Brentford’s FPL Revolution: Sangaré and Kayode Shine in Gameweek 1
Brentford have linked up with Fantasy Football Scout for the 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League season, and the timing could hardly be better. Keith Andrews’ side have exploded out of the blocks – and so have their FPL assets.
Best of the Bees
Tottenham Hotspur were swept away. By the 50th minute, Brentford were three goals up and cruising, a statement opening to the new campaign and a goldmine for early adopters in FPL.
New signing Mamadou Sangaré (£5.5m), tipped last week for his defensive contributions (DefCon) potential, delivered exactly that – and then some. On debut, he hit the DefCon threshold and produced two assists, walking away with 14 points.
His first key moment came with a sharp one-two with Dango Ouattara (£6.5m) down the flank, opening up space for a cutback that Keane Lewis-Potter (£5.5m) swept in for the opener.
Brentford didn’t ease off. Vitaly Janelt (£5.0m) reacted quickest to a rebound after Mathias Jensen’s (£5.5m) shot was pushed out, tucking away the second. Janelt joined Sangaré and Kristoffer Ajer (£4.5m) in hitting the DefCon mark, underlining the value in this Brentford backline.
The pressure told again just after half-time. Sangaré drove forward and forced a save from Antonín Kinský (£4.5m), who could only parry the effort into the path of Michael Kayode (£4.5m). The defender arrived on cue and finished from close range.
Even when Igor Thiago (£8.0m) struck the post from the spot, the outcome never felt in doubt. The miss hurt 1.5 million Fantasy managers rather than Brentford’s scoreline.
The Spotlight: Kayode’s all-round threat
Kayode finished just a single point behind Sangaré’s 14, underlining his own explosive potential. While Ajer and Nathan Collins (£5.5m) also had opportunities to add goals to their clean sheets, it was Kayode who repeatedly found himself in the decisive areas.
Brentford dominated every department. Their 13 set-piece attempts alone outstripped the total shot count of half the Premier League sides in Gameweek 1. Inside the box, they outshot Spurs 20-4. Four of those Brentford efforts came from Kayode himself.
This wasn’t a one-off spike either. Kayode ended last season as the league’s leading defender for take-ons (107) and successful long throws into the box (38). The underlying numbers match the eye test: he is a defender with winger volume and set-piece chaos built into his game.
Best of the Rest
While Brentford stole one storyline, the biggest FPL scores of Gameweek 1 belonged to Brighton. Maxim De Cuyper (£4.5m) and Jack Hinshelwood (£6.0m) racked up 17 and 16 points respectively as the Seagulls tore into Aston Villa, racing into a 4-0 lead by half-time. Listed as a defender, De Cuyper operated high on the left wing and punished anyone who overlooked him.
Elsewhere, promoted Hull City stunned Manchester United. By Saturday’s interval, the play-off winners were 2-0 up at home thanks to centre-backs Semi Ajayi (£4.0m) and Nobel Mendy (£4.0m). They held that lead to the final whistle, turning a raft of popular FPL picks into disappointments.
Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) blanked. So did Manchester City duo Erling Haaland (£15.5m) and Antoine Semenyo (£8.5m). Instead, it was Marc Guéhi (£6.0m) and Joško Gvardiol (£5.5m) who bailed City out against Bournemouth, flipping the script for managers who had gambled on their defensive returns.
In Demand
The market reacted quickly. Riccardo Calafiori (£5.5m) didn’t score on opening night but still made a strong case. The left-back delivered the first goal of the 2026/27 campaign with an assist on Friday, pushing him into the bracket of most-bought players ahead of Friday’s 6.30pm BST deadline.
Arsenal kept the momentum going. Their second goal was created by Christos Tzolis (£6.5m), who arrived in north London off the back of seven pre-season assists and 23 in his final Club Brugge season. His creative output has clearly travelled with him. Martin Ødegaard (£6.5m) then stepped up to make it 3-0, reinforcing his status as a reliable midfield option and joining Tzolis among the early bandwagons.
On Monday, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer (£9.5m) and João Pedro (£7.5m) both delivered double-digit hauls, throwing more premium and mid-price names into the mix for managers already eyeing early transfers.
Sangaré and De Cuyper have muscled into those conversations. Both now sit firmly on watchlists after combining strong underlying roles with immediate FPL returns.
Captaincy calls
Despite a bruising weekend for many squads, the armband picture remains familiar. Most Gameweek 2 captaincies are still expected to land on Haaland or Fernandes, last season’s top two FPL scorers.
Haaland failed to score on a City opening day for the first time, but Crystal Palace arrive in troubled shape after a difficult summer. The Norwegian’s fixture and track record will be hard to ignore.
Fernandes, even in defeat at Hull, still carved out three chances and created three more. The output didn’t land, the involvement did. With a home game against another promoted side, Ipswich Town, he stays right in the captaincy conversation.
Brentford’s assets, Brighton’s wide threats, Arsenal’s creators, City’s usual heavyweights – Gameweek 1 has already redrawn the FPL map. The question now is simple: who do you trust with your chips when the early chaos starts to settle?
