The Premier League finally returned for another season last weekend and here are some of the big talking points in FPL ahead of Gameweek 2.
The number one priority for FPL managers who don’t own Erling Haaland for GW2 should be to get the Manchester City striker in their team for their fixture against Bournemouth. Haaland looked menacing in his PL debut against West Ham and has an excellent run of fixtures in the coming weeks, starting with a visit from Scott Parker’s Bournemouth side in gameweek 2.
The easiest way to get Haaland in would be to swap out Harry Kane – who was sold by 600,000 FPL managers this week ahead of his fixture against Chelsea – but the Norwegian has risen by 0.1m, pricing out a lot of people from doing the free transfer. This means Premier League Fantasy football managers would have to take a -4 points hit and make another transfer to free up some funds and bring in Haaland.
Despite not recommending making extra transfers unless needed, I would suggest taking the hit ahead of GW2. Haaland can go explosive at home to Bournemouth and is also the best captaincy option for this week.
Darwin Nunez (9.0m)
The one player that caught the eye of everyone in the fantasy football community in Gameweek 1 and could change up the template in upcoming weeks is Darwin Nunez. The Liverpool forward came on in the second half against Fulham, bagging a goal and an assist in a 39-minute cameo. More impressively, Nunez racked up four shots in the box and was involved in four big chances in his short cameo.
The Uruguayan is still a wait-and-see for a transfer in this week for your FPL team, especially with most Premier League fantasy football managers already owning 3 Liverpool players. However, if he starts and is effective against Palace this weekend, he could be a popular option in Fantasy Premier League teams heading into GW3.
CAPTAINCY CANDIDATES | ||
PLAYER | FIXTURE | NPxGi per 90 |
Haaland (11.6 m) | Bournemouth (H) | 1.12 |
Salah (13.0 m) | Crystal Palace (H) | 0.86 |
De Bruyne (12.0 m) | Bournemouth (H) | 0.72 |
There are two standout captaincy options in Gameweek 2, Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah.
The Norwegian played the full 90 against West Ham last weekend and scored two goals, grabbing 13 points on his FPL debut. Manchester City face newly promoted Bournemouth in GW2, a team they have beaten in their last 11 meetings in the Premier League.
Salah, on the other hand, grabbed a goal and an assist last week against Fulham and has a tougher fixture from a Fantasy Premier League point of view against Crystal Palace at home this weekend.
One differential option for captaincy this week would be Kevin de Bruyne. The Belgian is the best alternative to Haaland in the Manchester City squad and offers multiple routes to points, with a non-penalty xGi of 0.69 last season in the Premier League.
No Transfers, Haaland Captain
After scoring 72 points in the opening gameweek of the season in FPL, I have decided to go ahead with the same team in GW2 and roll a transfer. There are currently no fires in my team that need putting out and with the saved transfer from this week, I will look to assess my options ahead of GW3, where Darwin Nunez (9.0m) could come into my team for Gabriel Jesus (8.0m).
With Neto (5.5m) and Bailey (5.0m) both having good home fixtures this week against Fulham and Everton, Ivan Perisic (5.5m) stays on my bench in gameweek 2 in FPL with Tottenham facing Chelsea away and the Croatian not starting for against Southampton last week.
Choosing between Salah and Haaland is a tricky choice for captaincy, but with City’s phenomenal record against Bournemouth at home, the Norwegian gets a slight edge for me. Best of luck for Gameweek 2!
Shivaan Shah