fantasy premier league gameweek 2 tips

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Here’s the first of the new season “my imaginary wildcard” team for Gameweek 2. This is where I pretend I’m using my Wildcard to give you some ideas for players with a little more longevity than the next gameweek. I’ve done it to fit in within my existing budget which will be similar to most FPL managers at the moment with it being GW2

Here’s the team and I’ll talk through the selections in brief terms below. You can see the detail of individual players and stats from my “ones to watch” articles just completed.

Mannone and Krul

The perfect home and away rotation for policing reasons due to their geographical proximity. Sunderland will keep clean sheets and certainly Newcastle looked far better against City than I expected

Debuchy

I’ve gone for the 2 elite defenders and then 3 rotating for the 3rd spot in 3-4-3. With Chambers unfortunately only a short term option Debuchy seems the best value in the Arsenal defence. Hopefully the Arteta injury will force the purchase of more mobile CDM than Arteta which will provide further protection to a defence that acheived 17 clean sheets last season, 2nd only to Chelsea

Everton (A)
Leicester (A)
Man City (H)
Aston Villa (A)
Spurs (H)
Chelsea (A)

Terry

Although the new attacking Chelsea looked fantastic against Burnley the defence didn’t look as solid as last season. However 18 clean sheets last season and the best defence by some distance can’t have disappeared over night so I’m giving them a little more slack. With Filipe Luis benched then it looks like £6.5m is a necessary outlay to get represenrtation unless you want to go for Courtois.

Leicester (H)
Everton (A)
Swansea (H)
Man City (A)
Aston Villa (H)
Arsenal (H)

Chester

Hull were one of the better cheap home defences last season gaining 8 clean sheets which is the same as Everton. Chester is the best value at £4.5m and looks to have found some attacking ability as Rio Ferdinand will be able to testify to after last week

Stoke (H)
Aston Villa (A)
West Ham (H)
Newcastle (A)
Man City (H)
Crystal Palace (H)

Hutton

To make the cash fit I was left with having to make 2 of my 3 rotating defenders £4.0m. My 2nd choice was Alan Hutton of Villa. I’m scpetical of Villas supposed new found ability to defend but with Hutton back from exile and Cissokho to improve the nightmare LB position which Lambert has continually failed to fix then maybe they are willing to monitor

Newcastle (H)
Hull (H)
Liverpool (A)
Arsenal (H)
Chelsea (A)
Man City (H)

Moore

Lastly I’ve gone for the gametime security of Liam Moore of Leicester over WBA RB Wisdom who could lose his place soon to Gamboa. It remains to be seen how good the Leicester defence will be but it was a better choice than Burnleys on first review after GW1

Chelsea (A)
Arsenal (H)
Stoke (A)
Man Utd (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Burnley (H)

JWP

If I could have squeezed the cash out I would rather have had Ince of Hull or McGeady of Everton for an extra £0.5m but that just didn’t exist unfortunately so I’ve gone for the fixtures and set piece delivery of James Ward Prowse of Southampton. Roates well with Albrighton of Leicester below

West Brom (H)
West Ham (A)
Newcastle (H)
Swansea (A)
QPR (H)
Spurs (A)

Albrighton

He may not be fit but after looking last week he still seems the best attacking £4.5m option and worth the gamble as JWP’s set pieces apply home or away

Chelsea (A)
Arsenal (H)
Stoke (A)
Man Utd (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Burnley (H)

Sterling

Looked dangerous with every touch last week and even with Balotelli looking like he will join I can see Balotelli as a pair with Sturridge. That would allow Sterling to play as a CAM perhaps in a 3-5-2 formation. Fixtures are tough and Liverpool certainly didn’t look as fluent without Suarez but Sterling certainly still looked the part last week

Man City (A)
Spurs (A)
Aston Villa (H)
West Ham (A)
Everton (H)
West Brom (H)

Sigurdsson

Got the CAM position and took full advantage. Now has 2 very good home games to capitalise even further

Burnley (H)
West Brom (H)
Chelsea (A)
Southampton (H)
Sunderland (A)
Newcastle (H)

Ramsey

Tough fixtures but he’s hard to ignore given last season and the way he’s started. Lethal on the break and ability to find space when defences sit deep makes him a double threat

Everton (A)
Leicester (A)
Man City (H)
Aston Villa (A)
Spurs (H)
Chelsea (A)

Rooney

With Januzaj the only positives from the Swansea match. He may lose pens to RVP but the 3-5-2 position sees him as a pair with RVP in front of Mata and that combination is bound to provide goals for Rooney. United were far better away than home last season getting the same points as City and Chelsea. This will be the crucial test

Sunderland (A)
Burnley (A)
QPR (H)
Leicester (A)
West Ham (H)
Everton (H)

Costa

Got off to a flyer last week and with the new pass and assist master in Fabregas added to the already hugely creative midfield then the goals should come raining in. The only concern is that to be a top top FPL striker you need assists. Last season for Atletico he scored 36 but only 7 assists. Suarez for example 31 goals and 21 assists. Even Sturridge was 22 and 8 and he is not someone you associate with assists. However given the creativity behind him I’m willing to bear with it!

Leicester (H)
Everton (A)
Swansea (H)
Man City (A)
Aston Villa (H)
Arsenal (H)

Aguero

Probably the most controversial of choices in that he surely will be used carefully given the World Cup and last years injury issues but he showed even with limited minutes he can do off the subs bench against Newcastle. Should be fit to start for GW3 so if I was using my WC I would just play him rather than do a big rejig to get him in. Thats a personal choice. You could just have YYT or Silva in your team and accept a 4 point hit to get him when he’s fit.

Liverpool (H)
Stoke (H)
Arsenal (A)
Chelsea (H)
Hull (A)
Aston Villa (A)

Hope that gave you some ideas for your team. Remember the “ones to watch” articles have mopre stats and details

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