Captains Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 1 – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16
Welcome to the first captains article of the season!
The Premier League has finally returned, and while many of you have probably come pretty close to a settled squad by now, you also need to select a captain to help you start off your season with a good score. Well, that’s what we are here for. Whether that’s double points or treble will depend on whether you take advantage of the new ‘Triple Captain’ chip but more on that later. So without further ado, let’s get right to it and look at the best captaincy options for Game-week 1.
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[/one_half]Eden Hazard
Chelsea may have lost to Arsenal in the Community Shield, but expect Mourinho and his players to shrug off that result and start the season strongly. Chelsea play Swansea at home in their opening fixture, a match that ended 4-2 last season, while Chelsea won 5-0 in the away match. In other words, Chelsea enjoy playing against the Swans, and while Hazard scored none of the goals against them last season, he has been impressive in pre-season and should continue that form into the opening matches of the Premier League. As Costa struggles with his fitness and has been poor in pre-season, the responsibility for the offense falls on Hazard, and he can easily flourish under such a responsibility. He will probably be the most popular captain choice this game-week, and rightly so.
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[/one_half]Wayne Rooney
United begin the season with a home match against Tottenham, who have played Real Madrid in Munchen this evening and then will play either Milan or Bayern on Wednesday – three days before the season opens and having taken a squad consisting mainly of their preferred starters who you’d imagine will at least feel some fatigue. Typically, United win this matchup, and while United have bought well and strengthened their squad, Tottenham have been a bit more anonymous in the transfer market. The additions of Schweinsteiger, and Schneiderlin should boost United’s midfield platform and allow the likes of Mata and Depay to concentrate on creating more opportunities for Rooney. While he had his weakest FPL season last season, he looks to start the season in his natural striking position and should flourish in his preferred role.
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[/one_half]Raheem Sterling
City have not been overly impressive in pre-season, conceding 4 goals to both Real Madrid and Stuttgart. They face West Bromwich at The Hawthorns in the first match of the season, and while City have a tendency to struggle against this kind of team, they are much stronger on paper and should be able to get a comfortable win if they play up to their attacking potential. If there has been one light in City’s pre-season, it has been Raheem Sterling, who has scored 3 goals and gotten 4 assists. Pellegrini will certainly look to his dribbling and pace to create havoc in WBA’s defence, and Sterling could be employed either as an attacking midfielder or up top. Expect him to be among the points this game-week.
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[/one_half]Theo Walcott
While no-one can say for sure what Walcott’s role is in the Arsenal team, it is difficult to not see him starting as long as Sanchez is not available for contention. As with Sterling, Walcott’s pace and dribbling will cause problems for West Ham’s defence, hence Wenger could play him up top rather than on the wing. He started as a striker against Chelsea in the Community Shield, and while he was subbed off without any goals or assists, that was against arguably the best defence in the Premier League – this is against a West Ham team that struggles to repel the minnows of the Europa League’s early stages. Hence, Walcott could easily get an explosive score if he gets enough playing time this round.
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[/one_half]Graziano Pelle
As the 4th highest scoring striker last season, 8.0 might seem like a bargain. However, many will remember that he started the season strong, but then became more and more invisible as the season went on. He still managed 12 goals and 6 assists, and has been impressive in pre-season. Southampton play away to Newcastle, a team that may or may not improve under a new manager. Even if they do improve Southampton should still be the better team, and if Pelle can carry his pre-season form into the Premier League, he could start the season with an impressive performance against Newcastle. Obviously, Pelle should be seen as more of a punt compared to the rest of the players.
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Triple Captain Chip
Just a quick word on the new feature this season. It pretty much does what it says on the tin and trebles your points for your captain on whichever game-week you choose to deploy it. We shall touch on this as and when we feel the opportunity presents itself to use it effectively but this in all likelihood is one to save for when we encounter double game-weeks later on in the season.
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Thanks for reading Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 1. This article was written by Tekno-Kun
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Don’t forget to vote in this week’s Captain Poll
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Great article Tekno-Kun!
I voted for Theo Walcott, I don’t know why. Maybe because I put the captain’s armband on him myself. I just have a feeling..
You’re a gooner, that’s why. Easy. :p
Awesome article by the way Teks. In all honesty, I think Koeman likes Pelle and he’ll remain their main striker, even with a fit Jrod. So not a bad idea. Leaning towards Mane myself though.
I’m a Kopite. Not so easy after all? Haha. 😉
Thanks Raz. J-Rod usually played on the wing when Lambert was there, so would expect Pelle to keep starting.
Thanks Ruben. Walcott could do great against West Ham I think.
Let’s hope so!
The “follow @Tekno_kun<" link doesn't work.
I fixed it. Richie boy is in diapers.
Hahaha!
Hey guys. I got just 1 premium defender and that’s Kos. Cedric will be my 5m defender (Soton is awesome) and Mings/Toby will rotate. Good plan? And what you guys think about Kos? I think he might do a lot better than Azpi.
Got me 40 peepz for my private Dutch League. Fourth season running, I won season 1 and season 3. :dance:
Need you guys to help me win again.
What happened season 2? Bit crap that Raz – I’ve won mine 7 seasons on the bounce now 😉
Hmmm, if I’d be in ya league I’d beat ya ass last season. So I think your league is not filled with real competition. :dance:
I’d rate Azpi and Kos as pretty equal, Raz. Arsenal seem more defensively solid than they’ve used to be, but if I had to choose I’d go Azpi because he’s from Chelsea. He scored 12 pts more than Kos last season with 200 more minutes played.
As you said, Arsenal will be more solid defensively this season. Kos already scored 3 goals last season in less then 2300 minutes. Azpi got 12 more with 200 minutes played. Kos will pull of a Ivanovic this season, mark my words.
Raziel – Kos is great! I’ve gone with Merte instead though, so I could use .5 elsewhere.
Sounds like a fantastic plan.
Thanks Tekno, already feels like the season’s begun now the regular articles have started back up
Wally for me, Rooney VC.
Thanks Calvin. I’ll go Hazard C Rooney VC myself.
Nice job Teks, thanks for the Captain’s article!! I’ve gotta get my team sorted before I worry too much about a captain. Thinking about going for a little bit of a punt though with Mane perhaps. I’ll see if I can get Raz to commit with me before deadline!
Thanks Red. Think Mane is a great punt – could easily have mentioned him there with Pelle.
I won’t post my team. NOPE. I won’t do it. :dance:
Shit, I’m doing it again. AAAAAAAAAAAARghhhhhhhhhhh. Runs away. See ya later.
Alright! After struggling for hours and hours, I’ve come up with my final team. For real this time.(Unless the Gooners get their Benz)
I’m very happy with it.
Sidenote: Show me your personalized team kits. Mine’s in the screenshot.
Hi Ruben, (thanks for the twitter stuff – muchos appreciated). Talk to me about Kolarov. Massively frustrating pick in the past based on rotation issues. Anything changed in that respect?
If Kolarov doesn’t tend to get subbed off but just sometimes plays and sometimes doesn’t then it could actually be worth playing him every game and sometimes you’ll get a cracking score and other times it will just revert to your bench. If he gives you a bunch of 1-pointers though it gets annoying…
Ask Cookie, he’s the Clichy/Kolarov expert around here 😉
Hey Init – Don’t worry about it, I enjoy spreading the word.
I have picked Kolarov specifically for GW1 only. After that he will be downgraded, in preparation for the Agüero move. I expect him to play the opening match.
Was thinking Kolarov to Alderweireld after GW1.
Init – Who would you see in there instead of Kolarov?
Azpi as you have no cover from the best defensive team in the league.
Missing .5 to get Azp though. I guess the only way is to downgrade Rooney to Kane. I don’t really want to do that though, but as I do have United coverage in Delay, I could.
Init – Depay*
Ruben – Howdy! How about Depay out for Mane?
NIN – That’s also a good option. But I think Depay will show that his price tag is way too low and I don’t want to miss out.
Also found out that downgrading Rooney to Kane gave me a back line of Stekelenberg, Mertesacker, Azpilicueta, Alderweireld, Francis.
I’ll bench Toby this week then play him next week ahead of Francis.