Captain Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 25 – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16
As midnight chimes in Tuesday morning, I switch the TV off, reducing Sky Sports News to naught but static electricity. I turn to face the noxious wall to my right, solemnly observing the solvent evaporating as it leaves the pigment behind. Through oxidation the exothermic reaction produces heat, and after a few hours the process is finally complete. Tired and intoxicated, I pull myself to my feet and make my way to bed. I fall asleep with the conclusions of the evening rattling around my unsettled mind. Yes, watching paint dry was way more exciting than transfer deadline day.
Stoke were one of the few clubs to show up at the January sales on Monday. Like an eager consumer first in the queue, face pressed up against a store’s locked glass doors, then sheepishly noticing only a smattering of half-arsed punters behind them. Well, if the Potters were one of transfer day’s enthusiastic early birds, Aston Villa were the school dropouts, smoking weed in their bedroom while a fuming mother pounds on the door to an ever increasing crescendo of Nirvana and Led Zeppelin. “Stop wasting your life away young man, or you’ll never amount to anything!”, “Whatever, mum. The Premier League’s for sellouts anyway.”
Thankfully, FPLers must bear no shackles such as January windows, and we can make transfers whenever we want. In your anti-free-market FACE, Richard Scudamore!
Gameweek 25, then and alas, no place for the likes of Alex Pritchard or Leroy Fer.
5. DELE ALLI (home vs Watford)
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[/three_fourth]Remember when Harry Kane first hit the scene last season? A fund-friendly carefree FPL option to leave in your eleven and happily cash in the points every week. But it took a while before people felt comfortable captaining him, so wary were people of this ‘flash in the pan’… so surprised were they of his sudden impact. And here we are again a year later with Dele Alli, the latest English Spurs phenom (though much credit should go to MK Dons) to light up the domestic game ahead of what must surely be a galactic career. A goal AND an assist in both of his previous two outings have fired the youngster up the player rankings. At a suspiciously cheap 5.9, giving him the armband could feel justifiably atypical. A bit like going into Harrods and coming out with a new shelf and a tin of spam. But if you want spam, and you’ve nowhere to put it, why the hell not?
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4. ROBERTO FIRMINO (home vs Sunderland)
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[/three_fourth]The much maligned Brendan Rodgers’ legacy will probably be how he got a great season out of Jordan Henderson. The way Jurgen Klopp has begun his tenure at the Kop, we may look back at his best achievement being converting an under-performing Brazilian midfielder into a pretty respectable striker. Naturally this won’t sate the Anfield faithful, but it’s great news for FPL. An out of position (OOP) player is like manna for us. Stick someone 20 yards further forward than he’s supposed to be, and suddenly he becomes highly coveted. Try moving Julian Assange the same distance outside the Ecuadorian Embassy and see what happens. Sunderland meanwhile are in the middle of an unkind fixture run that, following their defeat to City, has them tussle with Liverpool and then Man Utd. With no clean sheets since November and a league-high 47 goals conceded, Firmino as a captaincy option could sail under many a radar.
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3. ALEXIS SANCHEZ (away vs Bourenmouth)
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[/three_fourth]Three of the truest idioms: ‘Behind every good man is a good woman.’ ‘You can’t make bricks without straw.’ ‘Every creative attacking strikeforce needs a decent defensive midfielder.’ Rather predictably, Arsene Wenger didn’t bring in a striker this week, but he did hire Mohamed Elneny from FC Basel. A transfer that will likely have no direct FPL ramifications, but could we see some much-needed solidity give Arsenal their final jigsaw piece? One final cog that could set others whirring keenly into motion. Arsenal have already shown themselves to be ready(-ish) for a title tilt, but with the increased ball retention that the Egyptian will surely provide, one imagines that the likes of Alexis Sanchez will be given all the more license to capitalize. The caveat is that he is, of course, only recently back from a long-term absence. However, he showed plenty in last week’s FA Cup win over Burnley to suggest he won’t need long. Furthermore, 4 of his 6 goals, and both of his assists, have come away from home.
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2. SERGIO AGUERO (home vs Leicester)
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[/three_fourth]One of the most contentious aspects of Fantasy Footy is the Bonus Points allocation. When word of Kun’s BP-robbing yellow card against Sunderland had spilled out into the streets, children wept, women wailed, and grown men thrashed themselves over the head with shelves they’d pinched from some posh bloke outside Harrods. This was merely a microcosm of what people demand weekly from Aguero. Upon his broad shoulders weigh unimaginably high expectations. The visit of Leicester, a team keeping The Citizens off pole position in both the league and the form table; who have allowed only 1 goal past them in 6 games; who continue to defy gravity; will provide no less relief for the Argentinian. #AlwaysCaptainKun, baa the Twittering sheep, and with good reason. So quickly people forget how cherished a 5 point captain would’ve been 2 months ago. 44 points in 5 GWs is a ridiculous return and justifies the hyperbole. So yes, always captain Kun. Unless you’ve got…
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1. HARRY KANE (home vs Watford)
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[/three_fourth]Spurs idol/childhood Gunners fan Harry Kane will take a trip to the Hornets nest on the back of 4 goals and 28 points in 3 games. Look I know you’ll captain Aguero anyway. YOU know you will. But given the respective match-ups, and the incredible form of the Englishman, you probably, maybe, possibly shouldn’t. Watford’s admittedly impressive shutout owed much to a superlative Gomes masterclass and was their first clean sheet since Boxing Day. 7 of their 9 in total have come at Vicarage Road. To cap it off they lie 18th in the form table, as a fantastic campaign under Flores threatens to unravel. The North Londoners, meanwhile have registered at least 3 goals on 8 separate occasions this season; their most recent results being 4-1, 3-1, 3-0. It’s difficult to see Harry failing to add to his 15 league goals on Saturday.
Thanks for reading Captain Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 25. This article was written by Bryan Munich
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Baines and Lukaku out for Cresswell and Vardy?
Leaves money for Ozil -> Sanchez next week
Meloncat
I do like the sounds of those moves.
What is going on with Baines ? Will he play ?
ch3lawy
Our resident Evertonian reckons that he doesn’t know so the rest of us have no chance!
It could be that with a CS on Wednesday, the team may be the same, meaning no Baines.
How is my line up looking? Do I need to take any hits to sort any issues?
Don’t think so Rosco. I’d let it ride. :thumbup: