Premier League Fantasy Player Picks, Week 2

Week 2 Fixture List:

*Manchester United v. Southampton

Stoke City v. Manchester City

Tottenham Hotspur v. Crystal Palace

Watford v. Chelsea

West Brom v. Everton

Swansea City v. Hull City

Burnley v. Liverpool

Leicester City v. Arsenal

Sunderland v. Middlesbrough

West Ham v. Bournemouth

*NOTE: The Manchester United v. Southampton fixture is on Friday, so be sure to get your line-ups set ahead of time!

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Best Bets for 2+ Goals: West Ham, Tottenham, Manchester United, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City

Best Bets for a Clean Sheet: Tottenham, Manchester United, Swansea, Sunderland, West Brom

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Goalkeepers

David De Gea (MUN) [5.5 in Official BPL and 7.42 in Fantrax] - The Spanish wizard notched a remarkable 10 clean sheets in 17 home games last year. Meanwhile, Southampton's road offense was merely mediocre and that was with Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle, both of whom have since departed.

Lukasz Fabianski (SWA) [5.0 and 8.89, respectively] - The Swans kept Burnley off the scoreboard on the road and now they come home against another newly promoted team, Hull City, so another clean sheet could well be in order.

Ben Foster (WBA) [4.5 and 5.83] - Who has two thumbs and put Foster on the bench for his man of the match performance at Crystal Palace? And who will not make the same mistake this week with a home fixture against an inconsistent Everton side? This guy!

Eldin Jakupovic (HUL) [2.01 in Fantrax] - Jakupovic scored 9 Fantrax points in the shock win over title holder Leicester City and Swansea is not exactly an offensive powerhouse, especially with Andre Ayew gone. If you're looking for a bargain basement keeper, Jakupovic could be an interesting season long play, though you'll need to keep some Alka-Seltzer handy.

Willy Caballero (MCI) [5.0 and 1.67] - Pep Guardiola seems to prefer Caballero over Joe Hart for his sweeper keeper system. Stoke City at home and Manchester City on the road both tended to play low-scoring games last season. His Fantrax price also dropped considerably, so he's a strong play unless you hear chatter about Hart returning to goal.

Michel Vorm (TOT) [1.00 in Fantrax] - Hugo Lloris notched eight clean sheets at home last season and Crystal Palace's middling offense visits White Hart Lane. With the Frenchman's injury, Vorm takes over for a spell.

Defenders

Jonny Evans (WBA) [4.5 and 13.20] - I'm not a huge fan of paying big money for defenders, but if you have some extra moolah lying around, Evans should be a safe bet to bring solid return on investment at home with a pretty good match-up.

Gael Clichy (MCI) [5.5 and 9.62] - Gets forward plenty on the wing and has a decent shot of a clean sheet at the Brittania.

Eric Bailly (MUN) [5.5 and 5.59] - An affordable way to get in on last season's stingiest home defense (which of course he wasn't part of, but still).

Lamine Kone (SUN) [4.5] - Averaged 4 ppg in Official and 8.47 ppg in Fantrax last season and has a favorable match-up with promoted Middlesbrough coming to town. He's only worth it in Fantrax if you grabbed him on the barn door before his price nearly doubled from 6.89 up to 12.23.

Jordi Amat (SWA) [4.0 and 2.40] - Fellow Swans' budget defender Stephen Kingsley scored considerably more points last week, but Amat has a better shot of continuing to start as Kingsley could lose his spot with Neil Taylor on the mend. Then again, Kingsley's so cheap (4.0 in Official; 2.23 on the barn door in Fantrax and 3.40 afterward) that if you do roll the dice with him, you won't get crushed if he doesn't play.

Midfielders

Dimitri Payet (WHU) [9.5 and 16.61] - After scoring 7 Fantrax points in only 23 minutes away to Chelsea, how many do you think he can pillage in a full game with defensively challenged Bournemouth en route to London?

Dele Alli [8.5 and 12.83] and Christian Eriksen (TOT) [8.5 and 14.44] - Toss a coin or go with both if you can afford it, what with a tempting home match-up awaiting Spurs' midfield sensations.

Philippe Coutinho (LIV) [8.1 and 16.38] - Coutinho's price is already on the rise, rocketing from 8.0 up to 8.1 in the insanely unstable Stock Market-ish Official ledger after his player of the week brace. If you're worried about him not being able to follow up on last week's Payet-esque free kick and Aguero-like close volley, you will be delighted to know that all but one of his goals last season were part of three-game scoring streaks.

Gylfi Sigurdsson (SWA) [7.5 and 13.12] - Gylfi came off the bench and still managed 9 points in Fantrax last week. This time around he should get the start against Hull, who Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez torched last week. [ED. NOTE: Sigurdsson was accidentally omitted from the originally published post.]

Santi Cazorla (ARS) [7.5 and 8.03] - Santi put forth 7 points in Official and 11 in Fantrax in only 29 minutes last week as the near-savior against Liverpool and you have to think Arsene Wenger will reward the Spanish maestro with a start at Leicester City.

Paul Pogba (MUN) [7.00 in Fantrax] - I've already delved into several concerns surrounding why you should be wary of Pogba in Official fantasy. There's actually quite a simple reason why you should jump on him in Fantrax instead. Astronomical discrepancy alert!!! While he started the season as tied for the 12th priciest midfielder in Official, he was only tied for the 65th dearest cost at the position in Fantrax (where he is currently tied for 61st after the price shifts).

Robert Snodgrass (HUL) [5.5] - Following a bang-up start with 10 points in Official and 27 in Fantrax to kick off the season, Snoddy looks like a brilliant bargain if he can even approach half of that output. Of course, you would have needed to have grabbed him on the barn door at 7.86 to be worth it in Fantrax before his price nearly doubled up to 14.55, where he's really not tempting.

Strikers

Harry Kane (TOT) [11.0 and 15.89] - With Kane at home and Kun and Jamie Vardy on the road, the young Spurs star should be the preferred high-priced striker option.

Andy Carroll (WHU) [6.5 and 11.51] - Carroll may well be the poor man's Zlatan, but seeing how the Big Z took care of Bournemouth last week, turning to the more affordable facsimile isn't a bad idea.

Anthony Martial (MUN) [9.5 and 11.01] - Zlatan Ibrahimovic could be a good option in his first game at Old Trafford, but as the cheaper player up top, why not save some coin and go with Martial, especially given Ibra's Zlatan-sized price surge from 12.00 up to 19.90 in Fantrax? [NOTE: Martial is listed as a midfielder in Official but a striker in Fantrax]

Andre Gray (BUR) [6.5 and 10.13] - Last season's promoted star strikers Troy Deeney (one goal in the first four games), Odion Ighalo (no goals in his first nine) and Callum Wilson (no goals in the first two) didn't immediately light the world on fire, so patience may be in order for Gray owners. That said, going up against Liverpool's ramshackle defense could provide a quick boon for Andre. Am I only saying that because Gray's in my squad? Let's hope not!

Salomon Rondon (WBA) [6.5 and 9.40] - Rondon took over as Albion's top sniper from Saido Berahino last season, but he's remained attractively priced and the home match-up against Everton is far from imposing.

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While there is plenty of time for further injury news and mind-changing, currently my teams (named Stallone Wall) are:

Foster / Amat, Kone, McAuley / Alli, Payet, Snodgrass, Tadic / Aguero, Gray, Kane (C); BENCH: Heaton, Townsend, Van Dijk, Pieters (Official BPL)

Vorm / Amat, Kingsley, Kone / Coutinho, Hazard, Pogba, Snodgrass, Townsend / Ibrahimovic, Kane (Fantrax)

(This is my barn door Fantrax team, so I am sure to make several changes following the price changes.)

So who is set in your line-ups and what choices are you agonizing over?