Captains Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 9 – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15
So there I was. A sunny Friday in the spring of 1996. Saffron Walden County High School playing fields. Lunchtime. A slight figure of a 16 year old, desperately needing to finish the week with a win. It was my turn to be captain, and I’d won the toss to pick first.
I surveyed the crop of young men standing in front of me. Who would be first into my team? Who could ensure my bragging rights through free period after lunch, through double Geography and – if my fake ID held up to scrutiny – through a Friday night’s drinking in the White Horse? Decisions just didn’t get bigger than this.
Stuart was the obvious choice, but as I looked at him, something just didn’t look right. I knew the problem couldn’t be me. I was a fine captain. My lack of stature meant all of my players could always play wherever the hell they wanted. In fact some of my finest moments had come from playing the lone GK/defender role, gladly supporting my team as the 10 bigger players shared the 10 striker positions. No, it was something else. “What’s the matter Stu-pot (cos I was captain I could use nicknames that I had not earned the right to use)?”, I asked. “Litter duty” was the reply. “I can only play 15 mins, then I’ve got to pick up litter with the deputy head for getting caught smoking”. Wow, I thought. That’s a blow. Now don’t get me wrong, even 15 mins of an on-form Stu could have the game won. But it was a risk.
“What about you Dave?”, I asked. Flexing my managerial muscles as I dismissed Stu without a second thought. “Yeah, I’m good for the full 40 mins” replied Dave. There was a ‘but’ coming. I knew it. “But…” I was right. “But, I’ve forgotten my trainers so will have to play in my slip ons”. Panic started to set in. “But they’ll give you no purchase on the slippery turf Dave!”. This wasn’t going well.
I could see that my natural 3rd and 4th choices Nick and Rob were distracted by the group of year 10 girls sitting on the side lines. They’d be no use. People were looking at me. I had to make a decision. Lunchtime was 5 minutes old and we hadn’t even picked teams!
And then, just as I could feel that first bead of anxious sweat trickle down the side of my ribcage, from the back of the crowd stepped forward a face that was new to me. “Who are you?!” I demanded. “I’m the new exchange student” was the nervous reply. “But you’re wearing proper football boots!” I exclaimed. “And, wait… Yes! They’re Puma Kings!”. The excitement started to build. “What’s your name?” I enquired. My tone starting to soften. “Diego Pele” was the reply.
“I PICK HIM!”
And so onto this week’s Captains picks, where we also find our apparent cast of plenty, dwindling away before our very eyes. Costa is a doubt, Man Utd and Liverpool might as well be playing in slip-on shoes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Aguero somehow picks up litter duty between now and the weekend.
Let’s have a proper look see, in no particular order…
Diego Costa. Chelsea. Away vs Man Utd.
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[/three_fourth]Captain him by all means. But for the love of Jose, please give proper thought to who gets the Vice Captaincy. Not many things worse than your captain not playing. One thing might be however, realizing that you left the VC armband on the same guy as last week. You know the guy. The one that’s now injured too!
There’s not much to say about Costa that you don’t already know, so I won’t bore you with stats. If Jose shows his hand in the Friday press conference, and it’s good news, he can have the armband. Man Utd’s defence has been generous to strikers this season, and long gone are the days where Jose parks the bus against Utd. This could get messy.
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Danny Welbeck. Arsenal. Away vs Sunderland.
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[/three_fourth]He didn’t manage another hat-trick, but he did at least keep his scoring run going against Hull in Arsenals 2-2 draw on the weekend. A goal that meant a lot for both club and player alike. It means Arsenal go into this weekend’s game against a demoralised Sunderland with something to prove after a disappointing performance against Hull, but not as downbeat as they might’ve been had Welbeck not grabbed that 90th minute equalizer. Sunderland themselves will have something to prove, but who knows how many changes Poyet will make after the 8-0 thrashing last time out. Arsenal have a good record against Sunderland too. Comfortable 3-1 and 4-1 wins last season.
With Arsenals attacking options and a possible Walcott return, Welbs should get plenty of chances. He’s averaging 3.6 shots per game (4th highest in the Prem), and we’d expect him to shoot above that average this weekend.
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Graziano Pelle. Southampton. Home vs Stoke.
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[/three_fourth]Pelle has taken the 3rd highest number of shots per game (4) out of all Premier League players. He scored 2 goals, got an assist and 2 bps last time out, and has scored 5 in his last 3 home games. Another tasty home tie coming up against a Stoke side that lost their last away game to… wait for it…Sunderland! Stoke lost, to Sunderland! That same team that just lost 8-0 to Pelle’s Southampton! Wait, that stat wasn’t even that exciting! Why am I using so many exclamation marks?!
Anyway. He’s got to be a safe bet for good points this week. He comes without any injury risk (at time of writing), and is playing for one of the form teams in the league.
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Sergio Aguero. Man City. Away vs West Ham.
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[/three_fourth]He scored how many? And still had time to miss a penalty. Aguero is the games top points’ earner with a whopping 56. He has accumulated 9 bonus points so far this season, and has scored a goal to go with each of them. No assists yet, but nobody’s perfect.
He is second highest in… [digs out favorite new stat list] number of shots per game with 4.5. Although he may as well be top, as top spot officially goes to Balotelli. Do shots stats count if you never actually score?
Aguero also bagged two of City’s three goals in a 3-1 win last time these sides met. He’ll be in the top three most popular captain choices this week, even if Costa returns.
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Other possibles…
Fabregas, Hazard & Oscar. Fab has the headlines so far this season but Hazard tends to do well against the big teams. Oscar is more of a game time risk but Jose loved him last season and he plays further forward than Fab, and more central than Hazard. Any or all of these 3 could turn in a decent points haul this weekend.
Leighton Baines. A nice fixture against a winless Burnley side that have just shipped three goals against West Ham. Just off the back of a clean sheet, 2 assists and some bonus points. If you’re ever going to risk it on a defender, now might be that time.
Dusan Tadic. It couldn’t happen again. Could it?
Gabriel Obertan. Because sometimes, you just have to finish with a joke.
Good luck this week everybody. I’ll be placing my trust in that man Aguero.
Thanks for reading Captains Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 9. This article was written by chins and bellies
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Forster-Mannone
Wisdom-Mangala-Duff-Baines-Clyne
Cesc-Di Maria-Sigurdsson-King-Downing
Costa-Aguero-Berahino
Okay, so this is my current squad all set for this week. With no decisions left to make, i’m looking towards next weeks transfer. Assuming all players are good to go for gwk 10, any suggestions on a swticeroo to make?
Duff and King are proving to be shite backup players after some early promise. I’m kinda tempted by Downing -> Chadli though, or maybe Barkley sometime in the near future but fitness/stamina is a worry there, obviously. Thoughts?
Oops, 1.4m in the kitty for next weeks move.
Here’s an option actually, kinda kill two birds with one stone. King -> Puncheon for a perfect (h)/(a) rotation with Downing.. thoughts?
NIN, looks like a sound move.
At least then if Costa is out then both could come in for this week.
Nin, sound moves mate as it doesn’t look like Costa will play next gw so at least you have players that can pick up points.
Ye I like the Chadli move aswell but Chadli seems to have pulled the brakes on his goal scoring form
Thinking of going with Costa as captain and taking the vice captaincy of Di Maria to give it to Pelle what do you guys think? Or should I give it to Welbeck?
So its the 2nd night of UCL action in this Gameweek 3
And in my League of FF called “Sand In Your Socks”
Two FF247 members are fighting it out for who can get the most points in the Gameweek and claim the potty spoils….
So…..
Currently 1st is THE GODIN FATHER who’s week’s points stand at 71,he captained Adriano so I guess he won’t be twisting tonight? Also he is 1st in the FF247 UCL too but will he become this gameweeks potty winner????
On his tail and in 2nd place is THE GALLANT PIONEER with 61 points,yes just 10pts behind The Godin Father,the Gee Pee captained Aguero who nailed him 18pts but will he now pass the armband onto Ronaldo in his quest for potty glory?
So folks what would you do????
Pottty
Potty
Panic?
Is that just an extremely long winded way of actually asking whether you should switch yours Potty?!
I am sticking with Messi as 18pts keep winking back at me.
Ronaldo may flop tonight.
Tough decision though?
Potty
Hey guyz…Just unable to decide what to do…I wsnt fabregas but no at cost of Eriksen…I also want Welbeck insted of Berahino…Also Mignolet is coming in my team for next gameweek ..I m on wilcard so plz suggest possible changes in the defence so that all three can come…If not I will take oscar for tadic and bring in clyne for jagielka..But I do want Mignolet and welbeck and oscar/fabregas
Chuck – You don’t need Clyne when you already have Bertrand. If you’re on a wildcard, then why do you still have Azpilicueta in your team? Downgrade him to Wisdom, upgrade Jagielka to Baines. I can try to set up a team for you, hold on. I’ll include the players you mentioned that you want.
Why do you need Eriksen so much? Chadli offers waaay more value for 1.4 less.
It’s impossible to have all of your wishes without downgrading someone. I know that you didn’t say you wanted Baines, but he’s the second biggest ‘must-have’ out of all. Aguero being the biggest must-have.
It would work without Baines though, if you don’t want him.
Thanks cody!!
post the team when u set it up!
Yup cody.., I mean I know chadli is good but eriksen is consistent against though opponents as well..
Eriksen also has the set pieces. Not sure there’s much between Spurs front three at the minute though- they all looked lively against City
Chuck, I agree. Eriksen is also Spurs’ set piece taker.
There is a reason why he’s more expensive after all.
Codymaybe jagielka for bains?
Chuck – yeah I mean I can’t live without Baines, but if you’re unwilling to downgrade any of your forwards then I agree it’s better to have Jagielka.
Cody very tough question…
This is my gameweeks team!
Now should i have welbeck chadli combination or berahino Eriksen combination
Chuck – Well I really like both options. In all honesty though I would go with Welbeck and Chadli, because Welbeck has amazing fixtures ahead and Chadli is on form and is performing just as good as – maybe even better than Eriksen at the moment. Berahino is a great striker that’s on form and I have him in my team, but he’s harder to upgrade in the future than Welbeck.
And whar about sanchez di maria swap
Well you don’t need both Welbeck and Alexis. Wait on news about Di Maria’s injury before you make a decision there.
Thinking of holding both Costa and Sterling because I’d like to fix my defence. Got 1FT and 1.3m in the bank. Considering Wisdom in for Wilson this week (he has the worst fixtures over the next 6 weeks, though O’Shea, Colo and Taylor aren’t looking great either). Received wisdom is that a 4pt hit for a bench player (Quinn) or another defender isn’t wise. What are your thoughts on bending this rule in case Costa doesn’t play? I’d need a likely CS or likely goal to make it worthwhile: could be Chambers in for Colo, or someone(?!) in for Quinn… Cheers in advance!
Forster, Hamer
Baines, Taylor, Wilson/Wisdom, Coloccini, O’Shea
Fabregas, Sterling, Sigurdsson, Downing, Quinn
Costa, Aguero, Pelle
Pippin – I would use the FT to downgrade Costa or upgrade Downing. I don’t think taking a hit for a benched player, goalkeeper or a defender (unless it is Baines) is worth it. I don’t disagree with the Wilson to Wisdom transfer either.
Yeah me too pippin…Swap costa with welbeck or cisse…U need to improve ur defence..
Hmmm. So improve my defence, but do so by removing Costa or Downing? Not sure about this guys, thank regardless though. If Costa is out for multiple weeks, of course. But Downing has great fixtures after the City game.
Not a lot wrong with that defence. Except Coloccini
Have you seen their fixtures? It’s a nightmare…
Yeah they are horrible. Wisdom has decent fixtures. Same with Chambers. Stoke and Swansea are strong at home who ever they are playing. And you only need to play 2 of them each week with Baines.
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