Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 30
Away days…
Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 30
The jury is still well and truly out on last week’s picks but at the moment there’s definitely a divide between those who went with a single game-week player and those who went with a double one. And there’s definitely a divide between who actually went with their pick in reality and who was a Billy Liar again!
In terms of ‘success’ (so far) AT is winning with his Vardy pick on 22 Captain points, despite him not even starting his game. Smash is 2nd with Salah and his return of 18. GP is stranded in (joint) 3rd with 4 points after Jimenez blanked against Brighton. Jamesimmo will be hoping PEA can improve his current 4 in the second game and DMC is currently yet to get off the mark with KDB nursing his back complaint.
In terms of who they actually picked Jamesimmo was not just loyal to his choice, he went full on and put the TC on PEA. Which is currently looking ill advised but we do at least salute the courage of his convictions. Less ‘convicted’ were the rest as AT tipped Vardy and went for Salah, GP tipped Jimenez and went for PEA, DMC tipped KDB and went for Salah and Smash tipped Salah and went for PEA!
Let’s go see what this week looks like in the eyes of our panel…
Kop – Bruno Fernandes v Spurs (A)
(Photo by Matt McNulty – Manchester City/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
Despite what some United fans will have you believe; Bruno Fernandes is not the second coming. He is, however, a damn fine footballer and has almost singlehandedly saved their season. Since his arrival at Old Trafford, United are unbeaten in the league with three wins and two draws. I haven’t looked back at their results over the course of the season but I doubt you’ll find a better string of results.
From an FPL point of view Fernandes has two goals, three assists and six bonus points in the five games he’s played. If we look at his stats over the past four game-weeks, we’ll see that his returns are no fluke. He is tied with James Maddison for chances created (11). He clearly does his best work outside of the box as he’s only had 10 touches in the opposition area, joint 27th. However, this hasn’t stopped him having 14 goal attempts, a figure only bettered by Richarlison. Four of these attempts have hit the target, joint 7th.
The mood around Old Trafford has clearly improved and the free flowing football United were once known for is slowly returning. They’ve scored eight over the past four game-weeks, a tally matched by just Arsenal & Chelsea. And what of Spurs? Oh, they’re a shambles and Jose is in full on ‘blame everyone else’ mode. Over the past four game-weeks, they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet and have conceded eight goals in that period. In fact, over the course of the season they have kept just four clean sheets, which along with Villa & Bournemouth is the worst record in the league.
Spurs are currently besieged by injuries and I expect United to win comfortably on Sunday and Fernandes will be central to everything they do.
I should point out that I don’t own Fernandes and hence I won’t be captaining him. However, if I did own the Portuguese international I certainly wouldn’t hesitate in handing him the armband.
Rosco – Mane v Everton (A)
(Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images)
This weekend sees the 219th Merseyside Derby, with Liverpool needing just 2 more wins to secure their first Premier League title. They could take their first league title in 30 years without even kicking a ball. Manchester City has 2 fixtures before Liverpool’s trip to Goodison on Monday, and whilst it seems unlikely the Citizens will fail to pick up points in home fixtures against Arsenal and Burnley, recent results have shown that anything can happen.
From an FPL perspective, it will certainly be favourable if the title is not done and dusted come Monday night, however, it’s with a certain amount of trepidation that I suggest giving your Captain’s armband to a Liverpool player given the distinct lack of goals in Liverpool’s recent trips across to Goodison. Their last two meetings on the Toffee’s turf have resulted in goalless draws, you would have to go back to 2013 for the last time this fixture produced more than a goal for either side. I feel like I’m talking myself out of this pick, however, I only need to look at the 4-0 humping that Everton took down at Stamford Bridge in GW29 to remind myself that past results do not always dictate the present.
What else can I write about Sadio Mané that has not been said before? The Senegalese frontman grabbed a goal and assist (and all 3 bonus points) as Liverpool came back from a goal down at home to Bournemouth in GW29, taking his total to 28pts since returning from injury, 8pts more than Salah over the same period incidentally. Whilst the underlying stats heavily favour Salah, it’s another case of passing ‘The Eye test’, and anyone who watched the win over the Cherries will have noted that Mané looks lethal. It’s a difficult proposition to try and dissuade anyone currently favouring Salah with their armband, especially given the Egyptian’s superior ownership (43.7 vs 24.7%) but for me, it’s a risk certainly worth the potential reward. YNWA, come on you Reds and all that.
DMC – Jamie (Ilicic) Vardy v Watford (A)
(Photo by James Williamson – AMA/Getty Images)
And then he scored four… in his last four games against the Hornets!
Jamie Vardy is the top goal scorer in the league with 19 goals. He’s currently in 4th in FPL terms only 19 points adrift from leader Mo Salah. Unlike the Egyptian King though our friend Vardy has been in poor form. Whether it’s missing matches altogether to injury (three of those, to be accurate) or just simply putting in out of form appearances – including a penalty miss – he scored a meagre 12 (!) pts between GWs 20 and 28.
In that period, Leicester City had a blip in form too winning 3, drawing 2 and losing 4 which helps to explain Vardy’s under par performances. However, it all changed for the better this last gameweek. The team as a whole looked sharp in all sectors with Harvey Barnes leading proceedings. Now I know they don’t play Aston Villa every week and Watford at Vicarage Road should of course present a sterner test but Vardy looked very good during all the 30 minutes he was on the pitch, most notably on that second goal reacting very quickly to the rebound coming from his own back pass. And when in form he’s fixture proof as he has showed time and time again so the fixture wouldn’t put me out.
Not yet convinced? Well, he’s no Ilicic, but he does have an eye for goal and that is all you need to know to trust him the armband this week.
VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL GW30
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 30. This article was written by
Init, Kop, Rosco and DMC.
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FTx1
ITB:1.9
Building towards gw31, so not sure whether to get Spurs, Watford, Burnley, or the mighty Hammers in this week.
Or carry FT.
As for captain, stumped again!!!
Thoughts.
I would leave it late and see if there’s any news on KDB. A also have Dendoncker taking up one of my valuable wolves places, any plans to selling him for a Wolves def for wk31?
Not sure about Dendoncker.
Thats another reason why im thinking about rolling the FT so I can maybe do that same thing.
Spurs aren’t filling me with a lot of confidence. Outside of Liverpool and Wolves I’m looking at extra Burnley and Watford. I’m trying to think of GW32 as well.
Yeah there is that as well
What’s all this about Raz and orgies?
That’s why he comes here apparently, sounds good to me!
It’s my evil plan to spread corona… :butcher:
I’m up for it
Ah Cookie and his cheer squad! And they were just a bunch of juniors from the Prince Albert High School in downtown Monte Carlo who were congratulating Cookie for his recent FPL success!
That’s not the infamous FF247 entourage photograph creatively photoshopped, is it? There’s something oddly familiar about the (wo)man in the far right of the picture.
Do you think it may be Rosco or Innit in disguise????
I’m certain within a 5% margin of error.
What are people’s opinions on dgw’s? Like them or loathe them? Is it foolish chasing a two team dgw as opposed to when lots of teams have them?
Would it be feasible to lock fixtures in to a gw based on their release, eliminating doubles, then if a game is postponed your gw score is pending until that fixture is completed. You can still change your team for later weeks but y effectively get the points for the players you had during the week it should have been played? Not sure how that would work for cup games but discuss…
Generally speaking, I Love them, however, that doesn’t mean you approach them with abandon.
I made the mistake a few years back of ditching all my Spurs players with a tasty single GW in a DGW and was duly punished. That, in essence, informed my decision this week; in order to bring in City and Arsenal players, I’d have had to lose Liverpool/Leicester/United players, all who had good fixtures or were in good form.
From a logistic POV I’m not sure they could lock a game as you suggest, as that would mean the game couldn’t update until the fixture was played. The other issue is why would you want to, the doubles and blanks are one of the most fun parts of the season and ultimately help hold peoples interest in the later stages. If you locked fixtures to a GW everyone would never truly know how they were doing, it would be just a different thing to complain about. Imagine as a scenario where you are doing amazing, winning ML’s have a high OR etc and then all of a sudden a bunch of fixtures are played and you go from top to bottom of your league with no way to plan a potentially get one over those rivals with careful planning and well thought out chip strategy.
I will caveat all the above with this coming from someone who has benefitted from the cancellation this time around, but I’ve been on the wrong side of ‘luck’ many times this season and previous seasons.
I love them, but only the big ones.
Small DGWs have never done a lot for me.
They’re great. They create a welcome new buzz. They also add several layers of planning, which for the more ‘serious’ players usually lends an advantage. If I’ve got a close ML I usually know I can rely on a DGW to secure the league with the correct use of the chips etc. It’s also immensely satisfying to get 200 points in a GW too! Which I’ve only since once but they’re the sort of things you remember.
This ones been a bit shite though :rofl:
The big DGWs are great – chaotic, the ‘will-he-play?’ doubts etc.
The ‘locking in the fixtures’ idea is good, but it’d probably melt the FPL servers!
Hello all
What is everyone’s plans for GW30?
Debating whether to roll my FT or get rid of Grealish or ings.
This is currently my team.
You could wave a wand and transform Grealish into Sarr.
I’m keeping Ings for Norwich but will probably replace him with Jota for 31.
Cheers kralin – didn’t think of sarr.
Do you like the colour Red by any chance?
Mitro are you planning to FH in 31? You’ve got a similar number of players to me
I am, if that helps. Although I think I’ve got even less!
That always been your plan Init? Have you been swayed by the latest events off-field?
Once Spurs threw in the FA Cup it was as the ramifications of that dropped me down from 6 to 4 I think. And so I decided to go for the DGW a bit more and kill 31 even further. Best laid plans and all that but what can you do. I’m still stuck with the 31 plan though as a result.
No idea how the off-field stuff will affect that right now, play it by ear etc.
Perhaps this has been asked but what if you went into GW 31 with 2FT but instead used your FH chip. Would you enter GW 32 with 2 FT?
I don’t think so but am happy to be corrected (so to speak).
You would lose the extra FT. You will be back to 1. That’s the reason I am considering using a transfer
Is this a dumb time to WC with games so unsettled? My current team needs some serious change.
Here is my WC draft. 0 mib. And yeah, the backline is weak, but I think it may be worth it?
Appreciate your feed back.
Here is my current team. 1ft .6mib.
Thanks all.
I would wait. That’s not a bad team you got there and there’s so many questions marks right now..