Gameweek 2 Preview of Fantasy Premier League, courtesy of Bet365

The deadline for gameweek 2 transfers is 7pm tomorrow evening. Manchester United welcome Southampton to Old Trafford on Friday evening to get gameweek 2 underway. United are the joint-shortest priced team in the Premier League this weekend with bet365 at 4/9, so will be expecting to follow up last week’s 3-1 win at Bournemouth with a victory against another south coast team. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (£11.5m) has started his United career well, scoring in the Community Shield against Leicester and then on his Premier League debut against Bournemouth. He scored 38 goals in 31 Ligue 1 games for PSG last season, and the early signs are that he’s adapting to life in England well. He could become a must-have as the season goes on, so it may be a good idea to draft him into your team now. At the back, Antonio Valencia (£5.5m) could be a very good option. Jose Mourinho seems to favour him as his first choice right back, and he could well get plenty of assists this season from that position. The Ecuadorian set up Ibrahimovic’s goal in the Community Shield and was involved in the build-up to United’s second goal at the Vitality Stadium last week. Anthony Martial (£9.5m) got 11 goals and 6 assists in his debut season in the Premier League and claimed 2 assists last week. He’s classed as a midfielder in this year’s game, so with extra points for goals and clean sheets he’s a player worth serious consideration.

Another team strongly fancied at home this weekend are Tottenham, who entertain Crystal Palace at White Hart Lane. A tough opening assignment saw Spurs pick up a point at Everton, and they’ll be looking to build on that with their first win of the season on Saturday. Spurs’ surprise title challenge last year was built on a solid defence, with no team conceding fewer than their 35 last season. Palace were one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league last year and were one of only two teams not to score on the opening weekend of this campaign. With this in mind there’s plenty of potential for points from Tottenham’s defensive players. Michel Vorm (£5.0m) will start in goal as Hugo Lloris is ruled out for a few weeks with a hamstring injury and looks a good cut-price option for this time period. Kyle Walker (£5.5m) claimed the assist for the Spurs equaliser last week and has the potential to score points in both defence and attack.

Liverpool are away at Premier League new boys Burnley, and after Phillipe Coutinho’s outstanding performance last week his price has already started to creep up. Many Fantasy Managers are putting their faith in him to add to his tally at Turf Moor and he’s now £8.1m. This is sure to rise again if he puts in a similar display on Saturday. Divock Origi (£7.0m) could be in line for a start if Sadio Mané’s shoulder injury rules him out of the side. Origi scored 5 goals in just 670 minutes of Premier League action last season, and is very much in Jürgen Klopp’s plans this term so could be a useful addition to your attacking options at a relatively low price.

Saturday’s late kick-off sees an early clash between last season’s top 2, with Arsenal travelling to Leicester. Both sides suffered disappointing starts to this season, with Leicester beaten at newcomers Hull and Arsenal turned over at home by Liverpool. The Gunners won 5-2 on this ground last season with Alexis Sánchez (£11.0m) bagging a hat trick. He started last week’s game up front and bearing in mind his performance here last season and Arsenal’s kind upcoming fixture list he’s likely to pick up plenty of points over the next few weeks. AT the back Arsenal have a bit of an injury crisis, with the inexperienced pair of Callum Chambers and Rob Holding starting at centre back last week. Leicester’s pacey forwards will be excited at the prospect of lining up against a makeshift defence, and the best picks look to be Riyad Mahrez (£9.5m) and Demarai Gray (£5.0m).

To finish off, one Fantasy Football pick from each of the remaining fixtures:
Stoke v Man City – Nolito (£9.0m)
Swansea v Hull – Jordi Amat (£4.0m)
Watford v Chelsea – Eden Hazard (£10.0m)
West Brom v Everton – Ashley Williams (£5.0m)
Sunderland v Middlesbrough – Alvaro Negredo (£6.6m)
West Ham v Bournemouth – Dmitri Payet (£9.5m)