WSL Fantasy Gameweek 4: best buys and captain picks
WSL Fantasy Gameweek 4 preview: best buys, captain picks and differentials
Gameweek 4 of WSL Fantasy is a transfer window with a very uneven set of consequences behind it. Three of the strongest squads in the game start a run that gets better as it goes, one of the most-owned defences has its best fixture of the month right now and a difficult one straight after, and twelve clubs have no fixture at all in Gameweek 6. The transfer you make this week is the only one you can act on today, so the case for every pick below is the next three Gameweeks, not just Saturday.
All numbers come from the TheFantasyTool model as of the latest run before the Gameweek 4 deadline. You can compare every player in the pool on the WSL Fantasy player picks page, and the full round-by-round fixture list is on the WSL Fantasy schedule.
The programs: whose next three Gameweeks are worth owning
Ranking this week's fixtures on their own would put Manchester City first and leave it there. Ranking the next three changes which teams are actually worth buying into. The table below is sorted on three-round expected goals, with this Gameweek's numbers alongside for context. The last column is expected clean sheets out of three games, so 1.23 means a defence projected to keep roughly one and a quarter clean sheets across the run.
| Team | GW4 fixture | Win % | GW4 xG | GW4 CS % | Program (GW4-6) | 3-round xG | 3-round CS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | [A]CHA | 83.1% | 3.10 | 47.7% | [A]CHA → [H]ARS → [H]BHA | 7.44 | 1.07 |
| Chelsea | [H]ARS | 40.2% | 1.51 | 25.8% | [H]ARS → [A]WHU → [H]TOT | 6.95 | 1.16 |
| Manchester United | [H]WHU | 60.4% | 2.09 | 34.9% | [H]WHU → [H]LIV → [A]CHA | 6.11 | 1.23 |
| Arsenal | [A]CHE | 33.1% | 1.36 | 22.0% | [A]CHE → [A]MCI → [H]BIC | 5.89 | 0.97 |
| Aston Villa | [A]TOT | 17.4% | 1.04 | 12.5% | [A]TOT → [H]CRY → [H]LIV | 4.86 | 0.62 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | [H]AVL | 60.5% | 2.08 | 35.2% | [H]AVL → [H]LCL → [A]CHE | 4.82 | 0.70 |
| London City Lionesses | [H]BHA | 45.8% | 1.65 | 28.5% | [H]BHA → [A]TOT → [H]EVE | 4.16 | 0.73 |
| Brighton | [A]LCL | 28.2% | 1.26 | 19.2% | [A]LCL → [H]CHA → [A]MCI | 4.10 | 0.63 |
| Liverpool | [H]EVE | 55.2% | 1.72 | 39.6% | [H]EVE → [A]MAN → [A]AVL | 4.08 | 0.79 |
| Everton | [A]LIV | 19.2% | 0.93 | 17.9% | [A]LIV → [H]BIC → [A]LCL | 3.62 | 0.82 |
| Wolverhampton | [A]IPS | 46.8% | 1.69 | 28.6% | [A]IPS → [H]WAT — 2 fixtures | 4.14 | 0.61 |
| Newcastle United | [H]LEI | 42.3% | 1.42 | 31.9% | [H]LEI → [A]DUR — 2 fixtures | 3.13 | 0.64 |
| Ipswich Town | [H]WOL | 27.5% | 1.25 | 18.4% | [H]WOL → [A]SHU — 2 fixtures | 2.71 | 0.49 |
The bottom three rows only have two fixtures in the window, so their totals are not comparable with the rows above them. Ipswich, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, Leicester, Sunderland, Watford, Durham, Sheffield United, Burnley, Bristol City, Southampton and Nottingham Forest all have no Gameweek 6 fixture in the current schedule. That does not make them bad buys this week, but it does make them two-week buys, and the article says so every time one appears below.
Manchester City own the best three-round run in the game at 7.44 expected goals, and unusually the easiest fixture comes first: the trip to Charlton carries the highest win probability and the highest clean-sheet chance of any team in Gameweek 4. Manchester United are the defensive version of the same idea — 1.23 expected clean sheets over the three is the best figure in the game, and none of [H]WHU, [H]LIV or [A]CHA is a fixture to hide from. Chelsea are the one program that argues for buying before the good part: [H]ARS this week is the hardest game on their card, and [A]WHU and [H]TOT behind it are worth 2.69 and 2.75 expected goals. Live win and clean-sheet prices for all of these sit on the WSL market probabilities page.
Goalkeepers for Gameweek 4
Ayaka Yamashita (5.5m, MCI) is the pick, on 4.2 projected with a program of [A]CHA → [H]ARS → [H]BHA. The 47.7% clean-sheet chance at Charlton is the best single-game number any keeper has this week, and the Brighton home game two rounds later restores it; only the Arsenal week in between is genuinely contested. Her trajectory over the three is 4.2 → 3.4 → 4.0 for 11.6 across the run, and at 12.0% ownership she is not close to a template pick.
Courtney Brosnan (5.0m, EVE) is the horizon alternative, and the two disagree in a way worth naming. On Gameweek 4 alone Yamashita wins comfortably; over [A]LIV → [H]BIC → [A]LCL, Brosnan's 12.0 is the highest three-round total of any keeper in the game, because the Merseyside derby is the only hard game she has. If you are buying a keeper to keep rather than to rotate, she is the better purchase, and 7.0% ownership means almost nobody has made it.
Lysianne Proulx (4.0m, IPS) is the budget route at 4.5 projected, the highest of any keeper this week, behind [H]WOL → [A]SHU. She is the cheapest way to fund a premium elsewhere and her points per million is the best in the position — but the Gameweek 6 blank is hers, so treat her as a two-week holding and plan the replacement now rather than discovering it later. The WSL predicted lineups page is the place to confirm she keeps the gloves before the deadline.
Defenders for Gameweek 4
Maya Le Tissier (6.0m, MAN) is the strongest defensive buy in the game and the one where the round and the run agree. Her program is [H]WHU → [H]LIV → [A]CHA, she projects 5.4 this week and 17.0 across the three — the highest three-round total of any defender — and the trajectory actually rises, 5.4 → 5.5 → 6.1. She plays 85 projected minutes at a 0.98 starter factor, so there is no rotation discount to argue about. At 31.0% ownership she is well known, which is exactly why the defenders around her matter more.
Fridolina Rolfö (5.5m, MAN) is the differential inside the same good program, [H]WHU → [H]LIV → [A]CHA. Same three fixtures, 14.6 across them against Le Tissier's 17.0, but 4.0% ownership against 31.0% and a 4.1 → 6.0 → 4.5 shape that peaks in the middle of the run rather than at the start. The caveat is honest: 54 projected minutes and a 0.61 starter factor say she is not nailed for ninety, so she is the higher-variance version of the same bet.
Grace Fisk (5.0m, LIV) is a Gameweek 4 buy and deliberately only that. Liverpool's [H]EVE carries a 39.6% clean-sheet chance, the second-best in the round, and Fisk projects 5.0 with 82 minutes at a 0.97 starter factor. What follows is [A]MAN → [A]AVL and her numbers fall to 3.0 and 3.8. Buy her for the derby if you want the fixture, but know that you are buying one round, and name the week you sell her.
Leah Mitchell (4.0m, IPS) is the budget defender of the week on 4.7 projected, and her 5.2 in Gameweek 5 is higher still — a rising 4.7 → 5.2 across [H]WOL → [A]SHU. She is the best points per million in the position and effectively nobody owns her. She is also one of the twelve blanking in Gameweek 6, so this is a two-week pick made with that in mind rather than in spite of it. Her team-mate Kenzie Weir (5.0m, IPS) runs the same program at 4.9 and 5.1, with more attacking involvement at 0.17 projected goals and slightly less certain minutes.
Jenna Clark (5.0m, LIV) and Ruby Mace (5.5m, EVE) split the same way the keepers did. Clark is the Gameweek 4 play on 4.8 behind [H]EVE → [A]MAN → [A]AVL; Mace is the hold, 3.4 now but 12.9 over [A]LIV → [H]BIC → [A]LCL with 88 projected minutes at a 0.98 starter factor. If you want one defender you will not have to think about again for a month, it is Mace.
Midfielders for Gameweek 4
Kirsty Hanson (8.0m, TOT) is the best midfield buy available, and the case is two rounds long rather than three. Her program is [H]AVL → [H]LCL → [A]CHE, and the model has her at 8.0 and 7.5 in the first two — the highest projection of any midfielder in the game in both — before Chelsea away drops her to 3.4. That is 18.9 across the three, still the best in the position, and 0.55 projected goals from 78 minutes at a 0.95 starter factor is a genuine goal threat rather than an assist-only profile. At 18.0% ownership she is the rare pick that is both the highest-projected option and a differential.
Ceri Holland (6.5m, LIV) is the value pick of the round at 6.6 projected, and she is on penalties, which is what separates her from the other mid-price midfielders. Her program is [H]EVE → [A]MAN → [A]AVL and the shape dips then recovers, 6.6 → 4.0 → 5.7 for 16.3 across the three, with 0.33 projected assists and the best points per million of any midfielder in the game. Only 4.0% of managers own her.
Jessica Park (8.0m, MAN) is the hold rather than the spike. She never projects highest in any single Gameweek, but [H]WHU → [H]LIV → [A]CHA gives her 5.9 → 5.6 → 6.2 — the flattest good trajectory in the game, and 17.7 in total, second only to Hanson. A flat program is worth a sentence of its own: it means you can buy her now and stop thinking about the position, which is not true of anyone else at this price.
Lauren Hemp (8.0m, MCI) sits on the best team program in the game, [A]CHA → [H]ARS → [H]BHA, and projects 7.4 → 3.9 → 6.1 for 17.4. The dip is the Arsenal home game, not a fitness question, and her 0.39 projected assists this week are the highest of any midfielder. At 34.0% ownership she is the most widely held midfielder in the game, so owning her protects rank rather than winning it.
Two cheaper names are worth a look for anyone funding a premium. Signe Gaupset (6.0m, TOT) shares Hanson's [H]AVL → [H]LCL → [A]CHE program for 12.5 across the three at 7.0% ownership, with 81 minutes at a 0.96 starter factor. Poppy Wilson (4.0m, WAT) is the cheapest genuinely projected midfielder in the game — 4.1 then 5.8 across [H]SUN → [A]WOL, 0.29 projected assists, and a rising shape — and again, Gameweek 6 is a blank for her, so she is a two-week enabler.
Forwards for Gameweek 4
Khadija Shaw (12.5m, MCI) is the highest-projected player in the game at 9.2, and her program is the reason to pay for her rather than rent her: [A]CHA → [H]ARS → [H]BHA returns 9.2 → 5.3 → 8.2, or 22.7 across the three, which is more than four points clear of any other forward. She takes the penalties, projects 0.83 goals at Charlton on 72 minutes, and is top-projected in two of the next three Gameweeks. At 64.0% ownership she is the closest thing this game has to a template player.
Vivianne Miedema (9.0m, MCI) is the way to own the same program for less. Identical fixtures, [A]CHA → [H]ARS → [H]BHA, and 6.7 → 3.9 → 5.7 for 16.3, 0.49 projected goals this week — and 7.0% ownership against Shaw's 64.0%. If you want exposure to the best attacking run in the game without paying the top price, she is the pick, and owning both is a legitimate double-up because each is positive on her own merits.
Madison Haley (6.5m, BHA) is the best mid-price forward on the board and a clear case of buying before the good part rather than during it. Brighton's [A]LCL → [H]CHA → [A]MCI starts awkwardly, but Haley projects 5.0 now and 6.1 in Gameweek 5 at home to Charlton, for 13.9 across the three. She is on penalties, plays 77 projected minutes at a 0.91 starter factor, and 2.0% of managers own her. Kiko Seike (7.0m, BHA) is the same program and the same 13.9 total, with more minutes and less penalty upside.
Amalie Vangsgaard (6.5m, AVL) is the patient option. Aston Villa's [A]TOT → [H]CRY → [H]LIV opens with the hardest fixture on their card and then turns hard in her favour: 3.1 → 5.9 → 4.2 for 13.2 across the three. She is a buy this week specifically because the run starts next week, and 1.0% ownership means you would be very early to it.
Captain picks for Gameweek 4
The captain scores double in WSL Fantasy, so this is the single highest-leverage decision of the week.
- Khadija Shaw (12.5m, MCI) — 9.2 projected, the highest in the game, against the softest fixture in the round, on penalties. Her program is [A]CHA → [H]ARS → [H]BHA. She is also the top-projected player again in Gameweek 6, so the armband and the ownership decision point the same way.
- Kirsty Hanson (8.0m, TOT) — 8.0 projected at home to Aston Villa on a program of [H]AVL → [H]LCL → [A]CHE, and the top captain option in Gameweek 5 as well at 7.5. If you want one captain for two weeks rather than one, this is it.
- Lauren Hemp (8.0m, MCI) — 7.4 projected in the same Charlton fixture as Shaw and the same [A]CHA → [H]ARS → [H]BHA program, the safest way to captain that game without the top price.
Looking one and two rounds ahead changes which premium you should own rather than just who you captain this week. Hanson is the best captain in Gameweek 5; Shaw returns as the clear best in Gameweek 6 at 8.2 with Manchester City at home. Owning both covers all three rounds, which is a stronger argument for Hanson than her Gameweek 4 number alone. The live single-round optimum is always on the WSL optimal teams page.
Who to sell before Gameweek 4
Alex Greenwood (6.0m, MCI) is the sell, and this is the round to do it. [A]CHA is an excellent fixture — a 47.7% clean-sheet chance, and she projects 5.1, a good score. This is not a bad week for her. But [H]ARS and [H]BHA follow and she drops to 1.6 and 2.8, which is 9.5 across the run from a defender 27.0% of managers own. The choice is selling into a likely clean sheet now or selling out of two ordinary weeks later, and the Charlton fixture is worth more to whoever buys her than to whoever holds her through Arsenal.
Kerstin Casparij (8.0m, MCI) is the same call one price bracket up, on the same [A]CHA → [H]ARS → [H]BHA program. She is excellent this week at 5.4 with the Charlton clean sheet behind her, then 2.5 against Arsenal before recovering to 4.0. At her price, 11.9 across three rounds is not competitive with Le Tissier's 17.0 for less money, and 35.0% ownership means the downgrade is where rank is actually available. Do it this week, while her selling week is a good one.
Mariona Caldentey (7.5m, ARS) is the hold-or-sell that turns on timing rather than quality. Arsenal's [A]CHE → [A]MCI are the two hardest fixtures any side faces in this window and she projects 2.9 and 3.1 through them, before [H]BIC in Gameweek 6 lifts her to 5.5. If you own her, the next two rounds are the price of the third. If you do not, she is not a buy this week — wait, and buy into Gameweek 6 instead. The same applies to Géraldine Reuteler (6.0m, ARS), who is the cheaper version of that trade at 12.4 over the three and effectively zero ownership.
Hannah Hampton (5.5m, CHE) is the one popular name to hold rather than sell. At 54.0% ownership she is the most-owned keeper in the game, and Gameweek 4 against Arsenal is her weakest fixture of the run at 3.6 — but [A]WHU and [H]TOT behind it take her to 11.5 across three, and Chelsea's 1.16 expected clean sheets over the window is second only to Manchester United. Selling a good program to avoid one hard week is how managers lose the points they are trying to protect.
Planning around the Gameweek 6 blank
Twelve clubs have no Gameweek 6 fixture in the current schedule: Ipswich Town, Wolverhampton, Newcastle United, Leicester City, Sunderland, Watford, Durham, Sheffield United, Burnley, Bristol City, Southampton and Nottingham Forest. Every budget enabler recommended above — Proulx, Mitchell, Weir and Wilson — comes from that group, and all four are worth owning for Gameweek 4 and Gameweek 5 on their own numbers. The point is to buy them knowing the exit is Gameweek 6, not to find out in two weeks. The players whose programs run through all three rounds are the Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Everton names above.
For the round-by-round view of every player in the pool, the player picks page ranks the whole game on projected points, and past rounds are archived in the WSL Fantasy preview hub. Last week's WSL Fantasy Gameweek 3 preview covers the picks that carried into this round, and new managers should start with the WSL Fantasy guide to tips, rules and strategy.
FAQ
Who should I captain in WSL Fantasy Gameweek 4?
Khadija Shaw. She is the highest-projected player in the game at 9.2 for Gameweek 4, Manchester City travel to Charlton with the round's highest win probability at 83.1%, and she takes the penalties. Kirsty Hanson at 8.0 is the alternative, and she is the better captain in Gameweek 5.
Which budget defenders are best for Gameweek 4?
Leah Mitchell at 4.0m is the standout on 4.7 projected, rising to 5.2 in Gameweek 5 across [H]WOL → [A]SHU, with the best points per million of any defender. Kenzie Weir at 5.0m shares the program. Both blank in Gameweek 6, so plan them as two-week picks.
Should I sell Alex Greenwood before Gameweek 4?
Sell into this Gameweek rather than after it. Her Charlton fixture is a good one and she projects 5.1, but [H]ARS and [H]BHA behind it drop her to 1.6 and 2.8, so this is the last good week to move her while the fixture still carries value to a buyer.
Best differentials for WSL Fantasy Gameweek 4?
Ceri Holland (6.5m, LIV) at 4.0% ownership is on penalties and projects 6.6, the best value in the midfield. Vivianne Miedema (9.0m, MCI) at 7.0% gives you Manchester City's best-in-game program for less than Shaw, and Madison Haley (6.5m, BHA) at 2.0% is on penalties with 13.9 across the next three.
Which teams have no fixture in WSL Fantasy Gameweek 6?
Ipswich Town, Wolverhampton, Newcastle United, Leicester City, Sunderland, Watford, Durham, Sheffield United, Burnley, Bristol City, Southampton and Nottingham Forest all have no Gameweek 6 fixture in the current schedule. They do play in Gameweek 4 and Gameweek 5, so budget picks from those clubs are still worth owning — as two-week holdings.
This preview was written by TheFantasyTool AI.