For the first time in 24 Gameweeks, Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) was captained by more than 3million Fantasy Premier League managers.
Those managers reacted to the fact that Manchester City's prolific forward Erling Haaland (£15.3m) - the most-selected player in FPL with an ownership in excess of 7.2m - has a difficult match against title rivals Arsenal on Sunday.
While Haaland is still the most-popular choice for the armband this weekend, with over 4m managers handing him the armband, this is one million down on the previous Gameweek.
Salah's backers were rewarded with an assist and six points - or 12 with the armband - in Liverpool's 3-0 win over AFC Bournemouth on Saturday. But they will wonder if that will prove to be enough given Haaland has scored eight goals in his last three matches, amassing 47 points in that devastating spell.
GW5 most-captained players
| Player | Captained by | Pts |
| Haaland | 4,032,089 | - |
|---|---|---|
| Salah | 3,080,246 | 6 |
| Watkins | 561,637 | 6 |
| Palmer | 475,335 | 8 |
| Isak | 240,087 | 2 |
Cole Palmer (£10.6m) features among the top five captains for the fourth successive Gameweek. He scored in Chelsea's 3-0 win at West Ham United.
With back-to-back home fixtures versus Brighton & Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest to come, Palmer could see an increase on the 475,000+ who handed him the armband in Gameweek 5.
GW5 most-bought players
| Player | Bought by | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Watkins | 684,309 | 6 |
| Vardy | 550,060 | 2 |
| Luis Diaz | 453,687 | 16 |
| Haaland | 342,866 | - |
| Welbeck | 319,537 | - |
Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) was the most-recruited player this Gameweek, with more than 684,000 managers adding him to their squads.
Watkins' popularity stemmed from a 13-point haul last time out and he continued that good form with a goal as Aston Villa came from a goal down to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-1.
Jamie Vardy (£5.7m) was also in demand ahead of Leicester City's game versus Everton.
The 37-year-old forward has totalled 1,480 points across his Fantasy career, but his 550,000+ new owners will have to wait a little longer for him to reach 1,500 points following a Gameweek 5 blank.
A strong start to the campaign has made Luis Diaz (£7.8m) the most-bought midfielder of 2024/25, snapped up by nearly 2m people since Gameweek 1.
The Colombian recorded his third double-figure haul in four matches with two goals against the Cherries. He moves up to second in the Fantasy player standings with 52 points, just two fewer than Haaland.
Danny Welbeck (£5.8m) completes the top five transfers in.
Ahead of Forest's visit to Brighton on Sunday, Welbeck's three attacking returns, 10 shots, and 8 shots in the box, all rank him first among his team-mates.
GW5 most transferred-out players
| Player | Transferred out by | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Isak | 1,150,844 | 2 |
| Joao Pedro | 539,802 | - |
| Wissa | 365,367 | 0 |
| Gvardiol | 336,859 | - |
| Saka | 273,675 | - |
For the third consecutive Gameweek, Alexander Isak (£8.4m) was the most-sold player.
In total, 3.2m managers parted company with the Newcastle United forward this season, and they were proved correct as Isak notched just two points in the 3-1 defeat to Fulham.
The No 1 transfer target for Gameweek 4 was the second most-sold player for Gameweek 5. Joao Pedro (£5.7m) disappointed the 1.3m who recruited him for the last round when he was left out of the Brighton squad for the 0-0 draw with Ipswich Town. More than 539,000 wasted no time in reversing that decision.
An ankle injury has ruled out Brentford's Yoane Wissa (£6.1m) for the foreseeable future, leading to sales of 365,000 for the Congolese.
And with Man City facing Arsenal on Sunday, Josko Gvardiol (£6.0m) and Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) saw a drop in ownership. A combined 609,000 sold the pair.
