Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 16
Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 16. Much like the other day with AT, you only have me in this shortened gameweek (other than the Site Team) and again like the other day I’ll only be looking at who we should give the armband to. That may not be what you readers necessarily want but it is the most important question at this, or indeed any time of the season.
We are rounding the corner into silly season and that means rotation, rotation, rotation and the biggest worry we all have is that our ‘primary’ captain is suddenly rested. And in some extreme cases, as evidenced in this past midweek, the back-up one is too! You can either man (or indeed woman) up or cry off home with your ball like Rosco. Every line-up matters now but I am sure we will all get stung at some point. The midweek games will hopefully be a sort of guideline as to who will play this weekend, but they are only that, a guideline. I will give you my main options for the armband but just because I’m nice I’ll stick in another back-up choice or two just in case the main options are given a break.
Salah vs Bournemouth (A)
BURNLEY, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 05: Mohamed Salah of Liverpool and Roberto Firmino of Liverpool looks on from the bench during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Liverpool FC at Turf Moor on December 5, 2018 in Burnley, United Kingdom. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Now if you don’t fancy Salah for the armband then my back-up option would be the oddly shaped, Xherdan Shaqiri. The little Swiss did start against Burnley and got yet another goal so I’d expect him to continue to start at the weekend and if he does I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the scoresheet again. He has been great for Liverpool this season; he has got 3 goals and 2 assists in 11 games, but it is also all the other work he does that you only realise when watching him. If he was playing with the Bobby, Salah and Mane from last season his tally would be even higher right now. Well, ok, you probably won’t captain him but the worst you could do would be to pick him up as a punt this week, that’d by my ‘Tip’. Listen… I’m trying to cover for 3 articles here, so lay off ok!
Aubameyang vs Huddersfield (H)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 05: Shkodran Mustafi of Arsenal celebrates with team mates after scoring their team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal FC at Old Trafford on December 5, 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Now I think PEA is relatively safe in the line-up but if you feel otherwise the next best option for points who has an attacking threat is Lacazette. Which may be an odd one given that he hasn’t actually started the last two games but he has come on as a sub in both, and got points in both. Much as Auba was doing himself before he suddenly started a few and suddenly became flavour of the month. I’d fully expect Laca to be restored to the starting line-up for this one and as per Auba… it’s Huddersfield… at home.
Kane vs Leicester (A)
LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 05: Harry Kane scores his team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton FC at Wembley Stadium on December 5, 2018 . (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
If you are really stubborn, or just adamant that you do not want to bring in the Spurs striker, or simply cash strapped, than I would recommend Eriksen just for guaranteed minutes. He does not seem to be on every set piece anymore, but the great Dane is one of the best midfielders in the league and like Kane he will only profit from the upturn in fixtures.
Matt’s 3 Punts…
Richarlison v Watford (H)
Talking of flavour of the month players it wasn’t so long ago that Richarlison was a must have, much like Auba, albeit for a week also! Funny what a brace does to FPL manager’s sensibilities. He is however proving somewhat durable after another goal in midweek put him on 7 for the season and this week sees another home game, this time against Watford, which looks favourable for yet more returns. And don’t be put off by his return to the wing position in midweek, this may actually be beneficial as this is where he has scored the majority of his PL goals from after all. Sometimes it’s better not to be the actual centre of attention in order to actually become so.
Paterson vs Southampton (H)
The reason I’ve gone with Paterson here is twofold. And no, one is not insanity… One, Cardiff are on a bit of a run right now and are winning a few games at home. Two, they are playing SOUTHAMPTON! That should be reason enough to get Paterson in and stick the armband on him, but I suppose I should try and entice you a little more. Paterson has gone 3 games without scoring but in the four games before that he 3 scored goals and an assist so coming up against a struggling side that couldn’t even beat United ( 😉 ) Paterson should have no trouble. Cardiff have been keeping things tight in the last few weeks ignoring their most recent game against West Ham so Paterson and co. shouldn’t have to defend too much and it will give the midfielder / come OOP striker more chances to produce.
Raheem Sterling vs Chelsea (A)
Had this been at home young Raheem would probably be front and centre in the main section but City do tend to be a tad more conservative in their away games. It is all relative though and by conservative we mean only being the 3rd highest scorers away from home as opposed to being the highest at it, by some distance. Chelsea are looking like they have hit a sticky patch which is not the thing you want to be doing just as City are rolling up. In theory this should be a tight game, in reality it may be another cakewalk for Pep’s men.
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 16. This article was written by MattX.
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Matt
Just had a proper study of this. Love that Richarlison shout actually and I do own him. Feel a bit dodgy shifting from Kane though who served me well this past week.
Top article mate.
Here’s the team for now. Happy to have some of the picks in my team.
Is Alonso to an ars defender a good call? (Bellerín or Kolasinac) seem to be the most attacking. Next 4 games in mind
I’d be more concerned about Murray, I don’t think he starts this one given both his and Andone’s comments / compliments about each other, that’s never a good sign, baton passing and all that.
im in the same boat as gavy, innit. i have both arnie and murray. should the focus be on arnie first and do murray next GW or so?
Arnie is almost certainly ‘more injured’ so in that respect I guess so.
cheers matey. hope you had a good week so far. you done your own transfers ?
Wildcard has just been activated!
nice 1 mate. good luck with the final squad. im sure it will be outstanding like the others who posted here,
Seen some good ones. AT’s was shite though…
:popcorn:
oh..thats brutal.. whats ur version 1 looking like so far? did you get your auba in?
just done the salah to sterling move. will do the arnie 1 friday night. still undecided with either wilson or jimenez.
Wilson if I were you there. Don’t have him on my WC myself but that’s only because of Mitro and my blind loyalty to him
cheers mate. that could possibly be the potential move. mitro sure has done you well. i take it you got a front three of mitro, kane and aubameyang for the time being?
Its 1am. It’s Wildcard time.
Nope, went for Laca instead, mainly a budget lead thing.
oh that;s still good and he should start. i guess your current squad atm looks more balanced with him in it?
Wildcarding on a school night. Outrageous
87 pts last week, thinking of leaving well alone and saving my ft. Martial would be my only thought if using the ft.
‘Of using’
Looking good, Elle. You’ve still got a good bench even if Martial doesn’t play.
Cheers Swirls.
Doherty to play instead of Alonso ?
Not sure Wolves will put in a performance against Newcastle, could go either way.
Lots of people losing faith in Alonso and shipping him out, – hope he punishes them this weekend….
Elle
Team looks great!
The only improvement you can do is (maybe) Alonso to Trippier ?
I understand losing Alonso is never a win-win discussion, however I do feel he can outscore him throughout December.
Just food for thought 😉
Cheers mate!
HL, trippier is a doubt mate for this weekend. elle, what about kolasinac/bellerin to replace alonson?
Init dare I ask?
It’s actually ready and we know our transfer decision. We just haven’t made the actual transfer/s yet. Funnily enough I just asked whether we should do them now rather than waiting given that the article will be up tomorrow morning anyway. We were holding it back a bit as there is no Line-up thingy tomorrow (for various reasons) and so this is essentially the last article of the week. May do the transfers tonight but keep you in suspenders until tomorrow 😉
My guess is Arnie to Wilson
Oh wait you said them so must be more than one…
Affectation of speech, possibly.
Tension is killing me!
Sleep it off Danny, it’ll be live at 6am.
Any thoughts on whether Salah will again have reduced minutes vs. Bournemouth because of the need to beat Napoli in the midweek CL tie?
doubt it serge. mane is still a doubt so id expect him to start against a tough bmouth side.
+1
So I’ve managed to get myself into a bit of a situation here . . . 1FT and 0.3itb (willing to take a hit)
Am not really sure what to do. Was thinking PEA would be a good shout for cappo this week, but don’t really want to loose Kane, so means taking a hit for Arnie out. But then who too downgrade, Haz or Sterling? (I brought Sterling in last week to see him sit on the bench, doh). After this GW both seem to have kind fixtures for a few.
Just generally stuck . . . Any help would be greatly appreciated 😉
Just do Arnie to Mitro. He has decent fixtures for the next few. If you’re ok to bin Hazard then you could get Auba & Anderson in their place
You can’t take Sterling out, let’s put it that way.