Aryaman S

FPL GW2 Preview: Best Transfer Tips, Wildcard Drafts and Captaincy Picks

The dust has barely settled after Gameweek 1 but we return to Gameweek 2 which is just a day away with the deadline on Friday night at 6:30 pm BST.

Here are the fixtures for the upcoming Gameweek

This Gameweek has many exciting matches for fans and managers alike. Friday night starts with a London Derby with West Ham home to Arsenal. On Saturday Man City vs Tottenham will be a fixture to watch, historically it has always been a goal fest. Arsenal fans will be hoping to watch their team put on a convincing display at home to Leeds and a fixture to target for Managers. Monday night is one of the fixtures of the season, on paper it does not look that great but with the Isak situation and in particular his statement , it will create a hostile and brilliant atmosphere at St. James Park.

Players to transfer-in this week:

Bukayo Saka (£10.0m)

Arsenal’s talisman and a fixture proof player. He has Leeds at home and is a great candidate for captaincy this week. There is a caveat, Arsenal have Liverpool, Forest, Man City and Newcastle after Leeds. We saw this last year where we would avoid players because of their fixtures and they would end up hauling anyways. Premiums like Saka often deliver in big games and with him being on penalties offers another route to points. He has xPoints of 32.7 over the next 6 fixtures.

Lacroix (£5.0m) & Chris Richards (£4.5m)

The two Palace defenders are players to target with the fixture run that they have and with Guehi potentially leaving to join Liverpool are nailed on starters. Lacroix notched up 16 defensive contributions which was the second highes t for a defender after Van Dijk. He does offer that extra defcon points over Richards hence his price point higher. They also work great in rotation with Spurs defenders.

Jørgen Strand Larsen (£6.5m)

One of the best cheap Forwards as mentioned in this article. Wolves have a decent fixture run and mainly their attack revolves around feeding the Norwegian. We have seen how well Strand Larsen and Cunha fared under Vitor Pereira and the Wolves man is one to look at.

Players to sell/ monitor:

Diouf (£4.5m)

Lot of managers went for Diouf due to his attacking threat and him being a wingback under Potter. The Gameweek 1 fixture was against Sunderland as well but he came away with a 1 pointer due to conceding 3 goals, he did have a shot cleared by Sunderland and it very well could have swung the other way. Chelsea, Forest, Spurs and Palace are the next 4 fixtures as well with there being much better alternatives maybe it is time to sell.

Gvardiol (£5.9m)

The Croatian was not in the squad due to injury but has been selected for Croatia’s world cup qualifiers. He also dropped in price tonight. Competition from Ait Nouri could see his minutes reduced and maybe even his position from LB to CB. He looks like one to sell as he will not start this match and likely come off the bench against Brighton.

Wildcard Draft

The Gameweek 2 Wildcard is a powerful, yet risky, strategy that can set you up for a massive climb up the rankings. It’s an opportunity to correct a shaky start and build a squad tailored to the early season fixtures.

Preseason form coupled with new signings always makes the initial start to the season a bit of a mess. There is the dreaded international break after Gameweek 3 which is a better idea for a Wildcard as it allows you to have a larger sample size and allows you to navigate through any injuries during the break better. However if your team is in a very dire shape here is a Gameweek 2 Wildcard draft that you can have a look at.

In Goal i have gone for Sanchez, he feels like a very reliable option at £5.0m and an easy route in that Chelsea defence. Dubravka started against Tottenham and a £4.0m starting keeper in FPL is a dream.

For my defenders, i have gone for Saliba, the Arsenal defence has yet again shone and Saliba was able to rack up the most Defensive contribution points. Murillo as well is solid for Defcon but you could easily go for Milenkovic for the goal threat from set pieces and corners. Esteve is a cheap £4.0m option, you would only use him for rotation. Richards is the cheapest option at £4.5m in the Palace defence. Van de Ven at the same price is another good pick for Defcon and plays for a much stable Spurs defence under Thomas Frank.

In Midfield it is the two cheap £5.5m options although Reijnders has risen to £5.6m. Anderson is on corners, he was one defcon away from bagging 2 points. He also got an assist and had Chris wood been able to convert first time from a corner, he would have gotten 2 assists. Reijnders looked superb and usually players take time to fit under Pep but Reijnders looked like he has been playing for them for years. Gakpo seems like a good option as his only issue was his minutes risk.

With Newcastle unable to secure an Isak replacement, Isak could end up staying and bodes well for Gakpo’s minutes. Salah well there is not much to say about him. Semenyo has showed that Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth side despite losing most of their players still are a good team to target for attacking assets. Bournemouth have also reportedly signed highly talented Amine Adli from Bayer Leverkusen which can only be good for the prospects of the Cherries.

Haaland reminded us why he is one of the best Goalscores in the world with a brace against Wolves. If City are able to give him service in this revamped squad, he will score goals for fun. Chris Wood would score a brace as well and Nottingham Forest look like genuine challengers for Europe with their summer signings. As mentioned in my previous article about Kalimuendo’s signing who does pose a risk to Chris Wood’s minutes but for now he is a safe option and should he become a minutes risk once the European fixtures come in you could transfer him out.

It is upto you if you want to use the Wildcard, i would recommend you to be a little patient and keep your chip. However it is team dependent and relies on which strategy you are planning on pursuing.

Captaincy

Saka is the most logical captaincy choice if you own him otherwise you could look at Haaland who has Spurs at home.

It looks very dicey for Palmer and Salah owners, Palmer looked awful against Palace and Salah travels to one of the most hostile away grounds and it will be roaring even more with the Isak situation. Palmer faces a weak West Ham team and in my opinion a better captaincy choice over Salah this week.

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