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Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 26

By FF247 on February 28, 2023 81 Comments

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 26

Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 26

We were on the verge of beginning this article by lamenting DGW’s and once again asking why we all chase them like golden rainbows… and then Saka (C – 30 points) and Salah (C – 22 points) put paid to that. Sort of. Well ok, at least they both showed up in their 2nd games having been conspicuous by their absence in their 1st ones. As Captains, said 1st game did at least add 6 points to both their totals, if nothing else. Which funnily enough eclipsed Nunez’s total for the week of 4.

Why pick on Nunez you may ask? Well, because he was our 3rd pick last week. Or more to the point that of OddDane…. so let’s pick on him instead!

We jest of course, we pick on nobody here. After all the writers are simply playing devil’s advocate. For the record they all picked Salah on their own teams.

On which note, let’s go see what lies they can all peddle this week… before they all captain Haaland!

Smash – Haaland v Newcastle (H)

(Photo by Manchester City FC/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)

Captain Haaland

It’s boring but sometimes you just have to be boring in FPL. Haaland has broken the record for most goals in a season by a Man City player, previously held by Sergio Aguero (26). We have had a month off in this time for the World Cup and it’s still only February. When Haaland plays at home you captain Haaland. There might be an argument when he plays away but at home he is formidable. 4, 17, 6, 6, 1, 5, 13, 6, 23, 17, 17, 5… these are not the lottery numbers these are Haaland’s returns when he plays at home this season. 120 of his 193 FPL points, or a whopping 18 of his 27 goals in the Premier League have come when he plays at home. The Norwegian powerhouse has only blanked once at home all season and that was against Brentford, even when he only played 45 mins against Aston Villa he still returned. The fixture could be easier but this means the big Norwegian is more likely to play closer to 90 mins against Newcastle.

Haaland unsurprisingly has the highest xG this season with 18.56, the next best is quite a way behind with Kane on 13.08. If you look at xGI the gap is even bigger. He is also 8th for big chances created so even if he doesn’t score he’s also likely go pop up with an assist. Haaland has also missed more big chances than anyone this season so the 193 FPL points could have been even more. It’s very difficult to go against Haaland for captaincy at the moment, double gameweeks will give us a chance to do it, but I don’t feel this is the week to ignore the obvious for the captaincy. If you read this and still decide to buck the Haaland trend I wish you good luck, you are going to need it!

Gear – Rashford v Liverpool (a)

(Photo by Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

So, Smash has presented you with Haaland, a man who has absolutely creamed it this season. He has some impressive stats, 27 premier leagues goals so far, wow. Whilst that is a compelling reason to entrust him with your armband, I would urge you to hold that thought. You see, there is a man in better form, and as we all know, this game is based on current form. To break it down, in his last 5 PL games Haaland has scored 2 goals and grabbed 2 assists. This has help him accumulate 24 points (4.8 points per game). Now Marcus Rashford over the same period has bagged 6 goals and an assist, netting 50 points (that’s 10 points per game for those who are really bad at maths).

Form is with Marcus and as I am going to argue, so is the fixture. 12 months ago Newcastle at home was the easy pick, especially when compared to a trip to Anfield, however things have changed. Newcastle have conceded 15 goals in the league all season and they now have Bruno back. Liverpool on the other hand, have conceded 28. To give them their due, they have collected 4 clean sheets in their last 4 league games, after adding another against Wolves. I would however argue that they were lucky not to concede against the 10 men of Newcastle and the Everton game wasn’t exactly plain sailing.

I will leave you with a final thought, I probably don’t need to mention the Real Madrid game, but I want to plant that seed. Rashford, playing for a good team, versus that defence…

Init – Saka v Bournemouth (H)

(Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

At the time of writing last week I didn’t own Saka but I was dead sure I would be buying him. And then I didn’t! I decided to stick with Martinelli, and I was obviously glad I did in the end, but it was a close call! For the record an armband on Martinelli would have yielded 52 points! By that logic I probably should be coming on here telling you to take risks and stick it on my man this week, but I’m not. Although I suppose if you like a differential you could certainly do worse as he looks to have gotten over his post World Cup blues all of a sudden.

Why Saka then? I said last week that he looks like Arsenal’s most threatening player and that seemed the case again vs Everton, and he underlined that with yet another goal (10 of those now) and yet another assist (yep, 10 of those too). That leaves him 2nd for midfielders with 146 points but it should also be worth noting that team-mates Ødegaard (142) & Martinelli (137) are now 3rd & 4th. Which probably tells you all you need to know about why Arsenal are top of the league and flying.

And fly they did against Everton. This was supposed to be a potential banana skin after their slip up at Goodison not so long back but they made it look easy are were absolutely purring come the end. I see little reason why this will not continue on Saturday at home to 2nd from bottom Bournemouth.

The confessional…
This is where we ask our entire writing team to tell us who they think they will pick this week…. There are more caveats and get out clauses than an Ivan Toney confession but this is their initial gut feeling based upon who they actually own. And they promise that their picks will not be banned for 6 months if they get it wrong…

DMC — Haaland