Four Fantasy Picks With Serious Upside for Gameweek 2
The deadline is looming on Friday at 18:30 BST, and Gameweek 2 already feels like a chance to strike early in mini-leagues. The template is still soft, managers are still working out bandwagons, and a few names are quietly positioning themselves as game-changers.
Here are four of them.
Cole Palmer (Chelsea) £9.5m – Back to 2023/24 Levels?
Cole Palmer didn’t just return. He took centre stage.
In Chelsea’s 3-2 win at Fulham on Monday, the England international produced his first double-digit Fantasy haul in over six months, built on a goal, an assist and a dominant all-round display.
The numbers tell you this wasn’t a fluke.
- Four shots in the box – more than in any single match last season.
- Eight take-ons – the most he has ever recorded in a Premier League game.
That’s the profile of a player not just involved, but running the show.
Early signs suggest Xabi Alonso is building a system that suits Palmer perfectly, one that could drag him back towards the heights of 2023/24, when he racked up 244 Fantasy points and became a must-own. Any lingering concerns over his fitness were eased when Alonso confirmed on Wednesday that Palmer is “absolutely fine” after being substituted in Gameweek 1, having briefly been flagged in the game.
The fixture doesn’t hurt either. Brighton & Hove Albion visit Stamford Bridge in Gameweek 2, a side Palmer tore apart last time he faced them there, scoring four times in a remarkable individual performance. Managers looking for an explosive midfield pick already know what he can do in this matchup.
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) £9.5m – Concerns Gone, Points Incoming
Many managers swerved Bukayo Saka in Gameweek 1. Limited pre-season minutes, a delayed return after the FIFA World Cup, and doubts over his sharpness all pushed him down draft lists.
Mikel Arteta ignored all that.
Saka went straight into Arsenal’s starting XI against Coventry City and responded with a goal in a comfortable 3-0 win. He lasted 67 minutes – enough to build fitness, enough to remind everyone why leaving him out is a dangerous game.
Last season he averaged 5.7 points per start. That’s elite, reliable production.
On paper, the next three fixtures – Aston Villa, Chelsea and Sunderland – don’t scream easy points. None of them drops below three on the Fixture Difficulty Ratings scale. But the opening weekend told a different story. Those three sides shipped eight goals between them in Gameweek 1, exposing defensive issues that a slick Arsenal attack can punish.
Villa, in particular, look vulnerable after a bruising 4-0 defeat and the suspension of midfield shield Joao Gomes (£5.5m). If Arsenal find their rhythm early, Saka is usually at the heart of it. Managers who waited might now be paying a premium to catch up.
Yoane Wissa (Newcastle) £6.0m – The Breakout Eddie Howe Promised
Yoane Wissa’s 2025/26 campaign never really got going. An early injury stalled his momentum and left Fantasy managers guessing about his true ceiling.
Eddie Howe insisted throughout that an injury-free Wissa would be a different proposition in 2026/27. The early evidence backs him up.
The DR Congo international carried his World Cup form – three goals on the biggest stage – into pre-season, where he scored twice in a friendly against Valencia. He then opened his Premier League campaign with an assist in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool in Gameweek 1.
He impressed in multiple roles in that match, starting in a tweaked No 10 position before being pushed up front after the break. That flexibility could become crucial. With William Osula (£6.0m) a possible fitness concern for Gameweek 2, the striker spot might be Wissa’s to claim outright.
And look at the schedule. Newcastle’s next nine fixtures all rate three or below on 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 at Newcastle are up for grabs. Wissa has converted 13 of his 15 career spot-kicks, a record that puts him firmly in that conversation. A £6.0m attacker with open-play threat and potential penalties, heading into a soft run – that’s the profile Fantasy managers hunt for all season.
Timothy Castagne (Fulham) £4.5m – Licence to Attack
Fulham’s fixture run is quietly attractive, and Timothy Castagne is already making noise.
He came away from Monday’s 3-2 defeat to Chelsea with two assists, underlining the attacking potential that had been hinted at in pre-season under new head coach Alvaro Arbeloa. The full-backs have been encouraged to push on, and the numbers back it up.
Across Fulham’s final five warm-up matches, Castagne, Ryan Sessegnon (£4.5m) and Antonee Robinson (£4.5m) combined for six attacking returns. That’s not a fluke; it’s a pattern.
Castagne himself spelled it out before the season started: the full-backs “have licence to kill,” as he put it. They can both attack the box at the same time, as shown when Sessegnon scored from Castagne’s cross in pre-season. For Fantasy managers, that’s gold – a £4.5m defender with genuine attacking licence, not just the odd overlap.
The schedule gives him a platform. Fulham face Sunderland away in Gameweek 2 and Crystal Palace at home in Gameweek 3, then in Gameweeks 6-8 they take on all three promoted sides consecutively. Clean sheets will be the bonus. Castagne’s real appeal lies in the promise of more attacking returns in a system built to unleash him.
The early weeks of a Fantasy season are about spotting trends before everyone else does. Palmer’s swagger, Saka’s reliability, Wissa’s emergence and Castagne’s licence to roam all point in the same direction: these are players who could define the next stretch of the campaign.
