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Gameweek 2 deadline and fixtures

The Gameweek 2 deadline is Friday 28 August 2026 at 18:30 BST, 90 minutes before Crystal Palace host Manchester City to open the round. The gameweek then runs across four days and closes with Aston Villa v Arsenal on the Monday night.

On the official Fixture Difficulty Ratings, the softest assignments belong to the home sides in Chelsea v Brighton (2), Man Utd v Ipswich (2), Tottenham v Newcastle (2), Sunderland v Fulham (2) and Coventry v Hull (2). The hardest single fixture on the slate is Aston Villa v Arsenal, rated 4 for both teams.

The full round: Crystal Palace v Man City (Friday), Liverpool v Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth v Everton, Coventry v Hull, Tottenham v Newcastle (Saturday), Chelsea v Brighton, Leeds v Brentford, Sunderland v Fulham, Man Utd v Ipswich (Sunday), Aston Villa v Arsenal (Monday).

Gameweek 2 captain picks

Haaland (£15.5m) is still the default. One blank against Bournemouth does not undo the profile — he took five shots in that match, and he is captained by more managers than anyone else in the game for a reason. Crystal Palace away is rated 3 rather than 2, which is the only real argument against him, and it is a thin one. If you are happy taking the field-average outcome, this is the pick.

João Pedro (£7.6m) is the aggressive alternative. Chelsea are at home to a Brighton side missing Yankuba Minteh for at least a fortnight, with Carlos Baleba, Kaoru Mitoma and Stefanos Tzimas all doubts, and the fixture is rated 2. João Pedro scored and assisted in the 3-2 win at Fulham and is now owned by 67.6% of managers, so this is a low-risk pivot rather than a punt.

Cole Palmer (£9.5m) is the higher-variance version of the same fixture. He is on penalties and set pieces, he recorded the highest BPS total of Gameweek 1 (60), and he is owned by only 15.2% — captaining him is a genuine differential inside a soft home fixture. Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) are the contrarian route: Ipswich at Old Trafford is a 2, and both are coming off a two-point return that has driven roughly 188,000 and 175,000 managers to sell them.

The uncomfortable read is that Haaland, João Pedro and Fernandes are all owned by a third or more of the game, so none of them is a rank-mover in a big mini-league. Palmer at 15.2% is. Which of those matters depends on whether you are protecting a lead or chasing one — the mini-league standings on FPL Ranker will tell you which of the two you actually are before you set the armband.

The Scout GW2 squad

The Scout squad for Gameweek 2 lines up 3-5-2 and lands at just under the £100m budget, built around a triple Arsenal spine at the back and the two Manchester United attackers at home to Ipswich. Haaland takes the armband.

The bench is deliberately cheap — Dúbravka in goal, Drameh and Slater from Hull, and Walle Egeli from Ipswich — which is the standard early-season shape: spend the money on eleven starters and accept that the bench is there for autosubs rather than for Bench Boost value. The official Premier League version of the Scout selection is published separately as a Wildcard-and-new-starter template and is worth reading alongside it.

Transfer targets: who the market is buying

Maxim De Cuyper (Brighton, £4.6m) is the most-bought player in the game with roughly 421,000 moves in after his 17-point opener. He has already risen £0.1m. The caveat is the fixture: Brighton travel to Chelsea in Gameweek 2, which is the hardest assignment on their card for weeks, and Brighton are missing several attackers. He is a good buy on role and price; Gameweek 2 is not his best entry point.

Mamadou Sangaré (Brentford, £5.6m) is second with roughly 359,000 moves in, and he is the more fixture-proof of the two. Two assists plus 13 defensive contributions in Gameweek 1 is exactly the dual-route profile that defensive contribution scoring rewards — his floor does not depend on Brentford keeping a clean sheet. Leeds away is rated 3.

Behind them, João Pedro (roughly 326,000 in), Palmer (292,000), Riccardo Calafiori (276,000), Michael Kayode (270,000) and Martin Ødegaard (253,000) are all being bought. Calafiori, Kayode, Ødegaard, De Cuyper, Sangaré and João Pedro all rose in price on 27 August — the first price changes of the season.

If you are choosing between them on fixtures rather than form, Liverpool have the best run in the game from Gameweek 2 to Gameweek 5 (average difficulty 2.50), followed by Leeds, Man City, Newcastle and Tottenham on 2.75. Arsenal have the worst of the traditional big six at 3.50, with trips to Aston Villa, Chelsea and Brighton in that window — worth weighing before you buy a third Arsenal defender.

Who to sell, and who is flagged

Pedro Porro (Tottenham, £5.5m) is the most-sold player in the game at roughly 293,000 moves out after recording zero minutes in Gameweek 1. Ollie Watkins (roughly 212,000 out) and Viktor Gyökeres (193,000) are in the same boat and have both dropped in price.

Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest, £8.0m) is second on the sold list with a knee injury and a 75% chance of playing, away at Liverpool. That is a straightforward move if you can make it without a hit.

Other flags to check before the deadline: Moisés Caicedo and Marc Palestra (Chelsea), Bruno Guimarães (Arsenal), Jack Hinshelwood (Brighton), Matheus Nunes (Man City), Amad (Man Utd) and James Maddison (Tottenham) are all listed at 75%. Ismaïla Sarr (Crystal Palace) is injured with no return date, Dan Burn (Newcastle) is expected back on 14 September and Jérémy Doku (Man City) on 5 September. Hinshelwood is the one that stings — he scored 16 points in Gameweek 1 and is now doubtful.

On hits: with the market this active it is tempting to take a -4, but Gameweek 2 is early enough that most of what looks broken is a squad-shape problem rather than a one-player problem. Fix it on a Wildcard once minutes settle. If you want a read on which of your own players are genuinely underperforming rather than merely unlucky, the Rank My Team verdict on FPL Ranker grades your XI on form, minutes and fixtures.