Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 1
Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 1
And off we go again…
We hope this article finds you safe and well and almost on the other side of things. Much has changed in the past 18 months or so; our way of living has altered and people have had jobs and personal circumstances change. At FF247 Towers we tried to maintain a constant rhythm throughout it all and we pretty much nailed it. We weren’t able to have our regular flow of articles due to the deadlines / gameweeks all seeming to run into each other but we did our best in terms of posting articles whenever there was a gap that allowed us to do so.
We are blessed with a fantastic team of dedicated writers and they all helped us hurdle the obstacles and we can’t thank them enough for that. One thing that did change slightly though was that we began spreading the articles around a bit more, and in particular the Captains one. Rather than Writer X flogging themselves for 3 hours over a hot PC we decided to split it up and do a short piece each. And it seemed to work perfectly in terms of both for the writers and the audience. As such we are continuing that this season, and even extending it to our Tips article, but more on that later in the week.
What to expect weekly from FF247…
We are pretty much as we were: we intend to publish the following, unless Covid strikes the deadlines down again;
Fixtures – Will be a feature every 3/4 weeks
Capos – Weekly
Tips – Weekly
H & L Predictions – Weekly competitions (although they may be grouped in clumps of GW’s at times)
Site Team – Weekly
Predicted Line-ups – Weekly (YES! … it’s back, sort of!)
Live Match Chat – (Game)Weekly
Back to the matter at hand and this week we have Rosco, Swirly and Mito stepping up to the plate to deliver their justifications for the all important armband, and so over to them…
Rosco – Mohamed Salah v Norwich City (A)
Hopefully, it’ll be three times a charm as I head into the 2021/22 season with the armband on Mo Salah for the third year running. I’m feeling pretty confident, hell, I even found a picture of Salah holding up three fingers – clearly a sign!
Whoever ‘arranges’ the Premier League fixtures must have a soft spot for the Reds. It was newly-promoted Norwich in 19/20, newly-promoted Leeds in 20/21, and it’s back to newly-promoted Norwich in 21/22.
Jürgen Klopp’s side won each of their last two season openers; 4-1 in 19/20 with Salah grabbing a goal; and last season the defending champions opened with a highly entertaining 4-3 win over Leeds where Salah grabbed a hat-trick and a whopping 40 points for those of us who give him the armband (*smug*). Now that’s the kind of Gameweek 1 we’ll all be hoping for again this time.
Norwich kept 18 clean sheets in the Championship last season, the 4th highest (Watford as a comparison kept 23). But rarely (read never) does Championship defensive form translate to the Premier League. There are other players with good opening fixtures, you could even go with one of Salah’s teammates if you dare to be different, but you have all season to mess up your FPL campaign, just play it safe from the off.
Mito – Riyad Mahrez v Tottenham Hotspur (A)
I know what you are thinking, heck I am thinking the same. Why even bother, everyone who is sane is on Salah or Bruno? You might even ask ‘so why are you writing a piece on Mahrez then’? Well, because we are not all sane, some have a screw loose (looking at you Cookie) and those are the valiant few who I will be speaking to.
(please read with a scowl on your face)
You fpl cowards can stop reading this now, as we all know that the conservative in you won’t allow you to captain a daring pick. So continue burying yourself in your stats and captaining who the computers tell you, we all know you are the type that goes to bed early. You probably have breakfast at the same exact time and eat the same meal at the same restaurant every time you go out because you don’t ever want to risk trying something new. So go on, go to the comfort of your boring captain pick, a process that you will surely repeat for 38 gameweeks, we don’t want you reading this Mahrez piece. You conservative managers disgust me! Managers that give Mahrez the armband this week ride motorcycles with no helmet and drink expired milk. They don’t run from danger they run towards it!!
(you can remove scowl now)
If you are still here and were not run off already let me actually state some slight reasoning for Mahrez, not that anyone captaining him needs a reason. Anyway, our problem with City is rotation, not if their players will deliver. When we are sure their players will be in the XI, we never worry if they will get us points. Rotation is a long term problem with having a City player not a captaining problem for the short term. We all know Riyad is going to start GW1, so if you have him this feels like a good moment to captain him before Pep forces you to sell him. Mahrez will be on pens also, he will have some set pieces and he plays on the better attacking side, for the purpose of being slightly swayed please disregard the Charity Shield. You could also be scared off by their fixture against Spurs… hahaha, surely not.
If you own Mahrez don’t just make him your Vice Captain give him the Captaincy. I always say that people usually make the vice captain the person they really want to captain that week. Look at your team now and if you have Riyad on your team and he is your VC, you know what you must do. Luckily for me, I put my VC on Salah and my C on Mahrez, so I think I will just go and change that now. Ciao.
Swirly – Bruno Fernandes v Leeds United (H)
I’m fresh back from a very short break in Cornwall. While I was there, I popped into the lovely fishing village of Mevagissey. If you’ve not been to that neck of the woods, go. While I was there, I noticed a fantastic Portuguese restaurant that we loved last year had since shut down or moved to pastures new. There was that feeling of disappointment there wasn’t that bit of Portuguese in our lives, thinking back to the happy memories. It’s obviously a sign! Now imagine that feeling for a player from the same country, as opposed to a big burly chef who went out on the boat at 4am each day.
Bruno not being in your team – with 45.2 per cent ownership at the time of writing – just isn’t worth thinking about, but as captain choice? Especially as many will favour Salah? Well, the warning signs are there, with his goal in the 4-0 win over Everton. That was a match where he played just 60 minutes, having had an unconventional pre-season thanks to involvement in Euro 2020 – though that has meant a good bit of rest as Portugal were knocked out relatively early on. Fast forward to the Leeds United match – which will be played in front of thousands of fans – and the 26-year-old has said he’s feeling ready, “feeling fresh and ready to start the season”.
There’s also the fact he’s scored twice and set up another in the duo of matches against the Yorkshiremen last campaign – a time that Ole Gunnar Solskjær admits to overplaying the Number 18. Both the player and United will want to hit the ground running to try and keep their noisy neighbours in check. Especially now they have a certain Mr Grealish (*sobs*).
The confessional…
This is where we ask our entire writing team to tell us who they think they will pick this week…. There are more caveats and get out clauses than a Lionel Messi contract* but this is their initial gut feeling based upon who they actually own.
*Oooohhh topical again!
DMC — Mohamed Salah
Jamesimmo — Mohamed Salah
Swirly — Mohamed Salah
Matt — Mohamed Salah
Loud Atlas — Mohamed Salah
Smash — Mohamed Salah
The Gallant Pioneer — Romelu Lukaku
Rosco — Mohamed Salah
Floydeth — Mohamed Salah
Init — Mo Salah
Mito — Mohamed Salah
VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL GW1
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 1.
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Any reason why Mane is not mentioned at all? Looks sharper in pre-season- 3 goals compared to Salah’s 0.
Salah needs 4 or 5 big chances to score 1 goal, Mane needs only 1 or 2.
Only penalties the reason?
Mane had a bit off-season last year but can bounce back strongly. Their stats are near identical the 2 seasons before last. And Mane ended the last season strongly
He could be a very good differential.
It will partly be down to his overall consistency since he joined. Salah has not hit the dizzy heights of his first season but has outscored Mane every season, I think. If you need the extra 0.5 and want an early differential then go for it.
Ownership is the main reason I think. A differential might shoot you up in the ranks, but half the teams will captain Salah and if he does double digits, you are looking at a hit just to get him in.
Mane is a good option and to be fair we could just say Salah and Mane in any captaincy article as they have the same fixture and a similar shot at points. So don’t take his exclusion as any of us thinking he is not a good option for this week.
I have thought about it and gone back to my usual 3-4-3 which has never disappointed me to start with.
Almost done now. Willing to risk going two 4.0s. Now to wait till Friday.
I personally think 3-4-3 offers the most flexibility from start and leaves as little invested on bench as possible
What do you have left in the bank with that line-up?
Nada. But if I needed 1M, Wilson would become Toney.
I’ve got most of them but playing 3-5-2 so I like it
Thanks. Lemme search for your team.
My side is practically identical*
Differences are Toney instead of Wilson, Barnes for Greenwood and White for Ayling. Oh, and goalie 2.
I’m relatively happy with that going into GW1. Because of the Toney pick I have a bit of change for future manouevres.
*Hopefully this news won’t make your sky cloud at once.
Guys I think I’m going with this team, any glaring mistakes?
Good team. Not sure about Grealish myself.
Yeah, he is a bit of a concern alright, my only City coverage though, Antonio for Nacho maybe?
Another concern for me is Ihneanacho playing time, Vardy up top as part of 3 in the Community Shield.
How am I looking fellas?
(Pretty much a template team tbf).
The main thing I’m thinking about is switching up:
Smith Rowe – Son – Obafemi
to
Brownhill – Barnes/Jota/Mount – Ings/Iheanacho
Making that sort of change might be safer as it will give you two playing subs.
I like the changes, to be honest I also don’t mind the original team. Like having the idea of Son in the team, but the changes should do well.
If anybody sees Goal Machine or Sweet Blue Toffee on the boards tell them to look at their e-mails please. I want them to change leagues in the H2Hs. Thanks.
Hi, is it too late to join the Regulars league?
I’m usually pretty active throughout the season, life permitting!
Mail me Shadow. Its not to late but you will be in a lower league in the H2Hs.
Will do, thanks.
Afternoon all,
How’s this looking for a first draft? Money seems to be in short supply this season…
Dias for a United defender maybe?
Yeah that is one way to free up .5
My bigger concern is will Richie even start, I seriously doubt he will, he played in the Copa America and just finished the Olympics with Brazil, surely he is due a week off or two. Saka has only played 27 minutes in pre-season so I be concerned with him also at least to start with. I am on the fence with Soucek he gives Milivojevic vibes. Great value and then not, but that is certainly a personal opinion and not consensus by any means so if your gut tells you he can deliver you in a decent way, go with it.
Thanks, I forgot about Richarlison at the Olympics. Could go Wilson/Antonio but I’d be triple Hammers then…
Definitely work to be done with it, thanks!
Those are both good options. Those two are very close to being my starting two in a 3-5-2.