The first two Gameweeks have already given FPL managers plenty to argue about, with unexpected hauls, early injuries, surprise starters and a few popular picks falling well short of expectations. That is enough to make the transfer market feel far more urgent than it really is, particularly when every price change appears to demand an immediate response.
For managers still getting to grips with the game or looking for a refresher on how the key decisions fit together, a clear understanding of the FPL basics can make those early-season calls much easier to judge
Manchester City and Liverpool now offer some of the most appealing fixtures on the board, while a handful of players who looked attractive during the opening weekend have suddenly become much harder to justify. Elsewhere, there are forwards with strong underlying numbers still waiting for their first major return, creating the sort of situations where patience can be worth more than another four-point hit.
Gameweek 3 is also where the early-season picture starts becoming a little clearer. We have more minutes to judge, more data to work with and a better idea of which managers are trusting certain players in important attacking roles. It is still far too early to make sweeping conclusions, but there is enough evidence now to make sharper decisions.
The challenge is finding the balance. Some players need bringing in before their ownership catches up with their performances, some popular names have fixtures that should make managers think twice, and others simply need another week before the verdict is reached.
With that in mind, here are the FPL Gameweek 3 moves that stand out most, from the players worth buying to the ones better left alone for now.
Players to AVOID
Konstantinos Tzolakis (£4.5m) | GKP, Hull City | around 5% owned
Tzolakis has become one of the early FPL stories after recording two consecutive clean sheets and 20 points for Hull City, but his situation needs to be viewed differently from the £4.0m Hull defenders who can simply sit on the bench and provide budget flexibility.
At £4.5m, Tzolakis represents an investment in a goalkeeper you are probably expecting to start regularly, and the problem is that Hull’s fixtures become considerably more difficult from this point with Aston Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle among their upcoming opponents.
His opening returns deserve credit because Hull have been excellent defensively, beating Manchester United 2-0 before following that with a 1-0 victory over Coventry, becoming only the fourth newly promoted club to win its opening two Premier League matches.
Still, FPL managers should be careful about assuming that Hull’s defensive record will continue unchanged against stronger attacks, particularly when the underlying Championship numbers from last season showed 66 goals conceded and 80.1 expected goals conceded.
The £4.0m defenders can still make sense as cheap bench options because the opportunity cost is tiny, but spending £4.5m on Tzolakis when similarly priced goalkeepers have stronger long-term defensive environments feels unnecessary at this stage. With that in mind, it is worth looking beyond individual fixtures and considering which players could become difficult picks to justify as the season develops.
Chuba Akpom (£5.0m) | FWD, Ipswich | around 5 % owned
Chuba Akpom is one of those FPL names that can catch managers because memories of what a player has done before can sometimes feel more convincing than what his current situation is telling us.
His 2022/23 Championship campaign with Middlesbrough was outstanding, with Akpom scoring 28 league goals and finishing as the division’s top scorer, but that season belongs to a very different stage of his career and offers little evidence about his current FPL prospects.
Last season brought a much quieter return, with Akpom failing to score in the Premier League, while his role heading into the new campaign has remained closer to that of an impact substitute than an established starter.
His pre-season did provide one encouraging glimpse, however, as Akpom came off the bench against Osasuna and scored, looking more threatening during his spell on the pitch than starter Emerson, which at least gives Ipswich supporters something to keep an eye on.
For FPL managers, though, that is where the interest should probably end for now.
At £5.0m, Akpom sits in a price bracket where minutes matter enormously, because a cheap forward who starts regularly can become one of the most useful squad enablers in the game, while one who spends most weekends waiting for an opportunity quickly becomes money sitting on your bench.
Ipswich’s early fixtures may offer some encouragement, but without a clearer indication that Akpom has moved ahead of the other options for a starting place, there is little reason to gamble on him before that happens.
Monitor him rather than buy him. If the minutes increase and the starting role becomes clearer, the conversation changes quickly, but for Gameweek 3, there are cheaper forwards with a more convincing route into the starting XI.
Players to SELL
Brian Brobbey (£6.0m) | FWD, Sunderland | around 11% owned
Brian Brobbey was one of the most popular budget forwards at the start of the season because Sunderland’s opening fixtures against Ipswich and Fulham appeared to offer an obvious route to early points, but the returns have not followed the fixture promise.
Brobbey has started both matches without scoring or assisting and has managed only 0.33 expected goals across those appearances, leaving him with four FPL points and a difficult run of Brentford, Arsenal and Manchester City next.
The problem is not simply that Brobbey has blanked, because early blanks can be ignored when the underlying involvement remains strong, but his current numbers have not given managers enough evidence to justify holding him through three increasingly difficult fixtures.
Sunderland did finally secure their first league victory by beating Fulham 1-0 on 30 August, although Wilson Isidor came off the bench to score the winning goal, which creates another small layer of uncertainty around Sunderland’s forward options.
At £6.0m, there are also alternative forwards who offer a more attractive combination of minutes, fixtures and attacking potential, making Brobbey one of the easier sellers for managers who need to free up a forward slot.
There is no need to panic over one blank, but holding him through Brentford away, Arsenal at home and Manchester City away would require a much stronger underlying case than we currently have.
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Richarlison (£6.0m) | FWD, Tottenham | around 10 % owned
Richarlison is another forward who looked more attractive before the season than he does now, and the problem goes beyond his lack of FPL returns after the opening two Gameweeks.
The Brazilian has started only one of Tottenham’s first two Premier League matches and has yet to score or assist, leaving him with very little to offer managers at a £6.0m price point.
The bigger concern is his situation within the squad, because Richarlison’s future has become increasingly uncertain after reports that he wants to leave Tottenham, while Roberto De Zerbi has acknowledged that the forward is among the players who have asked to depart.
That uncertainty is particularly damaging in FPL because managers need some confidence that a £6.0m forward will receive regular starts before accepting the occasional blank, and Richarlison currently offers neither the minutes nor the attacking output required to justify keeping him.
Tottenham have also added attacking competition, with Omar Marmoush and Savinho arriving from Manchester City, while Dominic Solanke, Mathys Tel and other attacking options remain available to De Zerbi.
There is also the fixture factor to consider, with Spurs travelling to Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 3 before facing West Ham and Liverpool in the following weeks, making Richarlison a difficult player to justify holding while other £6.0m forwards are offering clearer routes to minutes and attacking involvement.
The temptation is to wait for one big performance and hope the situation changes, particularly because Richarlison has shown throughout his career that he can produce goals when given a run in the team, but FPL managers should be selecting the situation in front of them rather than the player they remember from previous seasons.
The combination of uncertain minutes, no attacking return and genuine transfer uncertainty makes Richarlison one of the forwards I would be looking to move on from before Gameweek 3.
Players to HOLD
Igor Thiago (£8.0m) | FWD, Brentford | around 15% owned
Igor Thiago is probably the clearest example of why FPL managers should separate performance from process, because the Brentford forward has failed to record an attacking return despite producing numbers that suggest the goals should eventually arrive.
Thiago has started both matches and has accumulated roughly 1.8 to 1.9 expected goal involvement from his opening two league appearances, while he has also taken a penalty and remains Brentford’s established central attacking option.
He has therefore reached the point where selling him purely because the goals have not arrived would mean reacting to the scoreboard rather than the underlying opportunity, particularly when his next fixture is Sunderland at home.
Brentford and Leeds were highlighted before the season as a useful FPL rotation combination because their early home fixtures offered several favourable match-ups, with Brentford’s Gameweek 3 meeting with Sunderland specifically identified as one of the attractive fixtures in that run.
Thiago’s 2025/26 campaign also provides useful context, because he scored 22 Premier League goals from only 14.6 non-penalty expected goals, demonstrating that his finishing ability is capable of turning strong chance volume into substantial FPL returns.
The missed penalty against Tottenham and his current lack of attacking returns make the situation frustrating, but there is enough evidence in the role, minutes, penalty responsibility and upcoming fixture to keep the faith for another week.
Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.0m) | MID, Liverpool | around 43% owned
Szoboszlai is another player who should be firmly in the hold category, especially after Liverpool’s opening two fixtures have produced enough attacking promise to keep their midfielders firmly on the FPL radar.
He has already scored this season and remains one of Liverpool’s most secure midfield options, while his £7.0m price provides an attractive route into an attack that faces Ipswich away in Gameweek 3 before meeting Fulham at home in Gameweek 4 and Bournemouth away in Gameweek 5.
The latest FPL data also continues to rate Szoboszlai highly for underlying involvement, with his xGI sitting around 11.6 in the broader player comparison data, while his current ownership is above 40 percent and therefore makes him part of the early template rather than a fringe selection.
Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest also showed that Iraola’s side can create plenty of attacking pressure, producing 27 shots and 61 percent possession despite failing to secure their first home victory of the campaign.
The fixture against Ipswich is therefore exactly the sort of match in which selling Szoboszlai could become an unnecessary act of FPL overthinking, especially when he remains involved in set pieces and has already demonstrated his ability to contribute goals.
There may eventually be a stronger midfield structure for your squad, particularly as the season develops and Liverpool’s attacking hierarchy becomes clearer, but Gameweek 3 is not the moment to sell an attacking midfielder with a favourable fixture and secure minutes.
Sometimes the best FPL transfer is the one you decide not to make.
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Players to BUY
Rayan Cherki (£7.6m) | MID, Man City | 20.8% owned
Rayan Cherki has quickly gone from intriguing mid-price differential to one of the most attractive midfielders in FPL, and his first two Gameweeks have given managers plenty of evidence that the price rise is backed by more than a couple of lucky returns.
The Manchester City midfielder has 22 FPL points from his opening two appearances, with two goals and two assists, while also collecting four bonus points and an impressive 88 BPS, placing him among the strongest early performers in the game.
His creativity has been particularly encouraging because Cherki has already shown an ability to generate chances for teammates rather than relying entirely on his own finishing, with his early numbers including an xA figure above 1.0 and seven key passes according to the latest available FPL data.
The timing makes the move even more appealing, because Manchester City now welcome Coventry City to the Etihad in Gameweek 3, with Coventry arriving after two defeats and without a goal from their opening two league matches.
At £7.6m, Cherki also gives managers access to a Manchester City attacker without having to find the additional money required for Erling Haaland, and that makes him one of the most interesting midfield routes into what could be a very productive fixture.
The only caution comes from the usual small-sample warning that applies to almost every early-season FPL pick, although the combination of minutes, creativity, attacking involvement and an outstanding Gameweek 3 fixture makes Cherki a very easy buy for managers who need a midfielder.
Alexander Isak (£9.0m) | FWD, Liverpool | around 10% owned
Alexander Isak remains one of the most interesting overlooked forwards in FPL, particularly after his price was reduced from £10.5m following an injury-hit first season at Liverpool and his ownership stayed relatively low despite his obvious ceiling.
The Swede has already registered a goal this season and sits on 10 FPL points after two Gameweeks, while his underlying numbers are far more encouraging than the raw total suggests, with 2.08 expected goals from the opening matches according to current player data.
Liverpool’s next fixture is away at Ipswich, with the promoted side already showing defensive weaknesses through the opening two matches, while their underlying defensive numbers have also placed them among the poorer teams so far.
Isak’s appeal goes beyond the fixture, because Liverpool are expected to create plenty of chances under Andoni Iraola’s aggressive attacking approach, and the forward’s previous record at Newcastle gives us a very good idea of the ceiling available when he is fit and receiving regular service.
He scored 23 goals and provided six assists during his 211-point FPL campaign in 2024/25, which explains why the official FPL Scout identified him as one of the major players to target before the season began.
There is also a useful ownership angle here, because managers who already own Haaland and want a second premium forward have plenty of expensive alternatives, while Isak still feels under-owned relative to his potential output.
For managers looking for a forward move in Gameweek 3, Isak is therefore one of the strongest combinations of price, fixture, underlying numbers and upside.
The Gameweek 3 approach
The first two Gameweeks have already produced enough chaos to tempt managers into rebuilding their squads, but the better approach now is to identify where the underlying numbers, fixtures and player roles are pointing in the same direction.
Gameweek 3 also gives managers an excellent opportunity to lean into Manchester City and Liverpool, with City hosting Coventry and Liverpool travelling to Ipswich on the same weekend, while Brentford’s home meeting with Sunderland adds another appealing fixture for managers holding Thiago or considering Brentford assets.
FPL rewards managers who can distinguish a bad result from a bad decision and resist changing their plans every time the points table tells a different story.
There will be plenty of time to chase the players who emerge as season-long stars, but for Gameweek 3, the priority should be backing strong roles, favourable fixtures and underlying numbers while giving the players who earned their place in your squad enough time to prove themselves.
