Serie A matchday 2 fantasy football: who scores, who earns bonus points and who risks a booking
Nine games still to play and eighteen players to watch: who gets into shooting positions, who lives on the edge of a booking and who draws fouls from the opposition. Our full read for fantasy managers, match by match.
Saturday morning, team sheets due in the afternoon. Matchday two of Serie A is spread across three days, and for anyone running a fantasy football side this is the hour of awkward choices: who to start, who to bench, which defender is one late tackle away from a booking. We went through the nine games still to be played with a fantasy manager's eyes, and came out with eighteen names: the ones who can bring you points, and the ones who can cost you some.
What these numbers actually measure
In fantasy football the reward comes from goals and assists, the penalty from yellow and red cards. Nobody can know in advance who will score, but you can read the road that leads to a goal and the one that leads to a booking, and that is exactly what our individual data does. Shots tell you who genuinely gets into shooting positions, fouls committed tell you who is living on the edge of a card, fouls suffered tell you who drags opponents into the referee's notebook, and tackles describe the defenders who matter in formats that reward defensive work. Next to every name you will find our analysts' confidence rating, from 1 to 10.
The bonus candidates: who gets a shot away
Eleven players are expected to get a shot in this round. It is not a promise of a goal, it is the precondition for one: without shots, the points never arrive.
Player | Team | What the data says | Confidence | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1+ shot | 7/10 | |||
1+ shot | 6/10 | |||
1+ shot | 6/10 | |||
1+ shot | 6/10 | |||
2+ shots | 6/10 | |||
1+ shot on target | 6/10 | |||
1+ shot | 7/10 | |||
2+ shots | 5/10 | |||
1+ shot | 7/10 | |||
1+ shot | 6/10 | |||
2+ shots on target | 5/10 |
Two names deserve an extra line. McTominay generated more scoring chances than any other midfielder in the division last season, and at Napoli his runs into the box are a habit rather than an exception. Malen is the player we tipped as the season's top scorer in our verdicts: two shots on target away at Lecce is a demanding ask, which is why the confidence stops at 5, but this is the kind of game where a striker of his profile decides things.
The strongest call of the round comes from an unusual box
The pick our analysts trust most this weekend, eight out of ten, has nothing to do with shooting. It is João Mário of Fiorentina, expected to be fouled by opponents against Frosinone. For a fantasy manager that data point reads in reverse: a player who is fouled constantly is the one dragging opposing defenders into the referee's book, and the card that follows lands on somebody else's team sheet.
Player | Team | What the data says | Confidence | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1+ foul suffered | 8/10 — pick of the day | |||
1+ foul suffered | 7/10 | |||
1+ foul suffered | 7/10 | |||
2+ fouls suffered | 6/10 |
Fiorentina fill two of the four slots, and that is no accident: against a promoted side defending deep, their two playmakers are the ones receiving the ball between the lines, exactly where the tactical foul becomes almost compulsory. The same logic applies to Pio Esposito, our pick for player of the season, in centre-forward form: a striker playing with his back to goal against a physical Cagliari back line collects fouls, not favours.
Who risks the penalty: two names to weigh twice
The flip side is the players who commit the fouls. It does not mean they will be booked, it means they will spend the afternoon on the edge: worth a second thought before you start them, especially if that position is already covered.
Player | Team | What the data says | Confidence | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1+ foul committed | 7/10 | |||
1+ foul committed | 6/10 |
Tackles, the number modern fantasy formats now count
The list closes with Adam Obert of Cagliari, expected to win at least one tackle against Inter with a confidence of 7 out of 10. It brings no direct reward in the classic Italian format, but in leagues with defensive modifiers and in the international games that now score defensive contributions it has become a real currency. And against a side that keeps the ball the way Inter do, there will be plenty of tackling to do.
One game still uncovered
There are no individual calls yet on Atalanta-Bologna on Monday night: those names usually go live in the 48 hours before kick-off, alongside the team news. Worth checking the page again on Sunday.
Where to find every name
These eighteen are the Serie A individual calls, but our Player Predictions section collects them for every competition we cover, updated match by match: shots, shots on target, fouls committed and suffered, tackles. It is the page to keep open next to your team sheet.
One last warning that outweighs any statistic: wait for the confirmed line-ups. Every number here assumes the player starts, and at the end of the transfer window, with a midweek round coming, rotation ruins more fantasy teams than any card ever will.
