Kostas Tsimikas (£4.1m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) produced double-digit Fantasy Premier League (FPL) hauls and Manchester City demolished Norwich City 5-0 on a busy Saturday of Premier League football. Let’s take a peek at the Gameweek 2 round-up!
Our usual, more detailed Scout Notes will follow for all of today’s games but in the meantime, our long-dormant Scoreboard series rounds up the key goings-on.
The graphics below are taken from LiveFPL, Ragabolly’s excellent and ever-expanding website, and our own Premium Members Area.
GOALS, ASSISTS AND PROJECTED BONUS
KEY FPL TAKEAWAYS
- Alexander-Arnold made it 7.75 points per match in his last 12 appearances with a double-digit haul against Burnley. Tsimikas followed suit with an 11-point return but the presence of the fit-again Andrew Robertson (£7.0m) on the Liverpool bench does perhaps signal that the budget defender’s run in the side could be coming to an end.
- Brentford and Liverpool are the only two sides with two Premier League clean sheets to their name so far this season. The Bees and Crystal Palace played out a goalless draw at Selhurst Park on Saturday; the two sides’ defences have allowed a combined 56 shots so far this season but have only conceded one big chance apiece.
- In the continued absence of Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.0m), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.1m) claimed responsibility for Everton’s spot-kick in the 2-2 draw with Leeds. A total of 34 shots were shared evenly between the two clubs at Elland Road.
- It’s two goals from three shots for Danny Ings (£8.0m) this season. He is the only current FPL forward whose conversion rate was in excess of 20% in each of the previous two Premier League campaings. He looks to be second in line for penalties at Aston Villa, however, as Anwar El Ghazi (£6.0m) stepped up to take the Villans’ spot-kick on Saturday.
- Pep Guardiola made five changes to his Manchester City starting XI, saying ahead of kick-off that he “wants to make everyone involved.” Ferran Torres (£7.0m) was again ‘out of position’ up top as Gabriel Jesus (£8.5m) excelled in a right-wing role while two of the benched players, Riyad Mahrez (£9.0m) and Raheem Sterling (£11.0m), found the net – as did Jack Grealish (£8.0m).
- Another £4.0m defender, Shane Duffy (£4.0m), rolled back the years with a goal from a Pascal Gross (£6.0m) corner in Brighton’s win over Watford. He has had seven headed efforts from set-play situations this season – three more than any other Premier League player.
INJURY WATCH
As mentioned above, Robertson returned from a brief spell on the sidelines along with Jordan Henderson (£5.0m) and Thiago Alcantara (£5.5m).
Ashley Westwood (£5.5m) and Matej Vydra (£5.5m) missed out with a toe injury and a knock respectively, with James Milner (£5.0m) also absent because of a knock – all three players’ issues are thought to be minor in nature.
Kevin De Bruyne‘s (£12.0m) ankle problem kept him out of Manchester City’s win over Norwich, meanwhile.
Robin Koch (£4.5m) sat out Leeds’ draw with Everton because of a pelvic problem, while Rafael Benitez gave an update on Calvert-Lewin’s fitness after full-time:
He’s had a problem with his toe. He has not been doing full training sessions in the last 10 days. He is missing a little bit of the stamina to finish the games in the way he wants to finish them.
Leon Bailey (£6.5m) missed Villa’s win over Newcastle with a hamstring injury, with the Mapgies’ Isaac Hayden (£4.5m) aggravating a knee problem.
Minutes after scoring Brighton’s second goal, Neal Maupay (£6.5m) picked up a shoulder injury that led to his half-time withdrawal.
Graham Potter said of his striker:
Hopefully, it’s just a few days/weeks, that’s what we’re hoping for.
FPL OWNERSHIP AND CAPTAINCY – TOP 10k
While it’s still early days to be trusting the top 10,000 as a barometer of FPL performance, the figures are often a sight more useful than the overall ownership numbers when it comes to assessing active Fantasy managers.
Tsimikas is owned by more FPL managers than even Alexander-Arnold in the top 10k, with Salah and Fernandes – as is so often the case – the only two players whose ‘effective ownership’ is in excess of 100%.
Fernandes and Salah mopped up a combined 95% of the captaincy in the top 10k.
While the Egyptian blanked, there was joy for many of the armband differentials such as Mahrez, Ings, Alexander-Arnold and Grealish.
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