Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 1

Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 1

Hi all. Following on from Peaky Dave’s fantastic article on “Choosing a Fantasy Football captain”, what better thing to do than, erm… pick our Fantasy Football Captain! With not a lot to go on form wise other than a few pre-season games and what we already know from last season and what we know about a few of the imports (everything), here’s our take on who we think your options are for this week and how we think they may fare.  No doubt as the season unfolds, we’ll start to see who’s hot and who’s not. Don’t forget to cast your vote in the poll below as we need to know how you feel collectively. For now though, let’s review the shortlist for this weekend…

Wayne Rooney
42.6% of teams include a Granny loving Mr Potato head. That’s a lot of Managers.
With that sort of ownership, I imagine there will be a lot of you looking to give Shrek the armband this weekend. So, what can you expect…?
Well, 5 goals in pre-season point to a man in form, and with new manager LVG likely to rest RVP for the season opener against Swansea, Wazza is all but guaranteed to lead the attack and be on most set pieces, including penalties.
Man Utd have shown already in pre-season that they are keen to return to their free flowing high scoring days of old. And even in a disappointing season last time out, Rooney still managed 17 goals, 12 assists and 38 bonus points. Based on form and ownership, Rooney is likely to be top pick for the armband in Week1.
Incidentally, this will be the second season in a row that Man Utd open up against Swansea. A year ago Man Utd beat Swansea 4-1, and that was played at Swansea, with Moyes as manager!! Expect goals. Lots of them.

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Stevan Jovetic
With Negredo injured and Aguero not thought to be match fit, away to Newcastle should be Jovetic’s first league start for City since February.
He’s been undoubtedly the brightest spark in Man City’s pre-season, scoring an impressive 5 goals in 4 games and has looked dangerous throughout. In an otherwise forgettable match for Man City against Arsenal on the weekend, Jovetic again showed glimpses of being a man in form, hitting the post with a header and forcing Sir Chesney into a good save with a decent strike.
He’s likely to start up front against what tends to be a fairly weak Newcastle defense (4th most goals conceded at home last year including the teams that got relegated), and with Newcastle looking to attack in front of their home fans, there should be plenty of opportunities for Jovetic in what is likely to be an open game.

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Aaron Ramsey (& Olivier Giroud)
Arsenal start off at home to Palace Last season saw home and away 2-0 wins for Arsenal in this fixture and they’ll be confident of adding to that at the Emirates this weekend.
Unfortunately though for those of us banking on another comfortable Arsenal win, until the season is underway (or at least until Arsenal suffer their usual run of injuries) Wenger is likely to play around with the starting XI somewhat as he eases his German stars and other World cup bigwigs back into the team.
The captain’s armband being the precious commodity that it is means that I’ve not recommended Sanchez in this write up as Wenger doesn’t appear to feel he’s ready for 90 minutes yet. Not to say he couldn’t rack up serious points in 60 minutes, but until we’ve seen him deliver, it might be worth playing safe.
The standout player from last season’s form guide, consistency in Pre-Season and freshness from the summer is Aaron Ramsey. He is also the most owned Midfielder (@ 29% ownership) at time of writing and has a tendency for big point hauls from Midfield (10 goals, 9 assists in an injury hit season).
The other player that might tempt you for Captain – although with an element of game time risk – will probably be Giroud. More of a low-risk/ low-return option, he’s not exactly known as Mr Prolific (at least, not on the football pitch) and he only scored more than a single goal twice in 34 appearances last season. He has however bagged combined goal and assist points on several occasions. Looking back on last season vs Palace, Giroud notched a goal in one game and an assist in the other.

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Diego Costa (& Cesc Fabregas)
Chelsea kick off their campaign with a trip away to Burnley in what will be the first Monday night game of the season.
Although Burnley is often referred to as the ‘Madrid of the North’, this will present a new challenge to Diego Costa as he looks to continue some fine pre-season form with a good start to his Chelsea career proper.
Unlike Giroud above, Costa is no stranger to decent fantasy points hauls. He scored two goals in a single game on an impressive five occasions last season, on his way to 27 league goals for Athletico. He might also be on penalty duty if Hazard doesn’t start.
Whilst Costa will no longer have the talented Jorge Koke to provide most of his chances, his new supporting cast isn’t too shabby either…
In Fabregas, Chelsea have a Fantasy points’ machine. Cecs’s best season in FPL yielded 15 goals, 15 assists and 41 bonus points. That’s 214 points and would have scored second only to Yaya in last season’s listings. Cesc has played an active role in pre-season and so is expected to be part of Mourinho’s starting XI. Despite lining up as one of the deeper midfield players, he’s likely to get forward frequently, has an eye for goal (scored in pre-season) and is a strikers dream when it comes to providing goal scoring chances.

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Daniel Sturridge
Sturridge and Liverpool start their 2014/15 campaign at home to Southampton. Liverpool actually lost the corresponding fixture last season to a Lovren header from a Lallana corner and have tailored their entire transfer strategy to making sure history doesn’t repeat itself. (Liverpool won the other game 3-0, but the joke doesn’t work with that one.)
With Goofy gone to feed elsewhere, many a fantasy manager and Liverhampton fan alike will be hoping that Sturridge can maintain his awesome form from last season. For many of us last season, it was a toss-up which of the SAS got the armband. Let’s not forget, he notched 22 goals, 8 assists and 34 bonus points in 29 appearances. He was the highest points scoring striker (after Goofy) and considered by many as fixture-proof.
After recovering from a minor hamstring injury, Sturridge has also looked lively in the last two pre-season games and despite Liverpool’s fixtures looking unfavorable from Gwk2 onwards, for Gwk1 with in-form Coutinho and Sterling providing support, he could be a great shout for the armband.

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Best of the rest:
Yaya Toure – Last season’s top FPL points scorer with a massive 241 points. Likely to be on Pens and Free Kicks in Aguero’s absence. Man City may be relying on Yaya to hit the ground running as they struggle to get many of their players back to fitness.

Mata – Playing in his preferred central role in behind Rooney. Nice fixture and has looked sharp in pre-season.

Eden Hazard – Game time risk as he’s only played once in pre-season so far. But his stats last season (14 goals, 10 assists and 23 bonus points) make him a good shout if he starts.

Raheem Sterling – Likely to be part of a front 3 for Liverpool. Has looked on good form in pre-season and will be looking to build on last season’s 9 goals and 7 assists.

And finally… For those of you looking to really p*ss off Peaky Dave, why not cash in on that easy clean sheet and captain a defender. You probably don’t need to look much further than your wife’s biggest fan, John Terry. ‘The Pikey’ is one of Chelsea’s top goal scorers in pre-season and has a pretty comfortable season opener against newly promoted Burnley.

Thanks for reading Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 1. This article was written by Chins

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