Typically, the first month of Fantasy Premier League action each season sees the most volatility in the transfer market as a highly-engaged pool of managers look to transfer in the hottest assets and ditch players who have underperformed for them.
But we are already seeing plenty of activity going into FPL Gameweek 2, with one of the most-owned forwards in the game, Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, topping the transfers-out list after just one round of matches — almost 200,000 managers having opted to move him on at the time of writing.
So, are such sales justified after just one gameweek, or should we be more patient with our fantasy assets?
Let’s take a look at the main players who have been sold by large numbers of fantasy managers after disappointing in Gameweek 1, on a case-by-case basis.
Ollie Watkins
Striker Watkins (£9.0m) played no part in Villa’s pre-season following an eventful summer helping England get to last month’s European Championship final, so it was a surprise to see him selected by over three million fantasy managers for Gameweek 1 and then start the club’s opening Premier League fixture away against West Ham on Saturday.
His early substitution, around the 60-minute mark, was highly predictable due to the circumstances mentioned above, as were the high number of transfers out for the 28-year-old following his blank, but these are not justified and I would urge patience if you are a Watkins owner.
The situation hasn’t changed since locking in your Gameweek 1 side: Watkins was the best FPL performer last season, with 37 goal involvements in 37 appearances. That’s the kind of consistency which justifies his inclusion in fantasy squads.
He has had his poor/quiet performance now as he works his way up to full fitness and remains a sound option for Villa’s home game against Arsenal, who they beat home and away last season, on Saturday evening.
Following that match, Villa have one of the best fixture runs for Gameweeks 3 through 6, facing Leicester (A), Everton (H), Wolves (H) and Ipswich (A). Watkins is an absolute hold.
Ollie Watkins was substituted off after 61 minutes of Aston Villa’s win over West Ham (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
Chelsea’s Cole Palmer (£10.5m) began the season as the highest-owned midfielder in the game, having ended the previous one as the top-performing midfielder in terms of FPL points. However, more than 100,000 of his owners have already transferred him out in the wake of Palmer blanking at home to his previous club Manchester City in Gameweek 1.
We haven’t had the full opportunity to analyse Chelsea’s prospects this season, with an opening game against the champions an unfair one to judge them on. The west London club are going through a period of change, with a new coach in Enzo Maresca and several more new signings to add to the collection.
As in Watkins’ case, patience should be urged with Palmer, especially going into an attractive run of fixtures over the next six gameweeks — Wolves (A), Crystal Palace (H), Bournemouth (A), West Ham (A), Brighton (H), Nottingham Forest (H).
If Palmer can take up the same positions he did in the brief Mauricio Pochettino era and stay on Chelsea’s penalties, he could provide the same consistency as he did in 2023-24. Fantasy managers should give him until the September international break at the very least to prove his quality.
Palmer’s team-mate and fellow midfielder Christopher Nkunku (£6.5m) is a more difficult case, with fantasy managers hoping he could cover the Englishman while giving them a £4.0m saving in their budget. However, he’s played just 102 minutes across Chelsea’s past two fixtures (the other being the final warm-up friendly against Inter Milan) to manage his fitness and is beginning to look like a rotation risk.
The volume of new players arriving at Chelsea does raise some concerns, and I’d like to see their performance in the first leg of a Conference League qualifying play-off at home against Servette of Switzerland tomorrow (Thursday) before making a decision. Chelsea are the only Premier League side in midweek action ahead of Gameweek 2.
The debate around the mid-priced midfielders raged all pre-season, with Eberechi Eze (£7.0m), Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) and Diogo Jota (£7.5m) the main protagonists. A star performance from Jota in Gameweek 1’s early-Saturday game, followed by blanks for Gordon and then Eze later in the weekend has sparked significant action in the transfer market.
Eze is an absolute hold for me. He was robbed of a spectacular free-kick goal due to an error from the officials for Palace against Brentford on Sunday. He produced some outstanding numbers in that game too, including seven shots on goal, as the talisman of his now Michael Olise-less side. Gordon is more difficult to judge. Fabian Schar’s first-half red card in Newcastle’s 1-0 win against Southampton turned the match on its head, so we didn’t get to see their attack in full flow.
But both Eze and Gordon are proven assets in FPL, known for providing us with consistent fantasy returns, and on another day, we could easily have been looking at double-digits haul for each of them.
It almost goes without saying that Liverpool’s Jota could be an unbelievable asset this season, playing out of position as a forward (he’s listed as a midfielder) and £5.0m cheaper than team-mate Mohamed Salah (£12.5m), but fantasy managers shouldn’t be looking to get him in at the expense of Gordon or Eze.
Eze was desperately unlucky not to score in Gameweek 1 (Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)
Bench bothers
Manchester City’s Phil Foden (£9.5m) has seen almost 100,000 transfers out by time of writing after failing to start for the champions in Gameweek 1. But manager Pep Guardiola said ahead of the 2-0 win over Chelsea that he would be eased back in following lengthy international duty with England this summer.
Foden did play the second half off the bench as City’s attacking options dwindled following an injury for Savinho (£6.5m) and looks set to return to the starting line-up against Ipswich in Gameweek 2, so it’s an unwise decision to sell him.
Elsewhere, Ivan Toney (£7.4m) is a justified sell after being left out of the Brentford squad against Palace, as talks continue to progress on a move away. The days of Kieran Trippier (£6.0m) as a Newcastle ever-present also look numbered, with the defender having been similarly omitted from their squad. Bruno Guimaraes has also taken over as the club captain.
The same can be said for Darwin Nunez (£7.4m), who was among the substitutes for Liverpool’s 2-0 away win against Ipswich. He may well be their third-choice striker in the Arne Slot era, behind both Jota and Cody Gakpo (£7.5m) in the pecking order.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
