Our Gameweek 2 Sleepers XI article provides Draft managers with a lineup of Fantasy EPL hidden gems. Our starting eleven of Draft Premier League differential picks will help you find a golden ticket to a big score this weekend! These hints and tips will give you a better chance of picking up an all-important victory, as any one of these under-the-radar picks could make the difference in a head-to-head game!
We'll be focusing on players that will bring us not only attacking returns or clean sheets, but also those players that score Ghost Points in the sophisticated and statistics based Fantrax Scoring System!
Fantasy EPL Gameweek 2 Sleepers XI
For this article, we use the percentage rostered calculation from Fantrax and Sleeper. Our only rule is that each player we highlight is rostered in 60% of leagues or fewer at the time of writing. Therefore, there's a good chance some of these players will be free agents in your Draft league! As always, we'll take form, fixtures, projected points, and a healthy dose of intuition into account to make our selections.
The first gameweek of the season is done and dusted and the Sleepers started off with a decent 84.5 score. The defensive unit of Zinchenko, Maguire and Flekken brought the big guns with double-digit returns and the rest chipped in with some points too. As the season progresses, it will be more and more easy to predict starting XIs and there will be fewer non-starters to stink up the place. Onwards and upwards to GW2, which throws up a few exciting matchups for streaming purposes.
The Sleepers XI table below includes a full team of Starters, as well as 5 Reserves -- high-upside players with some question marks around whether or not they'll start in Gameweek 1. Keep an eye out when lineups drop and pick them up if you see them starting and need to fill a spot on your roster. Read on below for the rationale behind each of the Starter selections.
Mark Flekken (G, Brentford)
Flekken retains his spot from GW1 after an impressive display against Palace putting up 14.75 points without a clean sheet. I wrote last week, that he might end up being a season keeper and obviously, if he keeps this up, he sure will be. Liverpool away should be a different type of challenge. I expect him to rack up save points like it's nobody's business. Last week Walton made only 3 saves, but Liverpool put up 18 shots in total. Some of those wander on target and the Flekken Boys are in business with another double-digit haul.
Chris Richards (D, Crystal Palace)
I was really excited about Richards coming into the season as he closed out the 23/24 season with a flurry of noteworthy performances in April and May mostly propped up by aerials and clearances (what we refer to in the business as the "Tarks cocktail"). Under Glasner and this new Fantrax default scoring system he averaged over 11 PPS to close out the season, safe to say last-week might have just been a one off. He only had 2 clearances and 1 aerial in GW1, but he should monopolize headers with Andersen gone from next to him. West Ham will be hoping to run out new signing Fülkrug to contend for crosses, which should further enhance Richards' ghost potential.
Emil Krafth (D, Newcastle)
Schar's red card, Lascelles' and Botman's injuries mean that the Magpies are actually short on CBs (no wonder they have sent their 80th offer for Guehi). Krafth came in to deputise and nearly got an off-the-bench cleanie in GW1. He managed 4 ghosts in his 59 minutes, add in a few more stats and a clean sheet, a double digit haul is more than possible this weekend. They will probably face tougher opposition this time around than last week, but Pope back behind the defense should solidify their CS potential against a Solanke-less Bournemouth.
Kenny Tete (D, Fulham)
Kenny always has the potential to go nuts in him. He rarely shows it, unfortunately, but he actually took 2 shots (on target) and he also attempted 2 crosses and 2 through balls. On a good day, that ends up being a monster score instead of the 4.75 points he managed vs. Manchester United. Spurs made Leicester look good on Monday based on the result, but they looked like the worst of the newly promoted teams. Fulham should bounce back from defeat at the hands of United, so I expect a big day ahead for Kenny, against a Leicester team that allows opposition full-backs to get into those attacking spaces.
Yukinari Sugawara (D, Southampton)
Another Sleeper pick of ours is the Southampton right-back, Sugawara. The Japanese defender signed late in pre-season, but showed promise in the last few games of pre-season. He was hooked at half-time for an extra attacker according to Saints manager Martin, so this early sub should not scare you away from him. In 45 minutes he managed a KP, attempted 3 crosses, 2 through balls, and had an xA of 0.22. We expected him to take some sets, but he only took throw-ins in the first game. Forest are a strong attacking team, but also give up a ton of chances, expect Sugawara to be heavily involved on both ends of the pitch.
Elliot Anderson (M, Nottingham Forest)
We continue with punting on a Forest MID, let us hope this one goes a bit better than last week's. For Anderson's sake as well as ours. Nuno went with a very defensive double pivot in GW1 with Sangare and Danilo and even brought in Yates after the injury, so this is definitely a punt, but if he wants a bit more ball progression and forward momentum, he should go with the former Geordie to partner Sangare. It is worth noting that Anderson took a fair amount of sets in pre-season, so if he gets the start here he could take a few for Forest. If Yates does start over Anderson, he is a good pivot after coming away with 14 points including 6 ghosts and an assist in 74 minutes in gameweek 1.
Jack Harrison (M, Everton)
Everton were handed a beating in GW1 by Brighton and most assets were meh at best, but Harrison actually put up a decent score in this game and was lively throughout. Three CoS combined with 3 shots (1 on target) show his attacking intent well and Udogie is no defensive mastermind to lock down Harrison's runs. I do expect Spurs to come out as winners this weekend, but that doesn't mean Harrison won't be able to help our Sleepers XI with a close-to-10 points tally again. Everton fans are calling for a lineup change this weekend, but I do expect Harrison to keep his spot, for at least 1 more week.
Jack Hinshelwood (M, Brighton)
Our second Jack of the XI is the one who actually faced Harrison in GW1. The DM-turned-utility-LB put in a great performance, which sadly wasn't necessarily reflected in his Draft PL score (4.25 points). I will still keep the faith as the high level of interchangeability in Hurzeler's system means that he might end up in decent positions to threaten. This is the lowest ceiling punt of the team, so do not expect huge gains here. Keep the boat afloat.
James Milner (M, Brighton)
Roll back the years and call him Benjamin Button! Milly does not know when to quit. Shouted out in the new format Ghost Point Hunters by Ryan. He dropped 11 ghost points in a great all-around performance. While he definitely won't be a week-in-week-out starter for the whole season, he can serve as a coach on the field while all the new signings get familiar with the system and get your fantasy team wins in the process. Brighton are also at home to Manchester United who won just by the skin of their teeth last time out. Despite being the first fixture of the gameweek, Milner is a great MID4/5 play and the better pick of the two Brighton assets on this list.
Adama Traore (F, Fulham)
Our second stowaway from GW1, the baby-oiled-assassin was all smoke and no fire last week as punters went from ecstatic from seeing him start, to giddy as they saw him take on the whole United left side, to ultimately disappointed as it was the same old story, that the final product was not there. We have known for long, that OPTA hates Adama, as when we watch him play, we usually jot down about double the amount of successful dribbles as the stat-heads of power do. Hopefully, Silva will give him another chance to impress, but there are only so many opportunities this guy can get. He is unsurprisingly 100% rostered in the "Big leagues" but sneaks in under our criteria when considering overall percentage. Leicester looked all over the place defensively last week, and could seriously be punished by the pace and strength of Adama. One good performance is all we need for Adama to be considered a season-keeper, can this be it?
Jorgen Strand Larsen (F, Wolves)
The Wolves new boy did not have the best of debuts last weekend, but that was to be expected against the EPL's best defense. This time around, he will face much more forgiving opposition in the form of Chelsea. Even with Cunha coming in off the bench against Arsenal, we can still see Strand Larsen start alongside the Wolves talisman. If you are in need of a FWD3 you could do a lot worse than Larsen, given that Chelsea are also coming off a mid-week Europe fixture. If Strand Larsen doesn't start, then a pivot to Wolves defender Mosquera is the move. He is coming off of 10 ghosts in a 2-0 loss to Arsenal.
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