FPL Gameweek 2: Top Picks With Explosive Potential
The deadline is looming on Friday at 18:30 BST, and Gameweek 2 already feels like a fork in the road for Fantasy Premier League managers. Wildcards can wait. Smart picks can’t. Four names, four different routes to climbing those mini-league tables.
Cole Palmer (Chelsea) £9.5m
A star turn at Craven Cottage has dragged Cole Palmer straight back into the Fantasy spotlight.
In Chelsea’s 3-2 win at Fulham on Monday, Palmer didn’t just score and assist. He dominated. He racked up four shots inside the box – more than in any single match last season – and completed eight take-ons, the highest total of his Premier League career. That’s not a player easing into a new campaign. That’s a player seizing it.
Xabi Alonso looks like he might be the manager to unlock the 2023/24 version of Palmer again, the one who smashed 244 Fantasy points and became essential in midfield. Any lingering fears over his Gameweek 1 substitution have been brushed aside too; Alonso has already confirmed Palmer is “absolutely fine” after he was briefly flagged as a doubt.
Brighton & Hove Albion visit Stamford Bridge next, and Palmer’s memories of this fixture are brutal – for the Seagulls. He hit four goals against them in his last home meeting. Managers searching for a high-ceiling midfielder don’t have to look far.
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) £9.5m
Many managers played it safe and went without Bukayo Saka in Gameweek 1. That caution already looks expensive.
After just 30 minutes of pre-season and a delayed return from England duty at the FIFA World Cup, there were big questions over his minutes. Mikel Arteta answered them ruthlessly: Saka started against Coventry City on Friday and promptly scored in a 3-0 win.
He lasted 67 minutes, enough to ease any fitness doubts and remind everyone of his reliability. Last season, Saka averaged 5.7 points per start. When he’s on the pitch, he delivers.
The fixtures don’t scream “easy” on paper. Aston Villa, Chelsea and Sunderland are all rated at least three in the Fixture Difficulty Ratings. But those same three sides shipped eight goals between them in Gameweek 1. There are cracks to attack.
Villa, Arsenal’s next opponents, look especially exposed after a 4-0 defeat and the suspension of midfield shield Joao Gomes (£5.5m). If Arsenal find their rhythm, Saka is almost always at the heart of it. Gameweek 1 reminded managers why leaving him out is a dangerous game.
Yoane Wissa (Newcastle) £6.0m
Yoane Wissa’s 2025/26 season never really got going. An early injury cut him down before he could build any momentum. Newcastle kept insisting we’d see a different player in 2026/27.
We’re starting to see exactly that.
Fresh from three World Cup goals, Wissa carried his form into pre-season with a brace against Valencia, then opened the Premier League campaign with an assist in a frantic 2-2 draw with Liverpool. On Sunday he was excellent, operating as a slightly deeper No 10 before being pushed into a central striker role in the second half.
That positional flexibility might soon turn into something more permanent. With William Osula (£6.0m) a possible fitness concern for Gameweek 2, the centre-forward slot could be Wissa’s to claim.
The schedule only sweetens the appeal. None of Newcastle’s next nine fixtures scores higher than three in the FDR:
- GW2: Tottenham (A) – 3
- GW3: Bournemouth (H) – 3
- GW4: Leeds (A) – 3
- GW5: Hull (H) – 2
- GW6: Coventry (A) – 2
- GW7: Aston Villa (H) – 3
- GW8: Crystal Palace (A) – 3
- GW9: Everton (H) – 3
- GW10: Fulham (A) – 3
There’s another twist. With Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes (£7.0m) gone, penalty duties are up for grabs at Newcastle. Wissa has converted 13 of his 15 career spot-kicks. If he gets the job from 12 yards, that £6.0m price tag starts to look like a gift.
Timothy Castagne (Fulham) £4.5m
Timothy Castagne is not the obvious name on a team sheet. But for Fantasy managers hunting value in defence, he’s suddenly hard to ignore.
Fulham’s fixtures are quietly turning. In Gameweeks 6-8 they face all three promoted clubs back-to-back. Before that, they travel to Sunderland in Gameweek 2 and host Crystal Palace in Gameweek 3 – both matches that offer clean sheet and attacking potential.
Castagne has already shown what he can do against tougher opposition. He produced two assists in the 3-2 defeat to Chelsea on Monday, bombing forward from full-back and exploiting the space that Alvaro Arbeloa’s system creates.
Pre-season hinted this might be coming. Fulham’s full-backs thrived under Arbeloa, with Castagne, Ryan Sessegnon (£4.5m) and Antonee Robinson (£4.5m) combining for six attacking returns in the final five warm-up games.
Castagne summed up the approach himself: you pick your moments, but when you go, you have “licence to kill”. Both full-backs can attack at the same time, both can arrive in the box. That’s how Sessegnon scored from Castagne’s cross in pre-season. It’s how Castagne can turn a £4.5m price point into a steady stream of points.
Gameweek 2 won’t define the season. But for managers willing to back form, roles and fixtures, Palmer, Saka, Wissa and Castagne offer something more valuable than safety: the chance to strike early.
