Fantasy Premier League: FPL tips on Gameweek 2 captain and transfers - will Erling Haaland skipper your team?

After a thrilling opening weekend of Premier League football that allowed us to settle into our FPL teams, we’re now gearing up for another gameweek.

GW1 often makes you quickly realise who may have been good additions, whilst others immediately need removing after a horrific performance or not even making the team.

As we once again look to make our XI as strong as possible going into a rather unpredictable gameweek, we have our tips on who to captain and who transfer in and out.

Captain

Picking your captain last season usually meant keeping Mohamed Salah in a position to gain maximum points week in week out.

However, this season gives you a lot more options and most people will probably be deciding between Salah, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane or Heung-min Son.

While Tottenham are likely to beat Chelsea this weekend, picking the latter two is definitely more of a risk just because they are still coming up against quality centre-backs such as Thiago Silva and Kalidou Koulibaly - though I’m pretty sure Spurs will manage to break that defence down either way.

However, Haaland is definitely the safest opinion as Man City prepare to host Bournemouth.

Pep Guardiola’s side probably won’t even have to move out of first gear against the newly promoted side and with Haaland already off the mark, I can see him breezing past that defence.

Salah is also always a reliable choice but after Liverpool’s troubling performance against Fulham on the opening day it is hard to predict how they will field this time round when they face Crystal Palace next Monday.

Transfers in

Gabriel Martinelli

Gabriel Martinelli is one of three or four Arsenal players that you could add into your team, though I won’t mention Gabriel Jesus considering a majority of the population already have him up top.

Martinelli scored Arsenal’s first goal of the season against Crystal Palace last weekend and is expected to improve on his breakthrough season.

The Brazilian will be raring to go again after bagging his first goal and against a Leicester side that could struggle this season I would expect Arsenal to net a few more.

Callum Wilson

Like Martinelli, Callum Wilson is another that will massively benefit from getting his first goal of the season early on.

Newcastle United are already looking really exciting and with the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin and Bruno Guimaraes around him, the striker should get plenty of chances to score and he will certainly have the confidence to put them away.

The Magpies face a trip to Brighton this weekend and I can see their attack being too much for a usually strong defence on the south coast.

Jesse Lingard

Jesse Lingard and Nottingham Forest didn’t get the season off to a great start after falling to defeat to Newcastle United, however I expect this weekend’s match to go very differently in front of the home crowd.

While West Ham will be an extremely tough test for Forest, the fans that have been waiting for this for 23 years will act as a twelfth man and help them at least get a draw.

While I’m unsure on the scoreline, it seems like it would be written in the stars for Jesse Lingard to score on his home debut against the team that wanted him so badly this summer.

The midfielder was fantastic during his loan spell in the capital and West Ham spent much of the following year trying to bring him in permanently - only to lose out to Forest.

Just like he did for Manchester United last season, I can definitely see him bagging a goal against an enraged set of West Ham fans.

Transfers out

Kalidou Koulibaly

Kalidou Koulibaly probably made it into a fair few FPL teams after his exciting transfer from Napoli this summer and is likely to make up an awfully strong backline alongside Thiago Silva.

He also massively impressed on his debut as Chelsea narrowly beat Everton on the opening day and may have tempted you to stick him in your team.

However, with the Blues next set to face an in-form Tottenham side, I would steer clear.

It’s not to say Koulibaly will have a terrible game, but I think it will take a lot this season for defences to prevent the likes of Harry Kane, Heung-min Son and Dejan Kulusevski from scoring.

James Maddison

James Maddison is another exceptional individual player that isn’t necessarily going to play badly this weekend, however it is Leicester that I worry about.

The midfielder is usually a sure bet for goals and assists but I can’t see him getting much of an opportunity with how Arsenal have been looking.

I expect the Gunners to dominate for most of the game and take home a comfortable three points, with a number of their players - including Maddison - affected by the continued transfer interest in them.