FPL GW6 Review: The Captaincy Switch Cost Five Points

Our GW6 captaincy call lost. If you started both Bruno Fernandes and Haaland, putting the armband on Fernandes cost five points against captaining Haaland. The defender-and-midfielder pair we preferred gained five points over its alternative. Those decisions cancelled each other out before transfer deductions.

That is the useful lesson from this FPL GW6 review: mark the transfers and the armband separately, then add them together. A successful purchase does not rescue a poor captain choice, and a captaincy miss does not make every player in the squad a sale.

GW6 is complete and checked. Prices and ownership below were checked on 13 October 2026. The forecasts being marked are the ones in our published GW6 preview, dated 9 October, before the deadline.

How much did the Fernandes captain call cost?

The Algorithm preferred Fernandes at 6.4 GW6 xP, ahead of Saka at 5.9 and Haaland at 4.7. The returns reversed that order.

Those are historic forecasts. For a new decision, compare the eight-gameweek player projections rather than reuse the old captaincy order.

The doubled totals differ by ten, but that is not the loss for a manager who started both Fernandes and Haaland. With Fernandes captain, they contributed eight points together. With Haaland captain, they contributed thirteen. The difference is five.

Fernandes played 90 minutes and received a yellow card. Haaland scored and played 79. This was a missed captaincy call, not an absence that your vice-captain could rescue.

The receipts: the common transfer calls also missed

Before the deadline, The Algorithm recommended Fernandes as captain in 62% of plans for our members, Saka in 25% and Gabriel in 11%. Fernandes returned least of those options: one point against two each for Saka and Gabriel.

The most-recommended incoming player was Gonzalo, in 50% of plans. He returned two points for Fulham. These specific switches show both sides of the record:

These are individual player comparisons, not the net results of whole plans. Other transfers, captaincy, bench cover and deductions can change a squad's outcome. A switch that lost four points before a hit would lose eight if it also incurred a four-point deduction and everything else stayed equal.

The João Pedro sale hurt. The Isak replacement gained points. Neither fact should be hidden behind the other.

The pair that won, and the hold that missed

Gabriel returned two points and Mbeumo eight, making ten together. Saka returned two and Tarkowski three, making five.

Our preference for Gabriel and Mbeumo in a rebuild won the opening round of the comparison. Our advice to hold an existing Saka-and-Tarkowski pair missed a five-point gain. Even a switch costing four points would have left one extra point in GW6, assuming the same starting roles and no other effects.

That does not settle the original eight-gameweek comparison, which covered GW6–13. Nor does it make the hold advice a win. The first week favoured changing the pair, and the first week belongs on the record.

Dewsbury-Hall was the other positive call in the preview. The cheaper midfield alternative we highlighted scored thirteen, including a goal, an assist and three bonus points, against Ødegaard's one. That was a twelve-point gap between the named alternatives.

What should change before GW7?

Keep Haaland if you own him. Man City's £15.6m forward is 75.1% owned, with 45 points from 529 minutes. Ipswich visit next. The Algorithm currently expects City to score 2.7 goals in that fixture, while their following away match at Aston Villa currently reads 1.9. Reconsider the armband for each round; do not treat it as a permanent attachment.

Hold Fernandes rather than sell solely because of this blank. At £11.9m and 35.0% ownership, he has 32 points and all 540 available minutes. Leeds away comes next, followed by Bournemouth at home. I would consider a sale when the money funds a stronger overall squad, not simply to erase a captaincy disappointment.

Hold Mbeumo; do not buy last week's eight points at any cost. He is £7.9m, 20.0% owned, with 33 points from 540 minutes. His same Leeds-and-Bournemouth sequence makes him worth retaining. It does not prove that another hit to acquire him will pay.

Do not chase Dewsbury-Hall's thirteen-point return blindly. Everton's £6.6m midfielder is 5.7% owned and has 33 points from 540 minutes. Chelsea at home, Arsenal away and Newcastle away are his next three fixtures. I would keep a healthy existing owner without an urgent alternative; I would scrutinise a new purchase over the full eight-gameweek plan.

The free-transfer guide explains how to judge deductions across the period you intend to keep a player.

GW6 review questions

Did captaining Fernandes instead of Haaland cost ten points?

Their doubled returns differed by ten. If you started both players, the armband choice changed your total by five. Triple Captain would require a separate comparison.

Does one week prove Gabriel and Mbeumo are the better pair?

No. They won GW6 by five ordinary points. Seven rounds remain in the original eight-gameweek comparison, and captaincy or transfers can change your own outcome.

When is the GW7 deadline?

Saturday 17 October at 11:00 UK time, which is 12:00 in Tirana. Recheck team news after City's Wednesday European match before making the armband decision.

Test the whole set of changes in the free team planner. Keep the good holdings, record the misses honestly, and judge your next move after captaincy and deductions rather than on the biggest score from last weekend.