Before going into the player picks of gameweek 2, let’s take a look back at how our picks for the first gameweek had performed.

2. Zlatan Ibrahimović – 9 points

Midfielders

4. Eden Hazard – 10 points

6. Nathan Redmond – 10 points

7. Erik Lamela – 9 points

8. Toby Alderweireld – 2 points

9. Luke Shaw – 2 points

Goalkeeper

11. David de Gea – 2 points

* Goal scorers are in bold.

From the 12-player picks, we made in the opening gameweek, six of them proved to be goal scorers with all the four midfield players scoring goals. The highest scorer of the week Phillipe Coutinho, who scored two goals against Arsenal, was not among our player picks, but even without Liverpool’s magician our midfield quarter earned a combined total of 37 points. Sergio Aguero and Zlatan Ibrahimović also starred for us with goals in the attack. Apart from the defensive picks, which returned a combined total of 7 points from four players, the opening gameweek proved to be a good one for our readers.

Gameweek 2 fixtures

Man Utd vs Southampton

Burnley vs Liverpool

Spurs vs Crystal Palace

Watford vs Chelsea

West Brom vs Everton

Sunderland vs Middlesbrough

West Ham vs Bournemouth

We went for tried and tested players in the opening gameweek, and it proved to be fruitful. With the second gameweek coming thick and fast, it would be better to hold on to your players than tinkering too much in this early stage.

Forwards

2. Zlatan Ibrahimović (11.5) – The Swede is part of 44.8% of the teams in the FPL – third behind Aguero and de Gea – and after his goalscoring Premier League debut against Bournemouth last week, Ibrahimović once again takes the place alongside Aguero in our line-up.

3. Alvaro Negredo (6.6) - Instead of Burnley’s Andre Gray, we have gone for former Man City forward Álvaro Negredo this week. His opening day goal against Stoke has pushed his price up by 0.1, and you won’t be able to go for a like-for-like swap with Gray, who is 6.5m. With matches against Sunderland, West Brom, and Crystal Palace coming for Middlesbrough in the next few weeks, Negredo will be a good buy at this point.

Midfielders

With all four of our midfielders scoring goals in the opening gameweek, we have decided to keep the midfield constant for the second gameweek.

5. Redmond (6) – A new role as a striker has seen Redmond become a part of 9 percent of the squads in the FPL. After a goal-scoring opening game, the Englishman is likely to get a longer run alongside Shane Long. But, an away match against Manchester United in GW2 might decrease his preference among FPL managers.

6. Erik Lamela (7) – The Spurs attacker has fixtures against Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Stoke, and Sunderland coming up, and if Coutinho (8.1) and Barkley (7.5) are out of your budget, then Lamela should be considered as a constant presence in your team.

Coutinho, Barkley, Gaston Ramirez (5.5), and Martial (9.5) will be the other options to consider for this gameweek.

Defenders

8. Luke Shaw (5.5) – Although he scored only 2 points in the first game, a home fixture against Southampton might help you to get more points from him this week.

9. Toby Alderweireld (6.5) – After a 1-1 draw against Everton, Toby Alderweireld will be looking to keep a clean sheet in gameweek 2 when they take on Crystal Palace at home. With a favourable fixture list ahead after their match against Liverpool in GW3, the Belgian should be expected to give many a bonus points in the coming weeks.

James Collins (4.5), Gareth McAuley (4.5), Jordi Amat (4) will be other options to consider this gameweek.

Goalkeepers

12. Victor Valdes (4.5m) – Middlesbrough’s winnable fixtures is the reason for going for the former Barcelona custodian, and a match against Sunderland could help him raise his value in the FPL.

Ben Foster (4.5) and Lukasz Fabianski (4.5) are the other goalkeeping options to consider this gameweek.