Captains Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 38 – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15
Ah, the unpredictability of a meaningless fixture. As West Brom’s confident dismantling of the champions reminded us, teams with nothing to chase have respect for neither form nor logic. Romelu Lukaku’s hat-trick in 2012/13’s loopy 5-5 finale with Man Utd is burned permanently onto the retinas of FPL managers across the land (Most infamously, costing runner-up Kelvin Travers the title that year). There hasn’t been a goalless draw on the last day of the Premier League since Hull and Liverpool meekly closed their 2009/10 campaigns; therefore clean sheets could be at a premium, and some games may resemble a Harlem Globetrotter exhibition. All of this is great news for us, of course. In arguably one of the most lacklustre Premier League seasons to date, a carnival of football will not only belatedly whet the appetite for next term, but send FPL players into the summer cradling a bounty of points. The captain choice then, represents something of a Hail Mary for those of us with nothing to lose; a liberating end to a frustrating season. League leaders will look to the consistency of more trusted candidates, and hope that the chasing pack doesn’t unearth a ‘Lukaku moment’.
Here’s my top five.
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[/three_fourth]5. Jason Puncheon – home vs Swansea
You’ve got to hand it to Jason Puncheon. Ever since THAT penalty, y’know, the one against Spurs that accelerated global warming by punching another hole in the ozone layer; the midfielder has gone from strength to strength, particularly under Pardew. Last week’s Gerrard-esque free-kick deflated the party balloons at Anfield, crowning a man-of-the-match performance and giving the Palace star his 4th double digit FPL haul.
Visitors Swansea will arrive knowing that if they lose they’ll have to settle for 8th. But a victory would cement them a very creditable… 8th. Without even the incentive of improving their league position to accrue some extra prize money, the Swans are the very embodiment of a team likely to turn up in sandals; towel in one hand, sun cream in the other. It would be no surprise to see Puncheon celebrate his new four-year contract in style on Sunday at a buoyant Selhurst as the flying Eagles look to round off a wonderful season by soaring to 10th.
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[/three_fourth]4. Christian Benteke – home vs Burnley
One of the great things about Fantasy Football, unlike the reality, is that it doesn’t matter how bad the other players are, you’ll reap the full benefits of a team’s star performer. Enter Benteke. A player so utterly superior to his teammates (Villa’s second best player is Tom Cleverly. Let that sink in for a moment), he can score 13 goals in a team that secured their safety only in the penultimate game. He can get you 6 points in spite of a 6-1 mauling. Benteke, a one-man reason to invest in the Tim Sherwood philosophy. Who cares what happens at the back, when you’ve got one of Europe’s sharpest marksmen facing a team already planning for a return to the Championship? Well, not that a Dyche team would ever raise the white flag, in fact they’ll want to go out with a bang. Just don’t be surprised if this game becomes a reckless end-of-season free-for-all.
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[/three_fourth]3. Olivier Giroud – home vs WBA
Arsenal, oh Arsenal. Where to begin. I could tell you that they have the 3rd best home goal-scoring record, but then I could tell you West Brom have the 2nd best away defense. I could seduce you with tales of how they destroyed Liverpool, Villa and Newcastle at the Emirates, but then break your heart regaling their careless capitulations against Swansea and Spurs. You’ll gasp in awe at Giroud’s 2015 streak of 9 goals in 10 games, but wince awkwardly at his failure in the last 6. It’s the last game of the season. It’s against West Brom. It’s Arsenal. These 3 factors alone make a prediction entirely futile. It will either be 7-3 to the Gunners, or 1-0 to the Baggies. All that’s left for you is to look into the eyes of this handsome Frenchman, and ask yourself, “Can I trust you Olivier? Can I trust you one more time?”
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[/three_fourth]2. Sergio Aguero – home vs Southampton
Two teams that have salvaged their form after sticky spells face off in what promises to be one of the day’s higher quality contests. Southampton can still claim what would be an incredible 5th and City will seek to protect 2nd. Sitting atop the scoring charts with 25 goals, Aguero’s explosive resurgence has all but assured him his first Golden Boot. The Citizens have looked irresistable in May and with Pellegrini’s services confirmed for 2015/16, an impressive victory would be quite a statement of intent. An Aguero-led feel-good factor at the Etihad would slightly soften the disappointment of losing their Premier League crown. So what’s keeping him from being the number one captain choice this week? The best away defence in the league, that’s what. A clean sheet on Sunday would see Ronald Keoman’s side finish with 18 goals conceded on their travels. Fewer even that Preston in League 1. But then again, they don’t face Aguero every week.
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[/three_fourth]1. Eden Hazard – home vs Sunderland
Chelsea saved their most underwhelming performance for Pulis’ men on Monday, but the Blues will be back on the front foot for the visit of Sunderland with surely their strongest possible line-up, keen to preface their triumphant lap of honour with a performance fit for title winners. Stamford Bridge has seen the home team score in every single game and are yet to lose there. The enforced absences of Fabregas and Oscar are a nuisance, but Hazard has never been shy of filling the stage. A few words of caution. Sunderland have been solid away from the glare of the Stadium of Light, and FPL’s top scorer has scored just a solitary goal with no assists in 5 games; his worst run of the season. But this could well be a prescient lull before the showpiece crescendo. Yes, the Black Cats will be jubilant after ensuring their top flight status, but that lack of focus could create more space for the PFA and FWA player of the year to gleefully exploit.
Thanks for reading Captain’s Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 38. This article was written by Bryan Munich
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We would like to remind you that our official partners, WooFBet, are again running a whole host of prize competitions for DGW38, 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 a whopping €3,000 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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Love it Bry. As always it’s extremely well written and an enjoyable read. Thank you. :thumbup:
Great read, thanks GP. This could be your best one yet.
A disappointing lack of ice clearing references though.
Great effort all season long mate. Thanks!
Wait, sorry – How embarrassing. – I didn’t mean GP.
Great read, thanks Lawdogg. This could be your best one yet.
A disappointing lack of ice clearing references though.
Great effort all season long mate. Thanks!
Sorry Bry.
Great read, as always.
I hope this talk of end of season craziness hasn’t jinxed it. I think i’ll go with a 5-4-1 this week. Just in case.
Wait, sorry – How embarrassing. – I didn’t mean GP.
Great read, thanks Chins. This could be your best one yet.
A disappointing lack of ice clearing references though.
Great effort all season long mate. Thanks!
Don’t confuse me any more than i already am. I spent two hours researching T20 transfers last night to avoid the usual last minute rush as i knew i had a deadline today. Yep. Turns out it’s the MLS deadline today and T20 not until Friday!! Doh!!!
Must be all those Taco’s getting to your head 😉
It must be something mate. It’s going wrong on several fronts for me at the moment. I think losing to Potty in a H2H last week was a new low for me though…..
Hopefully the MLS revival can start tonight. You going big on the double, or saving transfers for the epic fixture pile up that we have over the two following weeks?
chins,
Glad you said that –I might have missed that tonight.
Thanks pal.
Er… yeah… You’re welcome… Always happy to help a rival…..
damn damn damn. – I should’ve kept quiet like Mito told me to.
Haha, that’s enough to break any man!
I’m going with 3 DGW players this week. Already had Shuttleworth, Woodberry and Feilhaber. I’ll stick to those. I’ve got 7 for next GW, so i’ll look at getting players for GW14 after this week.
How many you got for this week?
NIN,
Hello mate.
Tierney, Agudelo and Benny for me pal. That’ll do it. Captain Benny for sure.
That sounds like you’re well set there mate!
I only have Benny at the moment. Hard to justify big hits this week with all those doubles coming up. – No idea how many i have for next week. I should probably take a look at that!
That said, i’ll probably take my standard -8 this week and spend the weekend hoping that no more games get rained off.
Howdy GP. Yup, Benny capo all the way this week. BP production makes it a no brainer. I’m sporting a massive midfield this week and my other options are very tempting. Good that you’ve got Tierney, i’d like him this week too.
chins – Yeah i would focus on the big DGW’s more than this. Rained off you say? Aha, so that’s why i had eight players last week, or some shit like that. Fair enough so.
Hi Guys, Any suggestions for this week would be appreciated, Getting tight in a couple of leagues. 1 FT 0.3 ITB
Team is Pants, Skrtel, Waseleski,Bellerin
Boyd, Silva, Haz, Cazorla
Kane, Augero, Giroud
Bench: Bertrand,Fabregas,Wollscheid, Davies (sou)
Hi numbers,
I’d ditch Fab for a mid to replace Boyd. Maybe Walcott?
Thanks Chins, Have 3 Arsenal at the moment though. thanks torn between changing GK, Defence,
or Fab or all 3
Ah – Sorry – I didn’t spot that.
I think your defense is fine for this week. – Given the goals that Bryan has promised us, i wouldn’t bother investing there. – Although i could see Pikey or Ivanavic (or both) scoring this week.
Maybe save your FT to give you a boost next season?…
Any boost is welcome, Probably about 38 game weeks too late!!!!! Thanks for the replies.
Kane -> Tekkers/Vardy/Ulloa?
Thanks NIN, Not enough for Beneteke, Leicester forwards are possible, Would you take a hit or leave Boyd in.
I wouldn’t take a hit for a leicester player – They’re safe now. I can see the foot coming off the gas big time.
Oh, i forgot Cesc is banned, so i assumed he’d make your 11. Arse. Hmm, i wouldn’t want Boyd in my team for the final day so maybe ditch Fabregas. Milner or Siggy maybe?
Thanks Nin. Fab will be the FT. Also thanks for all the replies throughout the season.
:thumbup:
Glad to help, or try at least!
Fab to Mata/Siggy/Bolasie/Milner or other mid with a good fixture.
Thanks Albertini, Congrats on the great rank.
Cheers mate, good luck.
Hey all. Nice article Bryan. Torn on who to captain.
I am second in my mini league been leading all season and now crash and burned, had a bad couple of weeks. I need to catch my rival , I am 9 points behind him and the league is for big money.
Need to shut this asshole up.
Help please got 1 ft 0.2 in the bank.
Your outfield 10 is more than fine, for me. Switch GK maybe? Given springs to mind.
Ok cheers nin could do with a good differential
Lads just a thank you to all you contributors this year – the site just goes from strength to strength and the writing wouldn’t look amiss in a red top (no insult intended). Quality all year. Great stuff guys
Couldn’t agree more Drexl. Some of the stuff the lads churn out, and this from Bry is a prime example, is absolutely top notch. There’s hundreds of blogs out there that attempt to write FF articles but frankly a lot of it is dross. And you know what the beauty of it is? Every one of them (apart from Beka Chan, who I brought in for a specific reason) is in-house. They’re all site users and most drifting back from the FFC days.
Best be careful Init, don’t mention in house to me. I’ll be straight round when your out and i’ll be in your house. 😮
Well anyones house actually, as long as they are out. :p
Elle, I’ve heard Duncan Ferguson has just popped out. Honest.
Sod that one, saw what he did to the last intruder.
I saw what Big Dunc did to the last player never mind intruder!
Evening gentlemen.
Bon soir
I’ve drifted for a long while
Oh snow! Icey another gritter joke!
ahthankyou
*boom-tish*
Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Ramsey, Cazorla, Wilshere, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud
Pantilimon, Jones, van Aanholt, O’Shea (c), Coates, Cattermole, Larsson, Johnson, Graham, Defoe, Wickham
Cheers TJ.
Thanks TJ.
I think we all need to club together and find you something to get you through the summer. – I imagine not having the line ups to post is going to leave you with somewhat of a void to fill.
If it helps you (and only if it helps you), you could email me the daily weather forecast each day for the Dallas area. – A few minutes before 6:30am Texas time would be ideal so i know whether i need to wear my vest of not.
Just thinking of you mate.
Wait, Johnson, what?? Never thought I’d see him play again this season.
Andy, they put back his court date so he could play tonight. Unbelievable.
Can you imagine the uproar if he’d scored in the 15th?
We can’t pun about this!!
You’re right Cookie. Sorry.
I forgot there is a minimum age for things like punning…
cunning punning maybe?
Sorry – That was in bad taste. What i meant to say was that i hope they get a point tonight. It all helps in sending the Geordies down .
A point for Sunderland would actually be good for Newcastle, Man Utd would still have an outside chance of third but would have to pummel Hull to do it. I’ve got that Sun advert with the Mackem and Henry lodged in my head now.