West Ham United make the short trip south to take on fellow Londoners Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday, looking for a strong response to the opening day defeat against Aston Villa.
The Hammers came up short against Unai Emery’s UEFA Champions League-bound Villa at London Stadium. Lucas Paquetá's penalty cancelled out Amadou Onana’s early opener, only for Jhon Durán to come off the bench and strike a late winner for the visitors.
Julen Lopetegui’s charges will be wary of the threats posed by the Eagles, having suffered a 3-1 defeat to the same opposition just three weeks ago after meeting Tampa, Florida, in the Stateside Cup.
With Premier League points at stake this time around, both sides will be full of individuals looking to provide the touch of magic required to make the difference on the day, meaning there are a number of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) decisions to be made in the lead up to kick-off.
The Gameweek Two transfer deadline is set for 11am on Saturday 24 August ahead of a mouth-watering feast of weekend action that begins two-and-a-half hours before West Ham’s clash at Selhurst Park.
While we will be giving you FPL tips and tricks throughout the remainder of the 2024/25 season on whufc.com, see below for some of our picks for the upcoming round.
Also, don't forget to join the Official West Ham United FPL League by entering the code tezfax...
Paquetá' to continue impressive early season form!
Since returning from the Copa América with Brazil, Lucas Paquetá (£6.0m) has enjoyed an impressive start to life under Julen Lopetegui. The 26-year-old could make his 86th appearance in Claret and Blue on Saturday, and you wouldn’t put it past him to score for the third consecutive game in all competitions.
Having assisted Jarrod Bowen for the opener in our Betway Cup victory over RC Celta de Vigo, the Brazilian then marked his first pre-season appearance with a perfectly executed lobbed finish of his own.
And he carried that excellent form into the Hammers’ opening day fixture against Aston Villa, where he levelled from the penalty spot with a coolly-taken penalty, earning him a six-point haul for his efforts.
As seasons go, to say 2023/24 was a good one for Jarrod Bowen (£7.5m) would be something of an understatement.
The 27-year-old, who was named captain of West Ham ahead of the new campaign, equalled Paolo Di Canio’s record for the most Premier League goals scored by a West Ham United player in a single campaign (16) and will be eager to score his first Premier League goal of the season this weekend.
Opposition watch: Crystal Palace
Eberechi Eze (£7.0m) owners could count themselves very unfortunate to get just two points out of him after an impressive opening gameweek.
The England international attempted more shots (with seven) than any other player in the Premier League on the opening weekend, which doesn’t even include the sensational free-kick goal that was disallowed. It is a shame there are no points for style because it was some finish.
On another day, the forward could have easily earned a double-digit haul given the quality of his performance against Brentford, and is a player the Hammers will need to be wary of this weekend in south London.
Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m) has seen his price tag increase by 50% from £5.0m last season to £7.5m in 2024/25, unsurprisingly.
He was in over 800,000 FPL manager’s sides for the final game of 2023/24, where he earned a remarkable 20 points thanks to his hat-trick against Aston Villa, and could provide a welcome return having netted 13 goals in the final 13 games of last season.
