Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 28

It looks like a right mixed bag for GW28 in terms of the armband. We have a raft of teams (and players) with doubles, but not really the teams (or players) who you would want to have them, and then a few teams (and players) who have singles, who really are the teams (and players) you would rather have a double, but may still be better off with a single.

To make sense of all this we have asked Kop, Matt and Init for their input on what looks like a strangely confusing S/DGW to pick from….

Single Gameweek Players
Kop – Salah vs West Ham (H) / Kane vs Everton (H)

Yes, I realise there’s a double gameweek this week but it’s hardly worth getting your knickers in a twist about. Particularly when it comes to your captain. Are you really going to entrust the armband to someone from Villa, Southampton, Wolves, Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle or Watford? Granted, some of them have decent fixtures but it’s not like any of their players scream ‘captain’!

Don’t fall into the same trap that many of us fell into in GW27. Wout Weghorst!

Instead, go with some of the old reliables. Namely, Salah and Kane.

Do I really need to make a case for Mo? Ok. He has scored 19 goals to date, seven more than anyone else in the league. Only Jarrod Bowen (13) can top his 11 assists. In previous seasons, it was often felt that he was on bad terms with bonus points but that has changed this season as he’s racked up 25 baps with only TAA leading that with 28. As a result, he’s picked up 47pts more than the next best. I won’t bore you with his stats because he tops most charts. Look, don’t overthink things, keep it simple and give Mo your armband.

I’ll be honest, it’s not quite as easy to make a case for Harry Kane. Anyone who watched Spurs recent win over City on Sky Sports could have been led to believe that Kane is the second coming, such was the nonsense being spouted by the commentators regarding his performance. They clearly hadn’t seen Spurs play Wolves, Southampton & Chelsea! Since putting three past City they have been held scoreless by Burnley & Middlesbrough, while they put four past Leeds. As has been said many times over the past week or two, the key to frustrating Spurs is to adopt a low block. Despite Everton frustrating City last week, I’m unsure if they’re capable of backing that up this week and frustrating Spurs. Instead, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a relatively open game on Monday night. Something that will suit Kane. There’s no doubt he’s a riskier bet than Salah, but he’s probably a better bet than any doubler!

Matt – Adams and JWP vs Villa (A) and Newcastle (H)
If you are looking for some differentials this week then I have two that are owned by a combined 13.4% of managers, James Ward-Prowse (£6.5) owned by 8.3% and Che Adams (£6.9) owned by 5.1%. Neither player has the calibre or excitement that the likes of Bruno, Salah or Kane would provide but these two lads are actually not far off the bigger names in terms of points. Well, that is except for Salah but he’s in a league of his own this season so we won’t worry about that. In fact, they are two of the most in-form players right now. Adams is the most in-form striker with a 6.8 ranking and this ranking is well deserved as the Scotsman has 3 goals and 1 assist in his last 4 games. This has probably been a bit annoying for most managers (or maybe just me!) as most went for his much cheaper strike partner, Broja, who in those same 4 games only got 1 goal. Broja has been the player most have had their eye on all year largely due to his price, but Adams has been the better player, getting more points. I think if you have the funds, I would go with Adams over Broja and if you need to catch someone in your ML’s then Adams might not be the worst choice.

JWP is in the top 20 midfielders so not as great but there are the likes of Salah, Son, Bruno, Mane and Sterling to compete with there, so he has a lot sterner competition. JWP offers a lot for Southampton and FPL managers alike. He is the most influential player in the Saints side and FPL have him as being the 3rd most influential player in the game such is the impact he has on his side. JWP is pretty much guaranteed to play every single game and play 90 minutes at that. He is on set pieces and is probably the best free-kick taker in the league so plenty of opportunities for assists or goals. He has 6 goals and 4 assists this season so far which actually makes it his 2nd best Premier League season in terms of returns so he must be high on confidence. Now he seems to have cooled off a bit lately as in his last five games he has only got 2 assists but in the five games before that he was on fire with 4 goals and 2 assists. If you have space for a midfielder or are on a WC then JWP might just be worth a punt coming into a double and then a tasty run of fixtures all the way until the final two games of the season.

Mendy / Rudiger vs Burnley (A) and Norwich (A) –
Now I told Init I would be writing about Mason Mount for this section but then I thought that’s no fun and doesn’t really live up to my “off-the-wall” pick gimmick that I like to go with. I then started thinking “Oh maybe Rudiger is a good idea” but no, he too was not good enough to make the crazy picks that you all deserve! Or was he?…

This led me to go a bit deeper on the pitch to the man between the sticks, Edouard Mendy (£6.1). Mendy is actually the exact same price as Rudiger and isn’t actually too far off him in terms of points, Ruds has 108 to Mendy’s 89. You would think Rudiger should be a lot more ahead considering he has clean sheet potential, an attacking threat and more opportunities for bonus points but the centre back only has one extra clean sheet and four more bonus points. Mendy has 9 clean sheets and 3 bonus points. Rudiger has also only missed one game compared to Mendy having missed four so I actually think Mendy could be a brilliant set and forget keeper for the remaining fixtures as they are amazing. If you pair him with a cheap keeper that plays in 30 or even a Sá or Ramsdale for one week, you could have a top-notch keeper and also cover top defences like Cancelo, Trent, White.

I mentioned the great fixtures Chelsea have for the rest of the season and they couldn’t get much better than their next two in Burnley and Norwich. I am expecting Chelsea to want to put the Carabao cup defeat behind them and turn up the performance levels with the FA Cup and Champions League still a possibility. This should mean that coming up against two sides in the bottom three in a double gameweek should be ripe for clean sheet points from a captain. Two clean sheets and 90 minutes is 12 points doubled is 24. Any captain that gets you 24 points is a good one. Norwich and Burnley are the two worst scoring teams in the league with 22 goals scored for Burnley and only 15 goals scored for Norwich. Chelsea are the second-best defence with only 18 goals conceded so it really is a team with a massive strength facing one with a massive weakness! I am really talking myself into hitting this WC button and putting Mendy into my team as I write this…. I might just do it! Who wants to join me?! Anyone?

Init – Raphinha vs Leicester (A), Villa (H) / Coutinho vs Saints (H), Leeds (A) / Jimenez vs Palace (h), Watford (H)
Great. This is what happens when you play the nice guy and tell the others to choose who they want and say that you’ll pick up the slack. Slack would be putting it mildly here. So much so that I won’t waste much of your time attempting to convince you to place the armband anywhere near any this lot.

Two of them haven’t scored in the last 3 games, Raphinha bucks that trend having notched a few weeks back but even that was his first in 5 weeks prior to that.

I could try to blind you with stats, as per Kop, or I could try to blind you with optimism like Matt. Both appraoches are futile here. Pick one if you want but don’t go blaming me…

Don’t me wrong here, they are all crucial to their teams, they are all good enough picks, sans any armband, and on a WC they could probably make the cut, especially as they all have two games. Armband though?! I won’t go as far as to say ‘do me a favour’, as some may see them as extreme differentials, but if you do then…. DO ME A DOUBLE FAVOUR!

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