All three newly promoted clubs have now kept a clean sheet after Burnley edged Sunderland on Saturday.
The Clarets’ 2-0 win extended Scott Parker’s unbeaten home record as Burnley boss to 24 matches, in doing so bringing the Black Cats back down to Earth with a bump following last weekend’s superb win over West Ham United.
Our next Gameweek 2 Scout Notes come from Turf Moor.
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- READ MORE: FPL notes: Ait-Nouri injury + Frank on the value of clean sheets
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 2: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus + ‘DefCon’ points
ESTEVE INJURY FEARS ALLAYED…
Sitting in over 19% of squads, Maxime Esteve (£4.0m) is comfortably among the top 10 most-owned defenders in Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
His remit is mostly to be cheap bench fodder but Gameweek 2 presented a decent clean sheet chance, and those who started him were rewarded.
The Frenchman didn’t see out the full 90 minutes, however, hobbling off late on.
The good news, from the player himself, is that it appears to be just cramp.
Parker backed up that diagnosis.
“I’ve not double-checked but it seems like as if it was just a little bit of cramp.” – Scott Parker on the late withdrawals of Lesley Ugochukwu and Maxime Esteve, via Burnley Express
Armando Broja (£5.5m) again didn’t make the squad due to match fitness. He may get his chance in the EFL Cup in midweek.
…BUT BALLARD A CONCERN
It’s not such good news for the 500,000+ who brought in Daniel Ballard (£4.6m) after last weekend’s 17-pointer.
Those new owners were deprived of an early assist when Eliezer Mayenda (£5.5m) missed a sitter from Ballard’s set-play header.
Worse was to follow after nine minutes when a groin injury forced him off.
“We’ll wait [until] Monday to have a diagnosis.” – Regis Le Bris on Dan Ballard
We should get a fresh update from Regis Le Bris on Monday when he faces the media before the EFL Cup tie against Huddersfield Town.
FIRST SIGHTING OF GUIU
The 19%-owned Marc Guiu (£4.5m) made his Sunderland debut on Saturday – although only as a late substitute.
Indeed, he wasn’t even the first forward off the bench, with Wilson Isidor (£5.5m) brought on to replace Mayenda midway through the second half.
Guiu instead was a final throw of the dice, coming on for Habib Diarra (£5.5m) in the final 10 minutes.
The loanee certainly put himself about, pressing, harrying Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) and having one shot into the side-netting.
Minutes off the bench is the first step towards FPL managers’ dream of a starting £4.5m forward, then. More anaemic displays from the Mackems’ attack would help his cause, while you wonder if Le Bris will give him a chance to lay down a marker with an extended run-out in Tuesday’s cup tie against Huddersfield.
Sunderland failed to build on the aforementioned chance for Mayenda and a clear opening for Chemsdine Talbi (£5.5m). Built to be a counter-attacking team, they didn’t really seem to know what to do with their 58% possession. They had only two shots, in fact, from minutes 15-80.
CULLEN + ANTHONY DO THE DAMAGE
Sitting in the top five of the embryonic FPL midfielder standings (before Sunday’s games) are Josh Cullen (£5.0m) and Jaidon Anthony (£5.5m).
Both assisted the other at Turf Moor, Cullen stroking in the opener from the edge of the box before Anthony raced away to finish the game off late on.
Cullen, very likely, is going to bank defensive contribution (DC) points more often than score. He delivered only five attacking returns in the Championship last season, just for a frame of reference, and his goal on Saturday was his first and only shot of the season so far.
It’s worth noting that his role has changed somewhat, however, with the departure of more attacking central midfield partner Josh Brownhill. Instead, Lesley Ugochukwu (£5.0m) is there for the lion’s share of the dirty work.
Thought Ugochukwu played with shades of Jack Cork today, letting Cullen take an unlikely Steven Defour role.
That stability and turnover of the ball in midfield will be MASSIVE for us this season. A role we’ve sorely neglected for a long time. #twitterclarets
— Will Lancaster (@WillLankyMedia) August 23, 2025
The metronomic Cullen followed up his five chances created in Gameweek 1, helped by a role on set plays, with a fine assist for Anthony’s goal.
As for winger Anthony, he’s certainly going to get more chances than his teammate. He perhaps should have scored at the back post before he countered to finish well.
Such is the graft that Burnley’s wingers are expected to get through in Parker’s workmanlike side that Anthony was even only one defensive contribution away from banking DC points:
There’s plenty of context needed here: this was potentially Burnley’s most favourable fixture of 2025/26.
In reality, most of our budget Burnley buys are going to be parked on the bench now till Gameweek 8. Let’s see how they fare against the big boys before that for a gauge of where they stand.
