GW2 Tigers Roar.
Gameweek 2 blew the doors off any idea that Gameweek 1 was a one-off. Manchester United needed a big reaction after the Hull disaster, and Bruno Fernandes delivered one of the great individual responses, scoring a hat-trick as United came from behind to batter Ipswich 5-2 at Old Trafford, with Bryan Mbeumo chipping in too and Marcus Rashford getting a proper Old Trafford welcome back after nearly two years away. Chelsea kept up their perfect start under Xabi Alonso in an absolute classic against Brighton, racing 3-0 up inside half an hour through Romeo Lavia, Pedro Neto and a returning Joao Pedro, only for the Seagulls to claw back to within one before Cole Palmer settled it with a bit of magic, 4-3 the final score in a game that had everything. Manchester City eased any early jitters with a comfortable win at Crystal Palace, while Newcastle bounced back from their Liverpool heartbreak in style, winning away at Tottenham to pile more misery on Spurs after their GW1 hiding at Brentford.
Elsewhere it was a weekend of near-misses and déjà vu. Liverpool once again let a lead slip away from them, twice coming from behind against Nottingham Forest before a stunning late strike from debutant Víctor Muñoz salvaged a 2-2 draw at Anfield — back-to-back draws to start Andoni Iraola’s reign, and still no win to show for it. Arsenal kept their perfect record going with a narrow away win at Aston Villa to stay top of the pile, while Everton and Bournemouth played out a tighter, low-key draw and Coventry suffered again at home to Hull, who are quietly building a decent case for themselves after their opening-day shock. All in all it was another weekend that refused to behave, with the promoted sides holding their own, last week’s big winners largely following through, and Liverpool still searching for that elusive first win of the season.
Player Positions heads up (for new leagues)
At the start of the season, Legend League Chairs can set a limit on the number of players each manager may select from any Premier League club, which could be one, two or three players from any one club, however, this is fixed at two for the Standard package. Managers may not select more players from each club than the limit allows, and will be restricted from making their requested transfer if they try to exceed that limit.
Occasionally, during the course of the season players will move between Premier League clubs, which could take teams above the club quota limit. When this happens, Fantasy League will update the player’s club on the Player List, but the club will not change in the team who had the player before the transfer took place, this is to prevent creating invalid teams through no fault of the manager. The player will still score points for his new club. If this player was sold or released, he will be available and treated as a player for his new club.
Wild example, if Haaland moves from Manchester City to Liverpool, in the January transfer window, he will continue to show as a City player for any fantasy team that already owns him. If that team then releases Haaland, any team that subsequently signs or re-signs him do so on the basis of him being a Liverpool player.
All detailed in our extensive game guide here: https://game.fantasyleague.com/gameguide#team-management
Transfer Day Deadline
The headline deal was Manchester City prising Enzo Fernández away from Chelsea for a reported £125m, a fee that matches the British transfer record. City also strengthened further by signing Iliman Ndiaye from Everton for around £65m, while sending Jack Grealish the other way to Everton on loan as part of the business. Arsenal had a busy window too, bringing in Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle and Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa, continuing to build out an already strong-looking squad. Chelsea, despite losing Fernández, were far from quiet themselves — Morgan Rogers arrived from Aston Villa, and there was late drama when a move to bring in Lamine Camara from Monaco as a replacement reportedly fell through at the eleventh hour.
Further down the chain, Aston Villa did brisk business both in and out, bringing in Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Ibrahim Mbaye while losing key men like Konsa and Rogers, and Sunderland added Malick Fofana from Lyon for around £31m as they continue to strengthen after promotion. All told it was a frantic finish to the window, with City and Chelsea’s swap involving Fernández the clear headline story of the day.
Team of the week – GW2
The highest scoring eligible team (8+ teams, two players per club) last week was Kobbie Wan Kenobi, huge congratulations Dan.
Manager name: Dan
Team name: Kobbie Wan Kenobi
League name: Gavel Hastings
League size: 8
Points: 33
