GW1 of the 2020/21 Premier League season ended with 23 goals including the first hattrick of the season from Mo Salah and six teams keeping clean sheets.
Of course four teams had blanks including the Manchester clubs, Burnley and Aston Villa but they’ll be playing in GW2 and in this article we will be covering the GW2 preview including the top 5 differentials, team selection and our opinion on whether you should use your wildcard or not. Let’s get started.
Top 5 differentials for GW2
#5 Timothy Castagne (LEI)
TSB – 4.2% Price – £5.5m
I don’t usually like to go with new arrivals this early in the season but Timothy Castagne is someone you cannot ignore. The Belgian provides attacking threat from wide positions and often get inside the box for opportunities. Castagne scored on his debut and also kept a clean sheet which makes him a tempting choice ahead of GW2.
#4 Tariq Lamptey (BHA)
TSB – 3.6% Price – £4.5m
Ever since he made his debut against Arsenal, Tariq Lamptey has been one of the top young defenders in the Premier League. In their opening game of this season, Lamptey gave Alonso nightmares throughout the game, also bagging an assist. With Brighton facing Newcastle next who are without some of their key players in defense, expect Lamptey to get some returns.
#3 Marcus Rashford (MUN)
TSB – 6.7% Price – £9.5m
Joint top goal-scorer in the league last season, carried Man United for 2 months and here we are listing Marcus Rashford as a differential. Much of this has to do with Man United facing a blank in GW1 and some because of Rashy’s poor form in the second half of the season.
We have seen Man United creating a lot of chances in the second half of last season and Marcus Rashford made those runs into the box but you could see he was quite rusty because of being out for a long time. However, it’s a new season and I feel it’s only a matter of time till Rashford returns to his best and hopefully delivers what the fans want.
#2 Che Adams (SOU)
TSB – 3.9% Price – £6.0m
Things went wrong for the Saints in their opening game of the season as Crystal Palace repeatedly took advantage of Southampton’s high line. One of the positives of that game was Che Adams who was a threat in the box and almost scored with a powerful strike but Vicente Guaita was having one of his best games out there.
#1 Raheem Sterling (MCI)
TSB – 4.7% Price – £11.5m
It’s quite rare to see Raheem Sterling as a differential. The England International scored 20 goals last season (4th highest in the league). The low ownership most probably has to do with Man City having a blank fixture in GW1, however it’s a good opportunity to pounce on Sterling now because once he starts bagging in goals, his price will start increasing rapidly. With Sergio Aguero being ruled out for this fixture, we could see Sterling play more advanced and hopefully get some returns too.
Team selection for GW2
Formation : 4-4-2
• GK – Bernd Leno
• DEF – James Justin
• DEF – Andrew Robertson
• DEF – Lucas Digne
• DEF – Tariq Lamptey
• MID – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
• MID – Willian
• MID – Mateusz Klich
• MID – Mo Salah
• FWD – Richarlison
• FWD – Jamie Vardy
Wildcard or not?
Usually around this time a fair amount of people tend to use their wildcards, mostly because their initial plans don’t seem to work out. My concern with this is, if you need to use your wildcard after just two weeks into the season, will you be able survive till January where you get the second wildcard?
I’m in the favor of being patient and using the free transfers to tweak my team but if you think there’s no way back for you now and you need to use the wildcard then make sure you analyze the fixtures and make a team for the long-term. This season is pretty exciting for the Premier League fans because we have some many top-class players arriving and giving us a variety of options, however, we can only pick 11 players. Make your choice wisely and hope for the best.
