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)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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?
[divider_1px]
4. ROBERTO FIRMINO (home vs Sunderland)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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.
[divider_1px]
3. ALEXIS SANCHEZ (away vs Bourenmouth)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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.
[divider_1px]
2. SERGIO AGUERO (home vs Leicester)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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…
[divider_1px]
1. HARRY KANE (home vs Watford)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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
[divider_1px_dashed]
[row][span6]
Vote on our Captain Poll Now
[/span6][span6]
Excellent wrote up Bry, really enjoyed that. Cheers buddy :thumbup:
Second that. Not often you get mention of Julian Assange in an FPL write-up
Yup, nicewon Bryan. So, re/ Lukaku replacement (I’m done w/ him regardless of wether he’s injured or not) : nobody really sticks out when looking at fixtures:: Vardy (ManC-A, Ars-A), Valencia (Sou-A, Nor-A), Rooney (Che-A, Sun-A), Costa (ManU-H, New-H), Giroud (Bou-A, Lec-H). Maybe Costa (although he’d as easily get sent off as getting a goal or double)? Form over fixture would point to Vardy or Rooney, I guess. What a headache!
Strange isn’t it, all Lukaku did was get injured on the night – not really his fault. If he’d stayed on the pitch he’d have had 2 penalties, yet everyone is selling him!
True that, Cookie, though I’ve actually been thinking of selling him since he started missing Deulofeu’s excellent crosses across several games from a few weeks back. Regardless of winning or losing, Everton do get on the score sheet a lot so I’m sure he’ll get some points soon enough. Just think there are players who are more in form!
I don’t necessarily disagree mate, though we’d be very happy with him if he hadn’t got injured and scored the pens.
If Martinez declares him fit tomorrow I’m going to keep him as Stoke have big problems in defence.
True, they do have Stk-A then WB-H before the blank. Not worried about losing dosh on him but yeah two decent-ish games… Convincing, Cookie / Takasaki Tiger… though I hope he’s deemed unfit to play so the choice becomes easier! Haha.
If I hadn’t sold him weeks ago for Aguero I’d be keeping him for the next two weeks before bringing Vardy back.
I guess its the combo of possibly not playing this weekend, blank in g27 and panic about a price drop.
I have aguero kane lukaku
Payet ali ozil mahrez stainslas
Who shall i get for lukaku?
Also de gea chelsea away better or henessey swanesa away?
DDG i think there, don’t trust Palace at all at the mo and they have injury problems in midfield. I think Chelsea vs United will be low scoring.
Who should i get for lukaku
Who would you get? And why.
I want to sell lukaku
Most probably injured
So who to buy and i have kane aguero
I know who you have. I know who you want to sell. So who do you fancy in his place. And why
Vardy but very difficult 2 matches
Giroud better matches but arsenal not form
Ighalo somehow difficult fixtures
Hesitated
Any info out there at all on Stanislas’ injury? Some tough fixtures for my starters plus Alli’s doubt has me thinking…
Colriles, hopefully hear some news of Stan in the presser tomorrow.
Evening all!
Another week of red arrows woohoo!!
Any ideas on what I should do with this lot?
1FT & 0.6 ITB
Nothing. Either Alli or Lukaku to start depending on availability and then good to go
Get that kid off that bench, now!!
Could even start Bennett vs a poxy Villa team, too. I think your midfield is an issue here as it’s well loaded. Could drop Lukaku to a cheaper, rotation type striker and roll the dice each week with more budget friendly options. Afobe? Deeney? Someone like that anyway. Valencia perhaps, but maybe try and avoid another first 11 double-up.
This better NIN?
Feel like I need to do something with my team!! Nothing seems to be going right at the moment!!
Tell me about it, mate. Even Game-week scores that would in previous seasons be solid, are getting red arrows. It has been a weird one, for sure. Do you fancy Palace against Swansea? I have no idea how that will go but i would be tempted to start Bennett ahead of Ward. I’m contemplating starting Rudd ahead of Adrian this week myself. Villa are so, so bad.
Weird weird season!! Might get rid of ward for someone else – any ideas?
Pieters has good potential over the next few weeks, especially if big Rom is out for this weekend.
D’oh, you’ve got Butland. Swansea defender? If someone like Taylor rotates well with your other defenders then there are some interesting games ahead. Certainly not one for week-in-week-out starts, though. Obviously.
Williams??
Can you afford him? If so then yeh him ahead of Taylor. I though Williams was more than 5.1 but could easily be wrong there.
I have 0.6 ITB just enough to get him in
Could be an option then mate. Keep an eye on the Palace presser tomorrow, if they’re still riddles with injuries then a Swans defender could be a good shout this weekend.
Any advice?
Ship Lukaku but for who?
Keep Lukaku and ship someone else for?
Starfox–If shipping Lukaku, choices are: Vardy (ManC-A, Ars-A), Valencia (Sou-A, Nor-A), Rooney (Che-A, Sun-A), Costa (ManU-H, New-H), Giroud (Bou-A, Lec-H).
And perhaps Martial (Che-A, Sun-A) or Afobe (Ars-H, Stk-H, Wat-A). All of these guys are in decent form though no clear stand out in terms of fixtures.
Valebcia for me, atleast he’s playing Norwich who is leaking goals