Share This Post

Fantasy Football Captain Picks / Latest Articles

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 1

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 1

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 1 2017/18

Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 1. “The First Cut is the Deepest”. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”. First come, first served. Love at first sight. Make a good first impression. The first US President, George Washington. The first Tour de France champion, Maurice Garin. The first winner of ‘The Voice’ in Lithuania, Julija Jegorova.

To truly leave your mark or carve out a legacy you often need to make that first step count. Just like Neil Armstrong did in some 1969 Kubrick movie I saw.

Your first FPL captain of 2017/18 has a lot to live up to. Last season Philippe Coutinho topped the GW1 charts with a 15 point haul, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 9 points proved that FPL new boys can hit the ground running. Those of us swerving players from promoted teams may do well to recall Alvaro Negredo’s goal and max bonus point haul on day 1 against Stoke. Oh come on, you must remember him. He played football. Y’know, for that team.

Onto some of the prime candidates for this weekend then. A new face, some familiar old friends, and a huge Belgian who traded blue for red, but I won’t spoil the tension by revealing his identity just yet. First up…

ALEXANDRE LACAZETTE (ARSENAL vs Leicester City)
Fantasy Football Tips£52 million. Do you remember when that used to be a lot of money? Arsene probably still remembers, marking as it did a rare splurge for the Gunner’s record-busting marquee signing. Allegedly, Frenchman Lacazette used to skip English lessons at school to play football, and who can blame him. I used to skip geography class and it never did me any harm. Though there was that one unfortunate episode where I had to flee from Parisian cops across the sand dunes of Machu Picchu.

Just the two pre-season strikes against Sydney FC and Sevilla doesn’t give us too much insight into the impact he’ll have at home to the Foxes, but he showed promising glimpses at Wembley in Sunday’s curtain-raiser and was unlucky not to score. His 28 goals in 30 Ligue 1 matches leaves little doubt about the former Lyon hitman’s pedigree.

HARRY KANE (Newcastle United vs TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR)
Fantasy Football TipsKane polished off the final two games of 2016/17 with a ridiculous 7 goals to become the first player to win the Golden Boot in consecutive years since Robin van Persie. Another goal in last week’s convincing 2-0 friendly win over Juventus at Spurs’ new Wembley home suggests more of the same to come.

An away trip to a newly promoted team, however, ranks as one of the trickier ways to start a campaign. St. James’ Park will provide its usual pulsating atmosphere, surely amplified even further by a return to the big stage after a brief hiatus; and Rafa’s boys will be keen to prove they’ve learned from the mistakes of yore.

But this is Harry Kane, and if you’ve thrown 12.5m of your FPL budget at him to make him ‘one of your own’, then you’ll probably want to give him the armband.

ROBERTO FIRMINO (Watford vs LIVERPOOL)
Fantasy Football Tips21 goals and 19 assists in his two seasons at Anfield thus far make the Brazilian an irresistible FPL option for many, spearheading a Klopp team that’s been set up to go for the jugular. Firmino’s productivity can surely only blossom further with the likes of Mane, Salah and (at the time of writing) Coutinho criss-crossing around him like the Red Arrows on methylphenidate.

Watford’s difficult season reached its nadir with a 6-1 thrashing at Liverpool, signalling the start of the end for former boss Mazzari. The Hornets scraped home in 17th, culminating in a 5-0 humiliation at Man City, and their fans must surely be apprehensive about the coming campaign. If both teams carry on where they left off in May, expect the odd Bobby dazzler.

GABRIEL JESUS/SERGIO AGUERO (Brighton vs MANCHESTER CITY)
Fantasy Football TipsThe phrase ‘to hedge ones bets’ was first used by George Villiers, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, in his 1672 satirical play ‘The Rehearsal’. I don’t know why I brought that up, but there you go.

It’s likely that you’ve got one of Jesus or Aguero. It’s unlikely that you’ve got both. If you have? Well then I can only… umm… OH LOOK OVER THERE! *runs away*

A look at their average points per 90 from last season shows that maybe it IS worth having both Jesus (9.26) and Aguero (6.55). Both have had their injury problems though and City’s squad depth exposes even these two to occasionally being ‘Pepped’. Is that a thing? No? Sod it, it is now. We should be able to enjoy the two of them sharing points aplenty at least until the Champions League rolls into town.

ROMELU LUKAKU (MANCHESTER UNITED vs West Ham)
Fantasy Football Tips£75 million. Do you remember when that used to be a lot of money? Nope, neither does Mourinho who had already set the precedent for this summer’s monstrous displays of profligacy with his 2016 purchase of serial woodwork abuser Paul Pogba. Our boy Romelu however, doesn’t need to re-calibrate his shooting accuracy as he’s already shown with a few goals in pre-season.

Being pipped at the post for the Golden Boot by Kane may give him even more fire to reach the 30 goal mark this time round. Starting against Joe Hart will help, a man who should perhaps concentrate less on his head & shoulders, and more on his hands & arms.

West Ham, to be fair, have bought well during the summer and look like an exciting prospect. They’ve been leaking goals for fun in pre-season however, and one would expect Lukaku to make a big impact on his debut.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 1


Vote on our Captain Poll Now

captain-poll-article1







The League Codes for FF247 for the 2017/18 season are as follows:

The main public FF247 League , which anyone is welcome to join, can be accessed using the following code 1503-553 (auto-link below).

Join Our League – Quick Link
League Code: 1503-553
View league standings
Our Regulars League for 2017/18 is now open and has a cash prize pool of £300 paid directly to the winners from the FF247 management team. The first 5 places are paid out in a tiered system.
To enter this one you need to be an active and recognised site member and you need to e-mail us for the league code – Elleffcee@fantasyfootball247.co.uk

*terms and conditions apply and are available upon request. Management reserve the right to review membership of this league on an ongoing basis. If you enter and win a prize you have to have commented on the site at least 10 times for 3 consecutive months between January 2018 and March 2018 or you will not be considered for a prize.

Gameweek Tracker GW1-11

FT Diff

Share This Post

593 Comments

  1. 109
    Kruzcampo says:

    Swapped Pogba and Ineacho to Firmino and Tadic as not impressed tonight although against Madrid any team would struggle.

  2. 110
    Shrizzine says:

    Hello all!

    I’ve had not much time to spend with different variations, but from the fantastic info from you guys I’ve created this team. I’m going to risk double Soton at the back, Abraham as a budget striker and Atsu as my cheap 4th mid. And oh ya, a bare bones bench! Now that I’ve typed that out, I’m not so sure! :s

    • 110.1

      That’s a strong team and you are obviously going for broke. I think Atsu starts, but he might be dropped at any moment so you are really walking on a tightrope. Carroll is there though, so could be worth the risk with Atsu, that guy can be electric when he is on.

      • Shrizzine says:

        Thanks Mito, very much appreciated. I really hate choosing the “what ifs” for GW1, but Atsu, like many on here, has caught my eye. Like you said, he can most certainly be electric.

    • 110.2
      wylecoyote says:

      im steering clear of all city except KDB , cant trust Pepe and his rotating madness methods . I believe he did not pick the same two teams all season – and yet compare to Leicester and Chelsea the last two winners they stuck by pretty much the same teams
      bar a couple all season

      Im surprised Kun stayed there , having been benched last year several times – what would make you
      bench one of the most potent strikers in the world

  3. 111
    Pancho says:

    If anyone’s around I’d love to know which combination you prefer:
    Kun-JRod-Mkhi or Jesus-Lukaku-Miliv

    • 111.1
      DMC says:

      That’s though Pancho. If I was your philosophical gut I wouldn’t be telling you to have Kun from the off. I’d need to think he plays and gels this season before buying so I’d have Jesus instead of him in that first combo. On the other hand, the second combo has Lukaku which I would say can’t be ignored for the first few rounds. Mili and J-Rod offer little potential right now so not sure if any of this helps. Can you change the available combos? smile

  4. 112
    AllanBrallan says:

    Was Fabregas injured last season or did he only play 1300 minutes due to rotation?

  5. 113
    dave88 says:

    Could someone please RMT

    Heaton, Elliot
    Bertrand, Ake, Dann, simpson, Naughton
    Alli, Eriksen, Zaha, Ince, Carroll
    Lukaku, Aguero, Gabbiadini

    Cheers smile

  6. 114
    Jamie Mc says:

    I realise it is a good few weeks away but any idea why Arsenal v Everton postponed for game week 9?

    Jamie

Leave a Reply

Go to Latest CommentsView Now