Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 24

Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 24

Ok, so the man who almost made this article redundant, both last season, and early this, is finally back. But he’s not hit the ground running. Yet. And for clarification we are on about Haaland here, not Matt, Init or Gear. The question then, is whether you simply ‘trust in the process’ and go straight back to perma-capo mode, or give him some more time to bed in and ‘re-prove’ his worth? Not only has he not scored though, you would be hard pushed to have even noticed that he was on the pitch on Monday, at times. But then how many times have we said that and he’s still been stood there holding the match ball at the end.

If not him, then who? Well, it turns out that this may actually be a decent week to test that theory. Especially given that he has the dreaded early kick-off to contend with…

Gear — Haaland v Everton (H)

Ghandi had some great quotes, and “never back the early kick off” is right up there. So for those of us thinking of captaining Haaland, here we are, staring down the barrel at Ghandi. This showdown could go either way..

The scene is set, let’s dive into the stats:

Just in case you are in need of reminding what a robot this man is, in 57 premier league games, he has 50 goals and 13 assists!

Erling has played Everton twice, netted twice, and has one assist.

For those that aren’t aware, he had has chances in both games since his return, but has just failed to find the net. It would take a brave man (or Ghandi) to bet on this scoreless running continuing against Everton.

Matt X – Richarlison v Brighton (H)

The Brazilian who last season seemed to forget how to play football and got more yellow cards than goals has completely turned things around this year. Last season his 1 goal and 5 assists were a poor showing for all the hype and fanfare that came with his price tag but he has made up for it with 10 goals and 3 assists up until this point. 9 of those goals have come in his last 8 games with only one blank. That one blank though could be worrying as it came in the reverse fixture of this weekend’s game. An omen, perhaps? Who knows but with 7 bonus points since GW16, 8.8 points per game for a total of a whopping 71 points, can you really worry about one little blank? Keep the faith, roll the dice, play it safe, whatever way you want to put it Richarlison is a solid name for this article.

Brighton are the opponent this weekend and have really struggled defensively. They have swapped their keepers back and forth with De Zerbi seemingly not sure which is better. The answer… they are both poor! Jason Steele is the preferred shot stopper having played 13 games vs Verbruggens 10 games. The Dutch keeper got the nod in the last game but he still conceded so really I’m not sure who Spurs will be facing. I’m not entirely worried though as combined the keepers have let in 38 goals and only 2 clean sheets.

Now while Brighton did manage to prevent Rich from scoring a few weeks ago and won the game, they still conceded 2 goals, Rich still had an xG of 0.33, xA of 0.26 and xGI of 0.59. This suggests to me he did cause them some issues and maybe just got unlucky. He is the man in form his last 8 has seen a goal every 69 minutes, 25 shots for a shot conversion of 36%. I do feel like he’s cemented himself into the number 9 slot but captain and FPL sweetheart, Son has been knocked out of the Asian Cup is available this weekend and could make an appearance. You may not think Son returns but there is plenty time for him to get home and play straight away. If you don’t believe me, Taki Minamino is a perfect example as he got knocked out last Saturday with Japan and then played 30 minutes for Monaco on the Sunday! There is no reason for Son not to be able to get 30 minutes or maybe even start! With the form Rich is in though I’d imagine Son comes in on the left which should only enhance Rich’s potential! One I’d seriously consider for the armband!

Init – Palmer v Palace (A)

Banging the armband on a £5mil+ player probably wasn’t in your lexicon back in August, but that’s what many of us have done recently, and been rewarded for it. But that was perhaps a bit of an easier, maybe necessary, decision to make, what with Haaland, Salah and Son all out of the frame.

I’ll be honest here, I was holding off until after the Villa cup game, in the hope of telling you that young Cole had once again been his sides only real contributor, either as saviour or as a consolator. As he has been Chelsea’s only real consistent anything this season. To put paid to even that consistent theory they duly scored 3 and he had a hand in none of them!

The good news though, is that they actually looked like a proper team for once. Rather than him plus 10.

The even better news is that they go to Palace on Monday. This is Palace without Eze and Olise. Now, I appreciate they do not play in defence, and so should not in theory effect Palmer directly – but they REALLY DO! Sans this pair Palace are toothless, and ultimately vulnerable. So much so that once I heard neither could start vs Brighton I lumped on a 3+ goal victory margin on Saturday, and was rewarded handsomely for it.

Chelsea could be similarly rewarded on Monday, depending on which version turns up.

Init — Jota v Burnley (H)

It’s first vs second bottom here. And first have a point to prove after last Sunday.

Liverpool have scored a whopping 52 goals (2nd best), whilst Burnley have conceded a whopping 47 (2nd worst). Liverpool are averaging just shy of 3 goals per home game, Burnley are just shy of 2 against.

As for Jota himself he has played just 279 minutes since he returned in GW19 – vs Burnley. When he scored, in 6 minutes. So that’s just over 3 actual 90 minutes, albeit over 5 games. But in those he has 4 goals and 3 assists, or 42 points. Or 8.4 pts per appearance. Or 14 pts per 90 odd minutes.

Or, as Ghandi famously said, ‘a goal every 6 minutes’. For stats fans, that’s 15 this week coming up, if he is to be believed….

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