Welcome to AM’s Perfect XI - Week 2 player picks. Before I begin with a look at the second week of the Premier League season it’s worth reminding you all to update your Togga app from the IOS or Android store as we had a small drop towards the end of last week. Find the app here: https://www.playtogga.com
In case you missed it we’ve set up a Rotoworld PL Private League where you can challenge myself and the rest of the RW PL team over the course of the season. To join it download the app and then click the below link from your device, or find us from the Featured Leagues tab:
Each week I’ll be providing a Perfect XI of my own for the upcoming gameweek, recommending 11 players to consider along with some honourable mentions. The players listed won’t necessarily be the exact 11 selected for my own Perfect XI fantasy side. The point of this column isn’t to tell you exactly who to pick; it’s to present some ideas and get your brain whirring. I’ll be listing a combination of the must-haves and slightly riskier options, alongside the odd hunch. Hopefully you’ll find this useful whether you’re playing Togga’s game or looking at potential transfers for your official Fantasy Premier League team.
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Week 1 was an extremely average one for my Perfect XI team as I scored just 117.75 points. My line-up was:
Caballero, Bellerin, Fuchs, Shaw, Van Dijk, Mahrez, Townsend, Redmond, Hazard, Vardy, Aguero
Sergio Aguero and the entire midfield performed admirably but the defence and Jamie Vardy were particularly poor and so I’ve got ground to make up already, with some teams posting scores in excess of 220 points in Week 1.
Week 2 presents us with our first ever Friday evening Premier League fantasy deadline, with Manchester United hosting Southampton at 8pm BST (British Summer Time) on Friday night. This means you need to have your fantasy side locked in early, although with Perfect XI you can swap out a player right up to one minute before their match kicks off and bring in an alternative player whose match is also yet to kick off. This flexibility will allow you to prevent the pain of a surprise benching or unreported last minute injury and a big fat zero. Ensure you keep your eyes on the RW PL Twitter account for line-ups one hour prior to matches.
Here are the Week 2 fixtures:
FRIDAY
Man Utd v Southampton
SATURDAY
Stoke v Man City
Burnley v Liverpool
Swansea v Hull
Tottenham v Crystal Palace
Watford v Chelsea
West Brom v Everton
Leicester v Arsenal
SUNDAY
Sunderland v Middlesbrough
West Ham v Bournemouth
And here’s my Week 2 Perfect XI ...
KEEPERS
Adrian - West Ham’s first Premier League game at the Olympic Stadium will be a cause for celebration, the fans will be in full voice and it seems unlikely we’ll get a repeat of Bournemouth’s 4-3 away win in the same fixture last season. In fact I expect the Hammers to win this one comfortably to nil and so Adrian will be in my Perfect XI team for Week 2.
Honourable Mention: David De Gea at home to Southampton. Michel Vorm at home to Crystal Palace.
DEFENDERS
Branislav Ivanovic - How often has Branislav Ivanovic popped up with a vital goal from a corner to help Chelsea to a scrappy away win? The answer is plenty. Watford will be the victims on this occasion. You heard it here first.
Antonio Valencia - One of the men to benefit from Jose Mourinho’s arrival at Old Trafford has been Antonio Valencia, with the Ecuadorian given the chance to make the right back spot his own. Pre-season performances were impressive with a clear improvement to his crossing and defensive positioning, which combined with his pace and work-rate makes him a potential Mourinho favourite. Valencia also has all the ingredients to become a fantasy star.
Nathaniel Clyne - Disappointed to lose his England spot to Kyle Walker for Euro 2016, Nathaniel Clyne will know this is a huge season in his career both domestically and internationally. Rock solid defensively, the frustration with Clyne is that he doesn’t always make the most of his attacking qualities but there were signs of great things against Arsenal in Week 1, with Jurgen Klopp encouraging him to get forward as often as possible. Burnley beware.
Kyle Walker – Hey, I was just talking about you! Tottenham’s width comes from Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, with Walker excellent against Everton, owning the right flank and picking up an assist. He faces Crystal Palace at home in Week 2 where he’ll come up against often questionable Eagles left-back Pape Souaré. The England man could have a field day if Spurs are on their game.
Honourable Mentions: Patrick Van Aanholt at home to Middlesbrough. Christian Fuchs at home to Arsenal.
MIDFIELDERS
Dimitri Payet - Slaven Bilic eased Dimitri Payet into action after a busy summer at Euro 2016 by starting him on the bench in Week 1 but he’ll be ready to go against Bournemouth on Sunday. We all know what the Frenchman brings to the party - delivering undefendable crosses to Andy Carroll, pinging deadly free-kicks towards goal and generally doing all the stuff which can result in bumper fantasy points. Payet was the first name on my Perfect XI team-sheet this week and he should be on yours.
Philippe Coutinho - Points chasing? Perhaps, but there was so much to like about Philippe Coutinho’s sparkling performance against Arsenal and I fear for Burnley’s limited defence if Klopp has Liverpool in full flow once again. Provided the Brazilian playmaker has shaken off the bout of cramp that forced him from the pitch early he should be one of your four midfielders this week.
Gylfi Sigurdsson - There’s a distinct possibility Swansea will struggle again this season, although talisman Gylfi Sigurdsson obviously doesn’t agree as he recently committed his future to the club by signing a new contract. Like Payet, Siggy was given a run out from the bench in Week 1 but he’ll be on from the start against Hull, should be constantly involved in the Swans attacks, taking all set pieces and on penalty duty.
Erik Lamela - After a torrid first season in England Erik Lamela is now a firm crowd favourite at White Hart Lane and he was Tottenham’s best performer throughout pre-season. The Argentine backed that promise up with a goal and all-round fine display against Everton in Week 1 and he looks sharper than both Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli right now. Lamela is the main danger to Palace this weekend. And he’s greedy, which is always useful when it comes to Perfect XI’s scoring system.
Honourable Mentions: Riyad Mahrez at home to Arsenal. Andros Townsend away at Tottenham.
STRIKERS
Sergio Aguero - Yeah, it’s boring to list Sergio Aguero here two weeks in a row. But he looked utterly sublime scoring a hat-trick against Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League despite missing two penalties. In this form you cannot afford to be without the Argentinian genius despite a potentially tricky trip to Stoke City.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Rounding off some pretty dull striker selections, Zlatan gets the nod to complete my picks. The Swede oozed quality against Bournemouth, should’ve been rewarded with at least one assist after some delightful link-up play and rounded things off with yet another debut goal. The term ‘World Class’ is tossed about far too often these days but Ibrahmovic is truly deserving of the tag and I’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t turn it up to 11 for his official Old Trafford inauguration.
Honourable Mentions: Andy Carroll at home to Bournemouth. Harry Kane at home to Crystal Palace.
If you’re hungry for more - check out our Team-by-Team Season Previews and all of the places you can challenge the Rotoworld Experts in fantasy competition across the web.
That’s it for Week 2. Feel free to comment below to us know how you’re getting on so far. And of course, good luck to all managers this week!
