Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 12

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 12 2017/18

Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 12. Mito here, I can’t promise that I will get the captain picks right, but what I can promise is that I won’t recommend a Huddersfield midfielder from Australia, sorry Matt 😉 Most game-weeks the best choices stand out to all of us and sometimes it is just matter of which one you own. While I could make a case for the selections I have made, I could certainly see a reason or two not to go with them. So while I am going to try and justify my selections, perhaps I will include the drawback with each of them. Yeah, I know it seems a strange way to make a case for someone, but I gather that most of us would prefer the pros and cons of our game-week 12 boyfriend, before we go and lie in bed with them. At least this way you can’t say you weren’t warned when you are seen doing the walk of shame the day after.

5. Manchester City (away vs Leicester)
Yeah I know, anyone can a tip a whole team and then say they were right. However that is not my intention, because I am now going to proceed on why capping any of these boys could be a brilliant move, yet all so complicated. By the way I wrote an article on Man City last week if you have a moment give it a go https://fantasyfootball247.co.uk/man-city-dilemma/ hopefully that helps in deciding over which Man City players to have. If between GW11 and 12 there would have been no International Break, Aguero would have been on this list on his own and probably even Sane.

To be fair you could just write this article on the options from City alone and just sit back and watch 2 or 3 of them score in double digits and come off as brilliant. City has scored 3 or more goals in seven of their last eight, five or more on four of those occasions. Any of these boys could be ideal, but there is a problem for fantasy managers and he goes by the name of Pep Guardiola. Do we really know exactly what team he will put out in GW12? Sane, Jesus, Aguero, Silva and KDB are all out with their national squads and Sterling pulled out with a back injury. With Kun travelling for two games in Russia who knows how Pep will feel about starting him vs Leicester. Would you rather go for the two safest options in Silva or KDB in terms of minutes, yet know they are the least explosive of the main City options? Will Sterling and Jesus start? In the end if I had to pick one guy from this bunch, it probably be Leroy Sane, but I am never comfortable counting on Pep and that is why I have decided to slot any City option in at fifth.

4. Richarlison (home vs West Ham)
I think this is a player that many would not mind having on their teams, but would find it a bit difficult to captain. So why am I recommending him, because he passes the eye test. Looking at his scores you wouldn’t be convinced that he would be the way to go, but looking at the highlights you quickly realise that the scores don’t do him justice. He could easily be up there with Sane in terms of FPL points if he had any luck finishing or if Cleverley could put away a pen. He missed two absolute clear chances vs Chelsea that you would expect him to score, terrorised Stoke, but with no luck in the final strike and could have easily grabbed 11-13 points (assist and bonus) vs Everton if his mate puts away the penalty. This could have easily been the most in-form FPL player, instead he ends up being what amounts to a secret weapon this week for those who want to go against the grain.

Enter West Ham as his opponent and all seems to be lining up for Richarlison this week. The Hammers have allowed 13 goals in six fixtures on their travels and the young Brazilian has scored or assisted in five of his last six despite all the missed opportunities. The drawback? Watford has had trouble scoring at home so far and perhaps those missed chances are just a part of his game that he hasn’t yet refined and not just bad luck. Plus if you miss with him, you will get burned alive by those who went with the more popular choices, but hey, you only live once.

3. Kane (away vs Arsenal)
I would love to read some of the thoughts that managers have as they put the armband on Kane this week, can’t even imagine the threats of selling him (or worse) if he fails them again. He has failed those who went with him versus Burnley, Swansea, Bournemouth and Palace. Now, many will say all those were home games and this season he is a killer when he plays away. They would be right. Plus they might also mention that after failing to deliver in the first 3 of those home games mentioned above he proceeded to score 13, 13 and 16 in the game right after that. They would be right. They might also bring up the fact that the game Palace was in GW11 so if he holds true to form we should expect a double digit haul in particular because he is also away. They would be right, settle down now. That could happen, but that still remains to be seen. Sure, Harry has scored six goals in five fixtures vs Arsenal. Sure, he has 3 straight away games with 13 points. And on and on, but there are also some drawbacks. He has been all or nothing this season. He either scores double digits or he gets 2 or less. So far in 6 of 10 games he has started it has been the latter. Plus Arsenal for all the crap they receive have been very good at home this season. Nevertheless he looks a solid option for this week and one that should be among the most captained.

2. Salah (home vs Saints)
I will be honest I was tempted to put Salah first. My boy has four double digit hauls on the season so far plus in games he played over 45 minutes he has only failed his managers twice in terms of recording a goal or an assist at the very least, so unlike Kane, he usually gets you something even if it isn’t a huge haul every time. This is why he is only one point away from being even with Sane in the overall FPL points table. LFC lead the league in shots per game and their lead in that category is even bigger if you only take into account home games. So one would expect for the Egyptian to have a few decent chances to get on the score sheet. Salah is basically even with the likes of Kun and Lukaku in terms of his personal shots per game, so even though he is not played centrally he is highly involved in front of goal.

Perhaps the one drawback this week is his opponent. Saints are not great, but they are consistently boring, never allowing more than 2 goals in their 11 fixtures. Southampton are the reason Salah landed second on the list. In 4 away games so far, the Saints have only given up 3 goals, so they keep it tight. Last season both fixtures ended up 0-0 draws.

1. Lukaku (home vs Newcastle)
Four straight without a goal easily earns anyone the top spot for captain, wait… what?! He did score several for Belgium so I could use that as my out for going trollKaku number one. I could also say that in his four home starts he always scored or assisted and has averaged 9.0 points over those. Slowly but surely then he’s not seeming as such a bad option when we look at the whole picture, add to that a dabbing Frenchman possibly being back and Romelu might be ready to get his EPL goal scoring swag back. He did start the season by scoring in his first six starts and yes he did hit a rough patch afterwards, but he did have one assist in 2 of his last 3 so is not like he has been completely blanking for over a month or something. Plus his near 50% ownership will mean that many will be on him, in particular after the aforementioned end of his goal scoring drought while on International duty.

However, like all the candidates he has his drawbacks. Most were mentioned already, but add to those that they play a Rafa led squad. Toon have only allowed more than one goal in 2 of their 11 fixtures, allowing less than a goal a game on average for the season, so on paper not the greatest fixture. Hopefully for those who captain Lukaku, United’s home form and 3 goals per game at Old Trafford override whatever Rafa has schemed to stop them.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 12

This article was written by Mito.

@TheLegendMito21

Gameweek Tracker GW12-20