Gameweek 2 Sleepers XI: Draft EPL

Bantah Boyz
Aug 22, 2025
8 min read

Our Gameweek 2 Sleepers XI article provides Draft managers with a lineup of Fantasy EPL hidden gems. Our starting eleven of Draft Premier League differential picks will help you find a golden ticket to a big score this weekend! These hints and tips will give you a better chance of picking up an all-important victory, as any one of these under-the-radar picks could make the difference in a head-to-head game!

Michail Antonio shooting the ball for West Ham

We'll be focusing on players that will bring us not only attacking returns or clean sheets, but also those players that score Ghost Points in the sophisticated and statistics based Fantrax Scoring System!

Fantasy EPL Gameweek 2 Sleepers XI

For this article, we use the percentage rostered calculation from Fantrax and Sleeper. Our only rule is that each player we highlight is rostered in 60% of leagues or fewer at the time of writing. Therefore, there's a good chance some of these players will be free agents in your Draft league! As always, we'll take form, fixtures, projected points, and a healthy dose of intuition into account to make our selections.

We've started off this season with an absolute bang. 104.25 FPts surely cannot be a fluke. So what went wrong and what went right? In net we had Leno who scored just over 9 FPts despite no clean sheet. We had a 3-man defence with Joachim Andersen's 7 FPts, Trai Hume's 15.75 FPts and Sepp van den Berg's 8.25 FPts. Hume was the only defender to register a clean sheet, which shows the great ghosting potential of the other two players as well, especially since Sepp conceded 3 goals. In midfield we had the likes of new-Toffee Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (7 FPts), West Ham's Diouf (9.75 FPts), Leeds' Anton Stach (24.25 FPts) and the well known James Ward-Prowse (2.5 FPts). I think it's finally time to give up on JWP until we really see any proof that he's worth a spot in anyone's starting XI, let alone the bench. Diouf and KDH showed some good attacking potential, with the former showing goal threat and the latter being the main corner taker. Stach though, my word. What a lad. Sure there's an assist in his haul but he registered in every category except an ACNC. He also takes corners! He should be rostered in every league if that's not obvious by now. Finally we had 3 forwards, Jaidon Anthony (6 FPts), Gnonto (4.5 FPts) and Ndoye (10 FPts). It's a shame that none of these guys played 90 minutes, but there seems to be some good ghost point potential with Anthony. I'd probably avoid Gnonto until I see more but Ndoye's points including a goal is even more worrying. Alas, it's only been 1 gameweek of data so maybe I'm being harsh on ruling these guys out. That being said, bring on GW2!

The Sleepers XI table below includes a full team of Starters, as well as 5 Reserves - high-upside players with some question marks around whether or not they'll start in Gameweek 2. So, keep an eye out when lineups are announced and pick them up if you see them starting, especially if you need to fill a spot on your roster. Read below for the rationale behind each of the Starter selections.

Djordje Petrovic (G, Bournemouth)

It's fair to say that the departure of Huijsen and Zabarnyi was always going to hurt the Cherries defence in some way. However, it's harsh to judge the Bournemouth backline after 1 gameweek, especially after a trip to Anfield during an evening fixture. Petrovic is back in the league and has a point to prove, especially after not being given a proper chance by his previous employers Chelsea. Despite conceding 4 goals, the shot-stopper still managed to put up an impressive 9 FPts which included 6 saves, 4 clearances and 2 high-claims. Wolves should be a much easier opponent for the Serbian goalie but like Bournemouth, they'll be wanting a bounce back result as they also conceded 4 goals in a loss but didn't manage to score a single goal themselves. A team without Cunha and Ait-Nouri looks like good signs for a clean sheet.

Michael Keane (D, Everton)

It seems as though Branthwaite, and even Mykolenko, seem to be out of action for the next few gameweeks so Michael Keane's spot in the Toffee's backline looks safe for now. Although Everton lost 1-0 on the opening weekend of the Premier League, there's hope for Moyes and his boys to still be a resolute defence as the goal they conceded was a penalty. Funny enough their opponents for GW2, Brighton, also only had the single penalty goal in their draw against Fulham. Keane's 5 FPts (all ghosts) isn't anything to write home about but the English CB does have a knack of scoring from the odd set piece and Everton are playing at their new home stadium, the Hill Dickinson Stadium. So this could be a great time to punt on Keane.

Quilindschy Hartman (D, Burnley)

According to our Fixture Difficulty Tracker, Burnley DEFs have the best rated fixture difficulty in GW2. Although Sunderland put 3 goals past West Ham in GW1, it should be noted that the goals only came in the 2nd half and in the final half hour of the match. Burnley play their first home game of the season and having recorded some of the best defensive numbers during their 24/25 Championship campaign, there's hope that they'll bring some of that form into this season's Premier League. Despite Hartman and co. conceding 3 goals against Spurs, Hartman still managed 7.75 ghost points. He also took 4 of the 5 corners that Burnley had against Spurs, so the upside is definitely there with Hartman. There's potential for a monster score here.

Trevoh Chalobah (D, Chelsea)

The Chelsea defence seems to be a bit jinxed at the moment. After losing Levi to a season long injury, Fofana seemingly out of sorts with the club and then Tosin being a doubt for a start, at least one thing seems certain and that's Chalobah. Chalobah had a fairly quiet start to the season with a 12.75 FPts score, which included a clean sheet. He didn't win any tackles but had a spread of stats, mostly dominated by clearances. However with the Hammers up next, he could thrive as we saw Ballard did against Fullkrug and Bowen. We've also seen Chalobah has goals in his locker so his points ceiling is fairly decent as well. If Chelsea actually keep the likes of Reece James fit as well, there's a good chance that the Blues will rack up many clean sheets so grabbing Chalobah now could pay off in the long term as well.

Adam Wharton (M, Crystal Palace)

It's strange to see Wharton as a Sleeper pick as he seems way to good to be free in leagues. Maybe it's the possible rotation or how injury prone he was last season but Wharton seems like a no-brainer MID-4/5 asset for any roster. Given the news of Eze being sold to the likes of Arsenal, there's a chance that Wharton could be the main set-piece taker for Crystal Palace again. The young Eagle still managed to score 7.25 ghost points against Chelsea in GW1 along with a couple of key passes and successful dribbles. If he's free in your league, he's a great back-up option if one of your studs isn't starting.

Granit Xhaka (M, Sunderland)

It feels a bit weird to see Xhaka back in the Premier League and not in Arsenal colours, especially as the captain of Sunderland. Xhaka seems to be a nice option as a MID-4/5 in your roster and seems to have a share of the set pieces as well having taken 2 of the 5 corners that they had against West Ham in GW1. His 6.75 ghost points isn't great but he does have a route to getting the odd assist and against a team like Burnley, there's a good chance of that. Other than his 2 key passes, most of his points should come from defensive work but let's hope for an attacking return this gameweek.

Josh Cullen (M, Burnley)

Only 3 players got 5 key passes in GW1: Bruno Fernandes, Mo Kudus and Josh Cullen. Surely this can't be a flash in the pan. Josh seems to have taken over the Josh Brownhill role in Burnley's return to the Premier League, and if that's the case, this might be one of those hidden gems that early adopters might be boasting about by the end of the season. Sunderland at home is also a great fixture to test that theory out. If Cullen can maintain this level of attacking production, along with his defensive numbers, we're looking at a potential MID-3/4 on our hands. Obviously the fixtures after Sunderland don't look great but as an option for this weekend, he looks an absolute stud.

Marshall Munetsi (M, Wolves)

It's a shame that Munetsi doesn't seem to know how offside traps work because he could have easily had his 1st goal for the season against Man City in GW1. That being said, the fact that he got that chance and played 90 minutes bodes well for him as a MID-4/5 option against a Bournemouth team whose defence was ravaged over the summer transfer window. Although his 5 ghost points against Man City were mainly tackles and dribbles, we're hoping that he should be able to get some attacking numbers against the Cherries in GW2 and at least maintain his 7 PPG from last season.

Matt O'Riley (M, Brighton)

There has been so much speculation about whether or not O'Riley was leaving Brighton this summer but Hürzeler seems to have finally squashed the rumours to bed this week and it looks like the Discord-favourite might be a serious option for Fantrax managers this season. His 20 FPts score in GW1 looked very impressive, especially since there were 3 key passes to go with his goal. Also when did he get penalty duty? Another massive boost for the English midfielder who looks like a good MID-3 option for any roster this season. The fixture might not be the best for MOR this week, away to Everton, but the ghost point production means he is still worth a start!

Lyle Foster (F, Burnley)

If you know me, you know I love Lyle Foster. I had such big hopes for him in his debut in the Premier League a couple of seasons ago but his season was massively impacted by off-the-pitch ailments that he seems to have finally gotten over now. Although Burnley got smashed 3-0, Lyle still managed to score a respectable 8.5 ghost points in 73 minutes. This included 2 key passes, 2 successful dribbles and 4 aerials. I'm hopeful that he can get his first goal of the season when the Clarets host the Black Cats in GW2 at Turf Moor. So if you need a FWD-3 for your roster this gameweek, look no further.

Richarlison (F, Spurs)

Thomas Frank has come out and said that Richarlison is now his "starting nine" so Solanke owners must be sweating at the moment. Richarlison scored a whopping 28.25 FPts in GW1 against Burnley, scored 2 goals (one which was an absolute worldie), including 5 shots (3 on target), a couple of successful dribbles and a few aerials. GW2 is a very stern test against Man City and there's no guarantee that he will have the same opportunities as he did against Man City but the Brazilian looks to be in great nick at the moment and with the backing of his manager, it could be the perfect scenario for Richarlison to thrive in the Premier League again. Also Man City is well known for trolling managers with the lure of a clean sheet that more often than not gets vanquished, especially in big games like these. Who knows, maybe he's on penalties as well.