Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 1
Finally, GW1 one is upon us and brings with it fresh hope for each and every one of us with new teams, new players and a renewed sense of belief. Anticipation, excitement, everybody’s happy, well everybody aside Jose Mourinho, but he’s never happy so don’t let him bring you down.
Picking a successful GW1 squad is a lottery at the best of times, throw in a World Cup and we have so many variables to consider, it’s enough to make even the most astute FPL manager lose their damn mind. You can study every pre-season game, fry your brain with endless stats and you’ll still be kicking yourself for ignoring at least one player ‘who you had’ in at least one of your 1001 pre-season drafts, sadly, that’s just how it is.
So what can save you from instant FPL-induced self-flagellation? Well you can start by stepping away from that Daniel Sturridge punt, cast aside your second and third £4.0m defenders, and for the love of god, don’t believe anything Jose says.
Seriously though, nobody can predict what will happen in GW1, or any other game-week for that matter. What we can do is make educated decisions, pick players who may not hit the ground running, but will in all likelihood bare fruits over the course of the season, but most importantly of all, pick a decent bloody captain, I mean how hard can it be, right?
Each week we’ll peruse the options, study the stats and offer up a selection of players who will hopefully have you patting yourself on the back rather than hitting it with a big stick. Let’s do this!
Mo Salah – West Ham (H)
‘£13.0m? I’m not paying that, look at what a great side I can make without Salah’. Well, aye that’s canny mate, my iPhone looks a bobby dazzler without a case but I’ve dropped my fair share of phones to know it is best to have a little protection. Starting the season with Salah offers exactly that. Protection against his 50%+ ownership, protection against most of those sticking the armband on him every week, protection against the inevitable ‘I told you so’ when he does what he does. There is of course the flip side to the argument, if Salah flops it will be those without who’ll be laughing, but lets face it, it’s a damn sight easier to get him out, than in.
I’ll get onto the opposition and stats in my next pick, if you’re spending £13m on Salah, surely you’ll be captaining him most weeks home and away, regardless of opposition.
Still going without Salah? Hahaha, seriously? Oh! You are serious! Well good luck with that hun. You probably have a plan, but as Mike Tyson said ‘everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth’. I’d rather not argue with Mike.
Roberto Firmino / Sadio Mané / Naby Keïta– West Ham (H)
If you’re one of the cool kids this next pick is for you. No Mo? No problem! Simply pick one if not two of his teammates to ‘cover’ his points, stick the armband on them in the games where Salah is heavily captained and you’ll be golden right? It could work, I mean it might, there’s a chance…
Lets not get into the gazillion permutations or the relative merits of how not owning Salah can potentially benefit your FPL team, instead lets focus on his ably capable teammates. In the 2017/18 season Liverpool were unbeaten at Anfield, winning 12 and drawing 7. They scored 45 goals (only Manchester City and Arsenal scored more at home), and whilst admittedly Salah scored 19 of those 45 goals, there was still enough to go around.
Brazilian Bobby chipped in with 8 goals and 3 assists and Sadio Mané despite playing significantly less minutes scored 6 and grabbed 3 assists. Its unclear how new signing Naby Keïta will factor into the Liverpool line-up this season, but his 6 goals and 5 assists in the Bundesliga last season suggest that at £7.5m, he could be a canny punt for your FPL side, although it may be too soon to hand him your captain’s armband.
It’s the Hammers up first at Anfield. They’ll be hoping to improve on their 2017/18 stats, which saw them lose 12 of their 19 away games and ship 42 goals on the road. Liverpool won 4-1 in the corresponding fixture last season with Salah, Mane and Firmino all getting on the score sheet, FPL managers will be hoping for more of the same.
Alexis Sánchez – Leicester City (H)
We’re not here to talk about Mourinho but it’s hard not to at least acknowledge the current goings on at Old Trafford, all of which seem to revolve around whatever mood Jose Mourinho is in, which these days seems to be a perpetual state of misery.
For those of us without affinity to Manchester United, it was hard to watch his post-match interview following their pre-season defeat to Liverpool and not chuckle, man alive, even for Jose this was a new depth of pain and suffering. Nobody seemed safe from his scathing assessment; whinging about missing senior players? Check. Deride the performance of the players who were there? Check. Complain about transfer activity or lack thereof? Check. He pretty much called Antonio Valenica a fat b@stard, even the referee did not escape his wrath. He did have some nice words for Eric Bailly, but the words were barely out his mouth and he was critiquing his leadership credentials, jeez who’s your mate Eric? Hopefully things will improve now that he’s ‘invited’ senior players to return early from their holidays, I imagine they’ll be tripping over their Gucci flip flops in the rush to get to the airport.
There were positives from their US tour. The most noteworthy, the form and condition of Alexis Sanchez. After an inconsistent start to his Old Trafford career, Sanchez is showing signs that he is ready to hit the ground running for his first full season with the Red Devils. He had a hand in both goals during last week’s 2-1 win over Real Madrid, and his performance in that match and over the course of the two week US tour was head and shoulders above his teammates.
Leicester head to Old Trafford for the season opener this Friday evening. Quite how they will cope without the departed Riyad Mahrez is anyone’s guess, one thing is for sure; they’re a much worse side without him. In 2017/18 the Foxes lost 9 times on the road, which included a 2-0 loss in the corresponding fixture at Old Trafford. With question marks over returning World Cup players, this match could be the perfect time for Alexis Sanchez to cement his name in FPL teams once more. All you ‘Salah-less’ loonies, this could be the one you’re looking for.
Best of the rest
For those of you unfamiliar with how our Captains articles usually work, we list 4-5 players we deem worthy of your Captaincy, but I’ll be honest, sometimes it feels like one or two of our picks are never really going to be Captained by anyone with a modicum of common sense. Then we have the Mo Salah / Harry Kane conundrum; last season it felt like most people were simply picking one of those two towards the latter half of the season, and who could blame them.
So here I’ll list a few players who I feel warrant your attention, even if at first glance they don’t seem the ‘obvious’ choice.
Harry Kane – Newcastle (A)
Will he play? Will he be ready? Who knows. Harry played all the way through to the World Cup third place play-off, wining the Golden boot on the way, but come on, that was weeks ago! ‘He doesn’t score in August’ I hear you cry, but seriously, would anyone be surprised if come GW1 he started and scores, breaking his August hoodoo and the FPL template in one fell swoop? I’ll be at St James’ Park on Saturday hoping he won’t, which probably means he will.
Sergio Agüero (or whichever City asset you own) – Arsenal (A)
Some people glance at the fixtures and see a ‘tricky’ away fixture for the Cityzens, and that’s enough to discount their Captaincy credentials. Remember though, this is the same City side that won 16/19 away from the Etihad, including a 0-3 win in the corresponding fixture at the Emirates. It wont be long till we’re all lamenting the Aguero/Jesus rotation, but for now it looks Kun will be the man to start the season. Last season his minutes were curtailed, yet he still finished with the best points per match of any forward (6.8), scored 21 goals, 6 assists and picked up 22 Bonus Points. He scored twice in the Community Shield prompting a surge in ownership, Ignore him at your peril.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Man City (H)
It’s time to see if the grass is greener on the other side, with new manager Unai Emery at the helm, there is a sense of renewed optimism amongst the ever fickle Gunners fans. Whilst they could not have been given a more difficult opening day fixture, at least its on home turf, surely that has to count for something? It may of course make little difference to the final result, but one man who could help Arsenal take home advantage is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. It often takes January signings time to settle in their new surroundings, not the case for Aubameyang; 10 goals, 4 assists and his 6.7 PPM were second only to Sergio Aguero. With almost 25% ownership there are clearly a lot of FPL managers who think Aubameyang will pick up where he left off last season, they may be on to something there.
Good luck in GW1, don’t be too disheartened if you don’t start with a flourish. It’s all about the long game, have faith in the players you’ve picked and if all else fails just remember, it could be worse, Jose Mourinho could be your boss.
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 1. This article was written by Rosco
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Hi all! Nice to be back and looking forward to the season opener! I won all of my MLs last year but I now have a 2 month old so I’m hoping not to miss a deadline or two this year!
I’ve just put my first draft together so thoughts would be appreciated!
Wondering which combination is better:
Zaha and Sessegnon
Arnie and Milivojevic
Could always have Mitrovic up top to bank an extra 0.5. If Pogba was Mkhi then that would be an extra 1m. Thoughts?
Ah congrats on the new arrival Igy. I’m sure Cookie or someone that actually has kids can give you some pointers 😉
I like the team as is so Sessegnon and Zaha
Thanks Matt! I think I just need a reminder on my phone that a deadline is an hour away, that should be fine!
Thanks for the feedback. I’m going to see how Lacazette gets on as I could switch Firmino to him.
Still not sure on Pogba and Shaw. They could both become Mkhi and Davies to cover Arsenal and Spurs as I currently don’t have any coverage there.
Yeah Firmino and Laca are interchangeable. I’m not sure on Shaw either but should start the first few games. Pogba won’t be back till GW 3 I don’t think
Nice team bro..bravo
@Igy, heard some rumours about Sess playing LB, so that would be a concern. Haven’t seen anyone predict Pogba starting GW1, so unless you don’t mind benching him, that could be a concern also.
Hey Mitro! Hope all is well!
There are a few other options for Sessegnon so that could easily be switched. As above, I could bring in Mkhi and Davies for Pogba and Shaw which would give me better coverage across the board.
Hi igy,
How can you miss a 11.30am deadline when you have been up for about 4 hours – Lol.
Jamie
Hey Igy, as someone with 2 kids I can tell you you’ll have a lot more time han you think to do FPL. Up all night with a baby in one hand and phone in the other!
Nice team. Very similar to mine except I have Mhiki & B Silva to your Pogba & Sessegnon
Many congrats Igy. Life will return to normal in about 6 yrs time. That’s assuming you don’t have any more in the meantime…. My only advice would be to get them out the way ASAP if you do.
Haha, thanks all! Yes I think the plan is a second one in about 3 years so I’m guessing normality will not return for 9 years then! Good opportunity for my ML rivals to catch up! Haha.
I’m definitely thinking Pogba is gone, and I’m likely going to switch Shaw for a Spurs defender. I think my team will have a better balance then.
How am I looking? Struggling with my 4th mid and sub!
Team looks good Kickers, I would prefer Armstrong to Knockart but there really isn’t much at 5.5
Hey kickers – what about Eriksen > Sane or Mahrez and upgrade Knock > one of the 6.5 gang (Rich, Jota, Sess, Pedro, etc) ? Prob prefer Mendy to Davies for now, but can’t fault Davies long term.
Cheers both
Not enough funds to do the above. Any other suggestions?
0.5 mil short to upgrade knock. Can go Erickson to Mahrez and then get Jota or stick with as is?
Or any other suggestions
Good team Kickers yes q mark over Knock but not much in that range maybe McArthur with fixtures
Have 0.5 mil itb. Is there anywhere else I could spend it?
I could do Erickson to Mahrez to give me 1 mil to upgrade knockart to Jota. Is that worth it
Brilliant read brother! Surprised you have Kane ahead of Eriksen but I think it will be the Dane that has my armband this week.
I need some more help with my team here folks.
I am thinking of changing David Luiz as I don’t feel too confident of Chelsea cover with the unrest of Courtois, Hazard and Willian. I can change him to a 5.5 but don’t know who is best option; or I could downgrade him to a 4.5 and save the mil to upgrade King to Arnie when the fixtures change and upgrade McDonald or Madine to Kenedy or Muto when Newcastle’s fixtures improve in GW8.
Patricio
David Luiz – Robertson – Mendy – Steve Cook
Salah – KDB – Jota – Eriksen
Kun – King
Bench = Hamer – Madine – Wan Bissaka – McDonald
Hey Matt
I have Luiz and the same thing actually crossed my mind this morning but I think I will stick with him. I don’t see anything much better at that price so I’m willing to give him a go.
Hey GP,
Cheers mate. I am the same there is feck all at 5.5 that is interesting me but if we downgrade to 4.5 then there is an extra mil to upgrade elsewhere.
I tried that but I’m not sure it’s for me. Looking for two decent priced guys at the back. He’s one.
I’ll have to have a think about it as I’ve already got Robertson and Mendy but if Moreno is going to start now might have to get rid of Robertson too.
Hey folks. Morata or Zaha? I have 9m for Auba’s and Mirto’s partner in attack.
Zaha and use the money elsewhere. Morata is bloody terrible!!
Rui
I’d consider Jamie Vardy if you want to keep that type of money in attack.
Otherwise, do as Matt says.
@Mattx
Thanks for replying. Now I thinking about Austin and Firmino for same money. Only problem is that Firmino won’t start GW1.
Hi all. Here is a further tinkered version of my draft team. My thinking is as follows:
GKs – decent rotation
DFs – Mendy needs no intro(!), Bellerin will start and continue to be a threat (hard opening fixture to this may change for him to be brought back in, A-A is likely to start and is cheaper than Robertson, Bertrand is expected to play in a more advanced position [Wan-Bissaka is expected to start and can come in]
MFs – Salah needs no intro(!), Mahrez expected to play GW1-3 and should be playing hard to maintain his 1st team position, Pedro is expected to start and play as part of a front 3, Sanchez I am expecting to continue his pre-season form and get plenty of points [Hudson-Odoi may start GW1-3 but thereafter to transfer in a player who is a nailed starter]
STs – Firminho will pick up points where Salah doesn’t but there is a question over whether he will start (this one may be a last minute change), Arnautovic may not get many points against LIV but in the long run will get goals [Zohore is a final sub and unlikely to be needed but may start a few games]
I would appreciate a critical view on this team. Many thanks
PS possibility to do Firminho to Kane and downgrade Sanchez to a 7.5M mid such as Ramsey/Willian/Sigursson/Keita/Shaquiri/Martial/etc
Hi CH, a few worries here. TAA will rotate his time with Clyne, Unai Emery seems to like rotating his fullbacks so Bellerin could be rested at times, Rest looks good but maybe downgrade Zohore to a 4.5 as you say you won’t use him too much.
Thanks MattX. Noted re TAA and Bellerin. I was going to go for a 4.5M striker but none filled me with confidence about starting. Zohore seemed a decent gamble at 0.5M more but higher chance of starting games. The team seems about 80-90% there now. Just waiting on final Site Team article on here to see if there is anyone that should come in/out immediately based on fixtures.
Madine has played and scored a lot during preseason and the other that seems to get minutes is Kamara.
Team does look good
RMT.
Ederson, Fabianski
Davies, PVA, Cedric, Daniels, Sutton
Salah, Mkhi, Jota, Richarlison, Sessegon
Aguero, Zaha, Reid.
Any thoughts?
I’m not sure on Reid since we don’t know what he will be like in the prem and also Cardiff might be very defensive
Reid, Cedric and Sessegnon I am not in opposition to changing. I have 2.5 ITB
Well 2.5 itb can enable you to upgrade Sess to Mahrez
Cedric I have concerns about but who to replace him with?
You can go with Yoshida or any other 4.5 def .
Decent squad there
I want to fit in more Liverpool & Man City players
Makes sense