Captains Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 23 – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15
Evening all, for the last time from the Emerald Isle here are your picks for the hallowed armband. This has been written whilst sitting on a packed box for a chair with the laptop on another couple of boxes acting as a makeshift table, all at the end of a labyrinth of various other boxes and suitcases. Such are the lengths we go to to bring you the latest captain report, and those war correspondents think they have it tough… I doubt John Simpson ever had to throw together a quick meal of the few remaining ingredients he had left before moving out (sausages, lasagna sheets, jelly and honey since you ask), but there he is with his CBE and his International Emmy, all while living off the taxpayer! Not that I’m bitter or anything.
Hopefully you’ve been following Mr Munich’s, GP’s and Lawdogg’s tips so far in 2015 and that it’s stood you in good stead; well here’s your next batch for GW23. I usually do a best of the rest after the main five picks but didn’t think the fixtures warranted it this week. Finally, whether you play conservatively or like a gamble, make sure your pick is likely to play for an hour at least #dontdoagiroud
The Fixtures for GW23
Hull v Newcastle Utd
Crystal Palace v Everton
Liverpool v West Ham
Man Utd v Leicester City
Stoke v Queens Park Rangers
Sunderland v Burnley
West Brom v Spurs
Chelsea v Man City
Arsenal v Aston Villa
Southampton v Swansea
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Alexis Sanchez – Aston Villa at Home
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[/three_fourth]What else is there to say about this fella? All of the superlatives have already been used, and though I wish I could leave him out of this list for variety’s sake if nothing else, my conscience wouldn’t let me deprive you fine folks of such a fine captaincy prospect. Detractors may point to his lack of returns in three of the last five but with the other two yielding double-figure hauls, Sanchez’s form is far from being a concern. Now to Villa’s credit they have been far from leaky at the back with a not-fully-fit defence, but they will surely be unable to withstand the Gunners’ barrages, especially with Ozil and Walcott both making themselves available again after scoring in the FA Cup at the weekend, and Cazorla also being in a rich vein of form. Indeed, if you are looking to close the gap in your mini-leagues or overall then the latter does offer a viable alternative, albeit a riskier one as you are effectively hoping for both he to shine and Alexis to blank, which is probably a tough ask against Villa at home.
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Harry Kane – West Brom Away
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[/three_fourth]Hagrid said it best: “Yer a wizard Harry.” The young Englishman has been a revelation in the second half of the first half of the season (so er, the second quarter), showing the other two more seasoned Spurs forwards just how it’s done. He is a great prospect for the captaincy as his bonus points-to-goals ratio is considerably higher than that of most other strikers, which can often mean an extra four or six points added on at the end if he was duly captained. Don’t be put off by the fact that Pochettino’s main man is playing at the Hawthorns as more than half of his goals in the league this season have actually come away from home. If you put your faith in him, Kane is certainly Abel to deliver big for you.
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Diego Costa – Man City at Home
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[/three_fourth]There was a futile hope that Costa’s hamstring woes had finally got the better of him earlier on in the season when he missed a couple of matches, so that even when he returned he may have been subject to missing a game here and a game there, and not getting back a level of ruthless consistency, thereby allowing us to use all of that cash elsewhere and have one less selection-related headache. The key word being futile. The man has notched a rather selfish 17 league goals so far, and looks set to continually punish those of us who have omitted him from our teams. Add to that the damage taken when he goes and gets 16 points like in the last GW and you find your rival had him captained and you start to question what exactly it is that keeps you playing this game. All is not lost though; you can make amends by choosing him this GW against City at the Bridge. Although they are Chelsea’s most realistic main rivals for the title there is a veritable gulf of class between the two sides at the moment, and if Sunderland and Burnley can both put a couple past them at the Etihad recently then by invoking playground rules Costa is set for at least five goals here.
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Fancy a bit of a gamble….?
Man United Attack – Leicester at Home
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[/three_fourth]So who to go for with the final pick… A feeling of pride wells up inside at being confident enough to leave Aguero out altogether (Chelsea having kept eight clean sheets in the last eleven), so it pretty much came down to Pelle or one of the United boys, and we’re going for the latter, although there’s little to split them apart form-wise. We’re going with the potential here folks, as although Moyes 2.0 has them playing fairly flat and without much of a sense of urgency, it still remains incomprehensible how so much individual quality can fail to deliver decent FPL points even semi-consistently. It just HAS to click sooner or later, right? Right? Well where better to start than in the return fixture of their early-season humiliation against minnows Leicester. Now not a single player particularly stands out from United recently, though if pushed we’d probably go along with Falcao as he’s at least shown some signs of life recently. However it’s highly doubtful that you have more than one attacking player from United, so whichever one you have, be it Falcao, van Persie, Rooney, Di Maria or even Mata, slap that armband on him if you’re feel like rolling the dice this weekend over going for one of the safer options above.
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Fancy a full on ‘heads gone’ gamble….?
Dwight Gayle – Everton at Home
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[/three_fourth]Be careful what you wish for Toon fans… Since returning to more familiar pastures Pardew has a 100% win record in all competitions, while Newcastle have lost all of their games in the same period; they should probably (Geordie) shore up that goalmouth! Anyhoo, I digest. Speaking of digestion, what has Pardew been putting in Gayle’s breakfast?? Struggling for game-time under Warnock, he has been given a new lease of life under the silver fox and is seemingly intent on making up for lost time with four goals in all competitions this year already. The talent in depth on the bench is a slight cause for concern, but why change things around when you’re onto a winning thing eh Pards? Playing Everton would not usually be considered favourable enough for a bottom half team to be tipped for the armband, but with one league win in the last ten combined with them just loving conceding this season, a brace for Gayle is most certainly not out of the question here.
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Thanks for reading Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 23. This article was written by Calvin Clyne
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Don’t forget to vote on our Captain Poll
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So with Costa out, what would you do here? Save the money in the bank or use it to upgrade elsewhere?
Who would you bring in? Is Giroud overkill?
Forgot to tag the team!
I don’t like JWP in that team mate and Giroud might be a bit of overkill. What do you think of Costa to Rooney and use the left over money to upgrade JWP?
Matt, love JWP for his price haha!
Rooney’s last four games haven’t convinced me at all! 2, 2, 2, 2 is woeful..
Roon looks very consistent. 😉
Ye that’s the good thing about him! Haha he’s not the worst player either so could pay off big for you. Didn’t even look at Rooneys last few returns don’t really know who to suggest. Sturridge is back now and might be worth a punt.
Evening lads. I was planning on having Costa in my Wildcard team along with Ageuro next week but now that Costa is gone should I just sell him now and get someone else in the wildcard team? No FTs left this week and 3.5 mil in the bank.
Evening all,
I take it Costa will be getting a 3 match ban??
I believe so, can’t see him getting out of it.
Mito – need your advice mate, do you think silva to walcott this GW is a good move?
This is currently my team;
@Mitro, are we really going to do this same song and dance on Theo again. :noshake:
I like to tango!!!
So for arguments sake, who does Theo replace as a starter?
I would be losing silva??
No you Gooner! I mean who does he replace at Arsenal?
Oops.. Think this will be the team against villa.
Ospina
Chambers kos mert Gibbs
Ramsey cazorla
Walcott Ozil sanchez
Giroud
He might go with rosicky instead of Ozil and maybe monreal instead of Gibbs.
If you are sure he starts, I go for it. That is the only thing stopping me right now from getting him. Surely Coquelin retains his spot. He has played very well in recent games. Caz can’t be dropped in his form and Rosy has a case also for retaining his spot also. I like to see him start in the EPL before I buy, but if you feel sure than go for it.
Dam I forgot about the coq!! Ok giroud benched with sanchez up top.
To be honest I’m just guessing now!! I know wenger is a big big fan of walcott so I would assume he will start against villa!
I’ll go with it, if he doesn’t start or play I have austin to come off the bench
Fernando Torres – that boy’s on fire
CFC to buy him in the summer?
Evening all, its a pity the ref didn’t see Costas stamping escapade, would have been sent off, that would have changed the result. Anyways i presume everyone is going to get rid of Costa quicker than a Stolen TV leaving a superstore in Scouseland.
What type of tv you get?
Mito, my great friend, any TV i want. In todays Daily Mirror, it was reported that in the Asda in Ellesmere Port, which also has a Post Office inside, people were getting brown envelopes and putting stolen CDs + DVDs inside, then mailing the stolen items to themselves at the said Post Office, what a way to get the goods out of the shop. Clever idea Mito, you should try it.
Very clever indeed, wasn’t Potty and Morbid by any chance? Those two can’t be trusted!
Good to hear you got another TV. Hope it wasn’t too big though, otherwise you might have left your cane behind. Although Init would probably help you cross the street if you needed assistance.
Mito, Init wouldn’t help me. Another ruse is, you and myself walk into a supermarket with a trolley each, whatever i put in my trolley you put exactly the same in yours, when we have finished shopping you go and wander round the store, i go and pay for the goods in my trolley and go out and put them in the car. I then go back into the store and give you the till receipt from my payment, you then walk out of the store with your trolley full of goods, if you are stopped you just say you have paid for them and show your receipt, no one can argue with you. Try it my friend, its a belter. :thumbup: