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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Chester dropping is a little bit frustrating.
1FT, 0.1 in the bank. How would you get Di Maria in my team by GW11?
Hey EBC Costa out Sakco or Berahino in Henderson out ADM in
Hmmm, don’t quite like that because I’m not overly keen on removing Costa.
But it has led me to think about Welbeck in for Costa, then Di Maria in for Sterling. (giving me most of the cash to get Costa back in for Pelle in a few weeks)
My current theory is nothing this week, then Moore in for Chester, then Di Maria & Hutton for Sterling & Clyne (I’d rather not lose him in GW11 but he’d be coming out 2 weeks later anyway). What do you think of this? I’m not convinced to be honest.
Both options look ok EBC what you need to ask yourself , who will get more points Chester Sterling Clyne or Moore ADM Hutton I would thk the later
Absolutely.
What I’m not sure about if whether I’m missing a better option.
Maybe this:
GW9 – Welbeck in for Costa
GW10 – Moore in for Taylor
GW11 – Di Maria in for Sterling
GW 12 – If fit Costa in for Pelle (Boyd in for Davis if I need funds)
Better move EBC
Oi, I knew I should’ve stucked with my 3 point Porto goalie and a two point defender. Shite!
Oi, Sterling playing a full game again? Is this the same kid that wanted to be rested? And Pool has a freaking game again in 3 days, on Saturday. I really don’t get that. Pool already lost.
Lol @ Arsenal being 1-0 down versus Anderlecht. HAHA! Sorry people, the English football is starting to look a bit pathetic if this goes on. :p
Raz – he seemed to be looking towards the bench when the subs were made. Game is over. Should have taken him off.
I took both him and Costa out. Can buy them back in a week or 2 but we’ll see. Another IB coming soonish.
what IB?
International Break. Remember the last one, killed Costa. 😉
Had no clue who “Hamaaz” was for half this game…..
My team for GW 9. Was tired of Costa and Sterling issues so took em both out.
Just noticed I could’ve had an 8 star team.
Oooh, Albrighton is a starter again so I should put him on as first sub, not Moore.
Brave move Raz but your team still looks strong
Yeah, Costa was going down tomorrow. I can actually buy him back this weekend if needed. 😉
Was thinking of getting a line-up of Falcao-Kun-Costa and replacing ummm Fabregas with Chadli could make that happen (I would’ve in 3 or so GW’s). However, it’s more interesting to downgrade (value wise) Fabregas to Wally and upgrade Falcao to Costa (once he’s really fit again). Already have DI Maria so.
Also, last week I didn’t go with my gut. My gut told me to take an 8 point hit and take out Costa/Sterling for Kun/Tadic. Well, we know how that paid off. Not well. HAHAHA. Terrible even. I’d be in the top 100 if I sticked with that, maybe even top 10.
Took Costa out myself last night. At the moment Ive Chambers on the bench. Nice team, not liking your subs but hey, who cares right.
Whats your Siggy plan?
Should I have a Siggy plan?
I have him (doesnt everyone).
Look at fixtures after leicester
Everton look like conceding all day every day. :p
After the Everton game maybe, or maybe this weekend for Chadli. Will see.
Just noticed they’re having Everton, Arsenal and City. Ummm dude. Even City have looked poor in the back, Arsenal very poor and Everton well… conceded the most goals in the EPL I think?
three clean sheets there
The form SIggy is in I wouldn’t bet on him not scoring in those games. He’s class. Will see if he needs replacing. Also after those 3 games they have QPR and Crystal at HOME! Lol.
Personally, at the moment I’m just looking at which players are fit and in form. I wouldn’t want an Albrighton to start versus ARsenal/City but I’ve seen SIggy score 2 crazy goals versus Holland from ankles I didn’t know existed. If he’s hungry, he’ll do good. Looked a bit lackluster in his last performance to be honest though. Won’t be lackluster at home versus Leicester I hope and you can’t be lackluster versus Arsenal/Everton/City, if you are, you should just quit playing.
If you can field 11 good players the bench don’t matter. The first time it mattered was the last GW when Costa suddenly fell on his dick. Was really bad luck though and everybody had the same problem.
I sort of picked Moore because they had decent fixtures but they still can’t seem to get cleansheets, almost had 1 versus Toon though, really unlucky since they were the better team.
Albrighton started that game and looked really good, 1 shot on the bar.
Dummett and Gilks are my only worries. Anyway, I can always field Chambers, Baines and Forster (fixture wise and because they’re legit), when I do I can rotate 1 4m defender every week.
I’m sorry to say I thk Gerard’s days are numbered he looks really slow
English football is having a terrible CL week. Chelsea won but City played a draw versus a Russian team, Liverpool is being destroyed by Real and Arsenal is losing to a Belgian team.
Chambers assist for GIbbs goal, lol. HAHA. Anyway, Arsenal got away there. 1-2 in the last minutes. Really happy about that by the way.
Campbell on for Welbeck? Didnt watch it. Was he poor?
Watched Pool versus Real, don’t really care about a Belgian team versus Arsenal. :p
From 43 points yesterday to 51 points today. HAHAHA, I did something wrong I think.