Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 4
Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 4
GW3 seems like a distant memory now but even so we shall have our usual round-up / publuc shaming of the writers from that one before we move onto the Ronaldo show this week’s selections.
1. Matt – Antonio, 11 points. A goal and an assist was enough to see Matt take first place in GW3.
2. Rosco – Son, 10 points. Rosco was just pipped at the post as Son could only manage a goal and 2 bonus points.
3/4. – James – Benrahma / Ivan – Bruno, 2 points apiece. Both got diddly squat.
It’s fair to say that GW3 was a bit quiet on the points front, let’s go see if this weeks Capo pickers can rustle up a few more for us.
Kralin – Antonio v Southampton(A)
Antonio hears the news Ronaldo is the most popular captain
It’s a strange feeling writing about someone you know virtually nobody will pick as captain, save a loyal handful of Irons’ fans maybe. So I nearly went off-piste and wrote a short piece about another skipper, Captain Kidd, to see if anyone would notice him swinging up there on his gibbet, serving as a warning to those taking too many hits or writing gibberish on-site about Salah or Ronaldo.
A warning to the curious
However Antonio has been the big cheese so far. Three games and the data is sound: he’s scored more goals (4) than anyone, even Ronaldo (I’ve yet to puzzle out why), has been blazing shots in from all angles, often on target, resulting in loads (6) of big chances. He leads the way with 40 points. It was good to see a non-premium captain do so well for managers last GW. He is in excellent form and may well reward managers keeping faith with him. Whether or not his ceiling is as high as others’ remains to be seen.
I probably know more about liquid oxygen and high altitude drogue parachutes than I do about the Southampton defence. But they’ve leakily let 6 goals in already.
Smash – Lukaku v Aston Villa (H)
Ronaldo fever everywhere. Ronaldo this, Ronaldo that, he’s the new shiny toy. He will only have a few training sessions, while Lukaku is already more than familiar with his new teammates and has two games under his belt already. Romelu Lukaku is a proven goalscorer in the Premier League already with 113 goals in 252 games, and is renowned to be a “flat track bully” which is a reputation that came from playing at West Brom, Everton and Manchester United. During his time at Inter Milan in Italy he scored 64 goals and 16 assists in only 95 games. 49 goals in his last 49 games for Belgium after scoring 17 goals in his first 50 caps just goes to show how much Lukaku has developed into one of the most feared strikers in world football.
In his first two games for Chelsea he has managed 1 goal, with 9 Shots in the Box (4th), 3 Shots on Target an xG on 1.28. The stats need to be taken with context though, as one of those games came against Liverpool when Chelsea had just 10 men for over half of that game. Lukaku dominated the Arsenal backline and it was an impossible task to dominate VVD and Matip when Chelsea were down to ten men. Despite this he still caused the Liverpool backline problems.
Lukaku warmed up for Aston Villa with a brace for Belgium against Estonia. He said himself it’s “useless” to make comparisons with CR7. He’s a different man these days, he’s more serious and seems more focused to score the goals for Chelsea. He’s keen to show he’s the main man. Tuchel has said that they will use the players in the squad that work best with Lukaku. All this just points to goals, goals and more goals for the big Belgian!
Chelsea have a very enticing fixture in Gameweek 4 as they play Aston Villa at home. Aston Villa have conceded 23 Shots in the Box (13th), 10 Shots on Target and an xGC of 3.2 despite a relatively easy run of games: Watford (a), Newcastle (H) and Brentford (H). Chelsea will be much tougher opposition and Villa will be without Emi Martinez who will be self isolating. Save machine Martinez will be a massive loss as he’s one of the best keepers in the league and it remains to be seen how impacted that Villa defence will be. If this wasn’t enough, CB Tyrone Mings is struggling to be fit with broken ribs. Even if fit with bad ribs he won’t fancy facing Lukaku who will be hungry to make a big impact at Stamford Bridge.
Rosco – Ronaldo v Newcastle (H)
(Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)
They say you should never go back to an old love, you’ve read the book, you know how it ends. However, what if the book became (arguably) the best book there ever was? Wouldn’t you want to read it again? Enough of the metaphors. He’s back.
At age 36 the average footballer is either retired, considering it or their abilities are in decline. However, Cristiano Ronaldo is not an average footballer.
I’m not here to argue if he’s worth £12.5m, nor am I here to tell you whether you should rip up your team, ditch Bruno, take a hit, or deploy your first Wildcard to get him. What I will say, is that over a million managers have bought him, 600k have sold Bruno (presumably to do so) and those numbers could double before the GW4 deadline.
Do you think anyone who has, or will be buying, one of the all-time great players (in both world football and FPL), who will likely start, playing in front of a packed Old Trafford, against one of the worst teams in the league, will be giving their GW4 Captaincy to anyone else? No, of course not silly billy.
Want some statistics? How about 903 attacking returns in 895 club appearances. That includes 84 goals and 34 assists in 196 EPL appearances. In his last 3 seasons at Juventus, he played 97 Serie A games, scoring 81 goals and 16 assists. Sure, it’s a different league, but this is not a player in decline that’s for sure.
There are other options this week, but if you go there, you’re going against the masses. And the masses will be vast. If you do look elsewhere, sure, it could pay off, but if Ronaldo does what we all know he can do, then being on the wrong side of such a decision will be a miserable experience. As a Newcastle fan, it’s certainly going to be a strange experience to actively get behind an opposition player. But I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again. So come and join me, and then we can all pat ourselves on the back for making one of the the easiest decisions we’ll make all season.
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 — Ronaldo
Jamesimmo — RONelu Lukaku….
Swirly — Bruno
Horse — Lukaku if fit
Matt — Greenwood
Smash — Ronaldo
Loud Atlas — Ronaldo
Kop — Ronaldo
The Gallant Pioneer — Ronaldo
Rosco — Bruno
Ivan — Bruno
Floydeth — Ronaldo if I buy him, Salah if not.
Init — Ronaldo
Mito — Ronaldo
VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL GW4
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 4.
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I caved in to the pressure and took a -8
Still undecided between Raph and White though?
White, look at the fixtures there
I fear a Pukki party at the weekend!
If Arsenal can’t keep a clean sheet at home to Norwich, then it probably isn’t worth having one of their defenders bud!
An attacking mid over a defender – always. Looks great!
Cheers guys …looks like the decision has been made for me with Raph not playing….hopefully no Pukki party this weekend
Hearing Alisson, Fabinho and Raphina may be banned from playing at the weekend but Richarlson is ok, very strange that one.
There is quite a few more now that can’t play GW4. Including Jimenez of Wolves.
Richarlison was released to the Brazilian team when no one else would let their players go during the summer for the Olympics, guessing that is why the Brazilians are not asking for the suspension of Richarlison.
Brazil and Everton had a mutual agreement that Richarlison could stay behind due to their ‘good working relationship’, plus the fact that the lad has played in practically every fixture in world football since about 2017.
So I’m still fiddling with my WC team and have this at the moment. Any thoughts on which one works best? My inclination now is that giving up on having Lukaku to enable a better midfield and TAA is probably better but would appreciate thoughts.
2nd one dougal, more balanced.
I prefer the second one also.
+1
Re-posting from the last article as I was a few days late to the discussion there…
Got 1.1m in the bank, 1 FT. Pogba will go soon but probably I’ll give him Newcastle now he has Ronaldo to aim at as well. Gives me a week to assess Traore/Sarr/Raphinha/Gray as all have good fixtures but haven’t really caught fire yet. That transfer will give a bit of money too.
Webstar got me thinking yesterday about Ings and Wilson out this week for a hit. That gives me 16.6 m to spend up top, and the pair that catch my eye are two from DCL, Bamford, Jesus and Jiminez. Given travelling, fixtures this week, CL rotation incoming I am tempted to just hold, *if* I knew Wilson was alright to play. If I go for it, Bamford and Jimi feels the exciting/bold choice, while DCL + one seems more prudent, if *he* is fit.
Any thoughts?
@Pippin, think if there was ever a week to wait until the bitter end before making a move it is this one.
As it stands Jesus and Jimenez will be suspended, we would need for news on Wilson and DCL in relation to their injuries.
Out of those mentioned I take DCL if he is fit and probably Jimi seeing that rotation with Jesus is difficult to predict and now that CL is on the way it could get harder. Obviously, we need to see on the Jimi situation and the Jesus situation before any decisions are made any way.
Champion, thanks mate. I think you’re right. Holding the nerve as all around you burn their WC chips
if Jimi comes out and bangs this week, I think he’s straight in – the fixtures are good and we know he can do it. This still leaves Pogba and a crappy bench but I just think we’ll have so much more info next week. Chelsea could ship a penalty to Ings anyway haha.
Ederson not allowed to play by Brazil/FIFA, Steffen has covid. Time for another Scott Carson masterclass on Saturday?
Hi all – very helpful and generous article. Am ready to be hung from the gibbet for my next moves – was going to trade out Bruno + Toney to bring in Salah (bringing him back) + Ronaldo, but have decided to go against the grain of popular thought and in fact trade out
Mbeumo + Digne to Salah + Christensen (just 0.2 short of Mbeumo to Mo unfortunately).
With a view of taking a look at Ronnie’s introduction and perhaps to benefit from Bruno’s last gasp hat-trick against…the Magpies? (As well as Mo’s rather reassuring presence ‘mongst my lot!). I would then get in one of the ‘mega strikers’ at a later date.
Here’s the team – I’ve got a cool 6.8 ITB (my Ronnie/Luka kitty!) .
Anyway, all suggestions more than welcome, otherwise just snigger and pass on to the next contribution!
By the way, here’s a picture of another Australian who could have been put on the gibbet, but was only shot and hung, and whose last words were reportedly (quite wrongly quoted apparently) ‘Such is life’!
Cheerio one and all!
Compared to a real ‘Wild Colonial Boy’, you could quite reasonably give me the nickname ‘The Mild Colonial Boy’!
Is that Ned Kelly?
That is he!
I actually like your original plan
Ahah! Okay – it was originally Kralin-approved as well, but several days ago. Hmm, what to do?
Do it
Hey AJW. I think two of the three are a must have. I mean Luk, Salah and Ronaldo. You have none right now. To accomodate any two of them, Bruno has to go. He is less of an option now since he must be off the penalty duties. Time will tell though.
Thanks Constantine! Reassures me!
See you round!