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.
[clear]
[divider_1px]
[one_half padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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.
[clear]
[divider_1px]
[one_half padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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.
[clear]
[divider_1px]
[one_half padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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.
[clear]
[divider_1px]
[one_half padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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.
[clear]
[divider_1px]
[one_half padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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.
[clear]
[divider_1px]
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.
[divider_1px]
Thanks for reading Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 1. This article was written by Tekno-Kun
[divider_1px]
Don’t forget to vote in this week’s Captain Poll
[polldaddy poll=9008803]
Evening guys. Hope all is well with everybody!
Many thanks for all the articles in the lead up to the season, it’s greatly appreciated and has saved me so much time / headaches with regard to decisions as I have very little time to focus on FPL!
Please criticise my choices thus far, alternatives to speroni?
Good cappo choice mate
Hi flingy,
Hope you have had a great summer
Gomis is interesting. Swansea haven’t stood out to me so far whether that’s due to poor fixtures (Chelsea and Man Utd early I think) or ignorance on my part, I’m not sure. But he’s a new name on here.
I’ll be honest and say that I’d prefer one City and one Arsenal in midfield as opposed to double Arsenal but I know you’re a little biased so I can let that slide.
Prefer the set plays of Yohan Cabaye for Palace as opposed to Puncheon and I’m worried about Cameron gametime – I’d get a sure-fire 4.5 in there for the bench.
Speroni could be Pantillimon who has some nice fixtures, as does Ruddy of Norwich.
Hey Flingy! Expected a more pricy defence from you 😉
Glad to see you’re going for Wally cap too, feel better being backed up by a Gooner.
Think it’s risky having those two keepers when there’s a decent possibility that Hennessey could get a few games at the beginning if he doesn’t actually go to WBA.
Have opted for Muniesa over Cameron myself but probably not much between them.
Don’t like Wanyama, think he has a low points ceiling even for a constant bench warmer.
Nice to see some Swansea in there, not many seem to be going for them. Overall like it mate, welcome back.
Hi all ! thanks for all the advice on the 1st team i posted on here. All advice was excellent and took it all on board & made alot of chances. here is my new look team… please rate & feel free to rip it a part
Opps imaged never uploaded for me
Flingy! Welcome back mate. You fixed that car yet?
Hey Flingy how are we miss end your in depth analysis & all things Ars team looks in good shape even with 2 Ars Nf thk I would change one for Sterling. Clyne seems a popular choice but I,m not to sure on opening fixtures. like your fwd line bit diff.
I’ve gone Ozil expecting big things of him this season what are your thoughts cheers mate
Hi all, been away from the site all day, missed anything?
Come up with this:
Bellerin is frustrating as he is class for fantasy but he may struggle for minutes, thoughts? I would swap Cech for Schmeichel but I want to utilise Leicester’s fixtures and with all these new bods in and tinker tailor at the helm I don’t know who will start in defence for them.
I hope most of the team speak for themselves: Oxford looks a good punt and he is £4m anyway so whatever; Mings/Martin rotate; Sinclair/Sakho rotate well.
Kane is Kane. We dismissed him after the Madrid game but he had a two game preseason against tough opposition – after United (who may still lose De Gea and haven’t bought a new CB anyway) he has very handsome fixtures and I have Milner for Liverpool/Benteke coverage anyway.
I sort of want Depay but meh, I have Rooney.
Thoughts on my team? Thanks.
This might helpp..
AT
Bellerin to Huth (safest I think) and Schmeichel to Cech?
Thanks GP
That is my best option I reckon.
Hesitant though as Morgan was (is still?) captain and they just signed that new lad as well – Benalouane – though I can’t say I even know which part of defence he plays. Also Moore and at Huth’s age surely he is susceptible to rotation?
Thoughts on my team
Buland/Hennessey
Cedric/huth/oshea/mings
Stirling/Milner/carzola/hazard/sinclair
Rooney/pelle/kane
Missing baker in defence
Shame you had to add Baker in there, it’s otherwise very good! Would try and find 0.5 from somewhere to upgrade him if I were you.
Only way is to swap sinclair for wanyama
Looks very good mate. In my opinion though I think it might be worth downgrading Pelle (for example) to put a ‘big hitter’ in your defence.
I was thinking of downgrading Kane to benteke and upgrade Milner to mane
Hi guys,
Could you please RMT and give me some feedback?
Hi Smithy, very good effort mate. Probably don’t need a 4.5 keeper in there given you have Cech unless you’re thinking of playing the full squad chip soon.
Lescott is interesting. Certainly not telling you not to go for him as Pulis always gets his teams defending well, but they do have a nasty set of opening fixtures so as long as you’re aware of that..
Calvin Clyne, cheers for the reply. I would play Cech most weeks so I could probably go for a cheaper option. Not sure who though!
Alright I’ve made a few more changes as my bench was too weak on the last one. Everyone got me worried lol. Please let me know what you think now. Has anyone heard about Silva? How serious is this sickness?
Sorry posted the old team. Here is the new one lol
I’d downgrade Silva to Sterling and replace Baker and Wanyama with a 4.5 and Sinclair.
+1
Dan, My only issues are your third defender (Huth/Baker/ST) and having to rotate Sinclair and Wanyama. I would downgrade one of your forwards in order to upgrade a mid and a defender. Maybe Tekkers -> Wilson/Defoe/Deeney and then use 2m for Sinclair->Hendo and 1m for Baker+ST -> Mings+O’Shea (or 2 other 4.5)
Hi Daniel, how bad was the last bench if this ones an improvement?! :p Not sure either Baker or Taylor start. Maybe look at Oxford of West Ham with a view to playing him in GW’s 2 & 3.
Not heard anything on Silva and there’s nothing on Dinerry’s TL.
Hello guys!
Any thoughts on my team?
Any comment appreciated
I accidentally commented below in 128…
Tomas – Moreno/ Bellerin/Baker and Turner are all questionable re game time.