fpl

West Ham’s new left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf (£4.5m) led the Hammers for expected goal involvement in their season-opening loss at Sunderland, combining three shots – one of which forced a goal-line clearance – with two chances created.

Cole Palmer (£10.5m) is now without a goal from open play in 17 Premier League games following last weekend’s blank against Crystal Palace. However, Chelsea’s talisman did score on his most recent visit to the London Stadium last September.

Liam Delap (£6.5m) also scored when he last visited West Ham, and will be hoping to be given a chance to do so again from the starting line-up after positional rival Joao Pedro’s quiet display versus Palace.

Tijjani Reijnders (£5.6m) starred for Manchester City last weekend, becoming only the second Sky Blue in history – alongside Sergio Aguero – to register a goal and assist on his Premier League debut. He’s now City’s most-owned outfielder in Fantasy, with a place in more FPL squads than any midfielder bar Cole Palmer and Mohamed Salah.

Antoine Semenyo (£7.1m) scored twice on the opening day trip to Anfield, and – alongside Evanilson, who equalled his tallies of three shots and four penalty box touches – is likely to be Bournemouth’s key attacking outlet again versus a Wolves side that shipped four goals at home. In Gameweek 1, only Erling Haaland had more big chances (three) than Semenyo.

Brentford could hand a first start to new club record signing Dango Ouattara (£6.0m) – who delivered a fairly efficient seven goals and four assists from 21 starts at Bournemouth last season – this weekend, while also welcoming back playmaker Mikkel Damsgaard and fellow winger Kevin Schade.

Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m) should be back in goal for Aston Villa after serving his one-match suspension last Saturday. He will be aiming to build on Villa’s streak of seven clean sheets in their previous 11 Premier League outings, a run which started with a shut-out on Brentford turf in March.

After managing just one shot in last weekend’s goalless stalemate versus Newcastle, Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) will fancy his chances of getting off the mark against his former side. The English striker has scored six goals and assisted two more in seven Premier League appearances against Brentford, with all but one of those returns coming in the last two seasons.

Burnley lacked a killer touch up front in their season-opening loss to Spurs, with winger Jaidon Anthony (£5.5m) unable to convert any of his four shots. There were some promising signs of life from Scott Parker’s side, though, including a joint-high five chances created by midfielder Josh Cullen.

Sunderland enjoyed a barnstorming return to the Premier League with a 3-0 win over West Ham and Dan Ballard (£4.5m) was the stand-out performer. The Black Cats’ centre-back bagged a goal with one of his three total shots in the six-yard box and delivered plenty of defensive contributions including a goal-line clearance that preserved his side’s clean sheet.

Fantasy managers will be eager to see whether cheap Chelsea loanee Marc Guiu (£4.5m) can earn any minutes up front for Sunderland against their former Championship foes, especially given the goal-scoring exploits of the teenager’s main positional rivals Eliezer Mayenda and Wilson Isidor in Gameweek 1.

Just under a quarter of Arsenal’s league goals last season were either scored or assisted by Bukayo Saka (£10.0m – 17 out of 69, or 24.6%), despite the England star only starting 20 of a possible 38 matches due to injury.

The Gunners’ winner last weekend came from a corner. It was their 31st such Premier League goal since the start of the 2023-24 campaign, which is 11 more than any other team. Their prowess from set-pieces creates a favourable mismatch against Leeds, who conceded nine of their 30 goals last season from dead-ball situations, and could spell more joy for Arsenal’s aerial threats including Gabriel (£6.0m) and their most recent goal-scorer, Riccardo Calafiori (£5.5m).

Leeds’ new left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson (£4.0m) will likely have his hands full defensively, then, but the Swede impressed at both ends of the pitch in his Premier League debut, combining three shots and two created chances with eight defensive contributions.

Crystal Palace will be relying more heavily on the likes of Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m) and Ismaila Sarr (£6.5m) for goals and creativity, with Eberechi Eze seemingly on his way out. The pair both impressed during pre-season and will need to step up here if Oliver Glasner’s side are to avoid extending their winless streak against Forest to 10 matches.

Nottingham Forest put a lacklustre pre-season behind them by the time Gameweek 1 rolled around, as Chris Wood (£7.6m) emulated his strong 2024-25 campaign-opening form with a pair of goals versus Brentford. The Kiwi striker was at his clinical best last Sunday, finding the back of the net with his only two shots against the Bees.

Palace allowed Chelsea a total of 19 total shots last week, which could be a concern given Forest will have plenty of attacking options at their disposal, such as Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.5m), Elliot Anderson (£5.5m) and last weekend’s debut scorer Dan Ndoye (£6.0m).

Everton allowed Leeds to take 21 shots on Monday night, but just three of them were on target – and the Toffees’ backline was eventually breached by a controversial penalty. James Tarkowski (£5.5m), the much-discussed king of defensive contributions last season, was at least on hand to notch two extra Fantasy points thanks to his 15 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles.

After handing a debut to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in Gameweek 1, David Moyes might now look to give fellow summer arrival Jack Grealish (£6.5m) his first starting berth against Brighton after the Manchester City loanee had to settle for a place on the bench last weekend.

Georginio Rutter (£6.0m) led the line for Brighton against Fulham in Gameweek 1 and could continue as an out-of-position centre forward – making the Frenchman, who also won the penalty to give the Seagulls the lead, a potential hidden gem.

Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) and Matheus Cunha (£8.0m) fired off a combined nine shots on goal – five of them on target – against Arsenal in Gameweek 1, with Manchester United totalling the most opening weekend shots (22) of any Premier League club.

In Alexander Isak’s continued absence, and Newcastle’s ongoing struggles to sign a new centre forward, it looks like Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) will remain Eddie Howe’s striker. The England international racked up a Gameweek 1-leading seven shots last weekend, and was on the scoresheet in the corresponding fixture against Liverpool last season as well as in the prior campaign.

A different centre-back has found the net for Newcastle in three of their last four outings against Liverpool: Sven Botman (£5.0m) in January 2024, Fabian Schar (£5.5m) in December 2024, and Dan Burn (£5.0m) in March’s League Cup final.

Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) scored at St James’ Park last season, and has netted four goals in his last three Premier league fixtures against the Magpies. Two of those matches have ended in a six-goal scoreline: the 3-3 draw in the North East last December, and a 4-2 to the Reds at Anfield last January.