There was some huge variance among Fantasy Premier League managers in Gameweek 2.
Those without Manchester City star Erling Haaland (£15.1m), who scored three goals against Ipswich Town, likely had a poor gameweek, while with more than 477,000 Fantasy Premier League managers placing the Triple Captain chip on him, there were some massive scores.
There was plenty more to unpack from the 10 matches and as ever, here we highlight the main talking points to come out of the weekend from an FPL perspective.
Why it’s worth holding onto Eze
Many had high hopes for Crystal Palace at the start of the season after the way they ended the last one. But two losses in their opening two games and blanks for Eberechi Eze (£7.0m) might have a few wondering what to do with him.
I would hold fire if you have him because he has played well in both games, registering a combined expected goals (xG) figure of 0.86 and an expected assists (xA) number of 0.22. He has also managed six shots from inside the box. Eze is also on penalties and set pieces for Palace, who play home games against Leicester and Manchester United in two of their next three fixtures.
West Ham, who beat Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday, have clearly improved from last season and Jarrod Bowen (£7.5m) opened his account in their 2-0 win. With Manchester City (H) up next though, it’s probably best to wait and look at West Ham assets from Gameweek 4 onwards.
Chelsea’s attack is proving to be a minefield
Chelsea thumped Wolves 6-2 on Sunday, with big hauls for Cole Palmer (£10.5m), Noni Madueke (£6.5m) and Nicolas Jackson (£6.5m).
However, popular budget option Christopher Nkunku (£6.4m) didn’t make the starting XI with, surprisingly, Mykhailo Mudryk (£6.5m) favoured.
Nkunku, who started and scored in the Conference League tie against Servette on Thursday, had only an eight-minute runout at Molineux and it seems pretty safe to say he is finished as an FPL option. He’d looked a great asset pre-season with his friendly price, the number of minutes he was playing in the warm-up games and his performances — not to mention the praise he received from Chelsea’s new head coach Enzo Maresca.
There is no knowing when, or if, he gets back into the starting XI and it’s not like they are short of attacking options. Madueke, Morgan Rogers (£5.0m) of Aston Villa, Fulham’s Emile Smith Rowe (£5.6m) and Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.5m) of Nottingham Forest all look good to move on to.
Nkunku, left, was left out of Chelsea’s starting line-up for their 6-2 win against Wolves (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Why it’s worth investing in Fulham assets
On Saturday, Fulham beat promoted visitors Leicester 2-1 and new midfield signing Smith Rowe and defender Antonee Robinson (£4.6m) were in the points. Both look great value at those prices and have good fixtures coming up. Fulham play Ipswich (A), West Ham (H), Newcastle (H) and Forest (A) next. They are good enablers and picks for those looking to replace Nkunku or Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah (£4.4m).
Forward Rodrigo Muniz (£6.6m) has blanked in his first two games but he’s definitely worth keeping with the fixtures Fulham have.
Lewis is emerging as a brilliant Manchester City option
Haaland scored a hat-trick for City against Ipswich and those who triple-captained him will be delighted. His massive haul for the champions at home to one of the promoted sides wasn’t a surprise at all and we mentioned the merit of using the triple for this fixture last week.
The big omission from the City line-up, though, was Phil Foden (£9.4m), who missed the match through illness. It was really unfortunate for Foden owners, especially given the fixture, but it’s unlikely he will be out any longer because he isn’t injured.
Rico Lewis (£4.5m) has now started both City’s league games, with stalwart Kyle Walker (£5.4m) again rooted to the bench and yet to play a minute. If 19-year-old Lewis keeps his spot, he does look fantastic value — and given how well he is playing, he could well do that.
We might see Walker, 34, back soon when the Champions League gets rolling, and that could be at Lewis’s expense — or Pep Guardiola might find a way to fit them both in. In FPL terms, Lewis is still a risk as things stand but is looking more and more assured with each passing week.
Rico Lewis has started the season’s first two matches for champions City (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Bide your time and wait for Solanke injury news
Tottenham ran out 4-0 winners against a depleted Everton side on Saturday.
Dominic Solanke (£7.5m) picked up a knock last week according to head coach Ange Postecoglou, which ruled him out for Gameweek 2. Midfielder Son Heung-min (£10.0m) played up top in his absence and didn’t disappoint as he scored twice and picked up three bonus points for a 16-point haul.
If you still own Solanke, it’s worth holding on to him for now and waiting for an update on his fitness later in the week. We are likely to get a straightforward answer from Postecoglou, who is quite forthcoming during his press conferences regarding his players’ availability.
If the injury turns out to be serious and Solanke is out a while, Muniz and Joao Pedro (£5.5m) of Brighton are the best options you can get to in one move. That would also mean Son is likely to continue playing as Spurs’ No 9 because Richarlison (£7.0m) isn’t yet fully fit at the moment either.
Patience is required if you own Watkins
Arsenal kept another clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa. Mikel Arteta’s side are no doubt the best defence in the league but they were very fortunate on Saturday. Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) missed two gilt-edged chances for Villa, and Arsenal had an expected goals conceded (xGC) figure of 1.28.
Speaking of Watkins, he was taken off early (around the 64th minute, after also being replaced just past the hour in their season opener a week earlier) again for Jhon Duran (£6.0m), which is a bit concerning.
It might have been because of those misses and the fact Duran has been playing well, or possibly the England international is just building up match fitness having played no minutes in pre-season after his post-Euro 2024 holidays. Nonetheless, this would put me off buying Watkins right now, even with Villa’s plum run of fixtures covering the next few gameweeks. If you already have him, however, I would show patience and hope the form and minutes return.
Watkins was substituted early again during Villa’s loss to Arsenal (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Midfielder Rogers, on the other hand, started and played 90 minutes again, and put in a man-of-the-match performance. There is no way he is getting dropped by Unai Emery anytime soon and I think he will play plenty of minutes this season. He would have had an assist if Watkins had put that first chance away.
Rogers is great value and the player I would be looking to buy as your fourth or fifth midfielder. If you own Nkunku, I think this is one of the easiest transfers you will make this season.
We also might have found another viable £4.0m defender option — Kosta Nedeljkovic (£4.0m) came on for Matty Cash (£4.5m), who suffered a hamstring injury and is out for around a month.
Emery said post-match that Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) is “comfortable” at centre-back, and he now prefers using either Cash or Nedeljkovic “playing in their position (at right-back)” because of changes in their build-up structure this season. If you still own Brighton’s Valentin Barco (£4.0m), now out of the game because he’s gone on a season-long loan to Sevilla in Spain, and don’t have any other issues, signing Nedeljkovic could be a shrewd move. Villa play Leicester (A), Everton (H), Wolves (H) and Ipswich (A) in their next four.
Isak frustrates while Hall’s moment looks to have passed
Alexander Isak (£8.5m) failed to score again as Newcastle drew 1-1 away against Bournemouth. With the Swedish forward being the second most-owned player in the game, plenty of managers might be looking at moving him on. However, I would give him a few more weeks at least, seeing as Eddie Howe’s side play Spurs (H), Wolves (A) and Fulham (A) in their next three. No need to panic with him just yet.
Defensively for Newcastle, Lewis Hall (£4.5m) was dropped to the bench having started their opener last weekend, with Lloyd Kelly (£4.5m) getting the nod against the team he left this summer, and Tino Livramento (£4.5m) started over Kieran Trippier (£5.9m) — although the latter did come on for him just before the hour.
I don’t think Hall can be relied on as an FPL asset anymore with so much competition at left-back. Trippier’s situation is one to watch still.
If the England veteran moves away from Tyneside before the transfer window shuts on Friday night, then Livramento becomes a great option.
(Top photo: Morgan Rogers; Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images)
