Captain Picks Gameweek 29 – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League
With just half a set of fixtures this weekend and the likes of Liverpool & Man City not involved in FPL action, the choice as to who to give the armband to is severely limited. No Luis Suarez or Daniel Sturridge debate to fret over – phew!! With a low scoring week in prospect, it is therefore vital to pick through the bones as to who may perform the best – not that the obvious choices always perform the best – for instance I don’t know anyone who selected Andre Schurrle in GW28!
So let’s have a look at the standout picks and then see if we can identify this week’s Schurrle!
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Eden Hazard
The Chelsea midfielder is second only to Luis Suarez in the scoring charts this season – rewards aplenty for those managers who selected and stuck with him from early on this season. Two more assists at Fulham last weekend plus 2bps gave him a weekly total of 10 points, resulting in him performing better than more popular picks such as Sturridge and Emmanuel Adebayor. Despite Mourinho suggesting his top midfielder needs a rest, it’s inconceivable that he won’t start against 5th placed Tottenham and you wouldn’t bet against him being the player to unlock a Spurs defence that does look more solid when Jan Vertonghen is fit.
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RvP
With an away fixture to struggling West Brom in a reduced game-week, why aren’t more of us buying RvP this week? He’s the obvious standout captain. How times have changed eh? Well, the 16/17% of teams that still own RvP will surely be skippering the Dutch forward against the Baggies, who are languishing just a solitary point above the relegation zone and are still yet to win under manager Pepe Mel. It is of course United’s poor form that prevents the rest of us chasing van Persie, though stats show that since his return from injury the striker has scored four goals in less than five league games – a single shining light in a season of darkness and gloom for the Champions. Those owners of RvP clearly have a big advantage this week and it may well be that those managers who still have a wildcard and plan to use it in GW31 will be buying and skippering the striker in a bid to make hay in what threatens to be a low-scoring week.
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Adam Lallana
The standout quality player in the Saints line-up, Lallana has spent the week with the England squad and he was eventually handed his chance in the second half last night and boy did he take it. His first touch of the night was a brilliant Cruyff turn and his overall fleet of foot and boundless enthusiasm may well prove enough to book his place on the plane to Rio. To top it all off another nice piece of skill and a perfectly weighted cross gave him the assist for Sturridge’s winner. Â Returning seven goals and eight assists already this season, the midfielder has fully justified his call-up to the full England squad and his performances for the Saints mean he is a real consideration for Roy Hodgson as he contemplates his best team for Brazil. Palace away is not the easiest of fixtures and with just one win in four, its arguable that Southampton are not in great form, but anyone who watched their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool last weekend will agree the score line was very much flattering to the Scousers, with Lallana unluckily hitting the post and having a very valid penalty appeal turned down.
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Other possibilities:
Wayne Rooney
Scored his first goal in five matches last time out at Palace, days after signing his new contract. Despite United’s dismal form, Rooney’s class is unquestioned and it’s only the likes of him and RvP that can salvage anything from the season for the Reds. Expect him to be involved, hungry and desperate to do well – when Rooney wants to perform, he generally does and offers a cheaper option than the £13.6mln you’d have to fork out for RvP. Worth a gamble? Yeah, probably.
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Rickie Lambert
The England striker is having another consistent season and like Lallana, is trying to persuade Hodgson that he is worth a seat on the plane to Brazil. Often on the end of crosses from Lallana, Luke Shaw or Steven Davis, Lambert is a predatory goalscorer and his tally of eight goals would have been higher if he hadn’t spent a great deal of the season playing wider, allowing J-Rod to benefit from the more traditional no.9 role. With Lambert on penalties and lethal from free-kicks, it’s likely that a solid and improved performance from the Saints will result in a decent return from Lambert.
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And then back to our new friend…..
Andre Schurrle
Surely he can’t do it again? No of course he can’t (can he?), but last week’s hat-trick, plus the Special One repeatedly talking down Oscar’s fitness and Hazard’s tiredness, expect Schurrle to benefit from increased game time. Priced at just £6.9mln he is probably a better option than Oscar right now, in fact in just 761 minutes of football, he has already scored as many goals as his Brazilian midfield colleague, who has played almost 1,000 minutes more. For those holders of Charlie Adam (likely suspension) and Robert Snodgrass (doubt due to injury), maybe Schurrle can strike twice in a week….now what a differential that would be!
Whoever you choose, I wish you the best of luck. Please ensure you vote on the attached Captain’s Poll below.
Thanks for reading Captain Picks Gameweek 29, this article was written by Cookie.
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Good work Blue! Hmmm…. Schurrle, bring him in and captain him? Now that sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Losing your bottle mate ? This is the kind of move that has made your name. Hazard carrying a knock from last night. Oscar been away with Brazil, Shirley in top form after his hat-trick….what could go wrong ?
Now you’re losing it. I made my name by buying Schurrle type players before the hat trick not after. Schurrle is dead to me…sort of. Remember I tipped him in the last interview we had, as one of the two guys to watch for. Let’s not talk about the other guy I tipped. 😉
this week I have Boruc/Azpi/Parr/Hazard/Lallana/Eriksen/Mata/Adebayor so 8 players…..
Adam being suspended has thrown a spanner in the works for this week and my transfer plans…..ive sold him and brought in Mata as he is the only united player in midfield who is likely to have gametime nailed on and points potential – and united have a double in 31…..
ill have 3 mil in the bank next week and somehow I need Aguero and or Yaya for 31…….can anyone advise on how best this could be achieved or whether a better plan could be formed
I may have skewed the poll a bit when I voted for Kenwyne Jones, it took a while for me to realize I could have Rooney instead for this GW so I’m giving him the armband although I’m slightly concerned by the one goal in five stat.
Going to put my faith in WBA being as poor as they have been and that the injuries they have at the back start taking their toll. (Only have 4 un-flagged defenders according to FPL though I’m crossing my fingers that Lugano can play)
Not looking forward to next weeks transfer choices and captain picks as they’ll be nowhere near as straight forward as this weeks.
Don’t worry Andy, most of us assume votes for players like Jones come from moments of madness by some or just Potty.
I’m one of the two that backed Benteke but being able to pull a rabbit out of the hat every GW is not something I’d like to get into, so I’ve bottled it and took the easy path. Would have loved some RVP action.
just confused cause im still new…. since liverpool game is not played in this gameweek 29 ..so we wont have any points ….?
so ppl who have the players that plays double fixtures in gameweek 31 … will gain more point ?
Yep eric. I have Gerrard, Sturridge and Suarez. They will be giving me 0 points this week. They will all (hopefully) however be playing 2 games in GW 31. Hope this helps.
damn … same feeling .. thanks :/
So I got me 7 players playing this week.. I’m pretty happy with that after my rival only has 4.. Which are Sidwell, Gabbidon, Williams, J.Rod.
Plan to save my FT for next week to go batshit crazy on GW31.
The thing is I want Aguero & Yaya, I just don’t recall being at a stage ever where I literally had no idea what to do. A couple of questions.
Is Mata actually worth keeping long term ? He’s not being played correctly and it’s rather Moyes I don’t trust, rather than Mata. YAYA is only .4mil more expensive.
Also.. Would you keep SAS for the run in ? Or could I get away with Suarez Ade Ag ? I could then get in sterling (who is definitely a main player for liv’s run in imo) for a bit more liv coverage and upgrade a defender.. Or just save the cash, just in case.
There’s also Lukaku to consider.. better shout than Ade ? Benteke ?
I wish I had a bit more cash, and a WC or 2..
Demise – United players aren’t worth it in my opinion so Yaya over Mata any day of the week. As for SAS, i think both are keepers for the foreseeable future. Lukaku could be a decent shout again but i think i’d prefer Adebayor at the moment.
I think SAS will outscore Adebayor every week mate….they have no europa chalice to worry about and Liverpool score goals for fun (also concede a shed load)
see comment 14 above – ive had to bring in Mata due to adam being suspended so ill hold him til after 31…..sickener as I wanted yaya but i cant really take the hits required to have aguero and him…aswell as ship out eriksen
if I was u and had the transfer id have yaya for mata
Cheers Cookie, is there anything to be said for Ivanovic (c) ??
Yeah, maybe NIN
Cheers, this week i’m more comfortable with Ivanovic as (c) than either Hazard or Lallana, don’t know why ha, gut says the Serb so the Serb it is !!
On such decisions are game-weeks made and destroyed!!
Indeed, i think it’ll be a tight game, same with the Palace-Southampton game, hopefully i’m right as it’s a great GW to make a big jump in the global ranking, time will tell ha. Who you going with matey?
I had the band on Hazard, until I saw he got a knock last night….will wait for Mourinho tomorrow
I didn’t know he took a knock, interesting one that ha.
Nin, your transfer count is absolutely crazy, you’ve lost 40 pts over the last 5 wks on them!!
shanepain – Indeed, it’s been a turbulent month or so to say the least !! JanWC was the problem really, i made a hash of it so all in all it cost me somewhere in the region of 90 – 100 points, oopsie.