Captains Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 34 – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15
Midnight, Monday April 20th. That was the deadline to register to vote for this year’s UK general election. May 7th will afford the disenchanted millions the glorious choice of choosing which corporation-funded puppet will drag a great nation further into the ecological, economic abyss; screaming promises of change from the rooftops while scheming furtively to maintain the wealthy elite’s capitalist status quo. People need a vote that counts… right? (“Right!”) A vote that affects them personally… right? (“RIGHT!”) Well, tear up that ballot paper; kick over that polling booth and cast your eyes over this week’s list of captain candidates. Your team needs YOU. *Drops mic*
DGW34 Fixures
Saturday 25th April
Southampton v Spurs 12:45pm
Burnley v Leicester 3pm
Crystal Palace v Hull 3pm
Newcastle v Swansea 3pm
QPR v West Ham 3pm
Stoke v Sunderland 3pm
West Brom v Liverpool 3pm
Man City v Aston Villa 5:30pm
Sunday 26th April
Everton v Man Utd. 1:30pm
Arsenal v Chelsea 4pm
Tuesday 28th April
Hull v Liverpool 7:45pm
Wednesday 29th April
Leicester v Chelsea 7:45pm
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[/three_fourth]5. Jamie Vardy – BUR (a), CHE (h)
Surprisingly this is the only bona fide striker in this top 5 and, even more surprisingly, from Leicester City. Don’t be too shocked. The Foxes have gone from being the hunted to the hunters in recent weeks, and their attacking stats show them to be quite the ravenous pack. Over the past 4 games Leicester lead the scoring charts with 10 goals, and are second only to Man City in goal attempts (64) and shots on target (22). So where does our boy Jamie fit in to all of this? 2 goals, 2 assists and 4 BPS, that’s where. An average of 6.5 FPL points per game over the past month even includes his dip against Swansea last week. It may feel strange to captain a bargain basement forward valued under 5m, but if his team continue in their current vein then the points will be vindication aplenty.
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[/three_fourth]4. Branislav Ivanovic – ARS (a), LEI (a)
It’s odd to see a defender grace these articles, even in a DGW. Attacking full-backs are only ever on the precipice of being fully-fledged captaincy material, due to the risky ‘boom or bust’ nature of their points scoring outweighing their tempting one-off potential. Over two games, however, the odds tilt further towards them bagging that cherished clean sheet/assist/goal combo. On only 3 occasions in the past 12 gameweeks has Ivanovic registered a sub 5 score thanks to his 6 clean sheets, 3 assists and 2 goals during that period. Yes, it’s still a risk when stacked up against more familiar candidates, but if there was ever a time to give the surly Serb the armband, it’s now.
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[/three_fourth]3. Philipe Coutinho – WBA (a), HUL (a)
A player whose stock continues to rise with the Kop faithful is the PFA Player of the Year nominee from Rio De Janeiro. He’s been keeping much of his effervescent best for the FA Cup so far, but that won’t be a problem anymore. On top of his 2 recent FA Cup goals, it should be noted that he’s been Man of the Match more times this season than any of his teammates. He’s been player of the month three times, and he hasn’t missed a single minute of the Premier League since coming off for Sturridge in February 7th’s Merseyside derby. His exploits haven’t quite translated to stellar FPL returns thus far, but he’s clocked double figures 4 times and anyone who’s seen him play recently will appreciate that this DGW could be a bumper one for the Brazilian.
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[/three_fourth]2. Raheem Sterling – WBA (a), HUL (a)
A fit and firing Daniel Sturridge would have comfortably led the Liverpool polls this week, but his persistent absence has at least added a certain ‘OOP’ value to the team’s midfielders, who’ve been given greater attacking license to compensate. Sterling didn’t look at his smoking best at Wembley last Sunday, but at least he was high up the pitch. A lean March tested the resolve of those who still had him, but April has proved more fruitful with games against Arsenal and Newcastle bearing 13 points. And don’t be discouraged by Liverpool’s two upcoming games being on the road. Sterling has scored more goals (4) and accrued more BPS (9) away from Anfield despite playing fewer away games! He’s also the highest ranked English player in this list so UKIP voters might want to stop reading at this point.
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[/three_fourth]1. Eden Hazard – ARS (a), LEI (a)
Oh come on. Did you really think it was going to be Andrew Robertson? Alas, a full house of DGW players this week and not one Tiger to be seen. Sorry, Hull fans. With Costa and Remy locked in a perpetual ‘will they/won’t they be fit’ tango, and Drogba serving his team best when he gets out of their way; the Chelsea go-to player becomes, yet again, Hazard. While it wasn’t quite the shoe-in for no.1 pick that most might be thinking (Liverpool’s favourable fixtures pushed Raheem and Philipe close) the Belgian is indisputably the most reliable choice, irrespective of opposition. For those perturbed by the Blues’ first fixture, be reminded of his 11 points in their reverse encounter with the Gunners. With an average of nearly 10 PPG over 4 games, it’s fair to say that most will be opting for Eden, so languishing FPL managers wishing to go double or quits should gamble elsewhere.
Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool or Hull. Blue, red, or amber. Be conservative or be liberal, just labour the point no more*. Vote now.
*Other parties are available.
Thanks for reading Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 34. This article was written by Bryan Munich
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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 for DGW34, 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 over €300 in free entry prizes and a whopping €1,850 in guaranteed pots. 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.
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Don’t forget to vote in this week’s Captain Poll
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Thanks for all your kind feedback gents and non-gents. It’s quite amusing that, judging by a lot of these comments, people are becoming tempted to go for a gamble to such an extent that Hazard might end up being a big-hitter differential!
I have a reckless urge to throw caution to the wind, and go double or quits on Coutinho.
One thing is what people say in here but it remains to be seen if they can actually pull the trigger on a different capo pick other than Haz. Everyone is brave on a Wednesday. 😉
True. There’s a tendency for panic to increase exponentially near deadline time. Though I usually make all my decisions (probably much to my own detriment) early in the week. I’ll make changes if there’s injury news, but for now the transfers have been made, the lineup and captain’s been set and a shisha pipe’s on the go. NO RAHEEM! YOU CAN’T HAVE IT!
Hi guys,
I want to add coutinho to my team, but im not sure if i take silva out? or mata?
Is silva gone play?
And do i captain coutinho or aguero?
Nauj, as each day passes news of Silva becomes more promising. With a game at home to Villa, I certainly wouldn’t take him out yet. Wait until the last possible minute, or at least until after the pressers. Cookie’s Team Talk will give you the low down on Pellegrini’s team news.
Silva was back in training yesterday morning – it looks good
Bryan, great work mate, i loved the intro, despite i’m not from UK.
for me the capo decision is postponed for Fri-Sat.. too much good options
Hello all. This is a make-or-break week and I would appreciate any help you can offer. I play in a draft league s my options are very limited. My current team is as follows:
Begovich
Schlupp Jagielka Zouma
Fabregas Sigurdsson Cazorla Fellaini Puncheon
Rooney Pelle
Bench: Ospina Bellerin Nugent Alderwiereld
Available players are: Willian, Lovren, Ibe, anyone from Hull. Very slim pickings.
Should I make a move or play this lineup?
SOOOOOOOOOO what about REMY – could be a great differential
Mus, heard he had a good chance of playing yesterday, i’ve still got him.
Bry,
I’ve read that and I loved it mate. Well done.
I know you are driving up interest in the election but please remember pal Subliminal Never Pays 😉
Ha! GP, I’d rather let a dog drive a tractor onto a motorway than vote for one of them lot! If I was still in the UK, I’d vote for the Green Party. I had a brief look at their manifesto and it’s full of common sense.
Bry
I heard it was an English sheepdog