Arsenal's Fantasy Premier League Bandwagon: Key Players to Watch
Arsenal are already warping the Fantasy Premier League market. With the champions heading to an Aston Villa side still reeling from a 4-0 opening-day hammering at Brighton & Hove Albion, managers are stampeding towards Mikel Arteta’s players ahead of Friday’s 18:30 BST deadline.
The rush is loud. It isn’t always logical.
Everyone wants Calafiori – but should they?
Riccardo Calafiori (£5.5m) is the early star of the bandwagon. Over 239,000 managers have snapped him up after his assist and nine-point return against Coventry City in Gameweek 1, making him Arsenal’s most-bought player.
He’s not alone. Martin Odegaard and Christos Tzolis (both £6.5m) sit among the four most-signed midfielders after scoring 11 and six points respectively. Kai Havertz (£7.0m), fresh from his opener in the 3-0 win, is the second most-bought forward with 135,000 new owners.
Most-bought Arsenal players for Gameweek 2
- 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 has made its move. The numbers tell a slightly different story.
Arsenal’s attack: the real FPL priority
Arsenal’s midfield against Coventry crackled with threat. Tzolis, Odegaard and Bukayo Saka (£9.5m) all passed the eye test – and the data test.
Tzolis led the way: four shots, three chances created, involved in seven shots overall. No Arsenal player matched that volume.
Saka, who buried the Gunners’ second goal after Carl Rushworth (£4.5m) spilled Tzolis’ effort into his path, fired three shots in the box – joint-most with Tzolis.
Yet amid all that pressure, Saka’s goal was Arsenal’s only “big chance” of the match.
Arsenal attacking stats v Coventry
- 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
- Madueke: 4 shot involvements, 0 shots, 4 chances created
- White: 3 shot involvements, 1 shot, 1 in box, 2 chances created
Coventry’s weakness was obvious: their left flank. Arsenal poured down their right, with Ben White (£5.5m), Saka and Noni Madueke (£6.5m) combining for 10 chances from that side as Coventry conceded 11 chances down that channel.
Villa are different. Their 4-0 defeat at Brighton exposed a softer centre.
Chances conceded in GW1
- Coventry: Left 11, Centre 2, Right 4
- Aston Villa: Left 4, Centre 7, Right 4
That suits Odegaard perfectly. Deployed in the most advanced central role behind Havertz in Gameweek 1, the Norwegian is poised to attack exactly where Villa looked most fragile. His blend of goal threat and creativity makes him a standout for this specific fixture.
The catch? Arsenal’s defence looks like a long-term investment. Midfield, especially under £7.0m, is stacked with alternatives across the league. That tilts Odegaard towards being a short-term, one- or two-week play rather than a season-long pillar.
For managers eyeing a Wildcard in Gameweek 3 – perhaps after an early Bench Boost – Odegaard is Arsenal’s premium attacking pick for this weekend. He’s the upside punt with a clear tactical edge.
The defence: value, structure, and a new arrival
The back line is where Arsenal quietly win FPL seasons.
The signing of Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) from Aston Villa complicates things slightly but also opens a door. He missed the Coventry match due to the timing of his transfer, yet his versatility will matter. Konsa can operate at centre-back or right-back while William Saliba (£6.0m) and Jurrien Timber (£6.5m) recover from injury.
If Konsa starts at right-back, White is at risk. If he partners Gabriel at centre-back, Cristhian Mosquera (£5.5m) likely drops out. On the left, Calafiori currently sits ahead of Piero Hincapie (£5.5m).
Should Konsa nail down a starting role, his price does the talking. Arsenal kept 19 clean sheets last season. Replicate that, and a £4.5m defender delivering six points in roughly half his games becomes one of the best value picks in the game.
He’s the kind of player you buy and forget until Saliba and Timber are back, and Arteta’s long-term blueprint becomes clearer.
But even Konsa doesn’t sit at the top of Arsenal’s defensive hierarchy.
Gabriel: a defender with premium numbers
The best Arsenal defender to own over the season is Gabriel. And it isn’t close.
In the league’s best defence, his set-piece threat is lethal. Last season he averaged 6.9 points per start – more than Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) at 6.7, and almost identical to Erling Haaland’s (£15.5m) 7.0.
Top-scoring players in Fantasy 2025/26
- Haaland: 239 points, 12 blanks in 34 starts, 7.0 pts/start
- Fernandes: 235 points, 9 blanks in 35 starts, 6.7 pts/start
- Gabriel: 209 points, 6 blanks in 30 starts, 6.9 pts/start
He won’t be your captain, but that’s the level he operates at. He blanked in just six of 30 starts. Multiple routes to points – clean sheets, goals, bonus – make him a player you simply start every week and stop overthinking.
Defensive contribution (DC) and bonus points underline his dominance. Gabriel racked up 22 DC points last season. The rest of Arsenal’s defenders combined for 30. From DC and bonus together, he collected 52 points – 30 of those from bonus alone.
Arsenal defenders’ stats 2025/26
- Gabriel: 52 (DC+BP), 22 DC, 30 BP, 30 starts
- Hincapie: 21 (DC+BP), 14 DC, 7 BP, 20 starts
- Saliba: 18 (DC+BP), 6 DC, 12 BP, 30 starts
- Timber: 13 (DC+BP), 4 DC, 9 BP, 28 starts
- Calafiori: 6 (DC+BP), 0 DC, 6 BP, 22 starts
- Mosquera: 5 (DC+BP), 4 DC, 1 BP, 9 starts
- White: 5 (DC+BP), 2 DC, 3 BP, 9 starts
Calafiori, by contrast, sits near the bottom. No DC points. Just six bonus points. A combined total of six, 46 behind Gabriel.
Yet he’s the one everyone is buying.
Calafiori’s role: great to watch, bad for bonus
Calafiori’s ownership has surged to 41.3 per cent. No defender is more popular. Across the entire game, he’s the fifth most-owned player.
The Coventry match offered a warning. Both Calafiori and White delivered a clean sheet and an assist. White still walked away with two bonus points. Calafiori got none.
That gap isn’t an accident. It’s structural.
Arteta uses Calafiori as a “line-breaking” full-back when Arsenal dominate the ball. The Italian steps into midfield, drives forward, and pops up in advanced areas. It looks fantastic on the pitch. It’s less friendly to the Bonus Points System (BPS).
Passing and BPS
- 30+ passes, 70–79% completion: +2 BPS
- 30+ passes, 80–89% completion: +4 BPS
- 30+ passes, 90%+ completion: +6 BPS
Against Coventry, White, Mosquera and Gabriel all made at least 57 passes with a 95 per cent success rate. Each of them banked +6 BPS from passing alone.
Arsenal defenders’ passing v Coventry
- White: 78 passes, 95% success, +6 BPS
- Mosquera: 65 passes, 95% success, +6 BPS
- Gabriel: 57 passes, 95% success, +6 BPS
- Calafiori: 24 passes, 83% success, 0 BPS
He can still return attacking points. He will be involved. But structurally, he’s fighting the scoring system his teammates are exploiting.
From a budget angle, the trade-offs are stark. Gabriel and Cole Palmer (£9.5m) cost £17.5m combined. Calafiori and Fernandes cost the same.
With Palmer looking sharp again under Xabi Alonso, pairing him with Gabriel offers a cleaner, more reliable route to points than tying up funds in Fernandes and a bonus-unfriendly Calafiori.
The triple-up that actually makes sense
There is a different way to lean into Arsenal: go all-in at the back.
Gabriel, Konsa and David Raya (£6.0m) form a compelling long-term triple-up. It’s less explosive than chasing short-term midfield hauls, but far more stable.
Raya doesn’t need to be measured against his teammates. His comparison set is the rest of the league’s goalkeepers. On clean sheet probability alone, he stands apart. Arsenal’s structure and control give him a higher baseline than almost any rival.
Start Raya every week and you remove the headache of rotating cheap goalkeepers. You free up transfers to attack upside in midfield and up front while a premium defence quietly accumulates points.
Arsenal’s attack will have its moments. But as the deadline looms and transfers fly, the question is simple: do you want to chase the crowd, or build around the defence that already plays like a title winner?
