Arsenal FPL Bandwagon: Key Players to Consider for Gameweek 2

Arsenal fever has gripped Fantasy Premier League. Again.

With the reigning champions heading to an Aston Villa side still reeling from a 4-0 opening-day mauling at Brighton & Hove Albion, FPL managers are piling in on Mikel Arteta’s squad ahead of Friday’s 18:30 BST deadline for Gameweek 2.

The stampede has clear favourites. But the data tells a slightly different story.

The Arsenal bandwagon: who’s actually worth it?

Riccardo Calafiori (£5.5m) is the poster boy of the rush. Over 239,000 managers have snapped him up after his assist and nine-point return in the Gameweek 1 win at Coventry City.

In midfield, Martin Odegaard and Christos Tzolis (both £6.5m) have lit up the transfer market. Odegaard’s 11-point haul and Tzolis’ six have pushed them into the four most-bought midfielders. Kai Havertz (£7.0m), fresh from scoring in the 3-0 victory, is the second most-bought forward with 135,000 new owners.

• Calafiori: 239,000 transfers in, 9 points in GW1
• Odegaard: 207,000 transfers in, 11 points
• Tzolis: 163,000 transfers in, 6 points
• Havertz: 135,000 transfers in, 6 points

The crowd is moving one way. The numbers hint you should be a bit more selective.

Arsenal’s attack: short-term firepower

Against Coventry, Arsenal’s right side tore the hosts apart. But the most dangerous player wasn’t the most expensive one.

Tzolis produced four shots and three chances created – involvement in seven shots, more than any team-mate. He was everywhere.

Bukayo Saka (£9.5m) still carried his usual menace. He scored Arsenal’s second, had three shots in the box – joint-most with Tzolis – and constantly attacked Coventry’s left.

Yet for all that dominance, Arsenal created only one “big chance” in the match. Saka’s goal. And even that came after Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth (£4.5m) palmed a Tzolis effort into his path.

• Tzolis: 7 shot involvements, 4 shots, 3 in box, 3 chances created
• Odegaard: 6 shot involvements, 3 shots, 1 in box, 3 chances created
• Saka: 5 shot involvements, 3 shots, 3 in box, 2 chances created

Coventry’s weakness was clear: their left flank. They conceded 11 chances down that side, with Ben White (£5.5m), Saka and Noni Madueke (£6.5m) combining for 10 of Arsenal’s right-sided chances.

Villa are a different problem.

In their 4-0 defeat at Brighton, they were far more open through the centre than down either flank. That points directly to Odegaard.

The Norwegian operated in the most advanced central role behind Havertz in Gameweek 1. Against a Villa team that leaves gaps in the middle, his blend of late runs and slide-rule passes makes him a standout one-week punt.

There is a catch.

Arsenal’s defence looks a more reliable long-term investment, and the midfield bracket under £7.0m is stacked with alternatives across the league. That pushes Odegaard into a short-term, high-upside category rather than a season-long cornerstone.

If you’re one of the many planning a Wildcard in Gameweek 3 – perhaps after a Bench Boost in Gameweek 1 or 2 – Odegaard is Arsenal’s clearest attacking pick for this weekend. Beyond that, you might not want to be locked in.

• Chances conceded in GW1
• Coventry: Left 11, Centre 2, Right 4
• Aston Villa: Left 4, Centre 7, Right 4

The numbers say it plainly: Coventry’s weakness suited Saka and the right flank. Villa’s weakness points straight at Odegaard.

Building from the back: Arsenal’s defensive puzzle

Any discussion about Arsenal’s defence for FPL now has a new name at its heart: Ezri Konsa (£4.5m).

The former Aston Villa defender missed the Coventry match after his late arrival, but his versatility could be crucial for Arteta. He can slot in at centre-back or right-back while William Saliba (£6.0m) and Jurrien Timber (£6.5m) continue their recovery from injury.

That flexibility comes with selection risk for others. If Konsa starts at right-back, White is the obvious casualty. If he partners Gabriel in central defence, Cristhian Mosquera (£5.5m) would likely drop out. On the left, Calafiori currently sits ahead of Piero Hincapie (£5.5m).

Should Konsa nail down a starting role quickly, the value is obvious. Arsenal kept 19 clean sheets last season. Repeat that, and a £4.5m defender who starts regularly becomes a low-risk asset capable of delivering six points in roughly half his games.

At that price, he’s the sort of player you can set and forget until Saliba and Timber are fully fit and Arteta’s long-term pecking order becomes clearer.

But he’s not the main event.

Gabriel: a defender with premium numbers

The best Arsenal defender to own isn’t the new signing, and it isn’t the most fashionable full-back. It’s Gabriel.

The Brazilian is the league’s standout set-piece threat in what was the division’s best defence last season. He averaged 6.9 points per start in 2025/26 – better than Bruno Fernandes’ (£12.0m) 6.7 and almost identical to Erling Haaland’s (£15.5m) 7.0.

He’s not a captaincy option like those two, but in FPL terms he belongs in their conversation when you ask if a player is “essential”.

Gabriel blanked in only six of his 30 starts last season. Multiple routes to points – clean sheets, goals, bonus – turned him into a machine. If he starts, you play him. Every time.

• Top-scoring players in Fantasy 2025/26
• Haaland: 239 points, 12 blanks in 34 starts, 7.0 points per start
• Fernandes: 235 points, 9 blanks in 35 starts, 6.7 points per start
• Gabriel: 209 points, 6 blanks in 30 starts, 6.9 points per start

His dominance becomes even clearer when you break down defensive contribution (DC) points and bonus.

Gabriel collected 22 DC points last season. That number alone doesn’t leap off the page, but the rest of Arsenal’s defenders combined for just 30. No one in Arteta’s back line comes close to his influence in that metric.

Fold in bonus points and the gap widens. Gabriel amassed 52 points from DC and bonus – 30 of those from bonus alone. That total matched the combined DC+bonus of his three nearest rivals: Hincapie, Saliba and Timber.

• Arsenal defenders’ stats 2025/26
• Gabriel: 52 (DC + BP), 22 DC, 30 BP, 30 starts
• Hincapie: 21 total, 14 DC, 7 BP, 20 starts
• Saliba: 18 total, 6 DC, 12 BP, 30 starts
• Timber: 13 total, 4 DC, 9 BP, 28 starts
• Calafiori: 6 total, 0 DC, 6 BP, 22 starts
• Mosquera: 5 total, 4 DC, 1 BP, 9 starts
• White: 5 total, 2 DC, 3 BP, 9 starts

That last line is the warning flare for Calafiori.

Calafiori: popular, explosive… and limited by the system

Calafiori is flying in terms of ownership. His surge of transfers has taken him to 41.3 per cent, more than any other defender and making him the fifth most-owned player overall in Fantasy.

But his role under Arteta quietly works against him in the Bonus Points System (BPS).

Against Coventry, both Calafiori and White produced a clean sheet and an assist. On paper, identical. In FPL, not quite. White collected two bonus points. Calafiori got none.

Why? The Italian is used as a “line-breaking” full-back in games where Arsenal dominate the ball. He’s encouraged to roam, step into midfield, pop up in advanced pockets. It looks great on the pitch. It’s less kind to his BPS score.

Because he moves into higher-risk areas, he attempts far fewer passes than the other defenders. That matters. Passing volume and accuracy are heavily rewarded in the BPS.

If a player makes at least 30 passes with 90 per cent or better accuracy, they gain six BPS points – a huge boost in the race for bonus.

• Arsenal defenders’ passing v Coventry
• White: 78 passes, 95% completed, +6 BPS
• Mosquera: 65 passes, 95% completed, +6 BPS
• Gabriel: 57 passes, 95% completed, +6 BPS
• Calafiori: 24 passes, 83% completed, 0 BPS

This isn’t a one-off quirk. It’s baked into his role. Last season, he didn’t earn a single DC point and finished with only six bonus points. His combined DC+bonus of six left him 46 behind Gabriel.

So while Calafiori can absolutely deliver attacking returns and clean sheets, his ceiling in many games will be capped by the BPS mechanics. When he and Gabriel keep a clean sheet in the same match, the Brazilian will usually be the one walking away with the extra points.

From a budget perspective, that matters. Gabriel and Cole Palmer (£9.5m) cost £17.5m together – exactly the same as Calafiori and Fernandes.

With Palmer looking sharp and confident under Xabi Alonso, pairing him with Gabriel looks a more efficient use of funds than going for Fernandes and the heavily-owned but BPS-unfriendly Calafiori.

The triple-up: why Raya completes the picture

There’s one more angle: going all-in on Arsenal’s defence.

If you’re looking for a long-term structure rather than a short-term punt, a triple-up of Gabriel, Konsa and David Raya (£6.0m) makes a powerful case.

Raya shouldn’t be compared to his Arsenal team-mates. His real competition is every other goalkeeper in the game. On clean-sheet probability alone, the Spaniard stands out as the most likely No 1 to deliver a shutout in any given Gameweek.

Owning Raya and playing him every week removes the headache of rotating budget goalkeepers. It frees your transfers and mental energy to chase value in midfield and attack, knowing your goalkeeper slot is locked into one of the league’s most reliable clean-sheet sources.

So while the crowd flocks to Arsenal’s shiny new full-back and the short-term midfield hauls, the smarter long game may lie in a different direction: Gabriel as a season-long anchor, Konsa as a cut-price gift if he starts, and Raya as the steady hand behind them.

The deadline is coming. The bandwagon is rolling. The question is simple: are you buying into the noise, or into the numbers?