The Scout is tipping four players for big success in Gameweek 2 of 2025/26 Fantasy Premier League ahead of Friday’s 18:30 BST deadline.
Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) £9.0m
Despite blanking against Newcastle United in Gameweek 1, Watkins will fancy his chances of producing an attacking return when Aston Villa travel to Brentford in Gameweek 2.
Keith Andrews’ side endured a tough start to the season against Nottingham Forest, shipping three goals at the City Ground. No team conceded more big chances in the opening round of matches than the Bees’ total of four.
Watkins, who picked up 10 attacking returns in away matches last season, has scored in his last four appearances against Brentford.
The Englishman boasts an impressive record of six goals and one assist in seven Premier League matches against his old club.
Beyond Gameweek 2, Villa have a favourable run of fixtures until Gameweek 9, with no opponents ranked higher than three in the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR), where the difficulty of each fixture is ranked from one to five – with one being the easiest possible match and five being the hardest. This includes match-ups against promoted clubs Sunderland and Burnley.
Villa’s fixtures, GW3-8
*1=easiest possible fixture, 5=hardest possible fixture
Marc Cucurella (Chelsea) £6.0m
Last season, no defender scored more goals than Cucurella’s five, with his offensive potential once again catching the eye in Gameweek 1.
Against Crystal Palace, Cucurella had two shots on goal and created a big chance. This helped him earn two bonus points.
The Spaniard boasted the fourth-most advanced position among Chelsea players, regularly popping up in the attacking third. Only two Chelsea players recorded more final-third touches than the left-back’s 21.
At the other end of the pitch, Cucurella has a strong chance of keeping a clean sheet against West Ham United.
Graham Potter’s side that managed an Expected Goals (xG) tally of just 0.56 against Sunderland in Gameweek 1, while the Blues have kept 14 clean sheets across their last 25 competitive matches and limited Palace to an xG of 0.66.
Tijjani Reijnders (Man City) £5.6m
Following his impressive debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Reijnders has been transferred-in by over 845,000 Fantasy managers and has already risen in price ahead of Gameweek 2.
The Dutch international returned 10 points in Gameweek 1, scoring Man City’s second goal at Molineux before assisting Erling Haaland’s (£14.0m) second-half strike.
Encouragingly, only Haaland took more shots than Reijnders’ three among City players, while the new signing created one chance and had more final-third touches than any of Pep Guardiola’s players.
Furthermore, he would have likely picked up bonus points if it weren’t for his first-half yellow card. Reijnders ended on 31 BPS, just two fewer than Rayan Ait-Nouri (£6.0m), who secured the extra point.
Reijnders is still owned by less than 30 per cent of Fantasy managers ahead of a Gameweek 2 home encounter with Spurs.
Thomas Frank’s side kept a clean sheet on the opening weekend but did allow Burnley to have 14 shots, the sixth-most of any team.
Bafode Diakite (AFC Bournemouth) £4.5m
In Gameweek 2, AFC Bournemouth host Wolves, who failed to score in Gameweek 1 and are still coming to terms with losing Matheus Cunha (£8.0m) to Manchester United.
With the tricky trip to Liverpool out of the way, Bournemouth’s squad warrants attention from FPL managers. Iraola’s men don’t face a team from last season’s top six until Gameweek 10, when they play Man City.
Bournemouth’s fixtures, GW2-9
*1=easiest possible fixture, 5=hardest possible fixture
Last season, Bournemouth’s centre-backs would have regularly picked up defensive contribution points. Against Liverpool on the opening day, Diakite ended up just one short of the 10 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles (CBIT) threshold.
See: What are defensive contribution points?
Handily, the Cherries’ new signing is the same price as Ezri Konsa (£4.5m), who was sent off in Gameweek 1.
The Aston Villa defender is owned by over 20 per cent of Fantasy managers and is suspended for Villa’s trip to Brentford.
As an added bonus, Diakite offers some goal threat. For his old club Lille, he scored six times in 33 starts at centre-back.