City after five gameweeks: five wins under Maresca
Enzo Maresca replaced Pep Guardiola in the summer and Manchester City have won all five league games: Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Coventry, Manchester United and Sunderland. They top the table on fifteen points with thirteen goals scored.
The defence is the part still settling. City have kept two clean sheets and conceded three in the 5-3 win over Sunderland in GW5, so their defenders earn more from attacking returns than from shut-outs right now. For FPL managers the manager change has changed less than feared: the chance volume that makes City assets score has survived it.
Erling Haaland — the captaincy default
Erling Haaland has five goals in five games and is first in the official FPL penalty order. He is the most-owned player in the game, which cuts both ways: captaining him rarely gains you rank, but not captaining him loses it on any week he returns.
The case to move off him is a hard fixture, and GW6 is one: City go to Anfield. Even then, the question is whether an alternative at home — Saka against Leeds, Bruno Fernandes against Spurs — clears the bar, not whether Haaland is a bad pick. From GW7 the run turns kinder: Ipswich at home, then Aston Villa away and Brighton at home.
The rest of the City template
Joško Gvardiol is City’s top-scoring defender — a goal and three assists from centre-back — and the one City defender whose points do not depend on clean sheets. Marc Guéhi, signed from Crystal Palace, has played every minute alongside him. Nico O’Reilly, owned by around one manager in ten, has started only two games. Gianluigi Donnarumma is the goalkeeper.
In midfield Rayan Cherki takes the corners and free kicks and has three goals and two assists. Antoine Semenyo, signed from Bournemouth, has played every minute and is second on penalties, but carries a fitness doubt into GW6. Iliman Ndiaye is the cheaper route in. Phil Foden is suspended until 17 October, and Jérémy Doku has played a quarter of an hour all season — neither is a buy yet.
City’s next five and how many to own
After the international break City play Liverpool (A), Ipswich (H), Aston Villa (A), Brighton (H) and Nottingham Forest (A). GW6 is the only fixture the FPL difficulty ratings put at 4; the other four are 3 or easier.
Haaland plus one defender plus one midfielder is the cleanest three-man City block. Gvardiol is the defender to pick because his points do not need a clean sheet; the midfield slot is between Cherki, who has the set pieces, and Semenyo once his ankle clears. The live table on this page carries each player’s price, ownership and flag.