Dilemmas of the Week - Gameweek 2 (25/26)

 

Not too much to take note of, injury-wise, for the second Gameweek of the new season; but ongoing transfer shenanigans are still causing some upheaval - as well as some unwelcome revelations last week about early-season fitness levels and likely minutes-risks due to early substitutions.

I'll try to streamline these weekly round-ups a bit from last year, restricting myself for the most part to just the injuries etc. affecting players that are likely to have a major significance in FPL; and also, of course, only to new injuries - I figure everyone should be aware of players who've already been ruled out for some time!  

[For some years, I have found the 'Injuries & Bans' summary on Fantasy Football Scout the most reliable resource for this kind of information; although this site, Premier League Injuries, is a very good alternative (often a little quicker to update, I think - though it did go through a bit of a glitchy period for a while last year).  Go check these out for more comprehensive coverage. 

I see the Fantasy Premier League site has added an improved 'Player Availability' page this year (though hidden under 'The Scout' tab?!). That also seems to be reasonably comprehensive and up-to-date, but god knows how it's supposed to be 'organised' - maybe by 'date of injury'? Obviously, arranging it by club and alphabetical order would be more sensible; but the denizens of FPL Towers seem to have a deep aversion to the sensible.]

So, what are the conundrums we face ahead of Gameweek 2 of the new season?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

Kai Havertz reportedly has a knee problem that may keep him out for an extended period, but no details seem to have been released as yet. That's probably not much of a deal for FPL, as nobody was expecting him to get many starts after the arrival of Gyokeres.

Jeremie Frimpong sustained a minor hamstring strain in the opening match, and is expected to be out until at least mid-September. (A blow to many, as he had been selected by over 23% of FPL managers prior to the start of the season. Since his natural replacement, Conor Bradley, has been struggling with a muscle injury for some weeks, and apparently still hasn't been seen in training, this could be an opportunity for Joe Gomez to get some starts - and offer cut-price representation in the Liverpool defence. Although that might not be so enticing, as, on the evidence of their opener against Bournemouth, they might not be keeping many clean sheets this season!)

Do we have any players who are dropped, or not looking likely to get the starts we hoped for?

Ezri Konsa is serving a one-match ban, after getting sent off for a 'denial of a goalscoring' opportunity foul against Newcastle last week.

Alexander Isak and Yoane Wissa are still ruled out by ongoing transfer discussions around them. I am somewhat surprised that Ollie Watkins isn't in the same boat; and Nicolas Jackson is also very unlikely to get any minutes at Chelsea, even off the bench, until his future is resolved one way or the other; I'd be very wary of taking either of them, for fear of them suffering a lack of focus on their game - or perhaps suddenly being removed from squad consideration because of a new offer.

Ebere Eze is set to move to Arsenal. That probably wipes out his FPL value anyway, as he's unlikely to enjoy a regular start there, or to be nearly as impactful as he was for Palace even if he does. But he certainly won't be able to turn out for them this week, and probably not until after the early-September international break.

Exciting new striker arrivals, Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres, both still look quite a long way off full-match fitness, and might get abbreviated minutes for another week or two at least.

Amad Diallo, although displaced from any likelihood of an outright attacking role by the arrival of Bryan Mbeumo, had been widely expected to become Amorim's preferred starter at right wing-back. However, Diogo Dalot got the nod there last week, and it seems likely that the two of them may rotate that position - making either of them useless for FPL, until one of them becomes the regular starter.

Crystal Palace played a preliminary game in the Europa Conference League on Thursday evening, and they don't have much squad depth - so, they are likely to be suffering a bit of weariness in their Sunday afternoon game at home against Forest.

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

The early withdrawal - just prior to the 60-minute mark - of several popular FPL picks last week was a major cause of concern. We must hope that this was just a one-off aberration, prompted by early-season concerns about inadequate fitness levels. But if top managers start showing this behaviour frequently - and players don't remember the art of walking off slowly if the board with their number goes up around the start of minute 59 (honestly, this is one of the things I most cherish Erling Haaland for!) - we might have to seriously rethink taking a chance on any players likely to be so affected. (I got burned on Milos Kerkez last week.)

Did anyone play so well, you have to consider bringing them in immediately?

Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitike, Morgan Gibbs-White, Richarlison, Tijani Reijnders and Rico Lewis produced the only really outstanding performances in a mostly very drab Gameweek 1. However, the latter three of those look fairly unlikely to enjoy invariable starts at their clubs, Ekitike is playing under the shadow of possible imminent replacement by Isak, and Gibbs-White, even at his very best, isn't really quite enough of a goal-threat to merit FPL consideration. Gakpo, on the other hand, was for me an obviously far preferable choice to Wirtz (and even Salah, who's just far too expensive this year) all along, and I can't fathom why people hadn't picked him in the initial squad.

A fairly short roundup this week - but things will doubtless get muddier and muddier in the weeks to come....

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!