Captain Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 21 – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16
Hello ladies and gents, and welcome to the Captain Picks for GW 21! This game-week sees several of the big teams in tough matchups, with Man City welcoming Everton after coming up short against them in the Capital One Cup, Leicester going to White Hart Lane for the second time in a matter of days, and Liverpool hosting Arsenal at Anfield. In such a GW it might be hard to get the captaincy right as several of the usual choices face tough teams. For example, Mahrez misses out in this article as he’s failed to deliver in recent weeks and goes up against the meanest defence in the league in Tottenham. Last GW was low-scoring for many of us and there is a fear this GW will pan out similarly due to the fixtures, but let hope abound that they will turn out to be entertaining goal fests instead. Nevertheless, let’s go look at the different captain picks for this week.
[clear]Harry Kane (home vs Leicester)
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[/three_fourth]Tottenham and Leicester will face off against each other only a couple of days prior to their PL match in the FA Cup, so we’ll get a hint as to how this match will pan out beforehand. Regardless, Kane has been hot and cold recently, blanking in 3 of his last 6 matches and getting 3 goals and 1 assist in the other 3. Spurs actually sit 2nd in the form table, and are the 3rd highest scoring team in the league alongside Arsenal with 34 goals, 11 of them being scored by Kane. While Leicester have been known for both scoring and conceding plenty of goals, they have scored none and conceded only 1 in their last 3 matches, and sit 3rd in the form table. As Leicester really don’t know what defensive football means, expect an entertaining match with chances for both sides, with Tottenham as favorites to take all 3 points in this match, and with Kane as the focal point of their attack.
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Romelu Lukaku (away vs Man City)
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[/three_fourth]While Everton have not performed so well recently, sitting 15th in the form table, Romelu Lukaku has performed week in and week out. He has only blanked once in his last 10 matches. While going to the Etihad might put you off, I expect Man City and Everton to go at each other with an attacking intent, creating plenty of chances for both sides. In the Capital One Cup, it was City that had the most shots with 18, yet Everton looked more lethal and even had 2 goals disallowed despite having only 8 shots (7 on goal). City have only kept 1 clean sheet in their last 8, in a scoreless match against Leicester that honestly shouldn’t have ended scoreless. Hence, City should be expected to concede and Lukaku has been the top attacking player for Everton this season, as he proved when he scored against City in the Carling Cup. Lukaku’s fitness is currently uncertain, but early news suggests that he’s likely to be ok for this match as the injury wasn’t too serious. Keep an eye out for more news.
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Mesut Ozil (away vs Liverpool)
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[/three_fourth]With their team sitting atop of the league, Arsenal fans mostly have one man to thank for that – Mesut Ozil. The Frog-Eyed Playmaker has provided 16 assists and scored 3 goals, and has finally shown us why he was considered world class at Real Madrid. While he has blanked in 2 of his last 3 matches, Arsenal only scored 1 goal in the matches he blanked, so his lack of points in those matches is no fault of his. In the other match, he scored 1 goal and assisted another – meaning that he was involved in two-thirds of Arsenals goals in these matches, so don’t jump the gun and think that his form has waned yet. In fact, you will have to go all the way back to GW 6 to find the last time he blanked before these last matches. His opponent, Liverpool, sit 13th in the form table, and while they have kept 2 clean sheets in their last 3 matches, they have been defensively unstable under Klopp, conceding 9 goals in recent matches against Newcastle, West Bromwich, Watford, and West Ham – all teams that, in theory, are inferior. I see no reason to believe that Liverpool should be able to prevent Arsenal from scoring in their quest to stay top of the league, and Ozil will certainly be in the middle of it all if and when they do.
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Odion Ighalo (away vs Southampton)
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[/three_fourth]I never thought I’d say these words when you look at the big names in this article, but Ighalo is perhaps the safest pick this week. While most of the other captaincy candidates have tough matches, he faces Southampton, a team that sits 18th in the form table with 4 losses, 1 draw, and 1 win – that ironically was against Arsenal – in their last 6 matches. Against Arsenal, Southampton also kept their only clean sheet in their last 8 matches. Ighalo blanked for the first time in 8 matches last round against City, but he came close a couple of times and was a constant pain to deal with for Mangala (who isn’t!), and scored 4 goals altogether against Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham in the matches before City. In other words, he has proven that he has no problem scoring even against big teams, and given Southampton’s form, there is little reason to believe that he won’t torment their defenders as well, and I would suggest that he’s very likely to pick up points in this match.
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Sergio Aguero (home vs Everton)
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[/three_fourth]While he is still nowhere near his top form, Sergio Aguero shows improvement with every match, having scored the winning goal against Watford and assisted Navas’ goal against Everton. He completed 85 minutes against Watford and played the entire match against Everton, proving that he is fit enough to now go the 90; it is currently his sharpness that is lacking. While his returns this season have not been anywhere near what we are used to, he has played better in recent matches as he has been more involved in the attacking play, venturing out of the box to contribute to the attack as well as going back into the box to finish the attack, in contrast to previous matches when he remained immobile in the box, rarely getting chances and being quite invisible. Still, his finishing is nowhere near his usual, clinical self as we witnessed on several occasions against Everton. However, we all know what he is capable of and with him showing improvement, I think it is merely a matter of time before he proves his worth and starts scoring consistently, and as he faces an attacking minded and very little defensively minded team in Everton at the Etihad, this could very well be the week he starts doing that. If you think he will, then he represents a differential captain as he is owned by 14.3% of teams – many of them inactive.
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Diego Costa (home vs West Brom)
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[/three_fourth]Another player that has failed to live up to expectations this season is Chelsea’s Diego Costa. Or rather, the entire Chelsea team has failed up to live up to expectations, but they have shown improvement in recent matches, being on their longest unbeaten streak in the Premier League this season by not losing in four matches. Costa has gotten double digits in his last 2 matches, scoring 12 points due to 2 goals and 3 bonus points against Watford, and 10 points due to 1 goal, 1 assist, and 1 bonus point against Crystal Palace. West Bromwich have lost the defensive solidity we expect to see from a team managed by Pulis as they have kept just a single clean sheet in 10 matches, and given Chelsea’s and Costa’s form, he surely represents a great differential option for the armband this week as he is only owned by 6.3%, and I assume a lot of the teams owning him are inactive teams.
Thanks for reading Captain Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 21. This article was written by Tekno Kun
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De Gea Myhill
Alderweireld Bellerin Ward Wollscheid Olsson
Ozil Mahrez Yaya Arnautovic Stanislas
Lukaku Kane Vardy
1FT 5.1 ITB Any changes?
Not a lot you can or indeed need to do there Chris until we know more on Lukaku and Vardy. Even if Vardy doesn’t make it you are fairly well set there this week to play a 3-5-2 unless you had any pressing transfers in mind?
I am considering going 442 benching Vardy if he’s injured. Ighalo I am thinking of
Chris, I’d be tempted by Lukaku -> Kun. Plenty of people would disagree, but I’d do that move in a heartbeat!
Many of you guys bringing in Aguero but I’m not convinced yet
Chris, I haven’t brought him in yet because I would need to take a hit to be happy with how my team ended up with him in it. I would do it in a heartbeat if I had your cash in hand though :/
The danger is that the convincing you get may just be a hat-trick against a depleted and lackluster Everton defense. Timing is everything
Vardy –> Costa / Aguero, for me.
I don’t think he can reach Vardy-> Kun. I don’t mind Vardy -> Costa though!
Evening Pancho. Correct, Aguero probably is a stretch too far. How is your team looking for next GW, making any fancy moves?
Don’t have enough for Vardy to Aguero
Costa is an intriguing option. He seems to be getting in form but he has some challenging fixtures
Stan & Kane in for Ramsey & Vardy tonight?
Or ride the price drop? Team is linked
If it doesn’t matter in terms of being able to still buy them later then I’d ignore it for now.
Sounds good.
Klopp afater tonights draw:: “I can’t believe we have to play another game now.”
HAHAHA! This dude is hilarious.
I like him Raz. He’s funny and genuine.
Personally, I rate him higher than Pep Guardialo.
Another reason I like Klopp (from Wikipedia):
“In 1995, Klopp obtained a diploma in sports science at the Goethe University of Frankfurt, writing his thesis about walking.”
A thesis on walking, man. WALKING!
NIN, I saw your comment above and thought I’d start a new thread. Wondering, though, if you’re asking as my opponent in the FF247 cup
I haven’t made any moves yet and I am struggling to figure it out. I think this is Kun’s week to break out and I’m trying to get him in with my 2 fts, but I don’t like what I end up without taking a hit. The more I try to make it work the more I think that if I want him in I should just WC … Here’s the team as of right now.
What do you think of my WC team? I haven’t hit the button yet, but getting closer :/
Looks good. Do it.
But i dont like the double ups of Spurs and Palace at the back.
Pancho,
You could get Aguero, Ighalo and Payet in for Lukaku Vardy KDB. -4 but you save the wc which should be worth more. Then you can make any small changes as you go. You can pick a decent team this week with the exception of your strikers. Maybe wait untill their injury situation is confirmed in the press conferences
You seem to be hanging your hat on a lot of players just back from injury (Aguero, Payet) or unlikely to keep up their form (Stan). Personally I think your current team is more balanced. The moves could pay of but equally could not. I wouldn’t use a WC for it but perhaps get Aguero this week and Payet next if you want to.
How about Walcott & Lukaku > Alli & Aguero?
Pancho, I think there is too much money tied up in defence. I’d lose one of them to give you options. You have doubled up on Spurs and Palace so you could lose one to Rangal and potentially Azpi despite the fixtures or DDG. The other noticeable absense for me is Lukaku (form over fixtures).
after all the help
this is what I plan to do
wait for the cup games. if Kane stays fit
i do Vardy to Kane and save my other FT
next week if Kun continues his form I do Lukaku to Aguero
and use the other FT do downgrade Barkley to some 6.7 6.8 mn mid to afford the Kun money
If Vardy bags a hattrick this GW against Spurs, will you get him back for the game against Villa?