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 all, could i have some help:
1. Walcott and Benteke
2. Ox and Rooney
Cheers
And thanks tekkno, great job
oh and also
a) Azpi and butland
OR
b) Courtois and cedric
hazard
Walcott & Benteke
and Courtois and Cedric.
Agree with GP here
Hazard, get rid of Costa for a start. It will make picking the rest a lot easier! Unlikely to start.
+1. I would also ditch Aldie until we see how Spurs settle down. By all accounts they were poor last night.
ok thanks lads, might turn to an arsenal defender if possible.
waiting on costa- but looks like ill have to go to rooney and wait for aguero?
1 & B, for me. Cech ahead of Courtois though.
cheers nin, GP and cookie, gone with that
Not much love for Berahino around here… Any reason? Haven’t heard much on him leaving WBA for a while.
Xabi
Fixtures and attitude probably putting some off.
If he stays where he is, i’d rather have Lambert. If he goes to Spurs, i’d rather have Kane.
Nice NiN . . .
Yeah, I guess they are good reasons. Thanks NiN and GP. You guys pretty settled on a squad for the weekend?
Getting there Xabi, getting there. Setting up multiple routes to Aguero is becoming the main issue now i think.
He is hard to make a balanced team around, certainly. Rooney is the ideal placeholder I feel but it’s difficult to find the 2.5m to upgrade :/
Nin, how are you pal? Well out sir!
Hey NZ, good mat thanks for asking. No need to ask how you are, you’re always in good form! Finalized your team yet?
Howdy all. Hope we are doing well and that your teams are close to ready. I think I’m done (although the tinkering hasn’t stopped) and was hoping for a RMT for the final, final team. It looks similar to a few other teams which is encouraging but am not entirely happy with it.
Mertesacker for a start troubles me. As pointed out above he’s not certain to start all season and I don’t want to be missing out on their improved clean sheets now that cech is running the defence or wasting FTs. But it’s the only way to cover Chelsea and Arsenal defence for 5.5 each. The other option was Pantillimon and Kos. Is that fantasy football cabin fever setting in?
The other question mark is Ozil. He’s a great player but like the Community Shield he seems to always be making the pass before the assist. Arsenal coverage would be great but apart from Sanchez it seems points are always spread around. Am wondering whether to go Ozil to Milner and upgrade the defence.
Also I’m aware that Oxford will rarely start and that Habban isn’t guaranteed to.
Thanks all and good luck this season.
It is going straight to h*** 😛
Haven’t decided on goalies, my defence is unclear. My midfield is shaky and my attack is uncertain
MC, that’s a bit of a weak bench. What can you do with Courtois > Pants and Kane > Tekkers/Pelle (and if the latter I might downgrade Mane to Milner…?). That for me would enable the necessary $$$ to get Azpi at least and maybe better defensive cover?
Mc I agree with pippin here but would keep mane for the fixtures.
Anyone know if Holebas is nailed at Watford? Liking the potential rotation with Mings/Francis at Bournemouth. He was a great pick for Greece in the WC (/Euro?) FF a while back… Likes to get forward.
He should be, but who knows. Cathcart might be the safer option.
I don’t know for certain but I’d imagine he is.
Thanks fellas.
Come on guys still time to get involved
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
Silvers, why the hell would any of us sign up while you continue to post pictures like this – I’m happy staying away and seeing how racy you can really get with the visual motivation !!!
Maybe if no one signs up for this competition, we’ll get more subliminal advertisements, and I am looking forward to them!
Just be a wee bit careful mate, some of us are reading this at work…
Morning everyone. Screenshot is working for some reason so pardon the non-visual. This is my team and I’m fairly happy with it just not sure about the triple Liverpool cover. I think if Gomez starts he could be the bargain of the season it’s just whether he keeps his spot. I think I’ve covered all the top teams in attack and hopefully defence. What do you guys think?
Ruddy (Butland)
Cedric Azpi Mings (Gomez and Wisdom)
Walcott(c) Haz Sterling(vc) Milner (Wanyama)
Rooney Benteke Defoe
Liking it Matt. Walcott is a bit risky for me, but you’re aware of that, and he can score astonishly well so good luck! People are telling me Wisdom is a rotation risk so keep an eye there. Defoe is something of a gamble but again, he’s well priced and knows the league well. I think you’re all set!
Looks good to me Matt though if treble Liverpool was worrying you – and it would worry me – then why not get Chadli or Pelle for Milner or Tekkers?
Cheers Pippin/Cook
Pippin- I know about the Walcott risk but like you said he could turn around and score a ton of points so I’m torn. Could just stick it on Sterling too but it’s Pulis and I think he’ll have drilled the defence into keeping it tight. I didn’t know about Wisdom but he can just become Huth or Morgan when he returns if need be. I did see on a comment somewhere that Sunderland are trying to bring in Moussa Sow so I might take the safe option and go for Wilson if that deal does happen. Cheers mate! How are you set?
Cook- I think Milner will be involved in everything Liverpool do or at least that’s what happened during preseason and Tekkers I think will do well so I don’t mind the double Pool attack it’s Gomez’s gametime and rotation that worries me.
Pretty well set Matt, my team is on the previous page, check it out if you like! Have decided not to leave out Hazard, and the only challenge now is getting the fringe players right. I’ll keep tinkering but I think I’m nearly there!
I’ll have a look mate and see if I can help out!
Matt, looks good pal. Agree with cooks about triple pool though.
Ye that’s what I’m thinking too but like I said Milner is getting involved in all play and Tekkers should be good plus in my plans I have one of them leaving as a counterweight along with Rooney to get Kun in but you know what they say about plans!!