Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 21 NYE Special

Ass Hats
After most us of us got our ass handed to us on a rotating plate over the weekend we thought it wise to bring in the old hands to steady both the ship and the nerves ahead of the next gameweek before everybody loses their sh*t and starts captaining Danny Ings, or something equally as daft…

After the crap shoot that was GW20 then let’s move on swiftly and this week we have Matt, AT, Rosco and Kop all stepping up to calm our nerves and reassure us that our captains will both play and play well…

And Swirly with his annual infographic. But more on that later.

Matt – Jamie Vardy

Let’s get straight to the p(oint)arty (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

My last bit of writing for 2019 and I get to end it with the Vardy Party! Vardy features in 51.5% of teams so capping him is a wise move because if he goes off on one, and you don’t, you could be left in the dust. A few gameweeks back, Brendan Rodgers mentioned how he will need to give Vardy a rest soon but I think we can now forget about those worries. GW20 saw Vardy miss out completely, not because of Rodgers, but because Rebecca Vardy was popping out a baby rather than checking up on Colleen Rooney’s insta feed. Congrats to the couple and thank you as now Vardy has gotten that rest and should be straight back into the team this week. Vardy did blank for the first time in GW19, since GW8, but in both those matches he played Liverpool so I think we can forgive him. Happy New Year people and let’s hope the party doesn’t stop with Vardy banging in a few goals against Newcastle!

AT – Danny Ings!

Despite previously scoring against Spurs, Ings’ team-mates discuss how he could possibly have made it into this week’s Capo article on FF247. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

You’ll have noticed the exclamation mark. I didn’t put it there. I think it’s the editor’s way of telling me I better pull a rabbit out of the hat here whilst simultaneously telling you I’ve lost my marbles; that look you give someone when your mate is chatting utter b*llocks next to you. Captaining Danny Ings is a risk for sure. No doubt about it. Perhaps wrongly, I don’t even have him in my team. Even more disingenuously, I currently have no intention of bringing him in. Now that the sales pitch is off to a flyer, let’s move swiftly onto the stats.

Not long ago, I predicted (rather gingerly) that Spurs’ last three fixtures would all see both teams find the back of the net. BTTS for you (us) betting addicts. If it wasn’t for Heung-Min Son watching The Karate Kid the evening before the Chelsea game, I (now boldly and confidently) assert that it would have been a full house. If I had looked further down the fixture list, I would have had no hesitation in chucking this fixture into the ‘both teams’ bag too. In fact, the stats for Southampton v Spurs so strongly point towards both teams scoring that it probably means they won’t do! That’s the nature of the beast.

You have to go back one year to the day – Cardiff v Spurs on 1st January 2019 – to find Spurs’ most recent clean sheet on the road in the Premier League. This season, Wolves and Everton are the only sides to have just scored a solitary goal passed a visiting Spurs side. Granted, the other eight fixtures have included trips to both Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Leicester and Liverpool but Brighton still managed to put three away and West Ham and Norwich bagged two apiece.

The Saints only failed to score at home on two occasions in 2019; once in the 9-0 drubbing at the hands of Leicester (in which Danny Ings was replaced at half-time) and again in December when West Ham rolled out as 1-0 victors. Whilst it is also the case that Ings’ side has only managed to score more than one goal at home on just two occasions this season (against Watford and Norwich), this hasn’t stopped Ings from scoring 12 goals and grabbing an assist. In the 15 games he has played passed the hour mark, the forward has scored an impressive 11 goals. Having watched the majority of the Boxing Day victory over Chelsea from the bench, Ings will surely be leading the line on New Year’s Day. Three bonus points on six separate occasions so far has helped him amass 24 of the little beauties this season; just one fewer than table-topping Jamie Vardy.

Despite all this, I sense Southampton’s less than impressive home goals record is sat at the forefront of your mind. Push it back. Forget about it. Hassenhüttl’s men had to weather a pretty bad fixture storm at the start of the season. St Mary’s was descended upon by Liverpool, Manchester United, Leicester and Chelsea (in Lampard’s October purple patch). Chuck in away trips to Manchester City, Wolves and Spurs and the picture becomes a little more forgiving. With those games out of the way, the Saints have scored 2+ in five of their last eight matches. A clear improvement on managing 2+ goals in just one of their preceding 12 matches. On a purely individual level, it is worth noting that Ings scored in the reverse of this fixture earlier in the season.

I know what you’re thinking: “if Ings is really as good a pick as you say he is, why haven’t you got him in your team, and, perhaps more pertinently, why aren’t you bringing him in?” Quite simply, I don’t like his upcoming fixtures. If I had him already, I would most likely hand him the armband this week. Sure, City and Liverpool players are going to be strong contenders this week, but Ings is worthy of your serious consideration.

Fortune favours the bold. Except when it doesn’t.

Rosco – Mo Salah

Cpatain Mane, Captain Mane, Captain Mane… #evilSmash (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? After day one (Saturday) GW20 was looking like one to forget, that was of course before a ball had even been kicked on day two (Sunday) when many of the ‘big hitters’ came into play. Rest and rotation looked to have ruined the festive spirits and then, less than 24hrs later it was back to business as usual. Could anyone have imagined just how bad day one was going to turn out? I doubt it. Should we all have just chilled and waited for the Game week to play out? Evidentially.

I saw more than a few ML opponents post scores that showed fewer points than players Played. Ouch. Anyone who took a hit was in dire straits and Jamie Vardy (or are least his missus) chose the worst day possible to welcome child number 25 (I may have exaggerated here) into the world. So as Init says, we’re here to tell you all to calm down, you never know what’s around the corner after all.

I’ll admit, I’m in good spirits, for me, GW20 worked out well, for me. However, for every Mane or KDB captain pick, there’s a Salah (C) who now has him lined up as a GW21 sacrifice, but hold on I say to thee. Over the last four game-weeks, Salah still outscores teammate Sadio 35 to 23 (though Mane has played a fixture less) and whilst the Senegalese frontman may have taken the plaudits at the weekend, who’s to say their roles will not be reversed as we begin the new decade? In truth, I would have headed up this pick as Salah/Mane, but Init pointed out that Smash doesn’t like two-way picks. So, as a mark of respect to my fellow contributor Smash, captain Salah. If you don’t own him, pick someone else and obviously not another Liverpool midfielder who scores a lot and has a stripe running through his hair. Oh and happy new year!!  X

Kop – Raul Jimenez

I love going last, I can just kick everyone else in the nuts! (pic by Getty Images)

Before we signed up to write a piece in this article we were given but one instruction, “keep it brief, it’s an unexpected filler so no need to go nuts.”

Not for the first time, AT chose to ignore the instruction and instead he wrote his version of War & Peace. Then there’s Matt who stuck to the brief but seemed more interested in Jamie Vardy’s Mrs and Colleen Rooney. Rosco stretched the brief but didn’t manage War & Peace. However, I’m not sure if Rosco is tipping Mane or Salah, apparently Smash is to blame.

I’ll keep it brief, for once! Jimenez is guaranteed to start. After tearing City a new one last Friday night he was given a rest against Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, playing just the last 18 minutes. If we look at the six game-weeks played in December we see that Jimenez has two goals and three assists. These are not earth shattering stats but they’re consistent with his season to date. As GP said recently, “if you look up ‘consistency’ in the dictionary, there will be a picture of this guy.”

I could go on but I’ve promised to keep it brief…

Swirly – Pictures speak louder than words?

A late entry, but a much welcome one. Swirly came with no words this week, rather an infographic which possibly says more.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 21 NYE Special. This article was written by Matt, AT, Rosco, Kop and Swirly.

Follow @MattyMcVeigh
Follow @FPL_AT
Follow @eugoogooly
Follow @KenLyons79
Follow @theswirly

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER

FIXTURE TRACKER LINK

FIXTURE TRACKER 2019/20