Arsenal's Fantasy Premier League Stars: Key Players for Gameweek 2
Arsenal are the hot ticket in Fantasy Premier League this week. With the champions heading to an Aston Villa side still reeling from a 4-0 hammering at Brighton & Hove Albion, managers are piling in ahead of Friday’s 18:30 BST deadline for Gameweek 2.
The rush is real. The choices need more thought.
The bandwagon: are FPL managers buying the right Gunners?
Riccardo Calafiori (£5.5m) is the face of the early stampede. Over 239,000 managers have snapped him up after his assist and nine-point return against Coventry City in Gameweek 1. He’s now the most-bought Arsenal player.
In midfield, Martin Odegaard and Christos Tzolis (both £6.5m) are flying too. Odegaard delivered 11 points, Tzolis six, and both sit among the four most-bought midfielders. Kai Havertz (£7.0m), who opened the scoring in the 3-0 win, is the second most-bought forward with 135,000 new owners.
Most-bought Arsenal players for Gameweek 2
- Player | Transfers in | GW1 pts
- Calafiori | 239,000 | 9
- Odegaard | 207,000 | 11
- Tzolis | 163,000 | 6
- Havertz | 135,000 | 6
The crowd has spoken. But are they actually right?
Arsenal’s attack: where’s the smart money?
Arsenal’s midfield trio against Coventry – Tzolis, Odegaard and Bukayo Saka (£9.5m) – all flashed serious upside.
Tzolis was the most involved attacker on the pitch. Four shots, three chances created, seven total shot involvements – more than any team-mate. He was everywhere.
Saka, who scored Arsenal’s second, matched Tzolis for shots in the box with three. He finished with five total shot involvements and two chances created. The goal, though, owed plenty to Tzolis: Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth (£4.5m) could only palm out the Greek’s effort into Saka’s path. That rebound was Arsenal’s only “big chance” of the game.
Arsenal attacking stats v Coventry
- Player | Shot inv. | Shots | Shots in box | Chances created
- Tzolis | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3
- Odegaard | 6 | 3 | 1 | 3
- Saka | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2
- Madueke | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4
- White | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2
Coventry’s weakness was obvious: they collapsed down their left. Arsenal carved out 11 chances on that flank alone, with Ben White (£5.5m), Saka and substitute Noni Madueke (£6.5m) combining for 10 of those from the right side.
Villa are a different story. Their 4-0 defeat at Brighton was brutal through the middle, not out wide.
That’s where Odegaard comes in. Deployed in the most advanced central role behind Havertz, he’s perfectly placed to exploit a Villa team that left seven chances through the centre in Gameweek 1.
Chances conceded in GW1
- Zone | Coventry | Aston Villa
- Left flank | 11 | 4
- Centre | 2 | 7
- Right flank | 4 | 4
Odegaard looks tailor-made for this fixture: central, creative, and with a goal threat. But there’s a catch. Arsenal’s defensive reliability and the sheer depth of sub-£7.0m midfielders mean he shapes up more as a short-term hit than a season-long pillar.
If you’re one of the many planning an early Wildcard in Gameweek 3 – perhaps after a Bench Boost in Gameweek 1 or 2 – then Odegaard is the standout Arsenal attacker for this weekend. For managers thinking longer term, the bigger value probably lies elsewhere in this squad.
Defence first: how to back Arsenal at the back
The late arrival of Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) from Aston Villa changes the defensive picture. He was unavailable against Coventry, but his versatility could quickly make him central to Mikel Arteta’s plans.
Konsa can cover centre-back or right-back while William Saliba (£6.0m) and Jurrien Timber (£6.5m) remain sidelined. If he starts at right-back, White is the obvious casualty. If he partners Gabriel in the middle, Cristhian Mosquera (£5.5m) is likely to drop out. On the left, Calafiori currently sits ahead of Piero Hincapie (£5.5m).
Should Konsa nail down a starting spot, his price makes him one of the most intriguing value picks in the game. Arsenal kept 19 clean sheets last season. Repeat that, and a £4.5m defender starting regularly in that backline becomes a low-risk asset who can bank at least six points in roughly half his matches.
He doesn’t have to be spectacular. He just has to play.
At that price, Konsa is the kind of defender you can hold until Saliba and Timber are back to full fitness and Arteta’s long-term structure becomes clearer.
Gabriel: Fantasy royalty in a defender’s shirt
Value is one thing. Ceiling is another. And when it comes to Arsenal defenders over the season, Gabriel is in a league of his own.
He is the league’s most dangerous set-piece threat in its best defence. Last season he averaged 6.9 points per start – more than Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) on 6.7, and almost level with Erling Haaland (£15.5m) on 7.0.
Top-scoring players in Fantasy 2025/26
- Player | Pts | Blanks | Pts/start
- Haaland | 239 | 12/34 | 7.0
- Fernandes | 235 | 9/35 | 6.7
- Gabriel | 209 | 6/30 | 6.9
He won’t rival Haaland for the armband, but in terms of “must-own” status, Gabriel belongs in that conversation. He offers multiple routes to points: clean sheets, goals, bonus. He blanked in only six of his 30 starts last season. When he plays, he delivers.
Dig into the underlying numbers and his importance becomes even clearer.
The numbers behind Gabriel’s dominance
Against his fellow Arsenal defenders in 2025/26, Gabriel’s defensive contribution (DC) points underline his influence. He collected 22 DC points; the rest of the backline combined for 30.
Arsenal defenders’ stats 2025/26
- Defender | DC + BP | DC only | BP only | Starts
- Gabriel | 52 | 22 | 30 | 30
- Hincapie | 21 | 14 | 7 | 20
- Saliba | 18 | 6 | 12 | 30
- Timber | 13 | 4 | 9 | 28
- Calafiori | 6 | 0 | 6 | 22
- Mosquera | 5 | 4 | 1 | 9
- White | 5 | 2 | 3 | 9
Calafiori, by contrast, sits at the other end of the scale. No DC points at all. Only six bonus points. A combined total of six – 46 fewer than Gabriel.
That’s the gap you’re really paying for.
Why Calafiori’s role hurts his bonus potential
So why is Calafiori, with such modest underlying numbers, now owned by 41.3 per cent of managers – more than any other defender and the fifth most-popular player in the game?
The Coventry match offers a clue. Both Calafiori and White walked away with a clean sheet and an assist. Yet White collected two bonus points. Calafiori got none.
The reason lies in Calafiori’s job description. Under Arteta he operates as a roving, line-breaking full-back in games where Arsenal dominate the ball. He steps into midfield, pushes high, and takes risks on the ball. It’s eye-catching. It’s aggressive. It’s also bad news for the Bonus Points System (BPS).
Because he moves into advanced zones, he simply attempts fewer passes than his fellow defenders. Fewer passes mean fewer chances to rack up the BPS rewards linked to passing volume and accuracy.
BPS rewards for passing
- Action | Added to BPS score
- 70–79% pass completion with 30+ passes | +2
- 80–89% pass completion with 30+ passes | +4
- 90%+ pass completion with 30+ passes | +6
Against Coventry, White, Mosquera and Gabriel all made at least 57 passes, each with a 95 per cent success rate. That automatically added six BPS points to each of their tallies.
Calafiori? Just 24 passes, at 83 per cent. He didn’t even hit the 30-pass threshold.
Arsenal defenders’ passing v Coventry
- Defender | Passes | % Succ passes | BPS score
- White | 78 | 95% | +6
- Mosquera | 65 | 95% | +6
- Gabriel | 57 | 95% | +6
- Calafiori | 24 | 83% | 0
So while Calafiori will have the odd explosive Gameweek, his role naturally drags down his bonus prospects. Over a season, that matters.
Building a better core: where the money should go
Look at it from a budget angle. Gabriel and Cole Palmer (£9.5m) together cost £17.5m – the same as Calafiori and Fernandes.
With Palmer looking sharp and confident under Xabi Alonso, the Gabriel–Palmer combination offers a cleaner, more reliable route to points than the Fernandes–Calafiori pairing. One gives you a premium midfielder on penalties and a defender with elite underlying numbers. The other gives you a volatile full-back and a high-priced midfielder in a more crowded bracket.
The structure almost picks itself.
The Raya factor: a triple-up at the back?
There’s one more piece to the Arsenal puzzle: David Raya (£6.0m).
If you’re committing to Arsenal’s defence, there’s a strong case for going all in with a triple-up of Gabriel, Konsa and Raya over the long term, rather than chasing short-term attacking punts.
Raya isn’t just another goalkeeper. Across the game, he is the standout candidate to keep a clean sheet in any given Gameweek. Owning him and playing him every week removes the headache of rotating cheap goalkeepers and frees your transfers to chase upside in midfield and attack.
Back the best defence. Let others sweat the 4.5m keeper roulette. The real question now is simple: how heavily are you prepared to bet on Arsenal’s back line carrying your season?
