Captain Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 33

Captain Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 33 – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16

Gameweek 32 saw some unfamiliar faces get the headlines. Chelsea’s Pedro finally rewarded those loyal few who had kept faith in him since… Gameweek 1 with 16 points. Any suggestions to captain Morgan would’ve been considered rather rum, but a storming header and clean sheet combo from Leicester’s skipper gave the Foxes 3 points and FPL owners 15. Alexis Sanchez, being one of the more mainstream picks, boosted many a ranking with his goal, assist and bonus points haul. In fact, last week’s Captain Picks writer Guy Sanchez put in perhaps THE most impressive performance, with all 4 of his choices scoring at least 7 points. No pressure this week, then.

Onto this week and Gameweek 33 is somewhat of an oddity. Crystal Palace have two home games, but with the team in sharp decline and no-one showing any kind of form this year, it seems best to avoid Pardew’s men altogether right now. Everton are another team who are vastly under-performing, although they at least have a couple of players with FPL appeal.

Whether to chase the DGW with our captains or to stick with the untouchables will be the main headache this week. As with last weekend, we can be sure there’ll some bizarre returns. OK, now hit play for my GW33 Top 5.

5. Riyad Mahrez – Sunderland (a)
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[/three_fourth]With the title completely in the bag now, Ranieri may decide to rest his entire team away to struggling Sunderland AFC. Although saying Big Sam’s beleaguered team are ‘struggling’ is like saying Donald Trump is ‘controversial’ or that China has ‘pollution issues’. Assuming Mahrez does play, which he will because I was being facetious, he will face a defence that last week celebrated their first shut-out since November, in an unsightly slug-fest against WBA.

But for a blip at the turn of the year, the Algerian has delivered stunning consistency. The player-of-the-year elect has found time to give us 16 goals and 11 assists. When he doesn’t achieve one, he usually provides the other. This makes him a low-risk captain choice at the worst of times, but against the Black Cats he becomes almost irresistible.

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4. Philippe Coutinho – Stoke (h)
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[/three_fourth]Despite missing a third of the season, Coutinho is having his finest season in a Liverpool shirt. A delicious curler against Spurs at Anfield last weekend was his seventh of the campaign, and had he been Brazilian we’d have all been talking about that goal for a long time. Anyway, in a game that could see both clubs swap league positions, Stoke come to Merseyside looking for their first away clean sheet in 2016, a task made all the harder by the injury to arguably their own player of the season, Jack Butland. Replacement Jakob Haugaard needs no introduction, which is a relief, because I know nothing about him. Conceding 2 at home to Swansea, however, could be an ominous precursor to a tough climax to what has been a highly lauded campaign thus far.

With Sturridge looking lively, but still somewhat rusty in front of goal, the smart money seems to be on Coutinho to continue spearheading Klopp’s charge for… erm… 8th.

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3. Harry Kane – Man Utd (h)
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[/three_fourth]Spurs idol and childhood Arsenal fan Harry Kane is looking ever more archetypal fixture-proof FPL fodder. Proving last season was no fluke, Kane’s Bergkamp-esque equaliser at Anfield took the leading goalscorer to 22 goals, his 6th in 4 games.

Man Utd, though, are nothing if not solid. Yes, they are the football equivalent of Coldplay. Yes, their scrappy defeat of Everton was as an inappropriate christening of Sir Bobby Charlton’s stand as had Man City legend Colin Bell squatted down and curled one out in the center circle. BUT, with only 1 goal conceded in 4 games, Louis knows how to keep things tight. Against most.

Harry, however is no mortal. In FPL terms he’s amassed an incredible 43 points in 360 minutes of game-time. No wonder many are favouring him ahead of even DGW players.

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2. Sergio Aguero – West Brom (h)
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[/three_fourth]Ordinarily, Kun at home to anyone would be a shoe-in for the number one slot and no-one could be blamed for thinking that regardless. With KDB starring in their dismantling of Bournemouth, Man City looked much more like the team they were when….. well, when KDB was last in the team. Aguero will hope his return will restore some much-needed momentum in the final throes come April and May. FPL managers will be hoping for some long-overdue consistency which has been strangely absence in a patchy 2015/16.

If Man Utd are Coldplay, then West Brom are a creaky covers band sweatily churning out workmanlike performances that no-one particularly wants to watch. If West Brom played in your pub, you would finish your pint and leave. Naturally, none of this has any relevance to FPL, but in the absence of anything new to say about Sergio Aguero, I felt it necessary to pad out the paragraph.

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1. Romelu Lukaku – Watford (a), Crystal Palace (a)
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[/three_fourth]Batman v Superman; Leonardo Di Caprio v that bear; Jack Wilshire v nightclub security staff. Some battles are destined for folklore, but none more so than that which has echoed out wails of despair for eons, FPL v Romelu Lukaku. I asked Nathan, a software engineer from Lincolnshire, who bemoaned, “I captained the useless oaf for Chelsea in 2012 against Blackburn. He did sod all and got replaced by Drogba before the hour.” Sofia, who studies archaeology in Copenhagen, said, “I was looking forward to a points-fest at home to Watford in August last year after I gave him the armband. The tw*t spent most of the game on Twitter looking at Joleon Lescott’s latest motor.”

Let’s not pretend that there’d be any reason whatsoever for the Belgian being anywhere near this article, were it not for a DGW. But what makes this particularly appealing is the opposition, both of whom are enduring a torrid 2016. The Hornets have lost their sting with four defeats on the bounce, and The Eagles have failed to take flight with no wins (and no clean sheets) all year.

Lukaku has been lukewarm of late, but with 18 goals and games in hand he’ll surely be hoping to turn up the heat on the likes of Kane (22 goals) and Vardy (19) ahead of him.

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Thanks for reading Captain Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 33. This article was written by Bryan Munich

Follow @bry_cooper

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