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Adewale (The FPL Manual) provides a preview of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 3 with tips, best captain picks, and top selections for the weekly Fantasy Challenge.
Hello, RotoBallers! Welcome to our weekly Fantasy Premier League Preview -- your go-to guide for the best fantasy tips and captain picks, along with a comprehensive overview of the top teams to target.
The Reboot Fantasy Challenge series continued with The Promoted challenge, where players from promoted clubs earned double points in Gameweek 2. This week's challenge brings a close to the series, and we'll be sharing insights into the top fantasy picks to help you maximize returns.
The Gameweek 3 deadline for the 2025-26 Fantasy Premier League season is Saturday, August 30, at 07:30 a.m. ET, when Chelsea hosts Fulham. Check out the rest of our excellent soccer coverage as the squad gets you all set for every EPL and UCL slate with our EPL DFS lineup picks and betting picks.
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The best way to enjoy #FPL is to play with those closest to you 🫶
Personalise and share this with your friends and family to get them involved in your mini-league 📲 pic.twitter.com/z55KsOvkmQ
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) July 29, 2025
How To Play Fantasy Premier League Guide
Whether it's your first, second, or 20th season playing Fantasy Premier League, don't miss our How To Play Fantasy Premier League Guide for the 2025-26 season. It covers squad building, transfers, and all the new strategies coming to this great game for the current campaign.
Fantasy Premier League: Best Gameweek 3 Tips
Target Chelsea, Man United, or Nottingham Forest Assets
The 2025 Club World Cup champions put on a five-star performance against West Ham, moving into the top four. Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has found a winning formula against London sides, with the Blues only losing two games to their rivals since his arrival as manager.
Chelsea's next game is against Fulham, another London club, and this might yet be another opportunity for them to improve their recent form.
26 - Since the start of last season under Enzo Maresca, Chelsea have picked up more points in Premier League London derbies than any other side (26 – P14 W7 D5 L2). Noisy. pic.twitter.com/HbgLZdKZp0
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 23, 2025
Cole Palmer, who missed last week's game due to a groin injury, is going to be a major miss for the Blues, as he is a doubt to feature this weekend. His teammate, Joao Pedro, was solid as the No. 10, transitioning to a more creative role and contributing three attacking returns. He is a must-have asset for Gameweek 3.
Man United and Nottingham Forest are two other teams to chase this week, thanks to favorable home matchups. Ruben Amorim's side has only scored once in the opening two games, but that may all change when the Red Devils welcome Burnley to Old Trafford and push for their first win of the new season.
On to the next one 🔜 pic.twitter.com/51bvxDqRy1
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 26, 2025
Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest faces off against West Ham, a side that has conceded eight goals in their opening two matches. Based on the head-to-head record, Forest has won all three of their previous meetings with the Hammers, scoring seven goals and conceding one.
Ultimately, FPL managers should prioritize selecting assets from Chelsea, Man United, and Nottingham Forest for Gameweek 3. According to market data goal projections, each club is expected to produce 2.00 xG, 2.18 xG, and 1.67 xG (expected goals) against their opponents this weekend.
💹 PL GW3 matchups
An early look at market projections for the next round of PL fixtures, via sharp betting markets - including projected goals and CS%, teams to target and WDL odds 👇 pic.twitter.com/GxUPUxtUd0
— Rob T (@robtFPL) August 26, 2025
In defense, Man United has a high likelihood of keeping a clean sheet, with projections capped at 48%, while Nottingham Forest (41%) and Chelsea (39%) follow closely as the top three teams expected to keep a clean sheet.
Recommended FPL assets for Gameweek 3
- Chelsea: Joao Pedro, Enzo Fernandez, and Marc Cucurella
- Man United: Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Cunha, and Matthijs de Ligt
- Nottingham Forest: Chris Wood, Elliot Anderson, and Nikola Milenković
Top FPL Gameweek 3 Captain Picks
The weekend fixtures present a list of fascinating options for your captaincy choice. Players like Bruno Fernandes against Burnley, Joao Pedro against Fulham, and Mohamed Salah against Arsenal present strong cases. However, our top two captain picks this week are:
Chris Wood (£7.7m) - Nottingham Forest vs. West Ham
Chris Wood, Nottingham Forest's top scorer last year, ascends to the top of our RotoBaller captain picks this week. The 33-year-old striker was ruthless in the opening game against Brentford, scoring a brace and finishing with 13 points.
Facing West Ham next, the New Zealand striker is expected to be heavily involved in the goals for the Reds against a shaky Hammers' defense, making him a massive rank booster for Gameweek 3.
Chris Wood's Football IQ 🧠💯 pic.twitter.com/lX0SM6z1m4
— Premier League (@premierleague) August 17, 2025
Erling Haaland (£14.1m) - Man City at Brighton
Following a lackluster performance from Man City in Gameweek 2, Erling Haaland has another opportunity to atone for his mistakes when he faces Brighton. Pep Guardiola will need his star forward at the end of every pass and cross to ensure the Cityzens don't continue losing ground in this year's title race.
The 25-year-old Norwegian international has a goal record of five scored in five appearances against the Seagulls. Based on player goal projection, Haaland ranks first for his 0.64 xG and is expected to score a goal this weekend.
📊 25/26 | GW 3 - 8
⚽ Player Predicted Goals pic.twitter.com/m9U7e3YJXJ— elevenify . com (@elevenify) August 26, 2025
RotoBaller's FPL Team of The Week
With double chips available at play this season, Fantasy Premier League managers have the luxury of triggering their first set of chips (Free Hit, Triple Captain, Bench Boost, and Wildcard) early to gain momentum.
Our latest "FPL Team of the Week" will help share insights on the best one-week team to bank on against that gameweek's fixtures. This will significantly benefit managers who are planning to activate their Free Hit chip.
Here are our recommended FPL picks for Gameweek 3.
Courtesy: fpldedits.com
Factoring in recent price changes and market data projections, this team is projected to score at least 62 FPL points with Bruno Fernandes as captain. Erling Haaland and Chris Wood are solid captain options as suggested above; however, feel free to make your own modifications where necessary.
FPL Challenge: Reboot Series
The FPL Challenge section for the 2025-26 season is back, and RotoBaller remains your go-to source for valuable insights on selecting the right assets for any challenge.
Reboot is the tag given for the first three gameweeks, which will involve selecting a 6-a-side team each week. In this series, you will be given an unlimited budget and only allowed to choose one player per team. Here are the tasks below:
- Gameweek 1: Instant Impact - New signings earn double points.
- Gameweek 2: The Promoted - Players from promoted teams are rewarded double points.
- Gameweek 3: The Shield - Defensive contributions are worth 10 points.
Fantasy Challenge is LIVE for 2025/26 and the first three challenges have been revealed 🤩
Read about the changes coming to Fantasy Challenge for the season ahead 👇
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) July 30, 2025
Our Gameweek 2 FPL challenge team finished with 37 points, with main highlights being Arsenal's Viktor Gyökeres and Burnley's Quilindschy Hartman finishing with 12 points each. Our challenge team is now ranked 10,317 this season; let's take a big step to break into the top 5,000 with next week's selection.
Gameweek 3 Fantasy Challenge: The Shield
Gameweek 3 is the week of defensive contributions, also known as DefCons. Under the new rules, every 10 clearances, blocks, interceptions, and tackles for defenders, as well as recoveries for a midfielder (12), earn two points in the official FPL game.
The stake for DefCon points this weekend is high, as you gain 10 points rather than two. Therefore, we will select two defenders and two midfielders with favorable fixtures that fit this week's challenge.
Defenders that have returned defensive contribution points in BOTH Gameweeks so far! 💪🤩
Tempted by any of them for Gameweek 3?#FPL pic.twitter.com/slGysT85IO
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) August 25, 2025
RotoBaller's top six picks for this week's challenge are:
- In goal, Tottenham's Guglielmo Vicario is a solid shot-stopper to rely on for quality saves and clean-sheet points against AFC Bournemouth.
- In defense, Everton's James Tarkowski and Newcastle's Dan Burn are top-notch defenders likely to score from set pieces as well as contribute DefCon points.
- In midfield, Man United's Bruno Fernandes and Chelsea's Moises Caicedo are our top midfield options. Fernandes takes the spotlight as the captain of the week.
- In attack, Nottingham Forest's Chris Wood completes the attack, rounding off our lineup in a 2-2-1 formation.
Best of luck to everyone participating in this week's challenge!
Stick around for more 2025-26 Fantasy Premier League content coming soon. Hit us up on X @RotoBaller. We would love to hear your feedback and ideas!
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