Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 3
Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 3
Last year, just before GW4 of last season, I was asked to write the Captain Picks article for that weekend. It would become my 4th consecutive season of being entrusted with such a responsibility. Your innocent eyes were waiting eagerly for the latest instalment…
I repaid FF247’s blind faith by vividly describing a series of explicit (and likely homo)erotic acts between you — an unsuspecting reader — and 5 formidable Premier League players who happened to have good fixtures on that weekend.
This year, just before GW3 of this (already rather tedious) new season, I’ve been asked to write the Captain Picks article for this weekend. It will become my 5th consecutive season of being entrusted with such a responsibility. Your violated eyes and palpitating hearts are probably dreading the following instalment…
I’m going to repay FF247’s unwavering faith by discussing some FPL captains.
Harry Kane vs Newcastle (H)
After seeing the fixtures, I marked Aston Villa (H) and Newcastle (H) down as “a pair of easy braces” for Harry Kane, who shook off his ‘August curse’ last season. That prophecy already appears to be fulfilling itself; Villa have made their part of the deal. It wasn’t exactly a revolutionary prediction. You may, however, have some concerns: yes, he barely scraped those late goals in Spurs’ opener at home; yes, he was almost entirely isolated up top whilst aimlessly chasing after Pep’s men; yes, he clearly wasn’t accustomed to braces during his childhood, and he was also probably unfamiliar with scoring in general until his ‘pwofessshunal’ career took off.
Forgive me. Not even one paragraph in before I regressed to more sexual content.
Anyway, moving swiftly on. The less obvious issue here might be the relatively cagey matches that Spurs and Newcastle have played out since the latter’s promotion. Each of those recent 4 fixtures have seen Spurs prevail by a narrow margin. They won 1–0 in both of their home matches, with Kane scoring the winner in the 2017/18 season; they managed to muster 2 goals in both of their corresponding away matches, with Kane getting booked in each one. Unconvincingly, that was it from him. Ruh roh.
That’s where Newcastle’s more recent fortune steps in. They conceded 3 goals last weekend when they travelled south to play Norwich and, in truth, this weekend’s coach journey back up north seems unlikely to feel any less bitter.
Form: 7
Fixture: 8
Explosiveness: 9
Sadio Salah vs Arsenal (H)
Over the very same 2-season period since Newcastle’s promotion, Salah’s been consistently tearing up the Premier League, effectively spoiling us as a reliable candidate for the captaincy in just about every Gameweek that passes by. Mané, too, has transformed into the (world-class?) winger that Klopp needed. Firmino’s rarely discussed on the same level by FPL managers due to (in general) making fewer direct goal contributions than said wingers. However, against Arsenal, all 3 members of the trio have lethal track records that warrant your team’s armband.
Salah racked up a goal and an assist in both Anfield clashes. He scored in the 3–3 draw during the 2017/18 season whilst playing away from home too.
Mané’s played Arsenal in 6 matches in the Premier League to date. Liverpool have scored heavily (and won) on all 4 occasions in which Mane’s grabbed a goal, including all 3 of his previous home matches, adding a bonus assist in the 2016/17 clash.
Firmino, for all of you crazy Wildcarders, actually has the richest history. His callous antics date back a season further: a home hat-trick in the 2018/19 season; a goal and an assist in both fixtures during the preceding season; a goal and an assist at home during the season before that; a home brace back when his wingers were Ibe and Lallana — yet, in a special way that only Arsenal could allow, a 90th-minute Joe Allen equaliser salvaged them another 3–3 draw.
Alright, there’s your lot. Compelling arguments for all — if you’re still awake, that is.
Form: 7
Fixture: 7
Explosiveness: 9
Raheem Sterling vs Bournemouth (A)
He might be listed 3rd here, but he won’t come 3rd in many captaincy polls for GW4 and beyond, it would seem. If he’s monogamous, he won’t come 3rd very often at all, but such comments are no longer mine to make. Bournemouth (A) probably looks familiar to many managers (myself included) who sold Salah shortly before the Christmas of last year. Adjacent away hat-tricks — oooft, yes, that’s even harder — can Sterling pull it off?
Arsenal are currently on a run. Granted, it’s only a 2-match win streak, but it sounds tricky enough to drive the FPL masses over from Salah to Sterling and burn those who stick.
Form: 9
Fixture: 7
Explosiveness: 9
Marcus Martial vs Crystal Palace (H)
Realistically speaking, your captain’s unlikely to come from beyond the pool of aforementioned names, but you could find significantly worse than this United pair. The masochists amongst you could even plump for AWB against a toothless Palace team that hasn’t scored a goal yet. Any takers? I mean for this captaincy punt…
It’s honestly nice to no longer feel obligated to force Lukaku jokes upon you.
Form: 8
Fixture: 8
Explosiveness: 7
Christian Pulisic vs Norwich (A)
Right, please, just hear this out. I’m running low on worthy ideas. Picture the scene: it’s an early kick-off. Early here (12:30) but particularly early for the Americans, who’re 5–8 hours behind us, tuning in to watch their beloved ‘soccer star’ in the ‘Prem-eeEeere’ League.
Imagine the hysteria when Pulisic (who boasts a rock-hard ‘K’ sound) gives the first-half goal-and-assist performance that only VAR prevented in the Super Cup this year. Better yet, imagine the hysteria that’d unfold if this actually happens, meaning that everybody would suddenly take me seriously. Hmmm, yeah, perhaps not. Hopefully not.
Form: 3
Fixture: 8
Explosiveness: 6
All of the best for the Gameweek ahead. Especially if last weekend’s anything to go by…
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 3. This article was written by jamesimmo
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Vote on our Captain Poll Now
Wilson price dropped. S**e
Which one? Callum or Harry?
Just out of interest – if one wanted to make a team out of all ‘Harrys’, how many would we have? I know there’s Kane, Wilson and Winks, but anyone know of others? Or would you have to change after these 3 and find another set of players with the same first names? The goal would be to have as few first names as possible! Ah what the hell – it’s early here!
Maguire is one..
Callum Wilson dropped. Some plans have gone to gutter now.
Yes. Fortunately I checked the possible fallers last night (I was worried about Perez, because losing 0.1 on him would stymie my Martial + KdB option). So I made my transfers last night. I’ve kept Wilson.
Was planning to transfer him out. But, since I had Digne as well, so ws waiting for a news on him. Anyways, thinking of these options:
1. Play 4-4-2 with Wilson + Hayden to Haller + Propper/Sissoko
2. Play 5-3-2 with Wilson + Rico to Haller + Soyuncu
Or any other options you’d suggest?
I can see that Haller has the fixtures etc but he’s new to the Prem etc – don’t you want to see a bit more first? I was umming and ahhing about Wilson but a) he has actually been bringing in a few points and b)I thought if I kept him (rather than dumping him for someone cheap) I can swap him for someone more in form, with fixtures etc. And I suppose c) – Wilson’s not a bad striker.
I looked at Ings, Jiminez and of course Pukki as possible replacements.
For what it’s worth I ditched Robbo to enable Martial and KdB.
Krafty Kralin! And it was only Wednesday evening! Did you get both of them ? OMG! Be afraid – be very afraid! Good luck to you old chum!
I know, astoundingly premature for me but needs must. Took a hit as well.
Anyhow part of my reasoning was that in owning Martial I effectively have another striker which means I can be fairly relaxed about the way I go when the time comes to move Wilson on. Which it probably will, sooner rather than later. My wheeze of Wilson to Ings wasn’t filling me with much confidence and only allowed for Martial or Kdb. Martial, assuming that he’s nailed, can just sit there now.
I was sad to lose Robbo but keener to get Martial and KdB in to just shore things up a bit. And Lundstram, my enabler, is playing out of position. So all in all, not too bad. Hopefully Rashford will work out for you and Kane is a very sound captain choice.
Thanks K- but your talk of all these new recruits has got me envying your acumen (we’re all victims of ultra capitalist FOMO desires nowadays aren’t we? Why can’t we just be happy with what we have?)
I’m sure you’re bound for success now Kralin! Anyway, I’m sworn off making too many hits like I have done in the past 2 years. You can check out my team via this link – have replaced Wilson and Perez with Rashers and Ceballos. Probably unnecessary, foot-shooting type exercise and I should have stayed put! Time will tell. Speak to you later !
AJW – the link you’ve used:
https://fantasy.premierleague.com/a/entry/484052/history
doesn’t work. Some find that taking the /a/ away does the trick.
Your moves sound fine to me.
PS I’m very chilled out about things. A couple of seasons ago I started with Kane* when many had Lukaku, who scored loads at the beginning, and I was languishing in the 3 millions I think at one stage. One of the reasons I like this game is that you can never take anything for granted and having an ok season last year does not mean this year will be the same. There are always subtle differences.
* when the August curse was at its worst
Great article James! Have Salah, Sterling and Kane but will be going with Sterling this week although Kane looks very tempting his form is okish and sterling just edges it for me!
Snookie Bear, thank you, I’m grateful for that.
Is it a gut feeling with Sterling over Kane here, or a logical one? I ask because, if I’m being entirely honest with myself, I see Sterling with a higher potential ceiling. It’s only Kane’s fixture that sways me, really. Newcastle, however, may well pull another low-scoring match out of the bag…
Thanks v.m. Jamesimmo – a very thought provoking number indeed. I have a choice between Sterlo, Kane and Salah (and Rashers if I’m being honest!) – let’s just call them the 3 Stooges (with Rashford as their D’Artagnan – oops, mixing my works up!). Gonna go Kane! It’s now or never (thanks Elvis!)!
I just hope that it provoked football-related thoughts only! AJW could actually stand for something very seedy…
Having just had to Google search ‘d’Artagnan’ on this fine Yorkshire morning, I now feel shockingly uncultured, but it’s no real surprise.
I’m glad that you’re sticking with Kane: all of the very best!
Ah don’t worry James – just a reference to the 3 Musketeers’ mate! Went to Yorkshire about 10 yrs ago – beautiful part of the world! Lovely pubs and people! Are you a Sheffield supporter? Maybe a Wednesday or Leeds fan? Anyway, your captains article was worth the read! Dunno if AJW stands for anything dodgy- probably my brothers found some suitable insult to make of it when we were growing up though! Thanks for the encouragement and have a good game week!
Very enjoyable read that James, can’t decide between Sterling & Kane!
Cheers, Cookie, much appreciated. I’m sorry that reading this didn’t split ‘em for you! Probably because, deep down, I’m struggling too… but I won’t back off Kane here. There’s plenty of time to captain Sterling over the next few of his matches. He’s got a nice home-and-away rotation schedule with Kane, actually, but you could make the case to trust him in every match.
Isn’t Sterling more prolific away from home though? Just an impression, didn’t research it.
I thought he was better at home
From stuff I did last year he was better at home. Not bad away though
Hi Guys. Am I set for this gameweek? Great articles as always. Good luck to you all.
I’d play Lundstram in place of Fraser. Or may be Dendo.
Possibly Lunstram for Fraser but honestly I’m not entirely convinced on that one.
I know the pain of having Lundstram (has he become popular enough to be ‘Lundy’ yet?) on your bench, but City aren’t impenetrable, so I’d keep Fraser on over him. Ceballos would’ve been the man that I’d bench prior to his full debut, but now? Just stick with that, I reckon.
Thanks for the feedback guys.
Cheers for this James, more food for thought.
I’m still not sure who to captain atm, currently on Sterling.
Used my 2ft to bring Martial in and get rid of Barkley
Side looks very good photek.
Couple of good captaincy options this week as James brilliantly covers.
Who was your other FT out of interest?
I’m blushing! Thanks you both of you gentlemen. I’m guessing that it was used to bring Lundstram in and fund that switch? Probably a smart move; United’s attack could start killing me with its ownership soon.
GP i took out King for Greenwood to fund the upgrade. It was either him or Jota but i just felt Jota was a more nailed pick
Fair enough.