Captain Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 3
GW2 was a great reminder how important your Captain selection is. Those who went with Costa, Hazard or Ramsey were well rewarded, whilst those who went with Rooney or the returning RvP were let down by a lacklustre performance and their gameweek suffered as a result. This week presents us with some tough decisions – with Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and United all playing away and with Everton and Spurs hosting two of the aforementioned, we are left with Manchester City who appear to have the standout fixture as they host Stoke at The Etihad. The problem lies with the fact that many teams do not own any City players, at the time of writing, due to their opening tough looking fixtures. So will you be bringing in a City player for this week? Maybe it’s not the worst decision. Let’s have a look at who the best choices for the armband are this weekend.
Captain Choices
Sergio Aguero (home vs Stoke)
“But he may not start”, I hear some say. “They’re easing him back into the season”, I hear the nervous suggest. “His legs are made of glass”, I hear the desperate claim. Well, I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with any of the above statements, but c’mon, we all know how clinical Aguero can be. Pellegrini brought him on at Newcastle in the 83rd minute and it took him just seven minutes to score. Against Liverpool, it took him just 23 seconds to find the net!! The manager clearly is easing him back, he got 23 minutes on Monday night, so one can only assume that he will play more minutes vs Stoke. Whether he starts or not doesn’t really matter does it? He will feature, he will get chances, not many of us are that impressed by Stoke on their travels and City are kicking into gear. What more do you want? Well, maybe a small loan from your FPL bank manager as he ain’t cheap at 12mln – but come May we may well be reminded that you get what you pay for in FPL.
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Stevan Jovetic (home vs Stoke)
For those that cannot afford Aguero, Jovetic is hardly the worst alternative this week. Full of confidence after his brace against Liverpool, finally injury free and continually talked up by his manager, the Montenegrin will be hopeful of carrying on his good form at home to the Potters at the weekend. With Nasri, Navas, Silva and Yaya pulling the strings behind him, he is almost assured of goalscoring chances and his two finishes on Monday showed he can be as clinical as Aguero given the opportunities. Described by some as the poor man’s Aguero, sometimes a decision dictated by budget and an unwillingness to take a hit proves to be the smart and shrewd move and the striker is almost certain of a starting the game due to the injury to Dzeko and the building up of fitness of Aguero.
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Diego Costa (away vs Everton)
Two goals in his first two Premier League games prove Jose’s assertion that Chelsea have finally got their replacement for Didier Drogba, which is a tad bizarre seeing as that they have recently re-acquired the original. Anyhow, with their new Beast onboard and with the supply line of Hazard, Fabregas, Oscar and Schurrle creating chances aplenty, it’s a brave man who would bet against Costa adding to his tally. Everton, of course, are traditionally pretty tight at home, but consecutive 2-2 draws including letting slip a two goal lead vs Arsenal last week suggests it is a defence which can be breached. While many feared (incorrectly) that Drogba may have started vs Leicester, there can be no doubt that Costa will start at Goodison as Jose attempts to preserve Chelsea’s 100% record and win one of their tougher matches on the road.
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Aaron Ramsey (away vs Leicester)
Two goals in the opening two matches this season has seen the Welshman become the most popular midfielder and as last season proved, he loves to get on a run of scoring. Woe betide those who have the view of “surely he can’t score again”! Away to a Leicester side which has conceded two goals in both matches so far, Ramsey will be raring to go, having missed the Champions League 2nd leg match vs Besiktas. With Sanchez taking his time to settle, Ozil still building up fitness and form and Giroud injured, the one constant is Ramsey and while he continues to enjoy this rich vein of scoring, he is hard to ignore. Another plus point for the midfielder is that with Wilshire and Arteta sidelined, Ramsey is likely to retain his midfield place and not be played too far up the park, which as most Gooners will tell you, sees Ramsey in his best and most effective position.
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Best of the Rest
Eden Hazard / Cesc Fabregas (away vs Everton)
While everyone was raving about Cesc’s debut masterclass, Hazard owners were looking at themselves wondering why they went for Hazard instead. The Belgian repaid the faith by notching his first of the season in the home win over Leicester, although you can’t keep Fabregas down, as he got credit with the assist! So whichever one you have, don’t bet against them putting on another show.
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Wayne Rooney (away to Burnley)
In years gone by, you would have given the United striker the armband with a fixture such as this without a moment’s thought. However, United and Rooney have started the LVG era slowly, as the manager himself predicted they would. Surely it is only a matter of time before they give their new manager something to cheer and it may well be this weekend in this derby fixture. The arrival of Angel di Maria should lift the Reds and if the Argentian makes his debut vs Burnley expect an increased attacking threat from United and Rooney. His Premier League record speaks for itself and he is never far away from the action – it may well be this weekend that United turn the corner and as we are all aware, once they get on a roll, they can be pretty tough to stop.
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Daniel Sturridge (away to Spurs)
The England striker suffered a disappointing night at the Etihad but will be keen to bounce back vs Spurs on Sunday. He did show glimpses of his skill though and was always looking to take on the defenders and shoot on sight and did, of course, provide the cross for Liverpool’s consolation. Despite two clean sheets, the likes of Eric Dier and Danny Rose will learn at the weekend that Premier League football is more than playing QPR and West Ham every week. Liverpool will be looking for an immediate response and with the possibility of Mad Mario up alongside him, those with Sturridge may well be well rewarded this week.
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Gylfi Sigurdsson (home to West Brom)
Siggy has certainly hit the ground running since his return to the Swans and a home fixture vs West Brom should present a great opportunity to continue to please his happy owners. One goal, two assists and three bonus points have seen managers desperately buy him, showing him to be exceptional value even at these levels. Those who have him will be tempted to skipper him, those who don’t will face a nervous 90mins on Saturday afternoon.
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Punt of the Week
Daryl Janmaat (home to Crystal Palace)
While captaining a defender is a risk, a gamble, maybe even a crazy decision, what else do you expect from a “punt”? Janmaat was Newcastle’s most effective attacker in their goal-less draw at Villa last week and facing a Palace side who were humbled at home by West Ham, suggests confidence is low and the inner troubles within the club are starting to affect the players. Given licence to roam down the right flank and not afraid shoot, there is every chance Janmaat can repay a gambler’s faith.
Thanks for reading Captain Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 3. This article was written by Cookie
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Well messing with my wildcard team, any advice?.
Chambers, Naismith, Clichy, Di Maria and Özil are all risks. Any reasoning?
Chambers is playing and is a cheap route into Arsenals defence.
Naismith is not a risk at all.
Ozil I feel will benefit from playing with Sanchez.
Di Maria is one of the best creative players in the world.
Chambers will likely lose is place soon. I’ll be selling him next week unless Koscielny or Mert are unfit.
Naismith might have competition from Eto’o? I’m not sure… he’s on form but I don’t rate him and would rather have a 5.5m midfielder in a 3-5-2 but that’s entirely up to you.
Clichy might get rotated with Kolarov?
Ozil and Di Maria are both class, but may be fatigued, and we are unsure how the latter will fit in to both United’s system and Premier League life. In a few weeks I might be interested but it’s a big call to go with both now. Mata and Ramsey would be safer and also give you another 0.5m to play with.
Good luck and happy tinkering.
Di Maria will play without a doubt for United, is actually be more worried about Mata.
Now as an Everton fan Eto won’t impact Naismith. Martinez has said Naismith is fantastic form and is really enjoying his football. Eto is to take the pressure of Lukaku. With Barkley out if anything was to happen to Lukaku then we would have no striker. Eto is mainly back up.
To echo much of what James said. Di Maria, everyone knows, is a class player. But it’s always a risk buying something before you try it. I bought a lemon-flavoured chu-hi yesterday and it was disgusting, despite me liking it’s component parts. The most successful FPL managers aren’t those that take risk upon risk, they’re the ones who make calculated, boring, safe decisions based on what has proven to work. I’d hold off on that if I were you, and if you need convincing look no further than Sanchez.
Naismith is not a risk at all? Maybe not this week, but Martinez didn’t buy Eto’o for the hell of it, and with Lukaku already there, you’d expect Naismith and the Cameroonian to at least share game-time in the future.
As for Chambers, yes he’s playing and yes he’s cheap. But don’t be surprised if he gets rotated with the Koscielny and Mertersacker, who are too good to leave out every week, especially when the other domestic/european fixtures forces Wenger to fully utilize his squad depth.
Again Eto is mainly for back up. We only have one fit striker in Lukaku that is why Martinez has signed Eto.
I can’t imagine for one second that Eto’o, who had offers even more lucrative than that offered by Goodison Park, would join Martinez on the understanding he’d be ‘back up’ to anyone.
I guess it’s a possibility all three could feature in a line-up, but I’d be astounded if in a few weeks time we’re still seeing him on the bench. He certainly won’t be usurping Lukaku IMO.
Eto wanted to stay I’m the premier league. And why is it so hard to understand?. He was willing to play backup at Liverpool?.
Well, there are two schools of thought. Either he’s been brought in as a squad member, or to form a partnership with Lukaku. I lean towards the latter, but completely respect your opinion as you’re an Everton fan. When Eto’o left Chelsea his desire was to join a Champions League club. That doesn’t sound like someone would sign up as a benchwarmer, and Martinez himself has said Eto’o made a ‘football decision’ despite more lucrative offers.
Good luck with your Fantasy team.
Ant0800 – Any Arsenal mid other than Ramsey is a mistake, for me. He’s a beast and an absolute must have. I think Naismith is a good pick so no worries there. I’m not a fan of the defence though as Clichy is a big rotation risk (It hasn’t happened yet, but it will), United are all over the place defensively so Jones looks a rough 5.5m just now. Chambers cant be relied on either as it’s highly unlikely that Wenger will bench two experienced defenders on a weekly basis, especially when Chambers hasn’t showed anything to suggest he’s going to be first 11 for the season. Lastly, Cattermole, eh, no, just no
Hi Guys,
I am a newbie and last week after my team performing badly I panicked and made rush transfers. I have taken a 12point hit as a result.Here is how the team looks now. I was wondering if anyone would recommend playing a wild card. Please help. Thank you.
kency142 – If it were my team, i’d hit the button, no doubt about it.
if you’ve already taken a 12-pt hit then I would wildcard and get the 12 points back.
Kolarov should be dropped – he isn’t nailed on and i’m not a fan of having 3 players from one club in my team.
Chadli is a one-hit wonder – i’d go for someone with a better track record of scoring. before last week i’d never heard of Chadli, but that could be because he plays for Sp*rs, who are shite.
if you’re playing your wildcard, i’d find a way to get Aguero in for Dzeko.
And Cameron on the bench should be changed out as he isn’t nailed on.
I like the Schurrle pick – think he will be a differential player this year.
Cheers and good luck!
Gonna focus on my defenders this week, they seem to be my main downfall currently. Think I’m gonna take out Luis for Clyne and chambers for janmatt, thoughts?
duthers – Those are good moves, in my opinion. I’d wait until the Friday pressers to do the Chambers move though as he might still play vs Leicester, in which case i would sell Pelle quicker than you can say ‘Whoopsie’ 😉
But Pelle just scored.
Nin
I could always keep chambers and transfer rio Insted? Think I’m gonna stick with pelle till the wc, still like his fixtures
They seem like smart transfers Duthers. I hope you’re not taking a hit for them though? If so, Luis>Janmaat would be enough for this week, I reckon. I’d say next week Baird is a more urgent transfer than even Chambers, unless you’re OK with having a non-playing bench player. Depends on your strategy.
Bryan
I would be taking a hit, so I probably will just make the one transfer. Do I do Luis to janmatt or Clyne this week, with the idea of taking in the other next gw. As for Baird, the only other 4 mil defender is I like is from Newcastle (dummet) so I’m unsure what to do in that aspect
With regards to my preferred transfer, think I addressed that in my reply?
Dummet is dirt cheap, I was worried about his future prospects, but just seen this about first choice Santon. Looks like a pretty safe choice for the foreseeable future. Bargain at 4.0. I still think there are Newcastle defenders that will bring better returns. But as every, these decisions are often dictated by budget restrictions.
http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle-utd/unlucky-davide-santon-out-until-november-for-newcastle-united-1-6799759
Hey all, sorry for the repost but hoping for some help! Work’s boring….and this is much more important! :cuckoo:
I’ve got 2 FT. One will be Sanchez > Ramsey, the other Baird > someone.
Question is, should I :
A – Sanchez > Ramsey, Baird > Taylor (SWA) and then a -4 for Bojan > Eto or….
B – just Sanchez > Ramsey and Baird to Clyne/Dier (and which one)?
Cheers!
Colriles – B. Clyne or Fonte, for me.
+1
Or keep Baird and ditch Bojan, i think i prefer that actually.
Agree with NIN. Southampton have a decent run of fixtures and seem quite solid defensively. Clyne offers a lot attacking potential on the flank, too.
Agree with his first point. Not the second, btw. 😉 haha
Thanks everyone. NIN- reason I’m leaning towards Clyne is because Chester is my 3rd def, meaning I’d have to play Duff this week v ManU…. which doesn’t actually sound half bad as I write it.
Change Bojan first. The lad is injured I think. If you can play 3-5-2 then go for B.
Cheers B – think I’ll go with B and play Barton in a 3-5-2. Bojan will head to the chopping block next week.
Don’t forget your MLS teams tonight folks.
NIN, MLS will have to go some way to meet last week’s bonanza! I think nearly everyone broke their PB!
Bry I nearly broke everything! 140 odd in the end and I wasn’t alone but the scores ranged massively from 30 (50 from those still actually playing) to 150. Never seen anything like it. #boomorbust
I made 250 places, so I was happy! It undid a lot of the damage I imposed the previous month. Still way behind a lot of you guys. I’ve recently decided to take hits, and to hell with 5 week planning which had got me nowhere. Because of so many high scoring DGWs this season, hits don’t seem to be punished nearly as much. I couldn’t beat them, so I joined them.
Bry, I posted that Ivanovic stuff this morning by the way! In fact I have the post favourite for anybody who missed it.
https://fantasyfootball247.co.uk/fantasy-football-fixtures-gameweek-3/comment-page-7/#comments
Flingy, thanks for the stats mate a great effort. So are you buying Ivan?
Bry – Yeah it was my highest scoring week yet and i got a red arrow! I had two big decisions to make and got both of them wrong. Arse.
init – It was a boomtacular week for you! Well done buddy.
Both of you’s cracked 140….. well i never
Nice one!
Hi guys. Doing well but very unsure what to do this week, if anything. Transfer Terry and Rooney out for a Saints/Spurs defender and Aguero? Or leave this til the international break to let Rooney have a chance vs Burnley, and see how Aguero settles. Only other issue right now is Zamora’s price dropping- I have 2FTs, so could swap him for Vaz Te (who’s starting at the moment) and still have two FTs during the break week. Thoughts?
Pippin I’d give Rooney this week. Aguero is by no means a starter unless I’ve missed some news today (I may have!). Maybe do the Terry one in prep for next time?
thanks init, I’m pretty tempted to be honest. Surely they can’t fail to batter Burnley? (who’ve not looked like troubling anyone so far)