FPL Tips: Joao Pedro & Anthony Elanga Injury Updates and Best Replacements for GW5

Joao Pedro is owned by 70.1 percent of FPL managers and he isn't playing on Friday. ESPN Brasil reported Thursday that his medical paperwork recommends three and a half weeks of recovery on a knee he hurt against Hull City, which rules him out at Brentford and puts the Bournemouth game on Oct. 10 in doubt.

The calendar is what makes this awkward. Gameweek 5 locks Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET, and then there is a three-week gap before Gameweek 6 on Oct. 10, so whatever you do here covers exactly one round of fixtures before the international break eats the schedule.

Below are the latest updates on both, plus the smaller knocks that still shape team selection and the replacement options I would actually spend a transfer on.

Check the latest predicted lineups and injury news before the Gameweek 5 deadline along with the GW5 Rankings.

FPL Gameweek 5 Injury News at a Glance

Joao Pedro Injury Update for FPL GW5

Thursday, Sept. 17: ESPN Brasil Reports a Three-and-a-Half-Week Recovery

This is the update that actually settles the week. ESPN Brasil's Bruno Andrade and Pedro Ivo Almeida report that Joao Pedro has swelling in the knee caused by a strain of the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments, picked up in the draw with Hull City. Per their sources, he was examined Tuesday at a clinic in London and the reports recommended three and a half weeks of recovery. Chelsea sent that documentation to the CBF, which pulled him from Brazil's squad on Wednesday and called up Fluminense midfielder Martinelli in his place.

Read the words carefully before anyone panics. A strain of those ligaments is not a tear of them, nobody has mentioned surgery, and the recovery figure being discussed is measured in weeks rather than months. RotoWire has characterized the same reporting as three to four weeks.

Chelsea have confirmed none of it, so treat it as strong reporting rather than a club statement. It does two things for your squad, though. He isn't playing Friday, and three and a half weeks from that Tuesday examination lands on or around Oct. 9, which is the day before Chelsea play Bournemouth in Gameweek 6.

Thursday, Sept. 17: Alonso Declines to Discuss It

Xabi Alonso gave nothing away at his press conference. He said Chelsea had one session left and that nobody was ruled out, then batted away four separate attempts to get him to talk about his striker.

"In terms of injuries and in terms of the squad we are having the last training session tomorrow so no-one is ruled out for us for Friday. So I prefer to be cautious and we will wait until tomorrow to take the final decision on every player. We will see tomorrow if Joao is ready to play, it's a possibility."

Asked directly whether he could say anything about the injury, Alonso answered with a single word: "No." Pressed on whether Joao Pedro had trained at all, he went back to the same line about waiting for Friday. He gave Reece James, Moises Caicedo, Jordan Henderson, Marco Palestra and Emmanuel Emegha the identical treatment, which is a manager protecting a team sheet rather than a fitness bulletin.

I don't read Alonso's caution as a hint that his striker might play. Put the club's silence next to ESPN's reporting of an actual medical document and the silence is the thing that looks thin. FPL has him at a 75 percent chance of playing as of Thursday afternoon, and I'd ignore that number.

Wednesday, Sept. 16: Likely out at Brentford, Off Brazil Duty

Joao Pedro will likely miss Friday's trip to Brentford with the knee problem he picked up against Hull City, and the injury has also ruled him out of Brazil's squad, per ge.globo. No severity or recovery window has been attached to it yet, and I find that more worrying than the absence itself. His next possible league appearance is the Bournemouth game on Oct. 10, and whether he makes it depends on how the knee settles over the next three weeks.

Saturday, Sept. 12: The Knee Injury Nobody Noticed

This landed as a surprise because he finished the 2-2 draw with Hull City and scored in it. The problem traces back to an awkward landing after an aerial challenge, and the discomfort did not settle afterward. He missed training Tuesday and now the reason is known.

The flag at FPL is usually what sets off the mass sell-off, and at 75.4 percent ownership the selling pressure will be brutal once it appears. I think most of that selling will be panic rather than analysis, because anyone hitting the button Friday morning will know exactly as much about the knee as they do right now, which is nothing.

What It Means for Chelsea's Attack

RotoWire's predicted XI for Brentford has Danny Welbeck (5.9) leading the line, with Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers behind him. That is a projection rather than a team sheet, and Xabi Alonso could go another way, but Welbeck is the obvious candidate and nobody should be buying a 35-year-old at 0.7 percent ownership on the back of one start.

I think Chelsea's points don't disappear here, they redistribute. Palmer (9.7) and Rogers (7.7) are on 26 and 27 points respectively, and nothing in Chelsea's next four looks like a wall: Brentford away, then Bournemouth, Everton and Tottenham.

Should You Transfer Out Joao Pedro in FPL?

I don't think most managers should, and Thursday made that case stronger. A 75 percent flag on a player his manager describes as a possibility is not the same thing as an absence. Sell him now and you might well be selling a player who starts at Brentford, which is the worst version of this week for anyone who moves early.

The calendar is still the bigger argument. Selling him buys cover for one gameweek, and if he plays Friday or returns for Bournemouth on Oct. 10, you've spent a free transfer to dodge a blank that never happened. There are two exceptions. If you were rolling a free transfer anyway and there's a target you actively want, go take it. And if you're already carrying Elanga or another injury, no squad absorbs two dead players in the same week, so one of them has to move.

Option 1: Hold and Field a Bench Player

This is my default. Leave him in the squad, start whoever your best available bench option is and move on. You keep the asset and, if the flag holds off, the team value, then you go into the break with a free transfer in hand and some actual information about his knee. You will probably eat one zero for the privilege.

Option 2: Sell for Kai Havertz (7.6)

If you're determined to move, this is the one I'd do. Arsenal spread their goals around and Havertz has never been a volume shooter, but he comes in 0.2 cheaper, so it's a swap with change in your pocket, and he's the projected central striker in an Arsenal side that gets Brighton away before three fixtures he should be scoring in. He sits at 7.9 percent ownership on 17 points, which makes him a real differential at a premium price.

Option 3: Sell for Alexander Isak (9.1) With a Downgrade Elsewhere

Isak is where you go if you want to upgrade rather than replace, and I'm lukewarm on it this week. Getting there costs 1.3, so you have to fund it by moving somebody else down, and that turns a one-move week into two. He is on 25 points at 21.9 percent ownership, and Liverpool host Manchester City in Gameweek 6.

Option 4: Sell for Yoane Wissa (6.2) and Bank the Rest

Newcastle's next four are Hull at home, Coventry away, Aston Villa at home and Crystal Palace away. No attack in the game has a softer stretch in front of it right now, and Wissa is the projected striker in it while freeing up 1.6 for the rest of your squad.

Newcastle did just lose 4-1 at Leeds and they are down Elanga, so the supply line into him is thinner than it was a week ago. I still think the fixtures win that argument.

Anthony Elanga Injury Update for GW5

Wednesday, Sept. 16: Six to Eight Weeks

Anthony Elanga has been diagnosed with a hamstring injury and faces a potential six-to-eight week absence pending an MRI, according to Craig Hope of the Daily Mail. RotoWire's injury table currently carries an Oct. 25 return date on him. If the longer end of that range holds, he is gone until November and misses Gameweeks 5, 6 and 7 at a minimum.

Six to eight weeks doesn't survive any amount of patience. He has to go.

Tuesday, Sept. 15: Ruled Out of the International Break

The Swedish FA confirmed he had been withdrawn from Sweden's squad after picking up the injury in training before Monday's loss to Leeds United. That was the first real signal this was more than a knock, because it committed him to missing games nobody was forcing him to miss.

Monday, Sept. 14: A Surprise Omission, Then an MRI

He was not in the squad at Elland Road, with Matthias Jaissle saying they needed to investigate how long he would be out. After the 4-1 defeat, Jaissle's assessment was that the injury "doesn't look good." Jacob Murphy started in his place on the right wing, doing little with it.

Who Replaces Elanga at Newcastle

RotoWire's predicted XI against Hull City has Jacob Murphy (5.9) on the right, Matias Fernandez-Pardo (6.0) in the middle and Harvey Barnes on the left, with Wissa up front. Murphy is the name most likely to absorb the minutes, though he has rarely been a 90-minute player across his career, so Bazoumana Toure should pick some up too. I wouldn't spend a transfer on any of the three, and at 0.1 percent ownership almost nobody else has either.

Newcastle just lost their best one-on-one option and their counterattack with him, and they have the easiest fixture run in the league to absorb it.

Best Elanga Replacements for FPL GW5

He's 6.2, so here's what that money buys in midfield.

Pascal Gross (5.7, Brighton): Gross is the highest-scoring midfielder in FPL on 33 points, he is 0.5 cheaper than Elanga, and 19.2 percent of managers already own him. Brighton host Arsenal in Gameweek 5, which isn't the fixture you want, but Sunderland away and Crystal Palace at home follow.

Kevin Schade (6.1, Brentford): Brentford host Chelsea on Friday, and Schade arrives there on 30 points at 6.4 percent ownership. Their run after that is rough, with Aston Villa and Liverpool either side of a Hull City trip, so I'd rent him for Friday and move him on before the break.

Marcus Tavernier (6.1, Bournemouth): Tavernier sits on 29 points at 5.6 percent ownership. Bournemouth's schedule opens up in Gameweek 7 against Sunderland, but Liverpool at home and Chelsea away come first, which means buying two hard fixtures to reach the good one.

Cody Gakpo (7.2, Liverpool): Gakpo is the upgrade if you can find the extra 1.0. He is on 29 points and Liverpool finish this stretch with Brentford away and Brighton at home.

Gross is the one I'd buy, and I'm not being clever about it. Paying 0.5 less than Elanga for the top scorer at the position is the move even with Arsenal in town, and the other three all ask me to solve a fixture problem I don't have this week. For the fixture side of these calls, I'd start on the Premier League team stats page instead of eyeballing the table.

Other FPL GW5 Injury Updates: Porro, Sarr, Cash and White

Reece James Looks Like a Late Scratch

Reece James is the quietest problem on this list. Xabi Alonso kept the door open Thursday, saying his absence from Tuesday's session was "just a decision for Tuesday," but two things since then say otherwise. Thomas Tuchel left him out of England's squad for the international break, and Nizaar Kinsella of BBC Sport reports he's carrying an injury and is highly unlikely to face Brentford.

RotoWire agrees, because Valentin Barco has taken his place in the predicted XI. FPL has him flagged at 75 percent, which is the same number it's giving Joao Pedro and just as generous. He's 5.4 with three points on the season, he handles a share of Chelsea's set pieces, and his 6.8 percent of owners should be benching him alongside the striker. I wouldn't spend a transfer on a 5.4 asset with three points banked.

Pedro Porro Set to Return vs. Aston Villa

Roberto De Zerbi confirmed after Tuesday's cup defeat to Liverpool that Pedro Porro will come back into the squad for the weekend. He had missed the Everton game and the Liverpool tie with a muscular problem that De Zerbi framed as workload management after a long World Cup with Spain, not as anything structural.

He is back in RotoWire's predicted XI at right back, though another late week update will be more telling. For his nine percent of owners, that's a hold. He should also take the set pieces back from Mateus Fernandes once he is fully fit, and that does more for his ceiling than the clean sheets do.

Ismaila Sarr Is Back, but Not for 90 Minutes

Ismaila Sarr came off the bench for 16 minutes in Thursday's Europa League win over Lech Poznan and created a chance, his first action since the groin problem that cost him the start of the season. Pierre Sage was asked Friday whether he could start against Leeds United on Sunday and gave about the answer you'd expect: "To start, maybe. To play 90 minutes, I don't think."

FPL has cleared his flag but RotoWire's predicted XI for Leeds still leaves him out. At 0.6 percent ownership he's a player to file away rather than buy, and I'd want to see a full start before paying 6.2 for him.

Matty Cash May Be Back in the XI

Matty Cash looked like he was on the way back. He returned to the Aston Villa squad for Wednesday's Carabao Cup tie at Coventry City after missing two games with a muscular problem, took a place on the bench, and then felt something during the warm-up and never got on the pitch.

FPL still lists him as fully available at a 100 percent chance of playing, which is the part his 5.2 percent of owners need to ignore. Aaron Wan-Bissaka has held the right-back spot throughout the absence and is the projected starter against Tottenham. Availability and selection aren't the same thing, and at 4.4 he's a cheap enabler whose minutes are no longer certain. I wouldn't spend a transfer on a 4.4 defender this week, though he's the first name I move after the break if Wan-Bissaka keeps the shirt.

Ben White Is Fit, but the Shirt Isn't His

Ben White is fine. He picked up a groin injury against Sunderland, missed Tuesday's EFL Cup tie and wasn't spotted in Monday's training, then Mikel Arteta cleared him Friday without hesitation: "Ben is all good, we have another training session this afternoon, so very positive about everybody." FPL removed the flag and has him at 100 percent. Cristhian Mosquera is cleared too, though Arteta called him a late call.

So the injury case for selling him is gone. The selection case isn't. RotoWire's predicted XI for Brighton still has Jurrien Timber at right back, and Timber is the man who replaced White at halftime against Sunderland and held the spot through the cup tie. That's a projection rather than a team sheet, but it's the second week running that it hasn't favored White.

At 5.6 percent ownership I'd hold and watch rather than move either way. Selling a fit defender into a Brighton away fixture is a panic I'd have talked myself into on Wednesday and regretted by Saturday, and Timber at 6.5 and 0.3 percent ownership is not the replacement.

GW5 Premier League Suspensions

Phil Foden is suspended until Oct. 17, which takes him out of Gameweek 5 and Gameweek 6. At 2.9 percent ownership he isn't in many squads, but if he's in yours he's dead weight through the break and not just this weekend, so I'd move him on this week whatever I thought of him at 7.0. Taiwo Awoniyi is suspended at Coventry City until Oct. 19, which matters only if you went digging for a cheap forward last week and landed on him.

Final Thoughts

Elanga is the easy decision: sell. Joao Pedro is much harder, and with only one Gameweek before the international break, I'd rather bench him than spend a transfer without a clear recovery timeline. If you do move him, Havertz is the cleanest replacement, while Wissa makes sense if you want to free budget elsewhere.

Porro is a hold if he returns as expected, White is the defender I'd be most willing to move, and Cash is a wait-and-see until his starting role becomes clearer. With the GW5 deadline approaching, minutes and availability matter more than chasing last week's points.

More FPL Gameweek 5 Tips

• FPL Gameweek 5 Rankings, Best Players & Captain Picks
• Premier League Predicted Lineups
• Premier League Injury Report
• Player News Feed

Prices and ownership are from the official FPL site; injury statuses are from RotoWire's Premier League injury table and player news feed.

Questions or a transfer call you're stuck on? Find me on Twitter @RotoZdroik or in the subscriber Discord.