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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Morning everyone!
Have decided that this will be my last day of tinkering.. spending so much time on this, could’ve been a millionaire (in Greek drachma) if I spent it on more profitable activities
Anyway – Probably going for the Ryddy/Butland rotation as of now, meaning that I’m dropping Pantimilion.
This leads to another question whether to go with Alderweireld or PvA along with my defence. They both rotate well with the rest of my defence and will on average play every other week.
So who will rack up more points, Alder or PvA?
RITZ, id go PVA purely on fixtures and then see how Alder goes.
I agree with Kiwi, Ritz….
Though Spurs fixtures are also good, PVA will offer more going forward.
I have to agree. Sunderland also have a proven defense record whereas Spurs always manage to let one in. Plus pva doesn’t have to aim for Danny graham anymore so you’d imagine his assists will go up.
Cheers for your feedback guys! PvA it is
Come on guys get involved (Harry still looking for partner)
Roll up Roll up join the FF247 Doubles League grab yourself a partner (preferably as photo below) just a bit of fun & more risks let yourself go on Cap picks Get your codes from Init or Elle cheers all
How does it work? I’d love to join.
Morning all, 3 days to go before we all decide we picked the wrong team! 😉
What say you on this bunch of overpaid 2 pointers?
Hatters
Morning mate. I like it a lot apart form maybe the double Leicester at the back – I imagine fixtures on GW1 are swaying you here but you wouldn’t play both of them often I’ll bet.
Can’t sneak in any City there and then you are covered completely? Thinking Depay to Sterling or Silva.
+1
If you downgrade Alderw to a 4.5 you have enough to upgrade Depay to Sterling.
MadH, I concur with GP on this. Great team but City mid and losing the double Leicester.
Dont like double Leicester at the back.
I prefer Tadic to Mane. Either could do better on any given week but price clinches it for me.
I’d ditch Wanyama. You’ll rarely play him and it means you could get Pelle or whoever if desired.
Keep an eye on whether Sunderland get Moussa Sow. If they do then Defoe may not play (he may not play every week anyway).
Right Ladies and Gents,
I think I’m finally happy with my team.
Allow me to walk you through it to explain my thinking:
Leicester keepers I am comfortable with:
Defence – Mert, Azpi & Cedric speak for themselves. Gomez is a punt. Targett is a 4mln makeweight to balance the books for a couple of weeks until Bertie is back.
Midfield – Hazard, Caz, Mane, Milner hopefully speak for themselves.
Adam rotates brilliantly with Sakho – Adam scored 97pts in just 1500mins last season.
Strikers – Sakho I have explained.
Lukaku is a one week punt home to Watford. In GW2 I’ll buy Lambert.
Rooney is in for 3 GWs maximum and will become Kun, most likely in GW4.
It’s all budgeted for. No hits required to get Kun (injuries permitting).
It seems too good to be true, so please criticise and tell me what I’ve missed!! Cheers in advance.
Cookie
How long would you hold the Leicester GKs for?
In my eyes you have covered the right teams in defence and you have the best attacking options (for the marathon of the season) for Chelsea, Arsenal, Southampton and United :thumbup:
I like how you will go Lukaku to Lambert – that makes total sense to me. Sakho you are also lining up to take advantage of week 2 and 3 eh? Lovely stuff.
You know what you are getting with Targett and Gomez but you are comfortable with that.
Overall I really like it.
Yeah that would be my only concern. Blue could literally have 2 defenders who are no longer starting by GW3. Which still might be ok if the other 3 do.
Blue will you start Gomez next week?
Morning Mito,
If he starts this weekend then yeah defo. And prob bench Azpi at City.
Cheers GP for your constructive thoughts.
I’m happy to go with Leicester for the foreseeable – fixtures are good.
Morning Cooks, I do like your thinking pal works well and glad you decided Hazard was worth it! Concerns; no City coverage, Sterling/Silva is important as good fixtures and will be left behind if they go mad. Adam, I think there is a good chance he will not start due to Stokes signings. Luk, a major injury concern for week one. I like Lambert but think id wait a few weeks until Broms tricky fixtures are over. Good luck my friend!
Hey Kiwi,
Yeah I think having Hazard in there certainly makes me feel more comfortable!! No City coverage I am comfortable with for 3GWs and then I’ll have the main man. Only Sterling can hurt me in terms of mass ownership and they haven’t played anyone decent in preseason so I’m reading nothing into his decent-looking start.
I can’t see Adam not starting to be honest – think he is integral to Stoke and his set pieces on to their big lad’s heads will hopefully work wonders. Fingers crossed!!
I hear you on Lambert – the only fixture that looks really bad is Chelsea in GW3 – but then to be fair the Baggies have a decent record in that fixture!
Fair enough Cooks, I hope it works for you. Good looking team.
they are an attractive bunch aren’t they?
Nothing compared to you pal. I had to say that, I don’t want to end up in the cellar again! Potty scared me.
Potty enjoyed it, let me tell you. Looked horrendous at the end of it, mind you
Cooks, I don’t think anyone could face the FF cellar with potty for long. And by long I mean minutes. Although I thought he scrubbed up well after!
Thoughts on my ugly team posted below?
Morning Cookie good team & reasoning as well Gomez I know little about 3 that start cant go wrong with. Targett is a no for me I know he will start but Bert will be back soon & take his place is price will plummet & you will use transfer or lose cash. Like your MF Sakho I have only just taken out of my team Luk a gamble but could pay off good to go cheers mate
Morning Silver, I hear you on Targett – who would you consider instead of him at that price? Baker, Taylor, Oxford?
Cooks, Oxford for me. They are all a gamble but he seems to have a lot going for him.
Maybe you are right there Kiwi – will wait on the pressers to see if there are any hints towards Taylor or Baker. Oxofrd will certainly play some matches. Cheers fella.
Cooks, all good. Hope to hear some good news on him.
I have Oxford only because my first 3 def will play mostly & my 4 th def cover a couple of positions you can hang onto Oxford until you have funds.
Morning Cookie, very nice team!
Adam rotating with Sakho could work quite well at least until gw7, I’m trying something similar rotating Sakho with a defender instead (allowing me to have a 4.5 mid and less 1.5 benched every second week).
Good luck to the new season mate, I’m pretty confident you’ll have a very good one!
Hi all,
After the comments on JRod I have been struggling to make my team how I want it.
This is how it looks at the moment but not too keen on Wilson. I was thinking about bringing in Sakho and benching him for GW1 but then I’d obviously need a better 5th mid.
How does it look right now, what would you chnage? Really not sure about Arsenal’s defence this year. Not because of their ability to keep clean sheets but because I don’t know who will start. Wenger said Gabriel will be a ‘revelation’ this year so where does that leave Mertesacker and I can’t help but think Bellerin will be subject t rotation, despite being a superior full back to Debuchy in my opinion.
AT, if you are that worried about Arsenal defensive rotation why not get Cech in goal and a Leicester defender for 4.5mln?
Cookie, I thought about that and it certainly is an option. Bellerin is a bit like Kolarov – reluctant to leave out for his attacking returns but game time my see me miss out on all their clean sheets. I guess Bellerin has a stronger chance of minutes but maybe he isn’t worth the risk this year at £5.5m and with Debuchy back.
Thanks
AT
At 4.5 you could take it on Bellerin. But he isn’t that price anymore! Too much money for POTENTIAL rotation for me.
Hmmm, cheers both.
What are your thoughts on Mert? I can see Gabriel getting more game time..
AT
Cech or Koscielny for me personally.
First 3 Gameweeks, which combo would you go for?
1) Depay, Giroud and Benteke?
2) Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud and Rooney?
3) Oxlade-Chamberlain, Benteke and Rooney?
Ian
No. 1. for me of that lot but what other options for a mid if you went Benteke and Rooney?
Not convinced on either Ox or Giroud. Great if they play but will they?
Ian, Oz and Giroud are rotation risks.
Prefer 1 but not a fan of Giroud
How about Chadli, Rooney and Benteke?
Ian, I prefer that.
IanD
Yeah that sounds a bit better.