Captains Picks Gameweek 34 – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League

Another big double game-week has arrived! I don’t know about you, but I have went and bought some Cuban cigars and plan to light them up as my team rakes in 100+ points again. I love GW34 and do you know why? Because you can’t read this captaincy article and say “I am still going Suarez” – that’s right, Mr. D.Fault is not so automatic this week. On top of the misfortune of not having your “Precious” as a great option, if your captain fails this week you might be in deep doo doo. But don’t fret because as a close friend of mine once said “Never was anything great achieved without danger” (Machiavelli) and I am actually very sure he was foreshadowing this double game-week. There will be several captaincy ships steaming out of the harbour once the games commence and none is likely to carry 1.5 million people like the S.S. Suarez usually carries. This means opportunity… or an opportunity to fail if you are the negative kind. So let’s get on with it and go over the best options for this game-week.

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Romelu Lukaku

The Belgian Beast has been reborn over the last several game-weeks. Lukaku who had many of us fence sitting on whether he could be a good captaincy option for this week, came alive to put his hat in the ring. Holding the highest ownership for any forward with two games this week, one would expect many will place their hopes on him. Two double digit games in the last 3 and relatively weak opposition for this double only make him more enticing. This is not a case of form over fixtures or vice versa, this is a person favoured by both. However many of us will still feel the effects of having him fail us in seemingly ideal situations before. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times; just give me the dunce’s hat and sit me in the corner Tom and Jerry style. So with all the City options out there he is certainly no guarantee to be the best, but if the Beast goes big, I hope you are not left in his wake.

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Yaya Toure

At the time of writing I had not heard whether he would be fit for the double, but most indications are that he will be ok. If everything checks out fine as expected then Yaya is a very solid captain choice and a quick glance at his high ownership reveals that he will most likely be the most captained. If you were one of the lucky few who went with him as captain last double you were rewarded with 62 points. This is usually the amount you get from all 11 when Suarez doesn’t explode. Five goals in his last four games and a simply superb season have quenched a lot of the doubts some had over how much he could produce FPL wise. But not so fast my friend, 3 of his last 5 goals have been scored from 12 yards out and with the return of Kun Aguero, does this mean the Argentinian now takes the spot kicks? One would hope not, considering that City have been awarded seven penalties this season and converted the six Yaya took and only missed the one Kun took. So common sense says the Ivorian should be retained, but this is football so you can stick common sense where the sun don’t shine. This is a question that we probably won’t know the answer to until the moment arises.

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David Silva

If steady Eddie is more your pace, than do I have a candidate for you. Silva is the traditional middle of the pack guy; who is not likely to sit at the bottom or the top of the points when the game-week ends. He tends to deliver a consistent stream of points that might be unspectacular but are nevertheless very noticeable. Two goals and three assists in his last five games with eight bonus points to boot are an illustration of what he is capable. This smooth midfielder always seems on the cusp of a huge game, but maybe it’s just his talent that fools me into believing that. Many will see him as a punt, I however see him as a safe pick. Not because he will deliver big, simply because his game depends on less variables than the others. His ownership stands low in comparison to the other options so he would be a nice differential, although he is being bought up by quite a few this week.

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Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero

Minutes, minutes, minutes are what stop these two from being the top two candidates for captaincy. Dzeko has done well in Aguero’s absence and despite some of his amazing misses in front of goal he produces enough to keep a FPL manager happy. Problem is with Aguero and Jovetic back in the mix his game time may drop even if he continues to start. How quickly will Pelligrini pull the plug and sub Dzeko out if he is struggling? He might have been willing to stick it out longer when only Negredo (who hasn’t scored a goal in forever) was on the bench. With 3 goals and 2 assists in his last three, Dzeko certainly comes in producing and if he is just able to maintain his current goal scoring form he is a good captain choice.

Sergio Aguero might be the biggest mystery in the lot. If he would have been used for some minutes this past game-week I have no doubt he would have been transferred in at an alarming rate. Most opinions I hear on the matter seem to believe he will start one and be a sub in the other. So we might be looking at 90-110 minutes in a double. So that doesn’t sound too appealing does it? Yet there are reasons for us to believe that he can deliver in a big way. In the last 3 games he played in, he was only on the pitch for 44, 29 and 49 minutes. Yet he managed 3 goals and 1 assist in those 122 minutes. Kun has scored in 11 of his last 13 appearances despite only averaging 72 minutes in those games; tallying an amazing 14 goals and 7 assists in those 13 outings. One last caveat is his PP90, which is 9.9 and that means he averages more FPL points than anyone including Suarez (9.81) per 90 minutes. Unfortunately as we all know too well he can’t seem to stay healthy, but if you feel he will get anything above 110 minutes this game-week he has to be a major consideration.

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Leighton Baines & Seamus Coleman

Never bench them and never ever captain them!! So why are they being included? Well one clean sheet in this double seems very likely; a second cleanie and even some points from attacking returns could also present themselves. Leighton Baines with a goal, two assists and three clean sheets in his last six definitely deserves consideration. No team in the Premier League attacks more down the left hand side than Everton, which means as we all know that he will be in positions to cause damage. He is also in charge of penalties and some set pieces to add to his value. Seamus Coleman is the leading point scorer among all defenders and joint top in goals scored. He averages a shot on goal per game and completes more dribbles than any other defender in the league. His dribbling skills should come in very handy against a side like Palace who are last in keeping possession. Both Coleman & Baines have something to offer, but this might be more about what their opposition doesn’t, namely a scoring threat. Palace and Sunderland are the two worst teams at scoring from open play. In fact if you combined their total goals from open play they would be 13^th, behind Stoke, WHAT?!! Yeah Stoke!! Palace have been left goalless in half their matches and Sunderland in 39% of them. It just goes on and on, both sides have created 26 clear cut chances to score this season, that figure makes them joint last in the division. And last but not least on why a manager should consider the Everton defenders, they are the third stingiest defence with slightly less than a goal allowed per game.

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Captaincy Comparison

I put a little table together so you can see some of what our candidates have produced over the season and compare them in slightly more depth. 

I highlighted the best total/avg. in light blue in each category so it could stand out for that player over the other candidates. Yaya Toure as expected did very well in several and has definitely positioned himself as the major candidate based on stats. The PP90 (Points Per 90 minutes) certainly favours Aguero, but as mentioned above only if his minutes get an unexpected bump will that matter. For the ultra brave in the crowd the ownership offers a chance to really go for broke if you decide to go for a differential. By the way, out of all the contenders for the captaincy only Yaya Toure has a negative numbers in transfers this week.

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Punt of the week: Kevin Mirallas: Well it does say punt right? Look if he gets close to 180 minutes this weekend I don’t see why he might not be a good choice. He is just selfish enough to leave the Lukaku captaincy contingent mad as shit. Go for goal Kevin! Go for goal! Don’t mind that Beast standing unmarked 10 yards away from goal. If Mirallas plays like he did vs Arsenal he might just see 180 minutes, he might also see a ton of FPL points.

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Thanks for reading Captains Picks Game-week 34, this article was written by Mito21

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