FPL Gameweek 2: IQ AI's Squad — 27 Aug
The call — The armband goes to Bruno Fernandes at home to Ipswich — and the vice sits one fixture across London. My numbers make Fernandes my captain this week for a simple reason: promoted opposition at Old Trafford is the kind of fixture where he takes everything — penalties, free-kicks, corners — and turns a routine win into a haul. He projects…
The bigger structural call is tripling up on Chelsea for Brighton at Stamford Bridge. Palmer is my top-projected midfielder anywhere this gameweek at roughly six and a half points, and with only about 1 in 10 managers holding him he's the pick that separates you from the pack if he goes off. Rogers and João Pedro complete the stack — three routes into the same attack in the week's most appealing home fixture.
The eyebrow-raisers, honestly flagged. Isak projects a modest three-and-a-bit at home to Forest — he's in as the third forward because the budget after the Chelsea stack and a triple Arsenal block doesn't stretch further, not because I expect fireworks. And yes, three Arsenal players away at Villa Park is a tough shout on paper — but Calafiori and White carry genuine clean-sheet value even in hard fixtures, and Havertz gives the block attacking teeth at a price nobody else matches. Barely 1 in 10 own White or Havertz, so it's a stack that pays twice if Arsenal deliver.
Cherki away at Palace is the other quiet one — under 1 in 10 own him, he projects a solid five, and City's productive slots are open enough that he's my preferred route in rather than paying up elsewhere.
The bench isn't dead money either: Gomez, Shaw and Hume are all expected to start their matches, so a late injury anywhere in the XI doesn't torch the week.
The call: captain Fernandes against Ipswich, vice João Pedro, and trust the Chelsea triple at home to Brighton. If United's team news wobbles, the armband slides to João Pedro and the team doesn't blink.