Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 38+

Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 38+

Given as we finally have a few days to breathe between GW’s, we thought we would break the monotony and bring you something approaching a normal article. And it’s a nice one to finish off on in that respect, as we’ve invited our entire writing team for the 2019/20 season to give you their Captain Picks for GW38+ and a little bit of space to add anything else they want to say as a bit of a season sign-off.

If anyone remembers the shenanigans we have had the last few times we have done a shared Capo article (in terms of people basically lying, or at least being forced to) then we should add as a caveat that we have at least asked them to be honest for once and tell us who their actual captain will be this time, and why. And some have…

And it also allows us the chance to say a massive thanks to the lot of them. Without them we probably wouldn’t have a site. Or we would but it would simply be Init, Cookie, Kop and Mito speaking to you each and every week, which would soon become boring and monotonous. The team add variety and depth. And quality. And knowledge. They are hand picked from the community, the best of the best. We hope you agree. And we applaud them, they are a pleasure to both read and work with. Thanks all. :worthy: :friends: :drinks:

You can also check out all the odds on the games on sbobet

And here they are…

Kralin — De Bruyne…or Sterling
Has a furtive peer to see if Carolyn has made her choice yet. No. Hmm. Well, the two players currently in my side that I’m looking at for the captain this week are de Bruyne and Salah. But of course I’m writing this before GW37 is finished*. Nothing is set in stone. Where I sit in the OR may play some part in my final decision – to play it safe or take a slight risk. But for now I’m trying to picture a perfect fantasy world where the City line-up is easy to predict. I was half-thinking, fancifully, of recommending Ederson – a guaranteed starter in a side who will have about 99.5% of the possession – who is almost certain to get six points. But I think we can do better than that. If Salah – who in theory could have a bit of fun versus Newcastle – doesn’t get the armband he’ll be the vice-captain. *Finished enough to see that Sterling went off early and so is likely to start versus Norwich (St Tropez notwithstanding).

Don’t you feel a certain wistfulness as GW38 approaches? A sense of nostalgia and regret? All those hours of futile labour coming together for the last time. And what a long old journey it has been this season. Before GW1 the usual ‘why not play a 5/3/2?’ debate was raging, as it always does in the close-season. But I bet you barely deployed that formation all season, if at all. Anyhow, all the best for GW38 – whether you’re trying to win your MLs, or closing in on a good OR, or, lost to some wayward drift, are playing your own deeply personal and complex variation of the game. And never forget, we are always here for you, without fail – whether it’s to blow your nose, dry your tears or, should it come to that, spank you when you have been naughty.

DMC — Raheem a.k.a Just Four More Goals Sterling
Picking your captain is of course one of the toughest and one of the most important calls we fantasy managers have to make. My usual decision-making process on this particular matter is to firstly look at the fixtures list and see who in the big teams has a home game against a team at the back end of the table with a bad record for goals conceded away.

If there is more than one obvious pick that I like and own I then use one of the most reliable and scientific based factors in world fantasy football: the gut.

Sometimes – typically when you have watched the game (more so if live) – you simply “know” someone is going to haul. And if I feel that with one of said nominees it’s very difficult to move away from that. However, once I’ve (pre-)picked someone I still like to run down a few stats not only on the preferred player but on all that made the shortlist for that game week. The problem with this GW 38(+) though is that my gut is all over the place and I can’t see a clear-cut choice given the number of great picks out there.

So, here’s what I’ll do: I’m going to shortlist the top 3 and then let you know who and why did I pick him in the end.
My top 3 are Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Anthony Martial.

Harry Kane and Spurs as a whole are having a bad season. Under Mourinho they are yet to reach the best football we’ve seen from them in recent years. Not exciting, not inspiring, just boring. However, he still knows where the goal is, as the 17 goals he now has shown. He also scored four in his last two games as we know and he is facing Palace, a team that has lost all but one game since restart shipping 17 (!) goals in their last 7. There are two reasons why I will not pick him though. One, is that I don’t own him and I’d need to take a hit to buy him while selling someone that may also pretty much haul. Not happening. The second, is that, as bad as they are, Palace are from London which makes it a derby match and I usually don’t captain players in those games, so, that’s that for Harry.

Anthony Martial is leading the form charts with a whopping 10 points per match on average in his last seven! That’s just brutal. Unlike what the first impression may tell you, I don’t think he has a bad fixture. You see, Leicester need to win if they are to reach the Champions League next season meaning they will attack. But Leicester are a team in a shambles at the moment – they even managed to ship 3 goals from boring Spurs – and Utd are very strong on the counter, much stronger than from normal open play. The West Ham game proved exactly that, but, again, Leicester are not going to park the bus. And even if they were to do that, they are missing the bus driver that is Soyuncu. They are going to concede and if Utd – who will sit back-ish knowing a tie is enough – do score first this will only improve Anthony’s big haul chances and then Leicester will need to expose themselves even further. That said, there are two reasons why I won’t go with him. First one, is that Leicester will qualify for UCL if they nick a draw and Chelsea lose. Now, Chelsea are usually strong at home but they are facing a well drilled Wolves team that will no doubt be up for the game with Spurs breathing down their neck. If Wolves by any chance score early, Leicester will not be as gung-oh and they otherwise need to be which then lowers Anthony’s prospects of a big haul. Second, is that those 10 points per match did not come away from Old Trafford. Martial is a home bird and while I do have a feeling that he is going to challenge that idea in this fixture I also am not willing to bet on it.

And so, we get to Raheem Sterling. Cookie has already broken down to us the Pep roulette situation ahead of GW38+ and while he is not 100% confident that Sterlo starts, he is fairly confident, which is probably the best we can get with the Catalan gaffer. Unlike Martial, Sterling is not a home bird which is actually shown by the fact that he has more goals away (12) from home than at the Etihad (7). However, I’m going with Sterling not only because of his incredible recent form and top goal scorer quest but also because of their opponents. Norwich are a relegated team with nothing to play for other than pride. But pride they may not have at the moment given that they are the worst team in the league for goals conceded with 70! I know they have just recently held Chelsea to a 1-0 at The Bridge but we can’t really compare City with Chelsea in terms of attacking prowess. I don’t think Norwich will play that loose to be fair as they will not want to go down with a battering but between what they want and what they are capable of is a considerable distance. A Sterling four goals distance perhaps?

There we have it, Raheem Sterling is my captain pick this week.

It was a pleasure to write this piece and all the others to my name this season and I am already looking for the next one. Get involved, this community is unique and you play a part in it. Thank you for reading and good luck for the last gasp. Cheers.

Follow @DCoelho

Jamesimmo — Raheem Sterling

In this elongated season, Sterling has (albeit by 1 goal) been his most-prolific, Velma-esque, shoot-on-site self in the Premier League, which makes for a stark contrast when placed alongside my post-on-site contributions this year…

That probably explains why I’m chasing in just about every mini-league that contains even a modicum of managerial competency.

Anyway, as a result, Sterling’s recent performances have fallen rather kindly into my lap; it’s not often that you’ll sack off a 13-point haul for a hit (with the contributions against your own [real-life!] team) yet still be happy with your transfers. Captaining him consistently since then has resulted in the highs – and low – of scoring {42, 2, 34} points. All whilst earning, then initially missing, a penalty. Going slightly further back, Raheem has earned himself double-digit hauls in 3 other post-lockdown matches, with all occurring in the Etihad via 2 starts and a 29-minute cameo blitz. Averaging exactly 13.2 devastating points per start since FPL resumed just before this time last month.

The lengths of his appearances quickly allude to Man City players’ main caveat – will he start? After being removed at Vicarage Road in the 64th minute, given that Pep’s eyes are locking onto the Champions League next month, we can safely say… almost nothing. His biggest haul, down on the coast, evoked a somewhat mixed sensation of loyalty and fear that led me to keep him in my Free Hit squad at David Silva’s expense – will I repeat my mistake this weekend?

Absolutely. In a heartbeat. Albeit a skipped one!

Follow @James777Simpson

Swirly — David Silva
They say in FPL, you should “always follow your gut.” To quote the great film High Fidelity, “I’ve been thinking with my guts since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, between you and me, I have come to the conclusion that my guts have s*** for brains.” That’s certainly been the case for me since the league’s return anyway, as my goal for the rank I wanted to finish with had to be reassessed and then reassessed again. So, this week, I’m going to follow my heart instead of my head and stick the captain’s armband on David Silva in his last league game at Man City. And it’s a triple captain I’m putting on him at that.

Sure, as usual, I’m at the mercy of Pep’s rotation plans and there have been times I probably should have played the chip earlier in the season, but I’ll hold on to the fact Silva has registered a goal and three assists in the six times he has started against the Canaries, it’s his last hurrah and, well, it’s Norwich. A team who have conceded the most goals with 70 from 37 – an average of 1.89 per game – and, looking past the fact they were victorious at Carrow Road back in September, have conceded 16 in the last four meetings at the Etihad. Please, Lady Luck, please!

A big thank you to everyone who has read my articles and apologies for not being on the site as much as I would like – the last 18 months have been a bit crazy! Will continue to come on as much as possible, especially there’s now Scottish Fantasy Football to get engrossed in, thanks to GP. Not admitted that to the wife yet.

Follow @theswirly

Matt — David Silva
The end is nigh both for the FPL season and for David Silva. What a player this little Spaniard has been for Man City. I must say he has been an absolute joy to watch over the last decade in the Premier League. When you think of Man City legends, I’m too young to do so, so you’ll have to ask Elle, but this man definitely deserves to be called a legend. Having got 60 goals and 106 assists in the last ten years I am hoping he adds to those numbers this weekend.

Pep might have a spin at the roulette table but unless he is a heartless b*stard then I can’t see David Silva not getting a Premier League swansong against an abysmal Norwich side who are already relegated. As Swirly says above Norwich have conceded the most goals this season and are coming up against the side who have scored the most goals so… hopefully it is an absolute massacre. I will be bringing Silva in, handing him the captaincy and hoping he scores a lovely free kick like he did in GW36!

To sign off, I want to say a massive thank you to everyone on this site. It is a great community to be a part of, whether you need a laugh (by seeing Raz talk to himself everyday) or venting anger that Pep has once again spun the roulette wheel, there is always someone about to chat to. I haven’t been able to get on the site as much as I’d like and my rank proves that but I always try and pop in to throw a strange captain pick at you (but I was warned not to do that today!).

Follow @MattyMcveigh

Smash — Mo Salah
Every week we ask each other who to captain? There’s an argument to be had that you just keep it simple and captain Salah every week. I think I’d be better off this season if I just left the armband on Salah every week. Salah wants the Golden Boot badly, he’s almost obsessed by it and he’s still a few off Vardy. What better way to sign the season off, than with a massive haul for The Egyptian King against a Newcastle defence with just one fit CB?

Another season gone and I’d just like to say thank you to the great community on the site. It doesn’t matter if you have had a great season (well played if you have) or you have had a rough season (not my best) it’s important to remember it’s just a free game and to have fun with it. Next season will be another bumpy road and I look forward to everyone continuing to help each other avoid those potholes.

Follow @Chrismartin1984

Kop — Harry Kane
He’s one of our own,
He’s one of our own,
Harry Kane,
He’s one of our own.

FPL managers have a ‘love hate’ relationship with Harry Kane. He’s loved when he’s scoring and hated when he’s not. Simples.

Good news folks, he’s scoring. Six in eight games since the restart. More importantly, four in his last two games. Before checking his stats, I automatically assumed they were going to be good. They’re not. They’re not bad either though. They’re just a bit meh! At the time of writing, he ranks only 12th amongst forwards for penalty area touches. He is however 4th for attempts on goal, and importantly, he leads the way for shots on target.

Then of course there’s the opposition, Crystal Palace. Talk about being on the beach! In their first game back after the restart, they defeated Bournemouth 2-0 and they looked set to push on. They then stayed on the beach in Bournemouth and have subsequently conceded 17 times in just seven games.

Oh and there’s the fact that Kane’s live ownership is just 9%.

Injury has curtailed his season, and when he has played, he hasn’t been great but he has still managed 17 goals and will be keen to finish the season on a high.

I’m sure all the cool kids (aka my co-writers) will be tipping the likes of Silva, Sterling & Salah. But not yours truly, it’s pure nostalgia for me!!

In an effort to be honest I’ll admit that I don’t own Harry and therefore won’t be captaining him! I really should’ve read the intro first…

Finally, a big thanks to everyone who contributes on the site. Not only those who write articles but also those of you who provide insightful comments on a regular basis. One individual who deserves to be singled out for thanks and praise is Init. I’ve said it before, without Init, I don’t believe FF247 would still be here. Thank you.

Follow @KenLyons79

Cookie – David Silva

When I looked at the fixtures for GW38+ a few weeks ago one fixture struck me as being the one to attack. But which Newcastle player should I buy? Hee hee, I jest.

City at home to Norwich is about as good as it gets. The home side full of goals and attacking prowess. The away side shite and relegated. But the age old Pep issue remained… who would he select? And then it dawned on me that this would be David Silva’s final league game for City. And Pep loves David Silva. I brought Silva into my team early, for GW36+ and he delivered 13pts. He scored 17pts the home game before vs Toon, fyi. Silva delivers at The Etihad and he’ll have one more opportunity to do so vs a team that has lost their last nine matches. No rotation issues (he didn’t leave the bench on Tuesday), he’ll be teed up at every opportunity by his team mates, he’ll be taking those free kicks just outside the box, he may well grab the penalties off Raheem.

In a week in which the captaincy choices are many (Kane, Salah, Sterling, Son, Richarlison, Bruno etc) I have never been so sure of mine. My Silva will be FPL Gold on Sunday.

Follow @SteveCook9

The Gallant Pioneer — Roberto Firmino

When I came to the editing suite of FF247 (sounds fancier than it is) I saw there was an obvious cut-and-paste job done for me containing all my usual details etc from a previous Captain Article and the name attached of my pick was… ‘Roberto Firmino’!

And then I thought, “what if?”

I’m kidding, that was a time long ago when the player brilliant though he is (usually) actually scored and assisted – Gameweek 25 if you’re wondering. And then he went and scored on Wednesday and ruined that whole paragraph…

Anyway this is all waffle to save me having to tell you that I’m not telling you who I’m picking for my captain. Like a few others here it is a bit of both actually not knowing who I will captain myself and not wanting prying eyes to know either. I fancy loads of players to do well on the final day and luckily I own most of them. I don’t own two of them and I have 2 free transfers and £2.5mln in the bank so EVERYONE is on the table.

SO THE ROBERTO FIRMINO “PICK” STAYS FOR NOW.

What I will say is that I think the Manchester City players will grab all the attention and rightly so, but there is always more than one way to skin a cat… or a Fox??

Follow @MitchellC_FF247

Rosco — Undecided
Init asked us to be honest, so I’ll honestly say, I haven’t decided.

My Captaincy picks follow a variety of sound decision-making factors, form, sometimes fixtures (but not if it massively contradicts the latter), and always with an eye on which way the FPL community is likely to sway. I am also a conservative man, you won’t find any wayward left-back picks, I’ll leave that for my mate Cookie. For the most part, my decision making has served me well, my chosen captains have to date have scored more than if I’d ‘always captained Salah’ and that’s good, because where is the fun in that right? Of course, I’ve been on the wrong side of my fair share of ‘bad’ FPL captain picks this season, however, as a whole, I really can’t complain.

With an eye on more than one mini-league, my final captaincy choice needs to be the right one, it could cost me. What I can tell you is that it will most definitely be going on a Man City player or Mo Salah.

If I go with a Man City player, I am once more at the mercy of Pep roulette, but with both Sterling and KDB (and the option to add a third) I feel well equipped. Salah is of course still going for the Golden boot, facing a Newcastle side with just a single fit Centre-Back. Would I feel bad captaining a player against the team I support? Hell no. My thinking when it comes to club loyalty and FPL decisions is this – if your team is going to get a good kicking, at least have a vested interest in whoever is doing the kicking (in the figurative sense of course).

I’ll close by saying a massive thank you to you all for making this wonderful community what it is. We have some great characters, some great players (tips hat in Carolyn’s general direction) and it’s a pleasure to have once again interacted with you throughout the season. I’d also like to give a big shout out to my fellow contributors, it’s a pleasure to work with you guys and once again thanks for having me on the team. Good luck to you all in the final game week, lets do it all again in a few weeks yeah?

Follow @eugoogooly

Ellefcee — Michail Antonio
Pre lockdown 2 goals, 3 assists.
Post lockdown 8 goals, 1 assist. Well what can one say, it looks like good old Moysie has done it again, avoided relegation and its all down to one man, Antonio. Pre lockdown his stats are awful, he did miss 14 games out of the 29 played but since football started again hes been fantastic. The 8 goals and 1 assist have certainly helped the mighty Hammers in their hour of need. They do play a buoyant Villa side who travel to the London Stadium on the back of a win over Arsenal but I’m sure he can get on the points trail once again. GET ON HIM.

Thanks to all who have entered our H2H leagues this season, we hope to see you back for the next ones. And likewise for the Regs League, but please stop trying to enter that if you know full well you don’t qualify as a ‘Site Regular’, I’m all over over it and you’ll be booted out.

Floydeth — Mo Salah
I haven’t had much luck with my captain picks this year so I’m going for Mo and keeping it simple. As Smash cited above I would have have been a lot better off if I’d just stuck it on him for the season… one to think about for next year. It would definitely help with stress/tinkering right before the deadline! Only one goal away from 20 goals for the third consecutive season. He is also only a few goals behind Vardy for the Golden Boot so will be fired up to catch him and add to his League medal.

While I am here I’d also like to thank all of the writers and editors along with Cookie, Mito and Kop for all of their efforts this season. It’s muchly appreciated. An even bigger thanks goes to Init for making sure it all runs smoothly and keeping EVERYTHING up to date! :worthy:

Follow @TinkerManFPL

AT — David Silva (maybe)
Sometimes, the stars align. Manchester City have scored more goals than any other side in the league this season. Norwich have conceded more goals than any other side this season and lost every single game since the restart, scoring just one goal (against Watford). One goal in eight matches, and they are already relegated. City effectively have a free pass to attack all game without much, if any, fear of conceding at the other end. It could be a cricket score – one with Ben Stokes opening the batting.

Sometimes, things are too good to be true. This could be one of those games; unfortunately, like the Antichrist to Bruce Almighty, Pep could well obliterate those perfectly aligned stars by benching your favoured City attacking asset. However, Pep has suggested that everyone will play a part in Gameweeks 37 and 38 ‘Plus’. Armed with that potential nugget of information (or fatal red herring), I’m going to take one final spin of the roulette wheel.

With honesty at the forefront of my mind, I will be bringing in David Silva (for Willian) and throwing the armband on him for what will be his swansong in the Premier League for Manchester City. Maybe. Have I been caught up in romanticising this legend’s final league game at the club? Undoubtedly. However, El Mago has been in fine form all season with six goals and 12 assists in just over 1700 minutes of football, culminating in six double-digit hauls. Following a complete rest against Watford, I’d expect him to start the game against Norwich. Promisingly, he has played the full 90 minutes in four of his five starts since the restart (only being brought off early against Arsenal in DGW30+), scoring three, assisting three and collecting seven bonus points in the process.

Full disclosure, I haven’t ruled out bringing in Sterling as well given his early substitution against Watford and ludicrous eight goals and four assists since the restart. If I had the funds to turn De Bruyne into Sterling, I probably would have already done it. I still might.

Oh yeah, and it’s triple captain time; expertly left until the last game of the season and definitely not just kept through fear of wasting it.

Massive thanks to everyone involved in making the site what it is, from the fantastic, personable writers to the regular contributors for making it a proper community. For one final time this season, good luck for Sunday.

Follow @Fpl_AT

Init — Not telling ya!
I’m not having a Kevin the Teenager style strop here, but let me explain…. I have two mini-leagues I care about. One is more or less done and dusted with a 40 point lead, which is my main one. But even then I’m not taking anything for granted, belt and braces and all that. The other one has money on it. And a degree of pride. Up until two weeks back that was done too but my oppo was sat on a Free Hit and landed on Sterling (21) and Antonio (26), which means it is now much closer than I envisaged it would have been. The main thing here is that I know for a fact that both people in 2nd place view the site. And with me being in the lead I’m not up for giving much away! I’ll prioritise the first one in terms of transfers and Capo even though the second is much tighter, but I don’t really care about that one!

What I will say is that I have KDB and Salah and ordinarily I’d play it safe with one of those stalwarts. And I still may. I also have Bruno, who he doesn’t, so I could go there too. Or I may make a new signing and go there. I’m tempted by KDB to Sterling given the latter’s Golden Boat aspirations, albeit unlikely ones (will they stay afloat?), but it’s Norwich so who knows. Then again my rival has Kane and I he knows I don’t so I may yet block that as I rather suspect that is where his armband is headed. So yeah, it’ll definitely be one of those…. And nope, I’m not saying which!

As for my obligatory thanks speech I’ve said my bit on the intro above about the writers, it’s a pleasure to be in the company of them, and to be able to rely on such excellent craftsmen. As for my thanks elsewhere I’ve also written a fair degree on that in the upcoming LMC / FF247 Site Team article so you can just wait for that too.

Over and out, having basically said nothing in about 250 words. But at least it was honest. Or was it?!

Follow @AdamalcockFF247

Mito — David Silva
I know, another David Silva pick. Here is the thing, I set up the order of the names of this article and put myself last because I am a perfect gentleman as you all know. I also went ahead and wrote in Silva as my choice that same day. So I might be the last one you read, but just know I was the first to back El Mago in this article. Sometimes games are not about fixtures or which team needs the points, sometimes games are about trying to make sure that a club legend goes out like he deserves. Not too long ago I watched Bayern play in a game where Ribery and Robben were playing their last ever game for the side. It would come as no surprise that the team did everything in their power to give them a moment. Here is the thing, they both started on the bench because Bayern had yet to clinch the title and with the score 3-1 in the second half Ribery came on with about 28 minutes left and Robben with about 22 left. Once Bayern felt secured that the title was all but theirs, it became the Robbery show as the rest of the team set out on a mission to make sure both had a chance to leave in style. Sure enough both scored in a 5-1 win that gave them the title. Bayern did that to a team that had something to play for, as a win that day by their opposition meant a place in Europe for them. They were able to will a goal each for two departing legends against a team that cared in that moment and they were able to do it in less than 30 minutes.

David Silva arrived in 2010 helped City win 4 PL titles. five EFL cups and 2 FA cups. He was there when Aguerooooo happened, he will always be one of the first players City fans remember when they think of this era. He is my favorite player ever in the PL because I always thought he oozed class, I really enjoyed watching him play. I know would do everything in my power to make him have a game to remember and if I feel that way what do you think his teammates feel? Well they won’t have 30 minutes to show David Silva how they feel about him, because he will get the start. They won’t have to do it against a team that cares or has anything to play for, Norwich is relegated and has the worst defence in the league. Heck, they might not even have to do against 11 men judging by Norwich’s last outing.

David Silva is the clear choice this week because the highest scoring team in the league says so.

Follow @TheLegendMito21

VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL GW38+

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 38.

Follow @FantasyFooty247

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