Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 29

Captains Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 29 – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15

GW28 was probably the easiest Captain decision ever, hence the lack of excitement on the final day of the DGW when Harry Kane notched twice vs QPR. GW29 is very different with there not being one outstanding candidate as per last week. On paper, we assume that most of the conservative managers will lean towards the Arsenal or Man City contingent as the Gunners entertain an out of form West Ham at the Emirates, while City travel the short distance to Burnley, who seem incapable of keeping a clean sheet. So there will be obvious calls for the likes of Aguero, Alexis, Silva and Giroud, all of whom will feature in this week’s article, but this week may just be the week for a gamble, especially if you are chasing down a lead in your mini league and as we have seen before this season – if you get that gamble spot on, it can do wonders for your ranking. So let’s explore the best candidates for GW29.

GW29 Fixtures

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

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[/three_fourth]Sergio Aguero and David Silva (away vs Burnley)
The deadly duo continue to be the “go-to” men for the reigning Champions and we would have no hesitation in recommending either for the armband. Aguero disappointed many last week with a seemingly ‘given’ fixture at home to bottom club Leicester, but seventeen goals this season, despite missing six matches in December and January, speaks for itself and let’s face it, most of us are scared to not captain him, let alone not have him in our team – he truly is one of the few players who can make a gameweek on his own. Silva has shown the greater consistency of late, with three goals and two assists in his last four matches contributing to a total of ten goals and six assists for the season and appears to be showing his greatest form yet for City. Four of Silva’s goals have come away from the Etihad, allaying fears that he only performs at home. As we alluded to in the intro, Burnley just cannot keep a clean sheet – their last shut out was in GW15 vs Southampton, suggesting that as much as manager Sean Dyche loves to name an unchanged team, his defence is very penetrable and frankly, not very good. However, they will take heart from the fact that they battled hard to earn a 1-1 draw at Chelsea, but one would think that the City attacking machine should have too much for them in this one. Another important point is that Yaya Toure has had another 10 days rest after his ACON exploits. Ignore these two at your peril.

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[/three_fourth]Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud (home vs West Ham)
Alexis reminded those doubters just what he was capable of vs QPR in GW28 adding a further goal to his twelve he had already notched in a very impressive first season in English football. Whereas Mesut Ozil struggled to adapt last season, and Angel di Maria this, Sanchez has taken it all in his stride. Though his goal at Rangers was his first in five league matches, he had spent some of that time returning from injury and was still getting in promising positions.
Olivier Giroud as we know has missed large chunks of the season through injury, but has still scored ten league goals, making him excellent value for money. Of course, he has also missed a few, as was witnessed in the first leg match vs Monaco, but one should be more worried if he wasn’t getting chances at all. Yes, he’ll miss a few, but with the creative talent of Alexis, Cazorla, Ozil and chuck in Walcott (hint, hint Wenger) and Ox too, chances will always come his way. The French Adonis has scored in his last three league matches and it would be no surprise if he had made that four vs the Hammers, who have hit a sticky patch and won just once in eleven matches.
Of course, not everyone has Sanchez or Giroud in their team – it may well be that you have gone with Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil or even Theo Walcott. We would also recommend Cazorla and Ozil, though we’d stop short of tipping Theo as the poor love seems to have been forgotten by Arsene.

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[/three_fourth]Eden Hazard (home vs Southampton)
How can the leading FPL points scorer not be included in a Captains Article? Ten goals this season, seven assists and the winner in Chelsea’s win at West Ham last week – the boy is on form and has only failed to score or assist in five of the last sixteen gameweeks. He is Mourinho’s own Special One – the Belgian seems to be rotation free, he has started every league game so far and completed at least 80mins in every single gameweek bar one. Southampton won’t just lay down of course and they do have the best defensive record in the league, but with their attacking frailties very much at the fore, expect Koeman to sit his boys deep, hope to keep things tight and maybe try and nick one on the break. So we’re expecting an afternoon of tight possession football for the Blues and it may just take a piece of Belgian magic to undo the solid defence – and if that doesn’t work, then expect Costa to “win” a penalty that Hazard will surely slot away. He doesn’t miss from the spot!

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[/three_fourth]Harry Kane (away vs Man Utd)
Well he did most of you proud in DGW28 didn’t he? Well, half of it anyway! Fourteen goals in his last thirteen league matches is exceptional form for anyone, but for a young English striker, it’s unheard of. Away to United will not be easy, but also not as tough as it has been in seasons past and with the defensive powerhouse that is Jonny Evans out of action for the foreseeable future, it’s quite likely that Kane’s skill and pace may just be too much for Phil Jones or Chris Smalling. Of course, Kane will have to get past David de Gea, who has kept two clean sheets in his last two, but before that conceded against Stoke, Leicester, Burnley and even Southampton! Even Southampton I said. If Tadic can score, then Kane could go goal crazy!

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For the Gamblers
So you want to go against the grain and fancy a differential this week as you look to make up some ground in your leagues? Look no further as we explore the best and most obvious candidates.

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[/three_fourth]Branislav Ivanovic (home vs Southampton)
Primarily selected for his ability to keep a clean sheet alongside the likes of Terry, Courtois et al, one imagines keeping the goal shy Saints at bay should be a fairly straightforward task for the Chelsea defence. Southampton have scored just two goals in their last six games and while they remain tight at the back, going forward has proven a big issue, led by the donkey that is Pelle. Ivanovic is the leading defender in FPL this season with 141pts – his thirteen clean sheets have been supplemented by four goals and four assists, including two goals in his last four matches. With Chelsea expected to dominate possession vs a stubborn Southampton, it should surprise no-one to see Ivanovic overlapping down the right wing and making a nuisance of himself at set pieces.

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[/three_fourth]Romelu Lukaku (home vs Newcastle)
For those with a good memory, cast your mind back to 30 September 2013. It was a Monday, the final match of the gameweek. A last chance to boost the weekly FPL total. And it was Romelu Lukaku’s home debut for Everton. Some managers had brought him into their team. Some lucky ones had gambled and captained him. BOOOOOOOOM BOOOOOOOOM The Rom delivered with two goals, an assist and three bonus points. A majestic night for some! Fast forward 18 months or so and Everton’s league form has been rubbish, but The Rom has still contributed seven goals and four assists. It must be added that he hasn’t scored in his last five league matches, although he did score four goals in the Toffee’s two leg disposal of BSC Young Boys in the recent Europa League tie. Well it may not be a Monday night game, it’s Sunday afternoon this time, but Newcastle are back in town and waiting to be Lukaku’d once more.

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[/three_fourth]Charlie Austin (away vs Crystal Palace)
Harry Kane may be the exciting young English talent everyone is talking about and his 16 league goals this season fully justifies that. But Charlie Austin is only one league goal behind him and like Kane, the boy just can’t stop scoring. He scored vs Hull in GW26, he scored vs Arsenal in DGW28 part one and could easily have scored three more vs Spurs in DGW28 part two. Another London derby awaits this week as Rangers travel to Palace, a fixture that Rangers have won on the last two occasions. The Hoops are of course fighting for their Premier League lives and are currently marooned in the drop zone, three points from safety. They have, however, shown some fighting qualities under Chris Ramsey and expect this to continue, with them leaning heavily on Austin to continue to produce the goods. On penalty duties too, he could be a cheeky differential this week as others look to the bigger named players.

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[/three_fourth]Saido Berahino (home vs Stoke)
Having lost twice in a week to Aston Villa, one can only imagine that the Baggies would be training their asses off this week in a desperate and probably futile attempt to appease a snarling, angry, moody Tony Pulis. It’s one of Pulis’ exes in town this week as Stoke visit the Hawthorns, so you can be sure that the manager will have his troops well motivated for Mark Hughes and his team. Having started the season off like an express train, young Berahino went through a quiet stage as news of his drink driving arrest was coupled with speculated interest from Liverpool. He went ten games without scoring as rumours of his potential exit were highlighted, but since Pulis joined, the striker has been rejuvenated and he has scored five league goals since the turn of the year, including three in his last five. If you still own him, and 12% of managers do, don’t be surprised to see Berahino add Stoke to his impressive list of victims this season.

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[/three_fourth]Wayne Rooney (home vs Spurs)
Whisper it quietly guys and gals but we’ve found you an out of position gem. Presumably listed as a midfielder of some sort this portly and ex-balding chap has somehow sneaked into the Man United attack in the last few games and funnily enough he looks like he’s played there all his life as he’s scoring for fun. Oh no wait… sorry. He is in fact listed as a forward. We just checked. Maybe LVG should have done likewise before shifting his best striker by far all around the park to try and accommodate a couple of creaking fossils in RvP and Falcao. Anyway he got there eventually and Wayne now has 3 goals in his last 3 games including one last night against Arsenal. Opponents Spurs are a bit leaky and have conceded 20 goals in 13 away games in the league whereas United have the joint best home record with 30 goals in the plus column. We expect this one to be a goal-fest in all honesty and Rooney will probably be amongst them. Assuming he plays up top, which he will.

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[/three_fourth]Jason Puncheon (home vs QPR)
Finally we have the punt of all punts – otherwise known as the “well nothing else has worked, I might as well give him a go” pick – yep, it’s Palace’s Jason Puncheon. Despite playing for one of the less glamorous Premier League sides, Punch has as many assists as Alexis and Hazard and more than Silva and Cazorla. Lord Pardew has given Punch the responsibility of a number of Palace’s set pieces and he took advantage of this to great effect when he delivered all three assists in the Eagles’ recent 3-1 victory at West Ham. Another London derby this week and another early kick off and it’s leaky QPR at home for Palace, so there will be goals, probably at both ends – what a great way to kick off your gameweek. Some players struggle with these early games. Punch clearly doesn’t. Convinced? Nah, probably not, but if you love a gamble……

Thanks for reading Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 29. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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WooFBet

We would like to remind you that our official partners, WooFBet, are again running a whole host of prize competitions, which will please many of you who are slowly building a lovely retirement nest egg, while others continue to persevere in the hope that this week will be their week! If you haven’t done so yet we recommend you get yourselves over to WooFBet.com as this week they have launched an exclusive competition for FF247 members with a prize pool of €50. Aside from this competition, there is also the usual array of competitions to enter. You also have the option to create your own tournaments and head-to-head challenges. Choose your rules and buy-in fee, and invite friends or leave it open for the public to challenge you.

The password for the competition is FF247

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Don’t forget to vote in this week’s Captain Poll

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