Cheap points are not created equal
A budget haul is only worth chasing if the underlying numbers came with it.
A £4.0m defender and a £5.8m striker just recorded two of the three highest scores of the weekend. In gameweek 5, 15 players posted double-digit scores, and nine of them cost under £6.0m.
2.35Brobbey xGhighest in gameweek 5Gameweek 5 data from 302 active players.
The temptation is to treat every 14-point ticket the same. You buy the player, take the savings, and invest the spare change in midfield. But a cheap player who converted half a chance is a very different prospect from one who earned his points by standing where goals happen.
Take Brobbey. His 17-point hat-trick for Sunderland came from chances worth 2.35 xG. He did not hit a 30-yard miracle or head in a stray corner. He accumulated real, repeatable quality inside the box.
Contrast that with 
Groß. He scored 14 points for 
Brighton from an xG of 0.11 and expected assists of 0.25. Over the season so far, Groß has seven goal returns from an expected goal involvement of 2.63. He is outrunning his underlying numbers by four goals and assists through five matches. That is a streak, not a plan.
Highlighted row indicates player whose underlying xG matched or exceeded his output.
The premium forwards gave us far less noise this week. 
Isak scored eight points from 0.75 xG, while 
Cunha delivered 10 points despite generating just 0.05 xG himself.
When you stack Brobbey beside the expensive names in gameweek 5, he looks less like a budget enabler and more like an elite output for half the money.
Brobbey
Cunha
IsakData covers gameweek 5 single-match metrics.
In defense, Dasilva managed 15 points at £4.0m for Coventry, scoring a goal from 0.32 xG alongside a clean sheet. At the same price, 
Thomas brought home nine points with 13 defensive actions.
Over five matches, defensive contributions have shifted where baseline points come from. Out of 97 defenders who played in gameweek 5, 22 reached the threshold for defensive action points.
Minimum 300 minutes played through gameweek 5. Highlighted rows represent budget forwards with xGI/90 above 0.65.
The underlying numbers across the first five gameweeks show that budget options are split into two groups. Players like Barry (0.79 xGI per 90) and Brobbey (0.69 xGI per 90) are getting regular service in front of goal. Their numbers sit right beside Isak at 0.79.
Meanwhile, players like Groß have banked points that their underlying chances do not back up. His 0.53 xGI per 90 is decent, but it is not 47 points through five matches decent.
Before the deadline, look past the green arrows in your league and check who actually had the chances. Selling a overperforming budget midfielder for a genuine box-threat forward like Brobbey is the move before the market catches up.