Captain’s Picks Game-week 26 – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League
There is little doubt who the star of GW25 was and those managers who captained Eden Hazard reaped the benefits of a massive 42 point captain haul from the little Belgian. His hat-trick fired Chelsea to the top of the league due to a couple of poor results from their main rivals Arsenal and Man City. Arsenal were royally spanked at Anfield while City spluttered to a goalless draw at Carrow Road where they were expected to get themselves back on track but failed to do so. While last weeks captaincy split opinion with so many seemingly outstanding candidates, this week sees a much smaller pool of talent to choose from or so the fixtures would suggest. Let’s take a look at who we feel are the main candidates for your armband this week then.
Luis Suarez
Liverpool scored five at home at the weekend. So imagine you don’t know the scorers, how many did Suarez get? You would be forgiven for saying at least two if not more but such is football, you would be wrong of course as to everybody’s surprise he did not manage to score a single one of them and ended up with just one assist to his name for the week. That’s not to suggest that Suarez had a poor game by any means, in fact to the contrary he put in an outstanding all round display. He was everywhere and his team ethic and work rate were phenomenal. Which may be where the small fantasy problem raises it’s ugly head. You really want your main striker to be at the sharp end of things and preferably to be in the box and playing on the shoulder of the last defender. Which funnily enough is exactly what our next captain pick has been doing for Liverpool!
Suarez has become a bit of an assist specialist in recent weeks with four in four games but only the one goal in that same time. However, given Liverpool’s recent devastating performances allied to the opposition this week you simply cannot help but give due consideration to a player who is the leading fantasy scorer by some distance, has scored 22 goals and got 16 assists so far. Fulham are this weeks Liverpool fodder and the tale of the tape rather suggests that the Cottagers will be in for a long evening come Wednesday. They have conceded 55 goals so far which is the worst in the league, they are rock bottom and Liverpool are the second highest scorers in the league with 63 so far. Ignore Suarez at your peril.
Daniel Sturridge
So where have the Suarez goals gone then? Well the simple answer is into the grateful arms of his strike partner Daniel Sturridge. Since he returned from injury Sturridge has now scored six goals in five league games. In those five games he has helped himself to 44 fantasy points whilst Suarez has managed 38. Not a whole lot in it then but it is worth noting that he is very obviously now the main striker, playing on the shoulder of the last man as we mentioned above and he rarely deviates from this. With Liverpool’s ability to turn defence into attack in a split second his pace is ideally suited to this approach and he is definitely seeing the benefits.
Fulham will probably find it difficult to contain either Suarez or Sturridge this week and it will be a tough choice to split either for the armband. Recent form says Sturridge is delivering the goals but wouldn’t it be just like Suarez to pop up with a monster haul once more. Get the coin out!
Eden Hazard
Jose has said recently that he believes Hazard can propel himself onto the world stage and rival Messi and Ronaldo for being the best player on the planet. Nothing like a bit of pressure then but the mercurial Belgian seems to have taken all this in his stride and is doing his utmost to prove his boss right. A hat-trick against Newcastle was just the latest in a long line of outstanding performances. Chelsea are pushing for the title now and are doing so without a headline striker, as such. No matter though when you have Hazard in tow as he now has twelve goals and eight assists and seems intent on single-handedly dragging them over the finishing line.
They travel to an ailing West Brom this week who are in the relegation zone and fighting for their lives but Chelsea should have too much for them and we expect Hazard will be central to everything good that they do once more.
Stevan Jovetic
This pick really is more about the team than it is about the player! Jovetic feels almost incidental but City have been sensational at home and he is their only fully fit striker. Dzeko started on the bench in the last game due to an injury concern whilst Negredo started but was subbed with his manager admitting afterwards that he was still struggling for full fitness. Given this, the indications are that Jovetic will be given the nod again and whoever is the fitter of the other two may well partner him.
Usually one of our captain picks would have a great pedigree with goals, assists and form as his credentials but unfortunately Jovetic doesn’t! He has a solitary goal as a late sub in the Spurs rout and no assists to his name so far. Do not let this cause you to discount him though. As we said this one is more about the team and up until the last two games City were being touted as one of the best teams in the world as they swept aside all comers with impunity and we expect they will get back in their stride this week and let’s face it, pedigree or not, any striker worth his salt would love to be playing for the team with the best offensive record in the league and with 29 goals in all competitions in the seven games prior to the Chelsea defeat we fel they and him cannot be overlooked easily.
Also consider…
Robin van Persie
While United are still struggling to find their feet under Moyes one constant is becoming apparent. Since he returned from injury RvP now has three goals in three games. Playing against his old club Arsenal has been a fruitful experience for the former Gunner so do not bet against him returning to his old stomping ground and reminding them once more why they should never have sold him in the first place.
Kevin Nolan
Nolan has had quite a week with four goals in two games. He began with a double against Swansea but many doubted he could repeat this feat because he lost his big geordie mate and main provider Andy Carroll due to the much talked about suspension but he continued on regardless and followed it up with another double in a fine away win at Villa. It is Norwich at home this week in another must-win encounter and Nolan will surely be the main protagonist once more. A midfielder with an eye for goal playing up front, what’s not to like?
Whoever you choose, we wish you the best of luck for GW26. Be sure to chat on the boards, to ask for advice if you’re unsure of who to captain or want views on potential transfers and also don’t forget to vote on our Captain’s Poll below.
Thanks for reading Captain’s Picks GW26, this article was written by inittowinit
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I want to replace Rooney…..I have SAS, is there an alternative with better fixtures then City (Jovetic based on the article)…..
daboyo – Difficult to find a team with a better run of fixtures than City,other good options would be Benteke,Adebayor,Eto’o.
Cheers NIN – I have Eriksen so ill hardly double up on Spurs with them away to Newcastle but if I had 2 FT id swap Eriksen to Mirallas and Rooney to Ade…don’t think its worth a hit though…..and Rooney needs to go more so than Eriksen…
Benteke & Eto are good fixture wise but they just don’t seem to score enough…..I wonder if Arsenal will bounce back vs United…..
daboyo – As a United fan,i’m dreading Wednesdays game,we’re not playing well enough to get a result against Arsenal in my opinion,comfortable enough win for the Gunners i’d say.
I think so too….I really fancied United to bang in the goals vs Stoke and Fulham and to only get one point from those two games is criminal for a squad who won the league last year and added Mata.
Giroud is a holding type striker though as opposed to a prolific goalscorer so im slow to bring him in…….looking forward to Aguero being back to take these selections dilemmas out of my hand
Init.. thanks for the time taken to write that mate, I do appreciate it.. Hard to disagree with any, other than Jovetic but understand that’s more of a punt. Could work out though
No worries Demsie thanks. Yeah Jovetic was more of a ‘Man City’ forward nudge and as the others are all in some state of disrepair I had to plump for the fit one! If the team news suggests Negredo or Dzeko are 100% then obviously either of those would be a better bet.
Yeah I hear ya mate. I wasn’t really disagreeing and a Man City foreard would be lovely if only any were guaranteed any kind of minutes. I only have yaya as City coverage and if he gets banned i’m going to be shitting it ! May HAVE TO get Jovetic in ! 😉
Demsie – who do you think if not Jovetic……I have a transfer burning a whole on my team…Rooney is being shipped out
Daboyo – I’m not saying Jovetic is a no. At all.
Depends on your other forwards ? If you don’t have S or S then there’s your answer. If you do then take your pick from City but be prepared to be sweating on starting lineups. Ade is an option imo as well as Lambert / J.Rod.. Or Benteke if you fancy a punt.
cheers Demise…..I have SAS thank god so at least I know they are nailed on……id like a City striker for 2 weeks…..so as you say ill wait to hear team news
I was eliminated from the cup competition because I didn’t have hazard …..sooooooo painful …
GW 26 I’ll be captaining Suarez
@Hezzy, tough one mate, but if it’s any consolation it will only be more painful for those who get eliminated from this point forward. 8192 managers still in it. That sounds like a small number until you realize it requires 13 more rounds to get down to a winner.
@Mito thats true mate.But that cup competition was fun and stressful at the same time,it was a muse too :big-lol:
Do i play Eriksen over Jason Puncheon??
My mids are- Lallana Hazard Gerrard Puncheon and Eriksen
I play a 3-4-3
who should be my 4 mids??
My defence- Sagna Ward Ivanovic Bardsley Chester
My 3 defenders??
help guys please
for captaincy i am going Dan Sturridge
Sagna/Ivanovic/Ward
Lallana/Hazrad/Eriksen/Gerrard
Nishant, I would play Eriksen over Puncheon and have Ivan, Sagna and Ward at rhe back
@Nishant
with andros townsend back Ericksens play time is in doubt so i would go with Puncheon.I sold Ericksen yesterday
but if ericksen is given the minutes he is more effective than puncheon :worthy:
thanx all
Perhaps Townsend will start this week. just get a gut feeling 😉
and thanx for d defence line advice
hoping for 60+ points this week
Calling all AJ owners.. What do you plan to do with him ?
Now he’s been in fine form, and granted the fixtures coupled with the blank don’t make great reading. But I’m thinking of keeping him for at least this week. Partly because I need to sort my defence out but also City have proved that they don’t keep many clean sheets even against lower teams, the conceded 2 to Cardiff, Watford and Swansea recently so conceivably AJ could return something against City.
I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking for opinions.. Is there better options at that price worth looking at ? I suppose Nolan, anyone else ?
I think Mirallas is a good shout at the moment due to injuries at Everton.
If I didnt have to ship out Rooney I would use my FT to get in Mirallas for Eriksen…
Nolan is also playing well and has decent fixtures but im not as keen on him when Carroll is out….(I know I know Carroll was out at the weekend
)
Demsie – I’ll prob dump him for Mirallas. Nolan looks also a good shout for the same price.
my team for gw26.. 0ft and 5.8mil in bank.
adrian
kolorov,cahill,gabbidon
hazard,aj,mata,lallana
sturridge,suarez,dzeko
subs- mannone,merta,macnauton,oviedo
is it a good idea to bring in yyt ( if hes not banned) for aj for a hit ?
I wouldn’t go for YYT he’s in bad form at the moment & probably be banned so I’ve wouldn’t go for him maybe someone like Silva,Nolan,Mirallas