Gameweek 2 of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) presented virtual managers across the world with unheralded surprises.
Following the successes of GW1, many managers rushed to the transfer market to either sell-off some players and replace them with performing ones; others made substitutions within their teams; yet others made the performers their captains and vice captains.
The list of players topping the transfers-in include,
Romelu Lukaku (£11.5m) – 202,000 transfers-in
Konstantinos Tsimikas (£4.1m) – 171,000 transfers-in
Shane Duffy (£4.1m) – 166,000 transfers-in
Danny Ings (£8.0m) – 132,000 transfers-in
Diogo Jota (£7.6m) – 123,000 transfers-in
Lots of managers, following GW1 successes starred Bruno Fernandes and Mo Salah.
With so much expectations of garnering enough points consequent upon these decisions, the GW2 was much anticipated.
But contrary to their expectations, it was a week that most GW1 performers did not live up their billing as they misfired.
There was also a flurry of red cards to players which has put the GW3 to serious permutations for managers.
Aside the red cards, there were injuries to team players and this also adds to the burden of managers come GW3.
A team-by-team list of these injuries, as reported by our source, would appear as follows:
Arsenal
Alexandre Lacazette (coronavirus); Thomas Partey (ankle); Gabriel (knee); Eddie Nketiah (ankle); Hector Bellerin (thigh); Ben White (coronavirus); Kieran Tierney (quad); Gabriel Martinelli (thigh)
Aston Villa
Leon Bailey (thigh); Ollie Watkins (knee); Bertrand Traore (thigh); Trezeguet (knee); Morgan Sanson (knee)
Brentford
Kristoffer Ajer (ankle); Josh Dasilva (hip); Mathias Jensen (foot): Dane suffered a gashed foot in the Euro 2020 semi-final defeat to England and is expected to return soon after building his fitness.
Brighton
Danny Welbeck (thigh); Tariq Lamptey (thigh); Joel Veltman (fitness); Neal Maupay (shoulder); Dan Burn (knee); Kjell Scherpen (ankle)
Burnley
Dale Stephens (ankle); Kevin Long (calf)
Chelsea
Christian Pulisic (coronavirus); Ruben Loftus-Cheek (self-isolation)
Crystal Palace
Michael Olise (back); Eberechi Eze (Achilles); Nathan Ferguson (Achilles)
Everton
Andre Gomes (unspecified); James Rodriguez (self-isolation)
Leeds
Robin Koch (pelvis); Diego Llorente (knee); Adam Forshaw (hip)
Leicester
Jonny Evans (ankle); Jannik Vestergaard (unspecified); Wesley Fofana (shin); Ryan Bertrand (self-isolation); James Justin (knee); Nampalys Mendy (hip)
Liverpool
Fabinho (personal time due to father’s death)
Manchester City
Kevin De Bruyne (ankle); Phil Foden (foot)
Manchester United
Edinson Cavani (fitness); Marcus Rashford (shoulder); Alex Telles (ankle); Dean Henderson (hip)
Newcastle
Jonjo Shelvey (calf); Martin Dubravka (foot); Karl Darlow (coronavirus); Paul Dummett (calf)
Norwich
Sam Byram (thigh)
Southampton
Sam McQueen (knee)
Tottenham
Tanguy Ndombele (failed fitness test); Cristian Romero (knee)
Watford
Nathaniel Chalobah (illness); Joao Pedro (knee); Juraj Kucka (thigh)
West Ham
Arthur Masuaku (knee)
Wolves
Willy Boly (thigh); Jonny (knee); Pedro Neto (knee); Daniel Podence (groin)
Azuka Edokobi is a Writer , a Farmer, a Supply Chain Expert and an Entrepreneur