Chelsea face Brighton on Sunday looking to make it back-to-back Premier League victories after an impressive opening-day win over Fulham.
The first home game of the season at Stamford Bridge will provide a much sterner test, with Brighton harbouring European ambitions and possessing quality across the pitch.
There is also an intriguing FPL battle to keep an eye on. Brighton could unleash one of the early fantasy gems of the season in Maxim De Cuyper, who arrives at Stamford Bridge fit, confident and as Gameweek 1’s most-transferred-in player.
The Brighton defender has been transferred in by 463,321 players at the time of writing, with his out-of-position role a major factor behind his popularity.
Player and club | No. of transfers in GW2 |
|---|---|
Maxim De Cuyper (Brighton) | 463321 |
Mamadou Sangare (Brentford) | 404679 |
Joao Pedro (Chelsea) | 368220 |
Cole Palmer (Chelsea) | 338423 |
Riccardo Calafiori | 294454 |
A full-back by trade, De Cuyper is currently operating on the left wing in the absence of Kaoru Mitoma, giving him the potential for greater attacking returns while retaining his defensive status in FPL. That means goals and assists carry the added value of a defender’s points, while he can also benefit from clean-sheet points.
While we’ll obviously be hoping De Cuyper doesn’t get anywhere near a clean-sheet bonus against Chelsea on Sunday, the Belgian also carries a genuine goal threat.
He found the net against Aston Villa on the opening weekend and also registered an assist for Viktor Lindelöf's own goal, contributing to an impressive 17-point FPL haul. Chelsea will therefore need to be wary of his attacking threat as well as his defensive role.
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For Chelsea, it comes as no surprise to see three attacking players among the ten most transferred in with the “JP Morgan” - consisting of Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers - being those transferred in after shining against Fulham.
There could be plenty of goals at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, with those three players likely to be at the heart of the action. Rogers and Pedro are both reasonably priced at £7.5m, making them appealing options after we selected both in our pre-season FPL picks.
Reminder: Manchester City face Crystal Palace tonight, so the Gameweek deadline is 18:30 UK time on Friday, 28 August. Make sure you have your changes locked in before then.
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