Each week, FPL managers react to the events of the preceding weekend through buying and selling players in the transfer market. Player price rises and falls may occur depending on the volume of transfers made.
In this article, I’ll take a look at the key men in the Fantasy Football spotlight in terms of the top 3 players being bought and sold to give a judgement for managers looking to make a move: buy, wait, or sell?
Who to sign ahead of gameweek 2 of FPL
Erling Haaland, Man City (£11.6m)
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At the time of writing, nearly 900k managers have brought in the hulking Norwegian ahead of a plum fixture against Bournemouth this Saturday – mostly at the expense of Harry Kane (see below).
Does it make sense? Absolutely.
Haaland has recorded 2.6xG in the 2 games he’s been in English football and looks the real deal, plus he’ll probably be most people’s captain this week against the Cherries.
Verdict: Buy
Olexandr Zinchenko, Arsenal (£5.1m)
The Ukrainian was good against Crystal Palace on his Premier League debut for Arsenal.
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His on pitch positioning showed that he was basically part of a midfield four in possession, with Ben White on the opposite flank tucking in to form a back three – the same dynamic we saw between Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu last season.
He also registered an assist, but it wasn’t from a cross or a through ball – a header on for Martinelli to score from a corner. This isn’t the kind of assist we’d be expecting from Zinchenko, meaning that’s less likely to be replicated in future.
Nonetheless, his positioning is a cause for encouragement; if you have a defender who didn’t start or didn’t impress, it could be that you go for the ex-Man City man as just over 500k managers have done already.
Verdict: Buy
Alexandr Mitrovic, Fulham (£6.6m)
The Cottagers’ striker has already enjoyed a price rise from nearly 500k managers buying him in.
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The Serbian no9 gave Virgil Van Dijk a torrid time at Craven Cottage and registered two goals to boot in a system that seems set up to get the best out of him.
Despite Fulham’s next 2 being decent, I’d possibly be tempted to wait and see if they can replicate that against lesser sides, and until their fixture schedule clears in Gameweek 8 – between then and Gameweek 14 they face no sides in the top 6.
Verdict: Wait
Who to sell ahead of gameweek 2 of FPL
Harry Kane, Spurs (£11.4m)
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Sold by nearly 700k managers at the time of writing, it’s fair to say the Tottenham no 10 disappointed his owners by blanking against Southampton on Saturday.
As I wrote in another article for SPORTbible this week, it wasn’t a poor decision to start with Kane – it was simply a gamble that didn’t work out.
That said, it’s totally understandable by many have already swapped to Erling Haaland at the England captain’s expense – if I were in that situation, I’d have done so myself already.
Verdict: Sell
Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal (£8.0m)
Last week, I picked up on Jesus’ gargantuan FPL ownership of nearly 75% - a number which meant expectations were high ahead of the opening Gameweek.
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A blank against Crystal Palace has seen almost 300k managers opt to sell the Brazilian.
Is that the right choice? I don’t think so.
If you watched the game, Jesus did pretty much everything except score and in another world would have 2 assists: one from the rebound that Gabriel Martinelli failed to convert, and the other from a square ball from which Martin Odegaard opted to pass rather than shoot.
Given how Arsenal fixtures remain good – and get even better after a potentially tricky assignment at home to Leicester this weekend – I think the former Man City striker deserves more time.
Verdict: Wait
Ivan Perisic, Tottenham (£5.5m)
The Croatian was only introduced by Antonio Conte as a second half sub against Southampton, which has meant nearly 300k managers have shown him the door.
For the short term, with Perisic still presumably gaining fitness and Spurs facing Chelsea next this makes perfect sense.
Given Conte’s press conference remarks, it certainly made sense to go without Perisic for the first Gameweek and assess how he gets on in the Premier League.
Given the plethora of defensive options, I can completely understand those opting to move him on.
Verdict: Sell
Topics: Fantasy Football, Fantasy Premier League, Premier League, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Gabriel Jesus
Tom C