Captaincy options & Booster strategies for Gameweek 5: Is now the right time to play first Booster?

THERE’S no Friday night game this week which means Dream Team managers have until 11:30am on Saturday to settle on their perfect Gameweek 5 set-up

And gaffers will be thankful for that extra thinking time as there’s plenty to mull over with the start of the European competitions meaning no fewer than eight teams are set to pull double duty.

Let’s get strategic.

PLAY SCORE PREDICTOR AHEAD OF THIS WEEKEND’S PREMIER LEAGUE ACTION – PLAYSTATION 5 UP FOR GRABS!

Dream TeamTime for Dream Team gaffers to get tactical[/caption]

CAPTAINCY OPTIONS

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Erling Haaland (£8.1m) is once again the most-popular selection for the armband and with good reason.

Manchester City’s No9 bagged a hat-trick prior to the international break to regain top spot among all assets and with two games at his disposal in Gameweek 5, only extremely brave (perhaps to a fault) Dream Team bosses will be betting against him.

Granted, the first of his fixtures, a trip to the London Stadium, is far from straightforward as West Ham have won three games in a row – including impressive displays of character against Chelsea and Brighton.

However, Haaland scored three goals in his two games against the Hammers last season and with a home Champions League match-up with Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade in old money) to follow on Tuesday night, all signs points to another profitable Gameweek for the Norwegian poacher.

Mohamed Salah (£6.5m), Bukayo Saka (£6.3m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£3.7m) are all decent alternatives but there’s no real need to deviate from the norm this week.

ReutersHow many points will Haaland bank in Gameweek 5?[/caption]

BOOSTER STRATEGIES

This is not a dig at any gaffers who have already activated a Booster (some have won cash as a result) but Gameweek 5 feels like the first truly viable moment to deploy either Park the Bus, 12th Man or Max Captain.

The special effects of these Boosters are best harnessed when the most-popular teams (those that generally produce the most points) have multiple fixtures to fulfil.

Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle, Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham and Aston Villa will all pull double duty in Gameweek 5.

Activating Park the Bus (all defenders’ points doubled) with a back five of Matty Cash (£2.8m), Pervis Estupinan (£3.8m), William Saliba (£3.5m) and a couple of Man City defenders would mean doubling the points earned in potentially TEN fixtures (five defenders with two games each) which could result in a massive power spike.

Of course, it’s also a popular tactic to block-pick multiple defenders from the same team in hope that just one (or two) clean sheet(s) leads to gargantuan returns.

For example, it would be reasonable to back several Arsenal defenders in Gameweek 5 in expectation of a clean sheet against Everton on Sunday – the Toffees have scored the fewest goals in the league this season.

The Gunners also have a home game against PSV on Wednesday night.

ReutersArsenal will be hopeful of a clean sheet against Everton[/caption]

Liverpool’s double header of Wolves and LASK also looks appealing although such a ploy may depend of the physical condition of Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.3m).

Gameweek 5 could also be the opportune moment to play the 12th Man Booster.

Gaffers who haven’t been able to afford both Haaland and Salah may feel now is the time to temporarily recruit the latter as their 12th Man to benefit from his returns against Wolves and LASK.

The Egyptian superstar has historically plundered plentiful points in the Champions League and so, in theory, a step down to the more favourable environment of the Europa League should result in significant hauls.

To complete the set, Max Captain is potentially viable in Gameweek 5 too.

Salah usually enjoys himself in EuropeRex

With so many of the popular players having two fixtures at their disposal, the odds are at least one of them will go big but it’s hard to pin down precisely who because more than one of the double-headers appear favourable on paper.

Saying that, it would be immensely frustrating to activate Max Captain only for Haaland to score the most points – given he’s the most likely captaincy candidate anyway.

Activating Max Captain all but guarantees massive returns in Gameweek 5 because of the European fixtures but it may be worth waiting until Haaland isn’t such an obvious choice.

Good luck to all gaffers activating their first Booster of the season – fingers crossed for a mountain of points!