Gameweek 2 answered the question Gameweek 1 could not. The “cheap army” that had the internet punching the air after opening weekend — the £4.0m Hull defenders, the bargain goalkeepers returning double digits — faded to a murmur. And the premium engine everyone was told was dead fired straight back up: Bruno Fernandes helped himself to a hat-trick, Erling Haaland bagged a brace, and the two most-owned players in the game reminded the room why they cost so much. The season now has two gameweeks of actual form instead of a summer of speculation.
Which makes Gameweek 3 the first real decision point, and the first week where a wildcard is no longer a panic move but a considered one. Here is the board as it actually stands.
The fixture board
| Fixture | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Man City vs Coventry | The easiest premium fixture of the week — Coventry are the promoted whipping boys (5-difficulty) |
| Ipswich vs Liverpool | Liverpool 2-difficulty on the road; their attackers get a promotion-calibre test |
| Everton vs Man Utd | Bruno away to a solid side; Tarkowski’s set-piece threat runs the other way |
| Arsenal vs Chelsea | The round’s marquee tie — Arsenal at home, Chelsea in flux under Alonso |
| Brighton vs Leeds | Two attacking sides; De Cuyper the standout of an attacking back line |
| Brentford vs Sunderland | Cheap in-form assets on both benches |
| Newcastle vs Bournemouth | Elanga’s Newcastle the headline; open game |
| Hull vs Aston Villa | Villa 2-difficulty away — the cheap Hull army have a real test |
| Nott’m Forest vs Spurs | Grinding Forest against a Spurs side with out-of-sorts assets |
| Fulham vs Crystal Palace | A quiet mid-table play, low-scoring candidate |
The captaincy call
Erling Haaland. This is the easiest captaincy decision of the season so far, and it is not close. Manchester City host Coventry — the newly-promoted outfit sitting at a 5-difficulty away fixture, the softest number on the entire Gameweek 3 board — and Haaland comes into it having just scored a brace. He is the highest-owned player in the game at 71%, which means everyone is on the same horse, but that is precisely the point: he is owned because he is safe, and he is safe because the fixture is a gift. Slap the armband on and delete the decision.
The genuine alternative is Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m, 48.6% owned, form 12.5, 25 points). He is the in-form player of the season, the recipient of the round’s favourite hat-trick, and his output has come against tougher opposition than City’s promotion pushovers. The only thing holding him back is the fixture: a trip to Everton, where Tarkowski (form 9.0, 18 points) and a resolute home side make a share of the spoils more plausible than a rout. Haaland is the fixture; Bruno is the form. It is your call, but the fixture wins this week.
The forward-thinker’s captain is Bukayo Saka (£9.5m, form 10.0, 20 points), owned by just 10.6% of managers and still Arsenal’s best player heading into a home tie with a Chelsea side that has yet to cohere. If you are chasing, Saka is the point of differentiation. If you are protecting, Haaland is the lock.
Best picks by position
Goalkeepers — This is a thin week at goal. Arsenal host Chelsea, so David Raya (£6.0m, 37.8% owned) is over-priced for a likely no-clean-sheet afternoon. The budget differential is Tzolakis (Hull, £4.6m, 7.1% owned, form 10.0, 20 points) — a keeper returning double figures who faces a Villa side away at 2-difficulty, the definition of a save-heavy trap for the brave. If you want neither, Jordan Pickford (Everton, £5.5m, 8.7%) in a game that promises traffic is the sturdier route.
Defenders — The standout is Tarkowski (Everton, £6.0m, 10.5% owned, form 9.0, 18 points): in-form, a set-piece threat in a rare home fixture, and cheap relative to that output. De Cuyper (Brighton, £4.7m, 15.1%, form 8.5, 17 points) remains the pick of the attacking full-backs the new bonus system was designed to reward, and Brighton host Leeds. For the budget end, Kayode (Brentford, £4.6m, 9.3%, form 7.5) faces a friendly home tie against Sunderland. One word of caution: the now-famous Hull cheap defence — Ajayi, Mendy, Egan — runs straight into an Aston Villa side travelling at 2-difficulty. The wave has crested this week.
Midfielders — Bruno Fernandes anchors the position (see above). The value that every template is sleeping on is Cherki (Man City, £7.7m, 26.1% owned, form 11.0, 22 points) — a player averaging over a point per game and sitting in the same City side that hosts Coventry, yet owned by barely a quarter of managers because Haaland eats the budget. Mamadou Sangaré (Brentford, £5.7m, 13.4%, form 9.0, 18 points) is the mid-priced enabler in form. And Gakpo (Liverpool, £7.0m, 8.1%, form 8.5, 17 points) is the cheap route into a Liverpool side heavily favoured at Ipswich.
Forwards — Haaland is the anchor. Behind him, Isak (Liverpool, £9.0m, 16.5%, form 5.0) has the fixture to finally blow up at Ipswich. The real differential is Barry (Everton, £5.5m, 4.4% owned, form 5.0) — a budget forward in a home game against United, priced at £5.5m and almost entirely ignored. And if you want the round’s most-owned forward, João Pedro (Chelsea, £7.7m, 69.8%, form 10.0, 20 points) is a problem: brilliant form, brutal fixture, on everyone’s roster.
Differentials worth a flutter
| Player | Pos | Club | Price | Form | Owned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tzolakis | GK | Hull | £4.6m | 10.0 | 7.1% |
| Cherki | MID | Man City | £7.7m | 11.0 | 26.1% |
| Gakpo | MID | Liverpool | £7.0m | 8.5 | 8.1% |
| Stach | MID | Leeds | £6.0m | 8.5 | 2.9% |
| Xhaka | MID | Sunderland | £5.5m | 7.5 | 4.6% |
| Barry | FWD | Everton | £5.5m | 5.0 | 4.4% |
| Kayode | DEF | Brentford | £4.6m | 7.5 | 9.3% |
The theme is consistent: the game is rewarding in-form players priced under £8m, and the ownership is lagging the form. Stach at 2.9% and Xhaka at 4.6% are the kind of low-ownership names that separate a mini-league from its pack.
One to avoid: Pedro Porro
Every gameweek there is a popular player worth a long think before the deadline. This week it is Pedro Porro (Tottenham, £5.5m, 12.0% owned) — a £5.5m defender with one point to his name and a 0.5 form rating across two gameweeks. Spurs travel to a grinding Nottingham Forest side sitting at 3-difficulty, which is not the fixture to resurrect a misfiring premium full-back. He is on 12% of rosters and has delivered nothing; on a week where clean sheets are scarce, that money is better spent on Tarkowski or De Cuyper. If you own Porro, the question is not whether to move him — it is whether the move is already overdue. The complementary hold-and-hope candidate is Dominic Solanke (Spurs, £5.9m, 1.1%, form 1.0), whose own slow start makes the Spurs double-think that much more pointed.
Bottom line
Two gameweeks of evidence means the wildcard question is finally a real one. The GW3-4 slot is the classic early-wildcard window, and the form board genuinely supports it: the cheap army has split, Bruno and Haaland are back on their throne, and a wave of mid-priced differentials — Cherki, Sangaré, Gakpo, De Cuyper — are out-scoring the premium names at a fraction of the cost. If your squad is misfiring or you are holding a player you drafted on name rather than form, this is the moment to rebuild without burning a free hit. If your squad is largely intact, the patient move is to hold and spend two transfers.
Lock Haaland for captaincy, chip one of the £7m-£8m mid-priced midfielders into the gaps, and make peace with the fact that you cannot own every in-form player in the league. Pick your lane before the deadline, because a wildcard spent in a heat-of-the-moment panic is a wildcard wasted. That’s the way the commentary desk calls it.