Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 17

Captains Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 17 – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15

Your choice for the armband this week is likely to cause you more headaches than in previous weeks. But with headaches there is also the chance to score big. There is no Aguero to select of course, Diego Costa has not exactly been producing the goods of late, Eden Hazard isn’t given the luxury of a home fixture, but a tricky night in Stoke and Man City have no strikers. So while you may still to decide to go with Hazard or Costa we have explored the different options this week that we believe offer you a chance to beat your mini league rivals, many of whom will go with the tried and trusted names. So it’s time to show some flair and give the responsibility to another member of your squad who has decent form and an attractive fixture to boot. Let’s have a look at the best options…

FIXTURES
Man City vs Crystal Palace
Aston Villa vs Man Utd
Hull vs Swansea
QPR vs West Brom
Southampton vs Everton
Spurs vs Burnley
West Ham vs Leicester
Newcastle vs Sunderland
Liverpool vs Arsenal
Stoke vs Chelsea

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[/three_fourth]Charlie Austin (home vs West Brom)
QPR at home in front of their own legion of fans are a strangely dangerous beast, especially when you compare them to the toothless pussy cat they are on the road. Couple that with their top scorer who is nicely rested after sitting out Monday’s loss at Everton through suspension and you have a caged greyhound just waiting to be released from his trap to chase the hare. The visiting hare this week is West Brom, who in fairness have managed to keep things relatively tight on the road of late. A clean sheet at Hull was preceded by conceding just two at Stamford Bridge, though that may have more to do with Chelsea taking their foot off the pedal. And Hull being crap. But facts are facts and expect Rangers to give this game a real go, they only win at home so these games take on extra importance – and ‘Arry is well aware of that and will have the players fired up. Austin’s last five home performances have produced 6pts, 10pts, 7pts, 13pts and 5pts which includes five goals, three assists and six bonus points. It’s always risky choosing a QPR player as your skipper of course, but this could be the week to do it with many of the usual candidates either out injured or not producing the goods right now.

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[/three_fourth]Diafra Sakho / Andy Carroll (home vs Leicester)
The Hammers’ deadly duo will be licking their lips at the prospect of locking horns with the Leicester defence. Having kept just one clean sheet on the road all season, it’s fair to say they don’t travel well, not that they’re much better at home! West Ham are, of course, on fire right now, sitting pretty in fourth position, confidence is high, team is playing well and creating chances aplenty. Sakho has been a revelation since joining at the start of the season – six goals already and he scored on his comeback from injury after coming on as a sub vs Swansea in GW15, when he also hit both posts and ran the Swans’ defence ragged. Carroll, for all the fun we have with him, can terrify any defence when he’s fit and firing – and he is both at the moment. His two goals and one assist vs Swansea in the aforementioned match exemplified everything good about him and he is the perfect foil for Sakho. Expect both to enjoy their afternoon vs the Foxes and be confident to give either one the armband this week. If you own neither but have Stewart Downing then he too could be a “left field” choice – the midfielder is in the form of his life at present and has scored or assisted in each of his last three matches, collecting six bonus points in that time.

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[/three_fourth]Christian Eriksen (home vs Burnley)
Yep, we’ve chucked in a Spurs player! Are we mad? Well, quite possibly as we know Spurs are hardly known for their reliability, with decent performances often being followed by drab displays of nothingness. But Eriksen is consistent and is again proving to be the heart of most things good at Spurs. His match winning performance at Swansea last weekend delivered 13pts, which was his fourth double digit return of the season. Burnley at home should present the Great Dane with plenty more opportunities to add to his six goals already this season and while Sean Dyche’s men have lost just one of their last six they have only kept one clean sheet on their travels – and that was in GW4 at Palace. It is a bit of a punt, but it’s a punt that can be heavily rewarded if it pays off as his scores this season have already shown.

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[/three_fourth]Alexis Sanchez (away vs Liverpool)
Probably the signing of the season so far, not just for his goals and assists, but also his ability to carry his team mates along the way. Nine goals and five assists already is a spectacular return for anyone, but for a player in his first season in the Premier League, it is exceptional and the predominant reason the Gooners are sitting in 5th place. A trip to Anfield will hardly terrify the Chilean who has already plied his trade at Barcelona and River Plate and as we were reminded last Sunday, anyone with pace is pretty scary for the Liverpool defence at the moment. Liverpool will take the game to Arsenal in the desperate need of a result which should create plenty of space for Alexis to exploit and whether its Simon Mignolet or Brad Jones in goal, they could be in for another fraught Sunday. With Giroud returning, Alexis now has a more reliable striker to play with than Welbeck, as was proven in last week’s defeat of Newcastle. Alexis is a points machine who can score with either foot or with his head, he has everything and his last nine gameweeks have returned a staggering 82pts. Liverpool beware.

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[/three_fourth]Yaya Toure (home vs Crystal Palace)
Home to Crystal Palace, on penalty duty in Kun’s absence, has his share of free kicks….and people are worried he is playing too deep? City will be all over Palace like a nasty rash on Saturday, it will be a game of possession and wave of attack after attack and not a game where the big man has to sit deep and look after his defence. After all, would you offer to look after Mangala? No thanks. It’s true that Yaya hasn’t reached the heights of last season, which is hardly a surprise, but he has scored three goals in his last five games including a goal in each of his last two games at the Etihad and with City winning their last five and sneaking through their Champions League group, confidence is high and the arrogance and swagger is starting to return. Something we haven’t seen since last season. And remember who was at the heart of it then? Ignore him at your peril.

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[/three_fourth]Robin van Persie (away vs Aston Villa)
Is he back? Can it really be true? You remember the bloke, the originator of the #hescoreswhenhewants hashtag before Suarez took over. Yep it’s RvP and if you haven’t considered him for your team, then you may want to think again about that. We keep hearing that United aren’t playing well, no pace in the team, missing Di Maria. Maybe all those things are true. Now let me tell you something – RvP GW13 10pts. RvP GW15 13pts. RvP GW16 11pts. The machine is returning and anyone who has the Dutch striker in his side will surely be considering him for the armband this week. Away to Villa is really not an issue for the Reds, they haven’t lost at Villa Park since 1995 and have scored three goals in their last two matches there. The last time RvP played Villa he scored a hattrick, his confidence is up, he is happy. It’s a brave owner who doesn’t give him the armband this week.

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[/three_fourth]Wilfried Bony (away vs Hull)
Yeah I know Swansea are rubbish away from home, but if you’re looking for Mr Consistency then big Wilf is quite possibly your man this week. Without hitting spectacular heights the striker is plodding along, bringing safe returns to his owners and has scored four goals and one assist in his last five matches. Put simply he has been involved in 9 of Swansea’s last 13 goals and while it is true that the Swans have struggled to win away from the Liberty, they have only failed to score in two matches this season and this week travel to a struggling Hull side who are only held up by Leicester at the bottom. Safe, reliable – Bony is the choice for the conservative punter this week.

Thanks for reading Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 17. This article was written by Cookie 

Follow @SteveCook9

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WooFBet
Over on the WooFBet website the exclusive FF247 league is back for GW17 and has a prize pool of €150 and it is free to enter so get yourselves over there sharpish!

To enter, visit woofbet.com and sign up (no card details required). Navigate to the Tournament section and click participate on the ‘FF247 – €150 FREEROLL’ tab.

Isn’t it time your fantasy manager job finally paid off!

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