Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 25

Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 25. As the two-thirds mark of this erratic FPL season approaches us, an intersection of thought naturally arises. The points obtained so far can be scrutinised, whilst new plans must be formulated. I’d like to spend some time reflecting on the former. Particularly, of course, with regards to points obtained from our captaincy selections. You’ve got a pair of options here: if (like me) you make things unnecessarily tricky for yourself, feel free to go through all of your previous Gameweek performances, counting the (doubled) total number of points that your captains have garnered; alternatively, having only recalled this website shortly afterwards, just visit fplmystats.com and, after entering a relevant mini-league’s ID that you’re particularly interested in, let it compute this for you.

Please, by all means, enjoy the short wait by doing something that isn’t sad. Find a human to talk to. They’d probably love to hear about your captaincy success rate!

Anyway, what’s your total? I was actually quite pleasantly surprised: 380 points, and only 95 points lost from non-optimal captaincy selections. Seeing as I’ve failed to break into the Top 100k Club so far, these figures arguably just reflect my shocking transfer decisions to date, to be honest.

The motivation of this (increasingly lengthy) introduction isn’t so that you or I can brag about relative totals. Not at all… right? The key comparison here: Salah’s current grand total for the season of 179 points. It’s certainly not far off the 190 points that my captains have garnered from GW1 to GW24 inclusive. That’s before you factor in the good fortune that underpins enduring just 3 blanks — some pitiful evidence that I really did count everything up manually first — and also Mo’s absolutely scintillating form. There’ll be more regarding that soon! Having him as a ‘perma-captain’ would’ve rinsed almost any other combination of captaincies over the past month or so. Perhaps we should keep this in mind before rushing to captain a DGW player who’s not even a nailed-on starter…

Sergio Agüero vs Arsenal (H) and Everton (A)

I won’t mess around: this man will be my captain. Hopefully, then, you skipped that rather misleading introduction. There are two main points to note carefully here: “13” = 7 + 6 for the two fixtures that Man City enjoy in this first DGW of the season; “6” is kind with regards to Sergio’s form. However, you don’t need me to tell you just how explosive he can be, nor do I need to clarify the rotation risks that Gabriel Jesus now causes. The most useful guidance that such an article can offer (in this contentious case) is merely just a collation of raw statistics. Since the 20th of January, the Man City squad has had 4 matches to contend with, and Agüero has (chronologically from the left) contributed with:

90 + 62 + 16 + 90 = 258 minutes;
0 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 goals;
1 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 1 assist.

Interestingly, only the first and last fixtures were PL matches, the two that he played for the full 90 minutes. It remains to be seen if Pep will sustain this enduring faith in his fitness and performance levels. The potential’s certainly there. Whether the TC should be played now or not, well, that’s another matter entirely.

Form: 6
Fixtures: 13
Explosiveness: 9

Mohamed Salah vs West Ham (A)

As we’re ‘rolling’ with chronological sets of statistics: (excluding Wednesday night’s hiccup!) {21, 2, 12, 12, 12, 2, 11, 15}. That might look familiar. Now, imagine rolling a (fiddly) octahedral die, knowing that you’ve got a 75% probability of a double-digit return being doubled as your captaincy return for the weekend. There’s a 1 in 8 chance, albeit only going off recent form, that a 40+ pointer’s all yours. That definitely sounds good! Away fixtures rarely seem appealing, but 46 of Mo’s recent 87 points — over half, that is, if you’ve done too much calculus today — have come from non-Anfield performances. Salah, yet again, is Mr. Reliable.

Form: 9
Fixture: 7
Explosiveness: 8

Raheem Sterling vs Arsenal (H) and Everton (A)

Another candidate with a strong potential for heartbreak. Certainly palpitations as the team-sheets are released! Raheem’s form has been less than poor for quite some time now, but with Pep’s persistent faith in him — only Bernardo Silva, Fernandinho, Ederson and Laporte have played more minutes in the PL so far — he still warrants consideration from his wealthy FPL owners:

90 + 0 + 0 + 90 = 180 minutes;
1 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 1 goal;
0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 0 assists.

If you want a 180-minute Man City player, barring KDB or Fernandinho, then Sterling’s a strong option in attack, but he comes with no guarantees, form or team spirit. Newcastle have just inflicted a scathing defeat on the current PL champions; Liverpool’s overall momentum could sway the masses away from taking this plunge.

Form: 5
Fixtures: 13
Explosiveness: 7

Eden Hazard vs Huddersfield (H)

I barely trust little Eden enough to still own him. However, his output rate has been like that of an average male’s production of semen with time, as ~56.8% of his total points have been ejected by just 6 of two-dozen-odd matches. Huddersfield at home is quite possibly the best possible PL fixture that’s on offer this year, so side with Hazard if you’re feeling foolish but also brave, the weighting of which will only become clear on Saturday.

Form: 4
Fixture: 9
Explosiveness: 7

Leroy Sané vs Arsenal (H) and Everton (A)

Even though Sergio’s overall ownership sits ~7% above that of Leroy’s, my lurking eyes on the FF247 boards tell me that it’s Sané who’s currently the most popular Man City asset amongst regulars, and rightly so. His recent form’s been significantly better than that of his aforementioned counterparts:

71 + 0 + 0 + 72 = 143 minutes;
1 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 1 goal;
1 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 1 assist.

Actually, that doesn’t look very impressive, but his most-recent 4 matches in the PL make for better FPL reading; he’s averaged 8 points per match and played 70+ minutes in each of these. You might have to contend with Pep’s frequent substitutions in both matches of this DGW extravaganza, but unless Mendy forces his way back into the team, Leroy seems to be your safest Cityzens bet.

Form: 8
Fixtures: 13
Explosiveness: 7

Good luck. Especially to those who free-spiritedly go for Richarlison or Siggy instead…

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 25. This article was written by Jamesimmo.

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