Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 23
Gameweek 22 was a bumper week for those playing in claret and blue. Republic of Ireland’s Declan Rice did his chances of an England call-up no harm with an authoritative display belying his teenage years. Of course, now that he’s no longer a teenager, people will be expecting the West Ham starlet to produce 15 points every week. Burnley’s Jeff Hendrick, modest chap that he is, proved that it’s possible to create goals without any individual needing to take the credit. Clattering the ball against a couple of hapless Fulham defenders earned him 2 assists, a handsome 11 point tally and a lifetime membership with the UK Pinball League.
It goes without saying you didn’t captain either of these players. I know this for a fact, because I had some of Marcelo Bielsa’s henchmen draft me up a dossier. Chances are that you instead dined out on Mohamed Salah’s 6th double digit haul of the campaign. Those still looking for a way to fund the 13.4m required to bring him in will have had to make do with some rather more disappointing returns from the likes of Hazard (5 points) and Kane (2).
Gameweek 23 sees several ‘David vs Goliath’ clashes which point to some fairly clear captain options. Choosing the right one won’t be easy u̶n̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶S̶a̶l̶a̶h̶,̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶b̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶? So without further ado here are some photos of grown men chasing a sphere, with some text trying to convince you it’s important.
LEROY SANÉ | Huddersfield Town (A)
While Pep continues to do the hokey-cokey with Jesus and Agüero up front, Leroy Sané has started 9 of the last 10 Premier League games and so, for the time being, provides us with a comparatively comforting captaining option. A 73rd minute withdrawal against Wolves further suggests that he will be once again feature in the first XI at Huddersfield Town. The same could of course be said for Gabriel Jesus, but the German winger has a significantly higher ownership and thus feels like a more useful recommendation here.
After a few quiet FPL gameweeks, the Cityzens’ wide-man is once again vying for our armbands. 18 points in two games has reminded us all of his explosive fantasy potential, gobbling up most of the bonus points to boot. Against admittedly depleted opponents on Monday night, Sané carved out 2 big chances and rifled off 4 attempts of his own. Ok, 3 were rifled and 1 was shanked into an amused throng with all the grace of an inebriated golfer trying to execute a bunker shot with a hockey stick. The point is he looked razor-sharp.
David Wagner isn’t stupid. Departing the week before the arrival of Manchester City is like side-stepping off a train track just as the TransPennine Express hurtles into view, leaving Mark Hudson to bear the full fatal impact. 8 defeats and 1 draw since last tasting victory has seen The Terriers unsurprisingly prop up the form table and more worryingly for them, slump to the bottom of the Premier League, 3 points adrift of Fulham. To their credit, Town have earned 2 spirited goalless draws against Guardiola’s galacticos in the past couple of years. No-one could ever question their endeavour, spirit and passion, but they will need every grain of Yorkshire grit to avoid being the latest victims of a Mancunian mauling.
The visitors are in imperious form and the hosts are rock-bottom and rudderless. It seems less a matter of whether City will score, and more who will score them. The quietly consistent Sterling won’t be far away; and whoever plays up front will no doubt star. But it’s Leroy that seems like their best option right now.
MARCUS RASHFORD | Brighton & Hove Albion (H)
With an ownership of 25% and rising faster than any other player, Marcus Rashford bagged his latest goal, a Wembley winner which downed Spurs and surely cemented his spot as the Red Devils’ number one striker ahead of Romelu Lukaku. Recent performances have been a throwback to better times and it feels poetic that Ole Gunnar Solskjær has inherited his very own baby-faced assassin.
As one of the form strikers in the form team notching his 5th goal in 7 games at the weekend and with some kind fixtures still to come, Rashford’s quickly becoming an irresistible option at a bargain price. His 30 points in the last 3 games includes 3 goals, 2 assists and 6 bonus points, highlighting a multi-faceted role which ticks all the FPL boxes. He showed on Sunday how to use his blistering pace against a team defending with a high line, but will likely need to rely on goal-poaching instincts against a struggling team expected to defend deep. His new gaffer knew a thing or two about that.
Visitors Brighton arrive at Old Trafford on the back of a creditable effort in their narrow defeat to Liverpool. This will be cold comfort to Chris Hughton’s men having only registered a solitary win in their past 6 games on the road. A thread of hope is that The Seagulls have beaten their illustrious opponents in both of the previous 2 meetings.
Some may favour team-mate Paul Pogba above the young striker. Little separates them, but Rashford seems to be growing into his role under Solskjær with an ever-increasing assuredness.
MOHAMED SALAH | Crystal Palace (H)
Sometimes if you want a job doing properly, you have to initiate proceedings yourself. Fed up with carrying 200 vinyl records, a gramophone and giant speakers strapped to his back everywhere, Steve Jobs helped pioneer the iPod. As a way to increase physical inactivity and obesity, while reducing critical thinking and social interaction, Philo Farnsworth invented the television. And after waiting for his increasingly frustrated team-mates to prise the Brighton defence ajar, Mo Salah forged his own opening by dancing through a congested area, enticing a clumsy challenge and dispatching the resulting spot-kick. Liverpool are by no means a one-man show, but when it comes to FPL captain choices the Egyptian’s the perennial go-to candidate.
That winner at The Amex positioned Salah alongside Kane and Aubameyang on the top rung of this season’s goal-scoring ladder with 14 goals. It’s taken longer than expected for African’s Player of the Year to attain the same level as last year’s astronomic standards. Sure he’s never been less than unerringly consistent, but (Cardiff thrashing apart) those dynamite double pointers were notable by their absence. It had been a point of contention as to whether his huge price tag was good value. But then GW16 happened and he’s been irresistable since, showing that relentless thirst to be involved in every goal so familiar from 2017/18. A return of 72 points in 7 games now makes his 13.4m look like a January sale.
At first glance Crystal Palace, pointless in their last 3 league head-to-heads with the Reds, look like easy pickings. At second glance, they still look like easy pickings. At third glance, The Eagles could represent a stern-ish challenge. Lying 6th in the form table and on the back of 2 consecutive away wins at Wolves and Man City no less, Roy Hodgson knows his team will play his ex-employers without fear.
The last time Palace visited Anfield, Salah was dropped to the bench. Who knows if Klopp dare rest his talisman again with so much at stake. It’s unlikely. Regardless, if you’ve invested more than 10% of your FPL cash in one player, it’s hard to imagine you haven’t already got that ‘C’ next to his shirt.
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 23. This article was written by Bry.
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Afternoon all
Ok, as the hectic schedule is now over – just thought I should share s few words on the Salah vs no Salah debate most of us were having throughout December.
Now, this doesn’t have to mean anything as it is maybe one in a million(make that 6million) -> but anyway here are the results.
My Salah-less team is now ranked at 45k ; while my wife’s team(aka my 2nd team) is now ranked at 34k.
Actually I would like to point out that I took a small gamble last week (not having any of Hazard or Salah) so I Cpt-ed Kun, while the Cpt in my 2nd team was normally Salah.
The point is that I had Kun as Capo and Sane as VC -> so by now you are already guessing what I want to say.
Should Kun have stayed on the bench, Sane would have taken over the armband and according to FFFix the Or should have been somewhere around the 35k mark.
They same would have happened if Kun had managed to assist or score (at least one).
Nevertheless, even like this the difference in the OR is only 10k places – which is nothing.
Now, I would avoid going into further analyses in terms of : whether Mo was Cpt-ed every single week etc…
It was just a small experiment to see how things would turn out.
BTW, thinking of doing 1 more experiment (to activate an early WC @Team1 and do the opposite with Team2).
This is still being assessed.
Might activate it right after the transfer period is over.
:coffee:
I went without Salah for several weeks and it was a disaster. The only way to have enjoyed a successful Xmas period without him was to have a player who matched or surpassed his scores, only one player did; Son. So essentially those without both Salah and Son suffered greatly, those who had one progressed nicely and those with both did exceptionally well.
I agree Rosco.
Team1 was doing ok (even w/out Salah) mainly due to the perfect timing of getting both Sane & Son into the team.
A few other factors helped as well, but think the above was decisive.
Not to want to make you feel bad but another comparison re Salah; Smash was one of the many who kept him, you both had similar ranks in GW15, Smash captained Salah for his hatrick in GW16 which saw his rank jump from 50k to 13k and he’s maintained that rank to date. I guess the take out is there are lots of different ways to play the game!
It was a calculated risk I decided to take, so I’m perfectly fine with it (looking at it from today’s perspective).
And yes, it does prove -> there are lots of different ways to play this game.
p.s. that Salah HT still gives me a bitter taste in my mouth…
I took him out (for a -8) that Game-week so it was painful!! Right up there now with the week I took Mahrez out before a hat-trick in their title-winning season! If we didn’t have those lows though how would we appreciate the highs eh!!
All in all though well played!! I had neither and sunk like a stone!!
in my main team i had Son and no Salah but in my B team i had the opposite. Both teams picked up decent points on par with each other so i agree with Rosco, now Son has gone i’ve drafted Salah straight into my main team
Makes sense, I somehow missed out on Son, I went with double City (Sterling and Sane) like many other and their unexpected capitulation was our undoing! Frustrating but it has given me an extra incentive to fight to make it back into the top 100k+. The TAA and Kane injuries have made it a lot harder as everyone can now bring back in Salah with Man Utd’s affordable options making a balanced side a lot easier.
I’m now at a point where I need to make big decisions if i want to rise back up my ML, I’m hoping a bit of blank planning will do the trick although my past experience shows that those who ignore them (with regards to transfers) always seem to kick my ass!!
6.8m ITB Guys.
Which midfield would you take out for Salah? Bearing in mind that Hazard would free up cash to get in a better 5th mid/ 3rd striker
I wouldn’t take out Hazard. You have a difficult situation; I’d say Martial has been the weakest performance wise and would probably want Pogba in that spot anyway. Richarlison has good fixtures now but blanks in GW27. Anderson doesnt have fixtures as good as Rich has now but he has good fixtures in both GW26 and GW27. I think it should be Anderson or Martial and then turn whichever one you keep into Pogba next week!
Thanks Rosco!
Im leaning toward Martial.
Problem is next week I would need to downgrade Ings to Kamara (or a similar move) in order to upgrade Anderson to Pogba!
That then leaves the issue of either playing 4 defenders, Hojb or Kamara.
Cheers bry
Lovely read.
Think I am good to go?
Looks ace. Nice job
Looking good!
Cheers guys
Thoughts on this line up? Didnt want to over commit on United, will ship Martial out next gw..
Looks fine, you could make a case for Martial over Richarlison, but not a big one as both have been unimpressive in terms of points lately, so it is a coin toss. Yeah, I would drop someone for a cheapie probably Martial as you mentioned that way you have more of your money on the pitch instead of on the bench.
Hey gang, been off the grid with the deathly stomach bug. What do I do with Kane and TAA? – trying not to overthink it. Thoughts?
Fab, Rui
Robbo, TAA, ObiWan, Bennett, KikoF
Salah, Richarlson, Pereyra, Milivojevic, Camarassa
Kane, Auba, Rashford
1FT, 0 itb
@Colriles, I be tempted to drop Kane to Jimenez and reinvest the money in the midfield. TAA for a hit doesn’t sound that tempting, unless you are buying a stud to replace him long term that will repay for the hit in due time.
Cheers Mito.
Did some early transfers and now I with Kane ruled out I got some problems. If i replace Kane this week it would be for a hit. Would probably go for auba ( Aguero seems a little risky, right?)
Auba got Chelsea and taking a hit for that might not pay off. Just play westwood instead? And you don’t need to inform me that early transfers are risky 😉
I brought in Aguero for Kane in early this GW and it does feel very risky now after what Jesus did, so it be difficult to go there until you see Pep start him at least once.
As far as taking Westwood for this GW over Auba on a hit vs CFC, I think it depends. Assuming Westwood does nothing, he gets 2 points plus the 4 for not taking a hit. Would you rather have the 6 or would you rather have Auba with a 4 point deficit to make up vs CFC. I would probably gamble, even if the better play is Westwood, but seeing that the last game between them finished 3-2 and that Arsenal seem to get into up and down games, I couldn’t help it, but the right play is probably playing Westwood.
Playing westwood is probably the right thing to do, but it also sure as hell is the boring thing to do!
Yeah i’d want to se a little bit more from aguero (or pep) before i go there.
Anyone considering Llorente? Or do you think moura or someone else will fill kanes spot?
@Allan, Sounds like we agree on Westwood being boring.
Llorente looked like a threat the other day when he came in and yes he missed a really good chance, but he looked unstoppable in the air, he literally won everything. So I could see a case for him, plus the last time he got a start he scored a hat trick, yes it was Tranmere, but that at least would make Poch less tentative about starting him. Poch could also go for Lucas as you mentioned like he did vs Leicester, the only EPL game Kane did not start. A front four of Lamela, Eriksen, Alli and Lucas sounds fun. I am slightly leaning towards him starting Llorente, but in my mind it is basically a coin toss.