 19 points and recorded 42 defensive contributions, but his 37.4% roster rate makes him less obtainable than Mykolenko. Submit the claim only if you need a defender; do not churn two useful defenders merely to collect both difficulty-one matchups.
Delap is the upside forward, not the safe one
Delap’s season line is modest: eight points, two starts and 187 minutes. The change came in Gameweek 4, when he played 90 minutes and produced 0.63 xG plus 0.08 xA. That is enough for a second forward claim in a scarce position, particularly before Forest host Coventry.
It is not enough for Barry’s bid. One full start does not establish the same role as four consecutive starts, and the 35.9% roster rate means Delap may already be taken. Add him when you can tolerate another role check; prefer Barry when the new forward must start every week.
Do not buy Brighton’s Gameweek 4 points for this lineup
Pascal Groß scored 17 points in Gameweek 4, while Maxim De Cuyper, Lewis Dunk and Charalampos Kostoulas all reached double figures. They are holds in leagues where they are already rostered, not priority claims for the immediate lineup: Draft Fantasy rates Brighton’s home fixture against Arsenal at difficulty five, the hardest tier.
That distinction matters in a one-week board. A strong player can be worth keeping through a hard fixture without being the best free agent to add now. Bench rather than drop a valuable Brighton asset, but do not move Groß or De Cuyper above Barnes, Bogle or Mykolenko solely because of last weekend’s return. Use the free fixture-difficulty tool to make the same comparison for your own available pool.
The calendar makes price discipline more important
The official event feed sets the Gameweek 5 deadline at 17:30 UTC on Friday 18 September and the Gameweek 6 deadline at 10:00 UTC on Saturday 10 October. That 22-day deadline gap creates extra time for availability and roles to change.
Pay for a player you would still want after one difficult team-news update. Barry and Barnes meet that test because four starts support their roles. Keep the lower ranges for Delap and McAtee, whose appeal depends more heavily on one current matchup or a still-developing role. Recheck official availability before the deadline; all six table picks were marked available in the 15 September snapshot.
Last week’s prediction is not final yet
The Gameweek 4 waiver board predicted that at least four of its six picks would play 60 minutes and that Tavernier plus Barry would combine for at least six regular-scoring points. The provisional data currently clears both thresholds: all six reached 60 minutes, while Tavernier scored eight and Barry two.
The official feed still marks Gameweek 4 unfinished and not data checked, however. Those totals can change during review, so this article does not claim a successful prediction before finalisation. The completed result belongs in the next update.
Submit a claim queue that survives one miss
- Choose the position first. Lead with Barry at forward, Barnes at midfield or Bogle at defender.
- Add a same-position fallback. Delap follows Barry, McAtee follows Barnes and Mykolenko follows Bogle.
- Check whether the player starts for you. A difficulty-one bench player is not worth a large bid.
- Use remaining budget. The fantasy football waiver rules guide explains how FAAB, rolling priority and weekly reset change the cost of a claim.
- Recheck the market and team news. Roster rates are league-wide estimates, and the current round was still provisional when this board was built.
Player totals and event state came from official FPL data and the official Gameweek 4 live feed on 15 September. Roster rates and fixture ratings came from Draft Fantasy’s epl26 data, joined by player and fixture ID.
Ready to make every free-agent decision matter? Start a Draft Fantasy Premier League league, invite your managers and choose FAAB, rolling or weekly-reset waivers.