GW2 Kneejerk Check

Forwards

• The biggest buy worked. João Pedro gained 89,122 net transfers, then supplied a goal, an assist and 9 points in another full match. He has 20 points through two weeks. GW2 was a seven-goal mess, though, so do not treat that pace as normal.
• Haaland made the GW1 blank look like noise. He scored twice in 90 minutes for 13 points. One bad week was never much of a case against his role. His price still forces hard choices elsewhere.
• The Gonzalo punt failed. He kept the centre-forward role for 90 minutes and had one decent chance blocked. None of his three shots hit the target, leaving him with a 2-point blank.

Midfielders

• Selling Bruno Fernandes after one blank was the week's worst call. He scored three, assisted another and took maximum bonus for 23 points. Eight shots and three chances created back up the role. A career-best return in a 33-shot United performance is still not happening every week.
• Cherki moved from a 27-minute GW1 cameo to an 81-minute first league start, scoring twice for 14 points. Buyers got exactly what they gambled on. City's bench is too deep to call him nailed after one start.
• The punishment did not stop with Bruno. Sellers of Groß, Gibbs-White and Mbeumo watched them score 13, 13 and 11. Their set pieces, penalties and secure minutes mattered more than their opening two-pointers.
• Palmer, Saka and Rogers also paid buyers back with 7, 11 and 5 points.
• Doku never had the chance. He remained out with a calf injury. FPL lists him at 0% for the next round with a provisional 5 September return date.

Defenders

• The Calafiori bandwagon kept rolling. He played 90 minutes, assisted Saka, kept a clean sheet and took two bonus for 11 points. The attacking threat is real. So is the longer-term rotation risk.
• De Cuyper was points chasing in its purest form. His GW1 17 points came from one goal, one assist, a clean sheet and two bonus. It was not a two-goal haul. The buyers who followed got 0 points as Brighton conceded four.
• Kayode had the same problem, dropping from 13 points to 2. His GW1 goal came with one bonus point. Buyers still own an 87-minute starting full-back, but they were betting on an opportunistic rebound happening again.
• Heavy sellers of Pedro Porro and Van de Vengot away with it. The returning Spurs defenders scored one and zero. Porro's restored 90 minutes and attacking role matter more than the one-pointer.

Goalkeepers

Tzolakis was the goalkeeper move hiding in plain sight. He was only 0.7% owned in the source snapshot, yet recorded 97,295 transfers in against only 11,602 out. That is a lot of traffic for such a lightly owned player. He then kept a second straight clean sheet, made three saves and took maximum bonus for another 10 points.

Verbruggen was 21.7% owned and still had fewer transfers in at 80,053, alongside 42,189 out. His buyers got 0 points after Brighton conceded four and he made one save. Tzolakis drew more buyers from an ownership base roughly 30 times smaller, then beat him by 10 points.