Another Premier League week comes to an end, full of surprises around every corner. Managers scrapping on the touchline, shocking defeats and plenty of goals to bring to you. This article will provide a summary of all the games that took place this week; analysis of every game, line-ups, goals and assists, injuries, players that played well, players to keep track of and players that are not living up to our fantasy standards and what to do with them.
Aston Villa vs Everton
Result: 2-1
Scorers: AVL – Ings 31’ (A. Watkins), Buendía 86’ (A. Watkins)
EVE – Digne 87’ (OG)
MOTM: Ollie Watkins (AVL)
Line-ups:
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash (Konsa 94’), Carlos (Chambers 95’), Mings, Digne, Kamara, McGinn, Ramsey (Young 94’), Coutinho (Buendía 60’), Ings (Bailey 78’), Watkins.
Everton: Pickford, Tarkowski, Holgate, Coady (Alli 81’), Patterson, Doucouré (Davies 34’), Iwobi, Mykolenko, McNeil (Rondón 64’), Gordon, Gray (Onana 81’).
Steven Gerrard switched to a 4-1-2-1-2 formation to provide a more attacking threat this week. From the back of a 2-0 defeat away at Bournemouth, Gerrard recalled Ollie Watkins (£7.4m) alongside Danny Ings (£7.0m) to lead the front line. It was clear to see the attacking threat in action paid off, as both forwards combined to score the opener.
After Philippe Coutinho (£6.9m) picked up a slight injury in the second half, he was replaced by Emiliano Buendía (£6.0m). Buendía filled the number 10 role in spectacular fashion, sparking extra life into the game. A great one-two with Watkins in order to score the second goal for Villa and another close encounter on at goal which was saved off the line. It would be a bold step for Gerrard to drop Coutinho for Buendía when they face West Ham at home next week, however not bold enough for many fantasy managers to remove him from their teams, with already over 500,000 transfers made to replace him.
After a fantastic pre-season and ‘looking sharp’ in training, popular FPL choice Leon Bailey (£4.9m) was dropped for the game to make way for extra forward Watkins, and later replaced Ings with 12 minutes until the final whistle. With Watkins assisting both goals, it is unclear whether he will be in the starting 11 this weekend.
Everton continue to be without Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.9m) up front, Anthony Gordon (£5.5m) continues to fill the role in his absence. He showed promise during the game, scoring a goal however it was correctly ruled out for offside by VAR. It is unclear when Calvert-Lewin will be available after sustaining a knee injury in training, however he is set to return to light training at Everton’s training ground which will bring Everton a more attacking threat which they have missed over the first two Gameweeks.
Everton saw a glimmer of hope in the 87th minute, with a cross from Amadou Onana (£5.0m) was delivered across the face of the goal, it was put into the net courtesy of a Lucas Digne (£4.9m) own goal, but they could not find the decisive moment to get back on level terms. Everton are surely missing their main number 9, some decent chances during the game but no end product.
Injuries: For Villa, Coutinho and Matty Cash (£4.9m) should both be fine for Gameweek 3 however Diego Carlos (£4.9m) suffered a serious injury, the club confirming a few days later of a ruptured Achilles tendon. For Everton, Conor Coady (£4.9m) should also be okay for Gameweek 3 but the hamstring injury to Abdoulaye Doucouré (£5.4m) will be assessed in the next few days.
Arsenal vs Leicester City
Result: 4-2
Scorers: ARS – Jesus 23’ (A. Xhaka) 35’, Xhaka 55’ (A. Jesus), Martinelli 75’ (A. Jesus).
LEI – Saliba 53’ (OG), Maddison 74’ (A. Iheanacho).
MOTM: Gabriel Jesus (ARS)
Line-ups:
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White (Tomiyasu 75’), Gabriel, Saliba, Zinchenko (Tierney 77’), Partey, Xhaka, Saka (Smith-Rowe 84’), Ødegaard, Martinelli, Jesus (Nketiah 84’).
Leicester: Ward, Fofana, Evans, Amartey (Daka 63’), Justin, Dewsbury-Hall, Ndidi, Tielemans (Praet 63’), Castagne, Maddison, Vardy (Iheanacho 70’).
Gabriel Jesus (£8.1m) put on an absolute masterclass as Arsenal beat Leicester in a six-goal thriller. Arsenal’s new striker was impressive in the first game against Crystal Palace, looking dangerous whenever he had the ball but disappointed Fantasy managers with a mere 2 points. However, the Brazilian shone in the first home game of the season, scoring two goals with several chances to get the hattrick, but also supplied 2 assists for scoring teammates Granit Xhaka (£5.0m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£6.3m). Jesus had 15 touches in the opposition box, more than triple the shots of any other player.
Xhaka was also magnificent, making a lot of forward runs, getting into good positions in the box, with not just a goal but also an assist to supply Jesus.
Martinelli was once again on the scoresheet after his goal in Gameweek 1. The Left-Wing Brazilian makes it two in two rewarding fantasy managers with his contributions. The now £6.3 million asset was £2 million cheaper to his teammate Saka who is now proving to be very popular among fantasy teams, selected by 37.4% of managers so far, with 935,000 transfers for Gameweek 3.
Bukayo Saka (£8.0m) unfortunately missed out on the contributions this week, but there were chances in both halves of the game for assists, and an attempt was saved by Leicester goalkeeper Ward in the 80th minute. Fantasy managers are tempted to replace Saka with teammate Martinelli, being the cheaper alternative.
Arsenal’s defensive mistakes gave Leicester two goals during the game. The first an own goal by Arsenal defender William Saliba (£4.5m), who headed it into his own net with Jamie Vardy (£9.5m) lurking behind him. The second came from a delightful finished by Leicester’s James Maddison (£8.0m) from a tight angle that went under the legs of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale (5.0m).
Leicester’s main choice goalkeeper, Danny Ward (£4.0m), is proving to be extremely popular, becoming the most selected fantasy goalkeeper selected by 27.3% of all managers, this is due to his cheap price and the departure of former Leicester captain Kasper Schmeichel. Leicester however are conceding many goals, 6 so far, the joint most alongside clubs Southampton and Manchester United, therefore clean sheets will be rare.
Leicester haven’t been very active in the transfer window so far, with already the departure of first team goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, there are a few speculations of more first team assets to leave during the final few weeks of the transfer window, midfielders Youri Tielemans (£6.5m) and Maddison and defender Wesley Fofana (£4.5m).
Brighton and Hove Albion vs Newcastle United
Result: 0-0
Scorers: None
MOTM: Kieran Trippier (NEW)
Line-ups:
Brighton and Hove Albion: Sánchez, Veltman, Dunk, Webster, March (Mitoma 74’), Mac Allister, Caicedo, Trossard (Lamptey 75’), Groß, Lallana (Mwepu 65’), Welbeck.
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schär, Botman, Burn, Willock (Longstaff 76’), Guimarães, Joelinton, Almirón, Saint-Maximin (Murphy 75’), Wilson (Wood 87’).
The Seagulls and the Magpies battled to a stalemate with Brighton having all the chances but could not get past the heroics of Nick Pope’s (£5.0m) goalkeeping and last-ditch defending by Newcastle. This was the first game in ten Premier League matches that Brighton have failed to score a goal.
Brighton had all the chances in the first half, with Solly March (£5.0m) in the 33rd minute having a chance saved by Pope which went underneath him but was cleared off the line by Kieran Trippier (£5.0m). March had another chance in the second half that was again saved by Pope. The cheap midfielder had an impressive game, and worth to keep an eye on in future games.
Danny Welbeck (£6.5m) also had a decent performance; at times he pressed back to win the ball back on numerous occasions.
Brighton had all the attempts on at goal, 13 to Newcastle’s 4 and shots on target 7 to Newcastle’s 1. Brighton are 5th in xG (Expected goals) behind four of the big six clubs (MCI, ARS, LIV, CHE), 3rd defensively in xGC (Expected goals conceded) behind both Manchester City and Brentford and are also in the top two fixture ticker from Gameweeks 3 to 8 alongside Brentford. Players from Brighton are proving popular among fantasy managers, with 232,000 bringing in Pascal Groß (£5.6m), after an impressive first Gameweek against Manchester United scoring two goals and another 109,000 bringing in goalkeeper Robert Sánchez (£4.5m).
Newcastle posed little threat but look impressive at the back, two clean sheets in both games so far with only Manchester City managing to do the same. Newcastle has some difficult fixtures coming up, with Manchester City at home this weekend, Liverpool away in Gameweek 5 and West Ham away in Gameweek 7, hence FPL managers will be looking to transfer out Newcastle assets or benching them for these games.
Manchester City vs AFC Bournemouth
Result: 4-0
Scorers: MCI – Gündogan 19’ (A. Haaland), De Bruyne 31’ (A. Foden), Foden 37’ (A. De Bruyne), Lerma 79’ (OG) (A. Cancelo).
BOU – None
MOTM: Kevin De Bruyne (MCI)
Line-ups:
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker (Lewis 82’), Dias (Stones 64’), Aké, Cancelo, Rodri, Gündogan (Silva 65’), Mahrez, De Bruyne, Foden (Grealish 45’), Haaland (Álvarez 74’).
AFC Bournemouth: Travers, Kelly, Mepham, Lerma, Stacey, Pearson, Cook (Billing 63’), Smith, Christie (Stanislas 63’), Tavernier (Senesi 80’), Moore (Lowe 90’).
A comfortable win for Manchester City, Kevin De Bruyne (£12.1m) put on a masterclass performance scoring a goal and creating an assist. De Bruyne adds to his contributions with the assist he received in Gameweek 1. The Belgian midfielder will be a key asset this season, as Manchester City look to win their third consecutive title.
Ilkay Gündogan (£7.5m), the new Manchester City captain, is a player to keep an eye on this season. The German midfielder was allowed to make plenty of attacking runs, grabbing a goal for his efforts, since Haaland was able to pull in defenders and play passes in and around the box as seen with the first goal. Gündogan was also 1st in penalty area touches.
After scoring a brace in the first Gameweek, Erling Haaland (£11.7m) had a very quiet Gameweek 2. He made 2 passes all game, one of which was setting up Gündogan’s goal, along with 8 touches. There were moments during the game where he might have been able to get on the scoresheet, if Foden did not selfishly shoot from a difficult angle in the 9th minute, Haaland was there for the easy tap-in.
João Cancelo (£7.1m) had another good performance. He was making more forward runs than he was last week and even got the assist for the own goal later in the match. He really is a must have in fantasy teams this season.
Phil Foden (£8.0m), last season’s young player of the season, also had an excellent performance. With a goal and an assist to his name, Foden continues to blossom into an excellent player.
It was always going to be a difficult game for Bournemouth, even when playing five at the back. Manchester City matched this with five or more players going forward and it became impossible for them to defend with City so strong and good on the ball. Unfortunately, it will not get easier for Bournemouth yet, with Arsenal and Liverpool to play in the next two Gameweeks.
Southampton vs Leeds United
Result: 2-2
Scorers: SOU – Aribo 72’ (A. Armstrong), Walker-Peters 81’ (A. Mara).
LEE – Rodrigo 46’ (A. Harrison) 60’ (A. Struijk).
MOTM: Rodrigo Moreno (LEE)
Line-ups:
Southampton: Bazunu, Bella-Kotchap, Bednarek (Mara 70’), Salisu, Walker-Peters, Ward-Prowse, Lavia, Djenepo (Stephens 90+1’), S. Armstrong (Aribo 62’), Elyounoussi (A. Armstrong 61’), Adams.
Leeds United: Meslier, Kristensen, Koch, Llorente, Struijk, Roca (Forshaw 88’), Adams, Aaronson, Rodrigo, Harrison (Klich 84’), Bamford (James 28’ (Sinisterra 84’)).
An even game, both very similar with shots and shots on target. Leeds were 2-0 up until key Southampton substitutes made a huge impact to get Southampton a vital draw.
Southampton were poor first half, but an excellent second half as they came alive when the sub-lime substitutes were brought on: Adam Armstrong (£5.5m), Joe Aribo (£5.5m) and Sékou Mara (£5.5m). Armstrong was a danger on the left wing, who supplied the assist to give the Saints their first goal, courtesy of Aribo. Their second to tie level came from a beautiful pass by Mara in order to find Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.5m) on the right-hand side who tucked it in.
Rodrigo Moreno (£6.1m) continued his fine form as he scored a brace this week, adding to the goal he scored in the first Gameweek, taking his tally to three goals so far, more than any other player. With the injury to Patrick Bamford (£7.4m) and substituted in the 28th minute, he was able to play in a centre forward role however Bamford is not expected to be side-lined for very long. Rodrigo is another play proving to be very popular among fantasy managers this week, with 772,000 transfers for Gameweek 3.
Jack Harrison (£6.0m) is also continuing his fine form, now delivering back-to-back assists and topping the table of big chances created with 3.
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Fulham
Result: 0-0
Scorers: None
MOTM: José Sá (WOL)
Line-ups:
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sá, Jonny (Semedo 78’), Collins, Kilman, Aït-Nouri, Neves, Dendoncker, Gibbs-White, Podence, Neto (Traoré 78’), Hwang (Guedes 58’).
Fulham: Rodák, Tete (Francois 90+2’), Adarabioyo, Ream, Robinson, Reed, Palhinha, Cordova-Reid (Mbabu 90+3’), Pereira (Cairney 86’), Kebano (Stansfield 83’), Mitrovic
Wolves went into the game having not won in their last 8 Premier League games, which the draw sustained this week takes their tally to 9.
Wolves were sharp on counter attacks with two early chances in the first 5 minutes of the game for Pedro Neto (£5.5m) and Hwang Hee-Chan (£6.0m). During the second half there were big chances for Neto and Morgan Gibbs-White (£5.5m) but were unable to break the deadlock. Wolves ended the match with only 1 shot on target, unfortunately their main forward Raúl Jiménez (£6.9m) is unable to help this stat as side-lined with a knee injury.
A silly foul from Rayan Aït-Nouri (£4.5m), taking down Bobby De Cordova-Reid (£5.5m) in the penalty box gave Fulham a chance to take the lead. José Sá (£5.0m) came to the rescue for Wolves with an excellent penalty save to deny taker Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.6m).
Mitrovic, having scored 2 goals against Liverpool in the first week and transferred in by 650,000 managers for this week, had an awfully quiet game. He missed the penalty and became very frustrated in the last few minutes of the game, with bad tackle on Gibbs-White from behind and head barging each other afterwards. Mitrovic was luckily not to have been booked for both incidents and miserably for FPL owners ended the afternoon on a minus score.
Brentford vs Manchester United
Result: 4-0
Scorers: BRE – Dasilva 10’ (A. Jensen), Jensen 18’, Mee 30’ (A. Toney), Mbuemo 35’ (A. Toney).
MUN – None
MOTM: Ivan Toney (BRE)
Line-ups:
Brentford: Raya, Hickey (Sørensen 80’), Roerslev, Jansson, Mee, Henry, Dasilva (Janelt 62’), Nørgaard (Onyeka 80’), Jensen (Baptiste 74’), Mbuemo (Wissa 73’), Toney.
Manchester United: de Gea, Dalot, Maguire, Martínez (Varane 45’), Shaw (Malacia 45’), Eriksen (van de Beek 87’), Fred (McTominay 45’), Sancho (Elanga 60’), Fernandes, Rashford, Ronaldo.
After defeat to Brighton at home in Gameweek 1, Manchester United would be hoping to bounce back, however after an embarrassing 4-0 defeat away to Brentford, Erik ten Hag’s side hit an all-time low. The Red Devils now sit at the bottom of the Premier League table, two games without a single point, one goal to their name and conceding 6, the joint highest with two other clubs. BBC Sport’s Chris Sutton labelling United may have “hit rock bottom”, former Manchester United defender Gary Neville saying the club’s owners are watching a “collective rot” and former England striker Alan Shearer saying, “it is an absolute mess”.
Manchester United were caught out several times due to constant Brentford pressure. Goalkeeper David de Gea (£4.9m) had a nightmare of a game, allowing a long-range shot from Dasilva within the first 10 minutes to somehow slip through his grasp and into the back of the net. 8 minutes later an awful pass from the Spaniard allowed Mathias Jensen (£5.0m) to capitalise and double Brentford’s lead with a smart finish.
With United playing a higher defensive line, it allows Brentford to counter quickly, with their defenders unable to keep up with Toney, playing a beautiful pass into Bryan Mbuemo (£6.0m) to see Brentford home and dry.
Brentford played magnificently, they pressed as a team, worked as a team and scored as a team. Josh Dasilva (£4.6m) added to his tally to make that 2 goals in 2 games, the cheap midfielder is proving to be a fine addition for FLP managers teams however a word of caution as scoring from an expected goals tally of 0.2 xG.
Ivan Toney (£7.1m) is a real threat, securing 2 assists from the game and adding to his goal from last week. A cheaper forward option for FLP managers, priced at £7.1m, with already over 571,000 transfers in for Gameweek 3.
Needless to say, Brentford have a brilliant run of fixtures coming up, sitting in the number 1 spot on the fixture list ticker, with only Arsenal looking the most off-putting in Gameweek 8.
Nottingham Forest vs West Ham United
Result: 1-0
Scorers: NFO – Awoniyi 45+2’
WHU – None
MOTM: Dean Henderson (NFO)
Line-ups:
Nottingham Forest: Henderson, Worrall, Niakhaté (Cook 79’), McKenna, Williams, Mangala (Cafú 84’), O’Brien, Toffolo, Lingard, Johnson, Awoniyi (Surridge 72’).
West Ham United: Fabianski, Coufal, Zouma, Johnson, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Fornals (Lanzini 68’), Bowen (Cornet 85’), Benrahma, Antonio (Scamacca 68’).
A brilliant victory for Nottingham Forest as they get their first win of the season after 23 years away from Premier League football. A first half goal from Taiwo Awoniyi (£5.9m) was enough to secure the three points against an unlucky West Ham side, that had enough chances to get something more out of the game.
A player to look out for was Neco Williams (£4.0m), the very cheap Right-Wing-Back had an excellent game, he was on a few set pieces and even had a few chances to score himself. His defensive abilities were second to none, clearing a Kurt Zouma’s (£4.5m) header off the line in the 82nd minute, had the most touches than anyone else on the pitched with 74, delivered the most crosses and produced the most tackles.
Dean Henderson (£4.5m) saved a Declan Rice (£5.0m) penalty as well as some good saves during the game. Manchester United fans will be wishing their loaned-out goalkeeper was between the sticks in that Brentford defeat!
West Ham were unfortunate not to get something out of the game, two of their chances from Benrahma and Pablo Fornals (£5.5m) ricocheted off the bar, a goal finished by Benrahma was ruled out by VAR with a foul caused in the build-up and some wonderful saves from Forest goalkeeper Henderson.
Saïd Benrahma (£6.0m) had a great game, looked extremely dangers out on that left hand side, unlucky not to grab his side a goal. A player to keep an eye on for your FPL teams.
Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur
Result: 2-2
Scorers: CHE – Koulibaly 19’ (A. Cucurella), James 77’ (A. Sterling).
TOT – Højbjerg 68’ (A. Davies), Kane 90+6’ (A. Perišić).
MOTM: Reece James (CHE)
Line-ups:
Chelsea: Mendy, James, Silva, Koulibaly, Loftus-Cheek, Kante (Gallagher 84’), Jorginho (Azpilicueta 73’), Mount, Cucurella, Havertz (Broja 90’), Sterling (Pulisic 85’).
Tottenham Hostpur: Lloris, Romero, Dier, Davies, Emerson (Moura 82’), Højbjerg, Bentancur (Bissouma 79’), Sessegnon (Richarlison 57’), Kulusevski, Son (Perišić 79’), Kane.
A fiery encounter between the two London clubs. Both managers saw red with a couple of bust ups, plenty of referee controversy and a tense ending to the London derby.
Chelsea was on the front foot for the majority of the first half, an excellent cross from new acquisition Marc Cucurella (£5.0m) to find an unmarked Kalidou Koulibay (£5.5m) who volleyed it home to send the home team one nil up. Controversy came with the Spurs equaliser with a tackle on Kai Havertz (£7.9m) by Rodrigo Bentancur (£5.5m) was not given a foul which started the attack for Spurs to equalise through a long-range effort by Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (£5.5m).
Reece James (£6.1m) was excellent in the derby, made plenty of overlaps on the right-hand side, whipped a couple of dangerous crosses and inevitably found the back of the net when Raheem Sterling (£10.0m) picked him out in acres of space to send Chelsea back in front.
Harry Kane (£11.4m), with a lot of FPL managers transferring him out after his blank in the first Gameweek came close to scoring however dragging his shot wide. Owners of the England striker were happy as he found the back of the net with a header goal in the dying moments of the game.
Ivan Perišić (£5.4m) was substituted on in the 79th minute and made an instant impact as he got the assist for Kane’s goal.
Chelsea were by far the better side, but Tottenham found the spirit and fight to get back into the game. One play to pick out who lifted the teams’ spirit was Richarlison (£8.5m), with Antonio Conte changing to a more attacking formation, it gave Richarlison the ability to make forward runs and try to get between Chelsea’s defenders.
Injuries: N’Golo Kante (£5.0m) limped off in the 84th minute with a suspected hamstring injury. It was later confirmed by manager Thomas Tuchel that the injury is “quite serious” and will be out for “several weeks”.
Christian Romero (£5.0m) played the full match however it is confirmed that he will be out for a few weeks with a muscle injury.
Liverpool vs Crystal Palace
Result: 1-1
Scorers: LIV – Díaz 61’ (A. Milner).
CRY – Zaha 32’ (A. Eze).
MOTM: Luis Díaz (LIV)
Line-ups:
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Phillips (Gomez 63’), van Dijk, Robertson (Tsimikas 83’), Elliot (Carvalho 79’), Fabinho, Milner (Henderson 63’), Salah, Diaz, Núñez (Red Card 57’).
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Clyne, Ward, Andersen, Guéhi, Mitchell, Ayew (Édouard 63’), Doucouré (Hughes 79’), Schlupp (Olise 88’), Eze (Milivojevic 79’), Zaha.
Liverpool managed to salvage a draw against Crystal Palace despite Núñez sensationally seeing red on his full debut.
Darwin Núñez (£9.0m) saw red after headbutting Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) as he trundled off the pitch in the 57th minute. The Uruguayan international, off the back of a goal and assist in his first game, disappointed FPL managers with negative points. He will serve a three-match ban and unavailable until Gameweek 6 where Liverpool face Everton in the Merseyside derby. A lot of managers have already seen enough with over a million transfers have been completed. It is worth noting that a lot of FPL managers make transfers early, however it is advisable to wait and not be too risky as 73,000 managers decided to use their free transfer and bring Núñez in and as a result will miss the next three games.
Andrew Robertson (£7.0m) was substituted off in the 63rd minute, failing to keep a clean sheet for two weeks running but was very threatening with his under-lapping runs.
Mohammed Salah (£13.0m) was another Liverpool player to blank. The Egyptian had the most chances in the game with 8, and filled the forward role after the red card, but it was an underachieving performance even by his standards.
Luis Díaz (£8.0m) was the standing highlight of the match, after a quiet and disappointing first half, the Columbian came to life in the second half and scored a wonderful solo goal to get Liverpool back into the game despite being a man down.
Harvey Elliot (£5.0m) also had a good game in the midfield despite surprisingly being chosen by Jurgen Klopp in the starting line-up. The cheap midfield asset is someone to keep an eye on in future games.
Crystal Palace kept their shape well and it was their counterattack that caught Liverpool out with Wilfred Zaha (£7.0m) scoring a lovely goal from Eberechi Eze’s (£5.5m) pass their first shot of the game at the time.
Patrick Vieira’s side will be pleased to pick up a point against a strong Liverpool side, with Palace facing 4 of the top 6 clubs within the first 7 Gameweeks.
