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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TEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SIghs, seems I can’t comment any longer. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Looking for some help. I really need to win this week and I want to set myself up well for the following weeks so I don’t have to make many transfers. I’ve played my wildcard for this week so I can make as many transfers as needed. All suggestions appreciated!
Also, my lineup would be
de Gea
Koscielny, Jones, Bertrand
Hazard, Di Maria, Elia, Sanchez
Gayle, Costa, Giroud
Bench: Puncheon, Cameron, Terry
Hi diddysan. I would make quite a few changes here, to be honest. I would drop Pantilimon for a 4m filler. Drop Cameron for van Aanholt as the former has lost his place by the look of things. Then one of Jones/Koscielny to Baird or a similar priced defender as there’s no real need for such an expensive defensive selection. Those changes should bank enough so you can straight swap Giroud to Aguero after this GW, as the Argentine is more than capable of causing serious damage. If those changes don’t raise enough, then Elia to Ward-Prowse should get you there (i prefer Ward-Prowse anyway). Cant really bank on making no transfers as anything can happen.
+1
Hey gang, not sure who’s about today but wanted to send a shout out to anyone else here on the east coast in the US. Hope everyone stayed safe through the blizzard and are dug out and getting back to normal. RedVT- all good?
Hey Colriles, we’re doing well up here in Vermont. Ended up with only about 8 inches of snow, which for us is pretty tame. I actually took the day off from work and went skiing yesterday- it was awesome. Thanks for checking in mate, where abouts are you? How much snow did you guys get?
Good to hear Red. I’m in southern RI and we ended up with about 14 inches, not bad compared to northern RI and Mass. Yeah 8 inches in VT is a regular ‘ol Tuesday!
Hope you’re a Pats fan – can’t wait for the big one on Sunday!!
Haha, nice one man. 14 inches of snow is a decent storm! I don’t follow the NFL like I used to, but I’m definitely rooting for the Pats on Sunday! My brother lives in Boston so I root for all the Boston sports teams, especially the Bruins. I think after world football (soccer), hockey is my second favorite sport. Good luck with the snow shoveling, have a great Super Bowl Sunday!
Nin, thanks for the response. Here’s my thought process: the match ups coming up for Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea are really promising for clean sheets. Normally I wouldn’t spend that much on defense but it could be a pretty good bet for at least 6 points for my defenders. Plus I can rotate in Bertrand or a Stoke defender when needed as their matches are decently promising as well. I’ve been on the fence with Cameron so I may do Baird for him to save money. For keepers, I’ve had a 4M back up all the way until now and it sucks when you have a crap match up and know your keeper isn’t gonna get you much. For 0.6, I’m comfortable upgrading my back up considering he’ll be a good fill-in when needed. I actually had Aguerro and dropped him this week because Man City has been struggling lately. The guy is unreal but he also doesn’t have Toure right now and it’s made a big difference. Di Maria was another guy I’ve been on the fence about. Man U is all over the place so he could explode or stay average. And for the high price, I’d rather get a cheap guy in form if he isn’t doing much. This week would basically be an expensive gamble on him. If he doesn’t do much, and Aguerro dominates, I’d swap out Di Maria and Giroud for a cheap mid option and Aguerro.
Your call mate
I’m just not a fan of rotating premium priced defenders or goalkeepers. Seems a waste to me. Also, i wouldn’t read too much into Aguero drawing a couple of blanks recently. He has been out for a while so he’s just a bit rusty. He’s going to flatten the opposition once he’s back up to speed, no doubt about it. Starting with Hull in GW24. I don’t think he’s a must have this week due to the difficulty of the fixture, but i would certainly bank enough to upgrade Giroud.
I’m not either but I have extra money considering my midfielders and forwards. I really need to win this week for my league’s sake which is why I dropped Aguerro but looking to pick him up next week unless Giroud decides to get real goal happy. In which case, I may even figure out a way to get Giroud, Aguerro and Costa up front. And since Man U has been struggling to find the back of the net and their formation and everything else is so out of whack, I wouldn’t have a problem dropping Di Maria for the short term.
Definitely will consider the cheaper defense though. I keep going back and forth with what I want to do. The more I think about it, the more I change my mind.
Extra money = Aguero fund. Better that than spending it on a near 6m defender who’s going to warm the bench most weeks. Baird can do that at 3.9m. Surely selling Costa for Aguero is out of the question considering his form, so buying Kun will require a -4 hit. Planning hits with a WC squad is a bit counter productive, for me.
Well the violent misconduct against Costa would certainly change things if he doesn’t win his appeal….
Got a question guys,
I really want some Southampton coverage, and need a cheap midfielder.
So, Elia or Ward-Prowse?
I’m impressed that WP has 7 assists in 7 games that he’s played (since getting pitch time again) but is he likely to get benched again soon?
Elia looks impressive with 2 goals in 2 games … but looking at his his year totals (inc. Bremen) they are the only one’s he’s scored!!
So do I gamble on WP to get game time but provide consistent(ish) returns or do I take a punt on Elia hitting a purple patch at his new club?
Just to confuse it more, I’ve also considered Puncheon but CP have worse fixtures IMO – Thoughts?)
Ward-Prowse > Elia, for me. Cracking little player and he takes a wicked set-piece too. Koeman would be mad to drop him but you never know what will happen when their injured players return, and also Mane.
Hey Hamani,
Ward-Prowse was injured for a while, I don’t think his playing time was cut. Or if it was cut back a bit, it was most likely because of his injury spells. I’d say he’s the safer bet so it depends on if you think you need to gamble to make up points or stay a safer route. If you’ve read about anything that Elia has said since coming to Southampton, he is incredibly grateful and determined to prove himself. He wants to make sure people realize he’s not just a one game wonder and can get back to the player he used to be before he lost himself and his game. He’s also playing to get a full-time contract with the club so he could potentially go off in a big way. Again, it’s more of a gamble.
As for Puncheon, I think they are playing their best futbol of the season right now and are feeling good about themselves. Gayle has been a monster lately and their next three fixtures are solid. After that it gets a bit dicey but I’d say only a little worse than Southampton. I’d say short term for the next three weeks CP has the better schedule, in my opinion. Maybe try puncheon for the short term and then swap him for elia or ward-prowse at that time. Gives you more time to see who the better decision is between those two.
Spot on diddy, he fractured his foot and had to have an op. He was an ever-present prior to that and has been since he returned. His points per game / minutes are actually up there with the top midfielders.