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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No immediate rush for a wildcard there beno.
Fine for this week as is in my opinion.
Beno from over the page (sorry)
Thanks GP.
Guess I’ll look at dropping a pool defender and picking up a united player over the next few weeks
Afternoon all
Bloody Kane vs Newcastle wrecking my head!
Cappo him this week and pray he warrants me changing my plans.
Siggy and Kane to Salah and Barnes GW5
Thoughts?
Hatter
Plans change all the time. Working out what to do next week might be difficult enough let alone GW5.
Kane is a good captain choice this weekend. Don’t overthink it.
Ha ha It’s a tough choice, one that better pay off! Sacrificing Pool attack for 2 GWs for Kane
Do I need to remind you last year, when everybody did that for the Cardiff game and he blanked miserably?
If you get Kane in your team, that’s to captain him this week, otherwise it doesn’t make much sense to me. But also I would prefer to get him for a bit longer term. Forcing yourself into transfers in a couple of gameweeks is usually not the best.
Agree with Frenchie here 100%
It is to cappo Kane this week and I will defo want Salah back in gw5 to also cappo home to Newcastle.
It’s whether I get Kane now and force myself to transfer gw5 or just forget Kane altogether.
If Kane does the business this weekend then it will have been the right move but he could also blank like you say.
It”s a tough choice but ultimately the Kane/Salah switcheroo could very well be the most lucrative
I just don’t fancy these switcheroos as I don’t fancy a 4.5m goalie rotation either… You can’t nail it to perfection, sometimes a goalie gets a surprise haul in a tough fixture or disappoints in a good fixture, and the same happens to other players as well, Salah could outscore Kane in GW4&5 for all we know, I prefer to stick with my big-hitters as they can haul against anyone and do switcheroos with my cheaper punt players!
Meant GW3&4 obviously
Cheers all.
I’m gonna go with my gut and stick.
Kane and Siggy to outscore Barnes and Salah for 2 gws just seems likely for me, especially with this weeks Kane cappo.
Which means the opposite outcome will happen 😉
Fortune favours the stupid!
Good luck to us all, may the FPL gods be with us all! :rabbi:
I have Kane in my WC team currently, but Spurs are such a horrible team to rely on. The Frenchie example is one of many. Just when you think they have the perfect fixture, is exactly the time they remember they’re Spurs and go down with food poisoning and / or just find a way to feck it up.
Ok guys team att just can’t get KDB in any suggestions welcome what do you thk
I’m not sure its possible get KdB into a team with Kane, Salah and Sterling just too much money without completely wrecking the balance of the rest of your team.
Take an aspirin, a nice cold brew, sleep on it and then watch the City game on the weekend, where KDB bumbles his way to a score of 3 pts and then tell yourself how lucky you were no to have transferred him in….for this round at least!!! Hahaha – I mean if you are unable to do it, then just wait!
Is this WC team? Yeah if you have Kane/Salah/Sterling then KDB is pretty tough to include… So it’s ok to leave one of them out, which one you leave out is up to personal preference! Overall that’s a great team though! :good: :wizard:
Looks like a very strong team. Can’t see how you could get KDB in there.
Only way Silvers is to drop Trent and Diane to 4.5mil defenders Diop, Montoya or Pieter if you have an extra 0.1.
Digne. Bloody spellcheck. Also Salah to Mané frees up funds.Cantwell to KDB.
Diane would solve many a podcast spelling problems though.
Cheers guys really appreciate the comments
Hi guys…
So I see quite a few people are on the Salah to Mane train… Are we sure that’s a good idea other than for the extra 1m?
I’m not on that train, and no one can be sure of it being a good idea. Might be, might not be, but I won’t sell Salah for sure!
+1 . . . no idea why ppl selling after 2 weeks and 1 goal with Burnley + Newcastle on the horizon.
Think many are doing it on a WC, I doubt no one would actually do it with a FT, that would be way too sideways, Mane isn’t a bad pick at all but so isn’t Salah either!
Yeah I’m not on that train. I’m not convinced Mane is a better bet than Salah
I’m on a wildcard, hence why I moved Salah to Mane for now to really optimise the cash.
And I have to say that losing Salah is probably the thing I’m the least happy with in my WC team, so we’ll if it stays like this.
If I wasn’t on a WC I would definitely keep Salah and not use transfers for that.
Hi guys. GW2 didnt go well with only 41, but culd have been a lot worse.
Hoping for some input – 2FTs 0itb. Plan was mini WC GW3 with Wilson + Fraser going out if not done well. Perez might drop tonight too so am thinking sideways to Ndidi to free up some cash. Really wanting KDB, but thinking Martial could be a steal. With Sterling maybe I should focus on Kane . . . . Really not sure about Pukki with fixtures turning against him, but with Jota already in I dont see another option
errrr really not sure.
Leaning towards: Wilson, Fraser, Perez -> Pukki, KDB, Ndid
Any thoughts?
I did Wilson/Fraser/Perez —> Le Goat (Pukki)/KDB/Ceballos on Sunday night if that helps… How much is Ndidi? I haven’t looked at him at all! Martial is very tempting as well, take your pick is I would definitely get either KDB or Martial in for Fraser!
Ndidi is 5.0. I looked at Ceballos, but fixtures pushed me to Ndidi (plus im 0.2 short lol). Ndidi means I’d have 0.4 itb. I could get KDB + Martial, but that would leave 4.5 for a striker so would end up having to play 4-5-1 with limited options but the bench. . . So not really an option.
So you could do Pukki/Martial/Ceballos and have loads of money in the bank then? You have to choose whether you prefer KDB or Martial… I also start to feel like I’ve been recommending Ceballos a touch too lightly, he’s a punt (of mine) but could easily get benched for instance, he’s slightly risky admittedly!
Any thoughts n Little Pea? Is he a starter? Could be a good punt for next couple GWs.
Yeah he could although the fixtures are a bit rough
Watford, Norwich, Villa seem like some pretty good fixtures tbh.
Doubt it Haller is back
Yeah sorry confused him with the big PEA haha apologies 😆
Think he’s quite risky to be frank!
Does anyone know about Digne’s knock? Any news?
Showing as fit on FPL.
Marco Silva on Lucas Digne: “He will be available to the match. Leighton (Baines) will be also. Just Fabian (Delph) out.”
Everton boss Marco Silva has confirmed Lucas Digne is fit and available for his side’s trip to face Aston Villa on Friday.
There were initially some doubts over the availability of the defender after he was withdrawn in the second half against Watford last weekend.
However, the French international trained with the rest of the squad this week and the manager has confirmed he will be up for selection as the Blues travel to the Midlands on Friday evening