Gameweek 5 comes with a twist. It is a Draw Means More round, which means a draw is worth +2 instead of nothing, and there is a derby sitting in it: Brentford against Chelsea on Friday night, a match where a draw and a loss both cost you a point. FPG is simple: pick one Premier League team each round. If they win, you score points.

The deadline is Friday 18 September at 20:00, the moment Brentford v Chelsea kicks off. Ten matches, one pick, and a scoring rule that makes the teams who nearly win worth a second look. Here is how the round sets up.

The Safe Pick

Manchester City at home to Sunderland, Sunday at 14:00, is the fixture most people will land on. Normal scoring is simple enough: a win is +1, a loss is -1, and a draw is usually nothing. City go into it having won 1-0 away at Manchester United last round. Sunderland lost 0-2 at home to Arsenal in the same round.

That is the case for it, and it is not a complicated one. The catch is the cost. Each Premier League team can be picked a maximum of twice across the whole season, so burning a City game in Gameweek 5 is a decision you live with in April. If you have already used one of your two, think hard before you spend the other here.

The other home sides with something in their favour on paper: Leeds host Crystal Palace at 14:00 on Sunday after putting four past Newcastle last round, and Newcastle host Hull City at 15:00 on Saturday. Everton and Ipswich, also at 15:00 on Saturday, is the one where last round gives you least to go on — Everton held Tottenham to 0-0 away from home and Ipswich won 3-2 at Crystal Palace.

The Differential

A lonely pick is worth +1 on top of everything else if you are the only player who picked that team and they win. It is the cheapest points in the game, and it only exists because everyone else went elsewhere. There is more on how a lonely pick works if this is your first season.

Nottingham Forest at home to Coventry, 17:30 on Saturday, is the one I would look at. Forest won 2-1 away at Aston Villa last round. Coventry were beaten 5-0 at home by Brighton in the same round. It is not a glamour pick, which is exactly the point — the crowd tends to pile onto the big names, and the table is tight enough that one extra point matters.

Tight how tight: 118 players are on the season table, and the top four are separated by two points. Two points is one good round. If you are chasing rather than leading, the safe pick versus the differential question answers itself.

This Round's Twist

Two things are different this week.

First, it is a Draw Means More round: a draw is worth +2 rather than the usual nothing. That flips the maths on the games you would normally avoid. Four of last round's ten matches ended level — Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford, Chelsea 2-2 Hull City, Liverpool 0-0 Fulham and Tottenham 0-0 Everton. Every one of those picks would have banked +2 this week. Bournemouth against Liverpool at 14:00 on Sunday and Brighton against Arsenal at 15:00 on Saturday are the fixtures where "they might hold on" is now a plan rather than a consolation.

Second, Brentford v Chelsea on Friday is flagged as a derby, and derbies score differently: +1 for a win, but -1 for a draw and -1 for a loss. In a normal round that makes a derby draw a real punishment. In this one the two rules meet: the derby's -1 and the round's +2 leave you +1 before anything else is added. That is a strange and quite fun place to be. If derbies are new to you, how derbies score in FPG covers it properly.

Worth saying plainly: the derby is one match in this round, not the whole round. The round's type is Draw Means More, and that applies to all ten fixtures.

The Verdict

I am going differential. Nottingham Forest at home, with the Draw Means More rule as a safety net — if Forest win I take the points, and if Coventry hold them out I still get +2 instead of the usual nothing. That is the kind of round where the downside is small enough to be worth the swing.

If you would rather not gamble, Manchester City at home is the boring, defensible answer and nobody will laugh at you for it.

One last thing: pick before 20:00 on Friday. Miss the deadline and a team is picked for you — it scores exactly like a pick you made, and if that score comes out positive you lose a point off it. That is the only penalty for being late, but it is an annoying way to give a point back. The full scoring rules are there if you want to check the maths yourself.

FAQ

Who should I pick in Gameweek 5? My call is Nottingham Forest at home to Coventry, because a Draw Means More round pays +2 for a draw and covers some of the risk. Manchester City at home to Sunderland is the safer pick if you have a team-pick to spare.

What is a Draw Means More round? It is one of FPG's four round types, and it means a draw is worth +2 instead of the usual nothing. Gameweek 5 is one, so every fixture in it pays out for a draw.

How does the Brentford v Chelsea derby score? Derbies score +1 for a win, -1 for a draw and -1 for a loss. Because Gameweek 5 is also a Draw Means More round, a draw in that match leaves you +1 before anything else is added.

When is the Gameweek 5 deadline? Friday 18 September at 20:00 UK time, when Brentford v Chelsea kicks off.

Ten matches, one pick, and a rule that rewards the games everyone else writes off. Play Gameweek 5 on FPG — it is free, it takes about thirty seconds, and you only need to be right once a week.

Written by Toby Gaskell, Founder of FPG