Fantasy Football: Who to buy, sell and captain ahead of gameweek 2
By now, even just one week into the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, some of you will already regret some of the choices you've made. There are going to be a lot of knee-jerk reactions building up to Saturday mornings deadline. It's already happening.
Timo Werner failed to score on debut, and with Liverpool to come this weekend, is the most transfered out player after round one, with more than 440,000 accounts binning the Chelsea striker. Meanwhile, Mo Salah's opening weekend hat-trick has seen Sadio Mane kicked to the curb by more than 210,000 users.
With Manchester United and Manchester City scheduled for their first game of the season this weekend, it's no surprise the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Kevin De Bruyne are among the most popular transfered in players heading into gameweek two.
The art of fantasy football is finding the balance between sticking to your gut and acknowledging when change is necessary. Here we aim to provide an overview heading into gameweek two. Starting with an update on the WhoScored Invitational private league, what changes we're making to our own team and tips and tricks to consider before tomorrow's deadline.
The WhoScored Invitational
The WhoScored Tipster made a solid start, with the likes of Reece James, Jamie Vardy, Mo Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all returning high scores to help culminate a haul of 85 points after GW1.
It leaves us in 38th place out of around 1000 entries, though let's give a round of applause to Jelroy Skippers and his team 'Tempo FC'. He is certainly living up to the name, setting the early pace with the biggest score after GW1 (107). The decision to captain Mo Salah certainly paid off, with the hat-trick hero returning 40 points.
Remember you can enter our private league at any time with cool prizes to be won at the end of the season!
Player to Buy - Adama Traore
We are all guilty of it, but a commonly-made error is transfering in a player with just the upcoming gameweek in mind. While it can certainly pay off, it might not harbour long-term success for your side and you may indeed end up selling soonafter. Looking at the upcoming schedule could prove a smart play, particularly if you notice a team has a kind run of games on the horizon.
With that, Wolves have taken our attention. Their midweek cup exit to Stoke may ring alarm bells, particularly with Manchester City up next, but don't be too hasty. Wolves scored five goals across their two league games with City last season and beyond Pep Guardiola's side awaits an affordable run of games to build momentum. After facing City, Wolves' next five games are against West Ham, Fulham, Leeds, Newcastle and Crystal Palace.
Raul Jimenez (£8.5m) is an obvious name to pick out but there are also cheaper options available. With Diogo Jota set to join Liverpool, Daniel Podence (£5.5m) could build on his start on the opening weekend with a run of games. Down as a midfielder on Premier League Fantasy Football but used by Nuno in a front three.
However, we are sticking our faith in Adama Traore (£6.5m). He put City to the sword last season with three goals across both league encounters last season and will soon be set to move up front once Wolves sign a new right wing-back.
Player to sell - Michail Antonio
We are only one game into the new season and it already feels like West Ham are in crisis. They lost their first game of the season 2-0 at home to Newcastle and now have a daunting run of games ahead. The Hammers are away to Arsenal this weekend and then face Wolves, Leicester, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool in a row.
Antonio's remarkable end-of-season form saw the West Ham forward emerge as a popular pick for Fantasy Footballer players but now they are getting rid. The 30-year-old has already been binned by nearly 150,000 users and it's a wise move. Not least because of West Ham's run of games but also after Sebastien Haller netted twice in midweek to apply pressure on his spot up front.
Captain Choice - Alexandre Lacazette
Arsenal got off to a flyer with a 3-0 win away to newly promoted Fulham and will now look to pile further misery on London rivals West Ham this weekend. The Gunners have won their last five home encounters with West Ham and have momentum on their side, something that is very much against the Hammers.
Fresh from signing his new contract, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the obvious choice to take the captain's armband for your side but perhaps there is value in taking the plunge on his striker partner Alexandre Lacazette. Few are likely to follow it but it could prove a masterstroke.
While Aubameyang has just one goal in four previous league encounters with West Ham Lacazette has three in two. In fact, against only Fulham (4) of all English sides has he scored more career league goals against than the Hammers.
There were doubts last weekend whether Lacazette would start against Fulham but he vindicated his place with a goal and Mikel Arteta would be wise to stick with him once again here.
The WhoScored Team
After such a solid start to the season, we have elected against the urge to make any transfers. We toyed with the idea of selling Tomas Soucek but felt there are no players worth using a free transfer on that are more likely to score more points than the West Ham midfieder. He is certainly in our sights to bin, however, and will look to get rid next weekend when we have two free transfers to play with.
With a trip to Arsenal this weekend, however, Soucek has moved to the substitute bench in favour of Sander Berge, who will line up against Aston Villa on Monday. Kyle Walker-Peters has also dropped to the bench in place of Eric Dier after Southampton's surprisingly poor start to the campaign. Both face off this weekend and we are banking on a Tottenham clean sheet against a Saints side yet to score after two games in all competitions.
