The first gameweek of the 2023-24 Premier League season saw 28 goals scored and four clean sheets recorded. Man City began the round with a comfortable 0-3 triumph over Burnley on Friday night, whilst stand out results across the weekend included Brighton’s 4-1 win over Luton and Newcastle’s 5-1 thrashing of Aston Villa. Both Sunday games finished in draws, whilst Man Utd narrowly overcame Wolves by a goal to nil on Monday, a win which they scarcely deserved.
As we now draw towards the Gameweek 2 deadline of 18:30 on Friday, here is the latest round of Premier League fixtures set to take place and which games stand out from an FPL point of view.
Friday 18th August
Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield Utd (20:00 BST)
Saturday 19th August
Fulham vs Brentford (15:00 BST)
Liverpool vs Bournemouth (15:00 BST)
Wolves vs Brighton (15:00 BST)
Spurs vs Man Utd (17:30 BST)
Man City vs Newcastle (20:00 BST)
Sunday 20th August
Aston Villa vs Everton (14:00 BST)
West Ham vs Chelsea (16:30 BST)
Monday 21st August
Crystal Palace vs Arsenal (20:00 BST)
Key Gameweek 2 Fixture Ramifications
After losing away at Arsenal, Nott’m Forest will be hoping that home advantage helps them to their first win of the season vs newly promoted Sheffield Utd. After the Blades were shut out by Crystal Palace last weekend, FPL managers who own Forest goalkeeper Matt Turner (£4.0m) will be confident the new signing from Arsenal can record a clean sheet. In terms of goals, attacker Brennan Johnson (£6.0m) has been listed as a midfielder this season but is expected to be a focal point for Steve Cooper’s side going forward and almost opened the scoring against Arsenal.
Liverpool host Bournemouth in one of the most eye-catching fixtures of Gameweek 2 for FPL managers. This very same encounter last season at Anfield ended in a 9-0 win for the Reds and many will be expecting another dominant showing from Liverpool offensively. Mo Salah (£14.0m) failed to score in Gameweek 1 and it would be no surprise if he was to take that frustration out on the Cherries. Luis Diaz (£7.5m) meanwhile, did find the net against Chelsea, accruing 8 FPL points and could be afforded more fantasy joy here against the side he scored twice against last season.
Champions Man City are at home to Newcastle and without Kevin De Bruyne, will require other players to pick up the creative slack. That doesn’t dampen the fantasy appeal of Erling Haaland (£14.0m) though, whilst Josko Gvardiol (£5.0m) could gain a first home start in defence. For the Magpies, the searing pace of striker Alexander Isak (£7.6m) may well see him fashion more goal scoring opportunities on the back of his brace in Gameweek 1 against Aston Villa. Meanwhile, Unai Emery’s men will look to bounce back strongly against Everton with the attacking duo of midfielder Moussa Diaby (£6.0m) and forward Ollie Watkins (£6.5m) expected to continue what looked like a promising partnership at St. James’ Park.