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 5^th 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.  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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