Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 3
Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 3
“Please, please come back off of holiday, Init”. Said nobody ever. Until this week.
I left the run of the roost to Rosco. Having previously been on the wrong side of my… end of tether rants I thought I’d be leaving it in careful, caring, soft hands. How wrong could I be!
I laughed long and hard when I saw his final attempt to rally the writing troops.
It’d be unfair to copy and paste said rant on here…
But that’s how I roll…
“For the love of fucking god will someone take defenders or keepers? If we don’t then it’s back to full individual articles and that shit is hard. Work with me people!!”
Let’s go see if he got enough people enthused to write a Capo piece. Whether I have any writers left on my return who aren’t traumatised is a different matter.
Over to Rosco…
Init makes me sound like a tyrant! Maybe the responsibility went to my head. It did the job though. Tough love people, tough love.
How did last week’s captain picks fair?
Kralin was first to bat, swinging with the majority. Sadly, the Egyptian king failed to reach second base. He turned up, took the obligatory clean sheet point, and didn’t get a card. 6 points.
Init took Bruno. It was a good choice. Until it wasn’t. A yellow card, no clean sheet, and no attacking returns. 2 points.
DMC chose Kevin, but sadly Kevin didn’t get on the pitch. 0 points.
Three down, two to go.
Kop went with Son. He promised so much, delivered so little. 72 minutes on the pitch, Spurs didn’t concede. 6 points. Yay.
And then there was one.
Matt went Mahrez. Like Kevin, he started the match on his ass. Damn you pep. But, he came on, and he only went and bloody scored!! 12 points. It’s not going to change the world, but against the odds, it did make him this week’s smallest loser. Well done Matt and well-done anyone who listened to him. Screw you pep and other expletives.
GW3 beckons with a world of new opportunities and all thoughts of failure but a distant memory.
Matt is on hand once more to show the rest of us how it’s done. James, Ivan, and yours truly will do our Damnedest to persuade you otherwise. Shall we?
Matt — Michail Antonio vs Crystal Palace (H)
I had a Leicester player in mind when I was picking my option for writing duty this week but that changed quickly. After yet another brilliant performance, and a historic one at that too, how could I not include this man? The newly crowned highest goal-scorer in West Ham’s history, Michail Antonio! West Ham probably didn’t realise they would be buying what would become their record goalscorer back in 2015 when signing him from Nottingham Forrest for only £8.5 mln.
Antonio has started the season amazingly, getting a goal and two assists against Newcastle before flipping that, and getting two goals and one assist against Leicester. This has given him returns of 13 and 16 making him the highest points scorer in FPL so far this season. Antonio’s highest goals return during his time in the Prem is 10 goals, he’s 30% of the way there after two games, if he keeps this he’s set to smash that record.
Not only can Antonio score, but he is generous in attack and likes to supply goals for his teammates. Adding to his three goals, he also has three assists. His highest assists tally in the Prem is 8 so he’s even closer to breaking that record. With these sorts of stats, the Jamaican forward is on course for his best-ever season. All that I can say to finish this off is that the 31-year-old is a strong candidate for the armband this week and when someone is this in form, you just have to ride the wave!
[Jamesimmo (originally pencilled in for these paragraphs before Leicester’s implosion) personally approves this message! However…]
James — Saïd Benrahma vs Crystal Palace (H)
Photo by Sebastian Frej / MB Media / Getty Images.
Perhaps you can do (even) better. Ok, so Michail might’ve juuust beaten Saïd for Gameweek points on both occasions thus far, but Harry / Lloyd (take your pick!) writing about Antonio first almost feels like fate. Despite Viera’s offensively tame start, the brand-new Palace CB pairing of Anderson & Guéhi seems unlikely to be bullied in the box by Antonio, whereas Benrahma could still be given an alarming amount of space…
The consistency in his 2 PL appearances has been spooky: (1 goal, 1 assist, 2 BPs and 87 minutes) x 2 
Before that MNF match, Antonio was your differential captain, but it’s actually Benrahma now — g’wonnn — there won’t be many chances to get away with ignoring the likes of Bruno, Salah and Lukaku, surely?
Ivan — Bruno vs Wolves (A)
(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
It was a disappointing day at the office for Bruno in GW2, but don’t let that put you off. Following his hattrick against Leeds in GW1 he’s now (just) the 10th player in Premier League history to score a hattrick on the opening matchday. It’s a rare occasion for Fernandes to blank in two consecutive games, I’d expect a comeback.
On Sunday, Man United equalled the 27 unbeaten away record set by Arsenal in 2004. Bruno himself equalled the longest away unbeaten run by a Premier League player from the start of their career in the competition (set by Gabriel Jesus for Manchester City). If United win or draw this week, Manchester United and Fernandes will be the outright records holders. Surely Fernandes will be involved in that effort, after all, half of his 18 goals came away from Old Trafford last season.
The two teams have met 17 times in the EPL and United has 10 wins, with 4 games having ended in a draw. The last time Manchester visited Molineux Stadium was on the 23rd of May, they won 2-1 playing with an almost B-team. Wolves are currently going through a bad patch; one win in their last 8 EPL games, it’s unlikely this misfortune will change this weekend.
So, if you are avoiding the Antonio hype and want to leave the excitement for the last game before the long international break, be brave and trust Bruno with the armband.
Rosco — Son vs Watford (H)
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
If you listen to some of the more popular podcasts you’ll be familiar with the term Captain matrix. If you’re not, it’s basically just a list of who will be your captain over a specific period. Mahrez was my captain matrix pick in GW2 (the only reason I have him) and I captained Salah. Son was earmarked as my captain in Gw3. I don’t own him and I’m not getting him. If he had scored or even assisted in GW2 I’d imagine I’d stick to the plan. As it is I’m not.
I looked at the stats of both Son and Watford hoping for something, anything to make a compelling argument. I came up short. I guess all I will say on the matter is that the skill in FPL is knowing who will score big, not necessarily who has just scored big, rinse and repeat. Unless of course, it’s Benrahma or Antonio.
So, if you’re feeling that Watford’s 2-0 defeat to Brighton in GW2 is more indicative of their pedigree than their 3-2 GW1 win over Villa then hand Son your armband, if you’re unsure then I’d say you’re not alone.
GW3 feels like one of those weeks where captaincy will be spread. These are the weeks that you can make serious headway in your ML if you can just back the right horse. A 72-minute substitution in GW2, Son will be fuming. He’ll want to make amends. Watford better be wearing their sh!tting pants. I’m not sure I’ve even convinced myself. Benrahma looks mightily tempting. Oh dear.
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 a Lionel Messi contract but this is their initial gut feeling based upon who they actually own.
DMC — Antonio
Jamesimmo — Antonio
Swirly — Antonio
Horse — Antonio
Matt — Shane Duffy
Loud Atlas — Antonio
Smash — Antonio – maybe
Kop — Antonio perhaps, but probably Bruno…
The Gallant Pioneer — Bruno
Rosco — Antonio
Ellefcee — Antonio
Floydeth — Bruno, but getting swayed by the landside here
Init — Son
Mito — Antonio
VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL GW3
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 3.
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Hey gang, hope everyone’s off to a flyer. Looking at replacements for White at 4.5 or less. Thinking Dier or Thomas of LEI; any preference there or other suggestions? (Have TAA, Shaw, Tsmikas, White and Livarmento).
Dier.
Leicester have too many injuries just now.
I realise that Arsenal are struggling at the moment and will probably also lose to Manchester City.
After that their fixtures improve for a good number of game weeks.
I would be inclined to keep White as surely a £50m signing will play every week.
I would be keeping the free transfer or deal with another problems area in your squad.
I say all that as a White keeper.
Thanks
Jamie
Dier, or hold if you’re not desperate to lose him. He’ll be back, and their fixtures look winnable.
Cheers all.
Pogba or Greenwood?
Tricky one. I like them both short term. I don’t like either in the long run.
Lovely read guys, thanks! Although, I can’t help but notice you failed to cover the Shane Duffy option, despite Rosco’s best efforts I’m sure, cudos to Matt for picking that up
…Now it’s up to Rosco to bring out the whip and ensure that’ll also be his actual choice come deadline time
Great article…..My confusion over who to captain is now just indecisiveness. Think I’ll go with Ivan and give it to Bruno…oh but Antonio….
Antonio was the best choice and I had him