FPL GW2 Transfer Trends Analysis | Popular Transfer Combinations

Welcome to FPL GW2 Transfer Trends! This is a weekly series where we take a bit of time to analyze some of the major transfer trends on FPL prior to the deadline.

GW1 saw a plethora of goals and returns across all 10 fixtures. There were plenty of double-digit hauls from players from various teams, so there’s no surprise that a couple of those players are hot on the market at the moment.

This week, we can see the transfer trends show people buying players from Man United, Everton, Chelsea and Liverpool. The top 5 transfers OUT come from Spurs, Arsenal, Leicester, and Man United.

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FPL Transfers Gameweek 2 Deadline – Saturday 21st August 2021 at 11:00 BST

We will take a look at the players that managers are rushing to get in their teams, as well as the players managers are booting out. Then, we will dive into three main transfer combinations that could be decent moves to make ahead of the upcoming gameweek.

Top Transfers In and Out Ahead of FPL GW2

With Harry Kane’s peculiar absence from the Spurs lineup against City in GW1, it’s not surprising that he leads for most transfers out prior to GW2. As of Tuesday 17th August, 214,000+ managers have given him the boot.

Saka (143k) and Iheanacho (142k) trail after, after making bench cameos for their teams in GW1. Cavani in 4th place sees 141k managers transfer him out. Maddison comes in 5th with 139k sells.

On the other hand, Pogba’s 4 assists and a 16-point haul sees him top the list for most transfers in prior to GW2, with 383,000+ managers eager to bring him in. Bruno Fernandes scored his first hat-trick; now, another 284k managers want in on the action too.

Richarlison (227k) managed to score a goal and an assist with an 11 point haul. With news of him starting against Arsenal, new Chelsea signing Romelu Lukaku sees himself at 4th place with 206k managers ready to get the Chelsea striker into their teams.

Last but not least, 205k managers bring in Tsimikas after he rose up to the challenge and secured a clean sheet in Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Norwich.

The 3 transfer combinations we will be focusing on are: Kane to Lukaku, Cavani to Dominic Calvert–Lewin and Iheanacho to Antonio.

Top Three FPL GW2 Transfer Trends Combinations

FPL GW2 Transfer Combination 1: Kane (£12.5) to Lukaku (£11.5)

We go from the top-most transferred out player, Harry Kane, to the 4th-most transferred in player on our list, Romelu Lukaku. So far, 23.3% of managers have made the transfer of Kane to Lukaku this week.

The primary downside to this transfer is the amount of uncertainty there is around both players. Kane’s inclusion in the squad is a bit ambiguous, and, while Lukaku is confirmed to start against Arsenal in GW2, we still have yet to see him play in the Premier League again. And, although it is against an unpredictable Arsenal, it is also an away game for Chelsea, so anything could happen.

However, here are a couple of tactical reasons why bringing in Lukaku now is a decent move if you have the means to do so:

• He is guaranteed to start against Arsenal. No need to worry about whether or not Kane will start.
• Historically with Everton and Man United, he is a lethal striker who is hard to defend against and very capable of getting goals. We’ll take a look at some of his stats further down below.
• He saves you £1m when downgrading from Kane
• When fixtures turn for Chelsea in GW7, you have one less asset to worry about.
• Despite the tough fixtures from GW2-5, he is still capable of returning.

Let’s look at some of his previous stats in the Premier League.

Below you can see his heatmap and shots taken in the 2017/18 season.

He scored a total of 16 goals and 7 assists. Out of a total of 86 shots, 42 were on target, and 75 were in the box. That means 87% of his shots that season were taken in the box!

To translate: he is a goal machine. He will take shots, and, of course, the more shots our forward takes, especially in the box, the more likely he could bag a couple goals!

Who do Chelsea face in GW2?

Chelsea face Arsenal away. On paper, it seems like a tough match. And, for good reason, we should expect it to be a good London derby, which is no easy match. However, as of the start of the season, Arsenal have conceded 8 shots, 7 of which were in the box. Should fare well for Lukaku patrolling the Arsenal penalty area.

The Arsenal defense looked a bit shaky against Brentford in GW1, and, if Aubameyang and Lacazette are still absent for the GW2 match, Chelsea should take full advantage of that.

Lukaku versus Ben White and Pablo Mari. Should be an interesting outcome…

FPL GW2 Transfer Combination 2: Cavani (£8.5) to Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.0)

Cavani’s fitness to start in the squad is still an uncertainty, and it looks as if Greenwood is doing well to fill in for the absent Man United strikers. While we should expect rotation of the United squad to come inevitably, a decent long-term pick could be Dominic-Calvert Lewin. 10.8% of managers agree as they have already made this switch prior to the GW2 deadline.

Everton are coming off of a 3-1 win against Southampton, initially trailing 1-0 to the Saints but managed to claw their way back. DCL walked away with a goal, totalling 7 points.

So why, you may ask, are we backing DCL over Richarlison, who scored 11 points, consisting of a goal and an assist?

Let’s take a look at a comparison.

Visually, we can make the correlation that Richarlison takes up more of a creative role. He has his fair share of direct attacking threat, but we can see that in terms of big chances created, xAssists, and through-balls, it’s Richarlison taking the cake.

On the flip side, DCL completely dominates Richarlison for shots in the box, shots, and touches in the box. Richarlison for creativity. DCL for goal threat.

The likelihood is that Richarlison would be looking for DCL, while DCL is working to get into dangerous areas and getting on the end of the delivery of Richarlison or Digne.

Numerically, here are the stats portrayed above:

Who do Everton face in GW2?

Everton play Leeds away. Leeds are coming off of a 5-1 battering against Man United at home. And, while the sample size is small, the team defensive stats for Leeds don’t look so pretty.

They conceded a total of 16 shots, 12 of them were shots taken in the box (joint 2nd for all teams). One big stat to take note of is 57% of Leeds’ shots were conceded from the center, the 1st among all teams.

This should fare well for DCL as he commonly patrols the central areas within the penalty area.

Further Read: FPL GW1 Scout Notes: Southampton, Barnes, Norwich Under the Lens

FPL GW2 Transfer Combination 3: Iheanacho (£7.5) to Antonio (£7.6)

With the return of Vardy and the signing of Daka to Leicester, Iheanacho’s spot has become heavily contested. Despite his amazing run of form towards the end of last season, Brendan Rodgers opted to play a 4-2-3-1 formation against Wolves, consisting of a lone-striker up top in the form of Jamie Vardy. We saw Iheanacho benched and only come on for a bench cameo of 18 minutes.

On the flip side, Michail Antonio played the full 90 in West Ham’s goalfest against Newcastle away. Despite missing a penalty, Antonio picked up 1 goal, 2 assists, and all three bonus points, equating to a 13 point haul. The best part? His hamstrings stayed in tact.

The uncertainty of Iheanacho’s spot at Leicester is enough for 33.7% of FPL managers to make the straight swap to Antonio, who, for the most part, should have his spot nailed provided he doesn’t get injured. One thing to note is that, with West Ham’s European commitments this season, we will have to monitor inevitable rotation that will occur.

It would be unfair to compare both of their stats for GW1 considering Iheanacho only played 18 minutes; however, it’s worth pointing out some of Antonio’s amazing stats.

Antonio had a 75% goal involvement, which makes sense because, out of the 4 goals West Ham scored against Newcastle, he assisted 2 and scored 1. He is joint 1st among all players for big chances with 3 in total, and he has the highest xG out of all players at 1.51.

If we take a look at stats from last season, however, we can put iheanacho into the mix.

As we can see, despite Iheanacho scoring more goals, Antonio had more shots (64), with 52 of them taken in the box, compared to Iheanacho’s 38. Like the case of Richarlison and DCL, Iheanacho takes up a more creative role, while Antonio is a poacher striker looking for goals.

Who do Everton face in GW2?

West Ham play Leicester at home. Antonio should start provided nothing out of the ordinary occurs. This will be West Ham’s first game at home, which will be a huge boost for the Hammers.

Despite keeping a clean sheet against Wolves, Leicester actually conceded a total of 17 shots. Coincidentally, West Ham also conceded 17 shots; however, Leicester conceded more shots in the box (12), compared to West Ham (9).

I get the feeling that this fixture will be a goalfest; however, if there are goals, we can expect Antonio to be on the end of a couple of them.

That has been 3 potential transfer combinations that FPL managers could consider prior to the Gameweek 2 deadline. Hope this blog provided a bit of insight on viable FPL moves you could take!

Further Reads from ALLABOUTFPL Ahead of FPL Gameweek 2:

FPL GW1 Scout Notes: Southampton, Barnes, Norwich Under the Lens
FPL Gameweek 2: Three Fixtures to target for FPL Points

Also check out our Rules and Basics Guide, FPL Chip Strategy, FPL Chips, FPL Team reveals, FPL History, team reveals, FPL Tools here.

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