Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 4

Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 4

Perhaps we should all be a little more cavalier and start sticking our armband on whoever takes our fancy. If anyone was brave enough to go with Odegaard (32pts) then they have bigger you know what’s than yours truly, and whilst Rodrigo has been the form player thus far this season, few would have backed him to pick up 26pts let alone his teammate Harrison to go one (x2) better (28pts) against the visiting Chelsea. But we didn’t recommend any of those players, sadly.

So how did our writers do? Well, we may have had to wait until the 81st minute of the final fixture but it was Stone Frog’s Salah pick (16pts) who came out on top. Maddison grabbed a solid 14pts (Swirly), Init backed Haaland (12pts) and Jesus grabbed 8pts (Gear). So no blanks then, decent.

This week we once more have 3 of the usual suspects, in both captain picks and writers. They all play at home (the captains that is) and it feels like one of those weeks where it could all be much of a muchness, but you never know. So, we have both Stone Frog and Swirly returning to try and go one better this week, but they’ll be hard pushed with Rosco grabbing last week’s winner, Salah. Let’s see what they have to say for themselves.

Rosco – Salah v Bournemouth (H)

At the start of the season, engaged managers who plan out their captain picks would have no doubt had Salah pegged as the clear favourite in GW4. Newly promoted Bournemouth may have started the 2022/23 campaign with a home win over Villa, but they have since lost 2, scored 0 and conceded 7. So why does this feel like a tougher sell than it should be?

Well, for starters Bournemouth currently sit 14th in the league, and Liverpool are 15th. Ouch. The Reds have managed just 2pts this season, and on Monday they looked out of sorts against a Manchester United side that suddenly remembered how to play football, well deserving of their 2-1 victory – Liverpool’s first league defeat of 2022. However, what’s most important to anyone reading this is that Salah still managed to still grab a goal. It felt very lucky, and despite having a shocking start to the season I could barely muster a celebration even though he was my captain. So why am I ready to do it all again?

Well, for starters Salah is first for chances created (13), first for pen area touches (23), fourth for goal attempts (8), third for big chances (2) fourth for shots on target (3). You get the picture. Whilst the Reds have been poor by their own usually high standards, Salah is still performing well, indeed, Liverpool themselves are still second for goal attempts (52) behind City. There is hope.

Meanwhile, for Bournemouth, it’s just the single clean sheet in their 2-0 GW1 win over Villa), they have since Lost 4-0 away to City and 3-0 at home to Arsenal. Only Leicester City have conceded more (8). Furthermore, across their opening 3 fixtures, they have conceded 48 shots, only Forest have conceded more (61).

All in all, if you’re thinking of going against Salah then I wish you good luck. If you’re thinking of selling him you’re a braver manager than me. Although it should be said that I did once sell Salah prior to a game against Bournemouth, that was back in 2018, he scored a hattrick that day. Let’s hope lightning can strike twice.

Stone Frog – Jesus v Fulham (H)

Wow, what a start to the season from Arsenal and Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian was a bargain, to begin with and had massive ownership; yet one thing I didn’t anticipate was that ownership going up even further, now an incredible 81% and rising!! That shows just how good he has been and how good value he has been. He is now firmly in the captain conversation every week and especially when against a promoted team at home.

In his first league game at the Emirates in GW2, Jesus came away with 2 goals, 2 assists and 19pts and could have scored more! Last week, away to Bournemouth, he returned an assist and was unfortunate to have a goal disallowed for a narrow offside. Onto GW4 and opponents Fulham, who have made a decent start with 2 draws and a win, although have conceded 4 goals along the way. Arsenal will go into the Saturday evening kick-off as heavy favourites and if they do come away with a win, it would be no surprise to see another Jesus masterclass.

Swirly – Haaland v Crystal Palace (H)

A few questions went through my mind when I said I’d make a captain pick this week – one was who the Haal-and another was which Norwegian forward would be a good selection for Gameweek 4. OK, OK, another tenuous pun on the name of Erling Haaland, but you can’t blame a guy for trying.

So, Man City’s starting line-up against Barcelona missed out the big number nine when it came to the random match at Camp Nou in the middle of the week, as Alvarez stood in his place and also found the back of the net.

That should suggest that the big signing Cityzen starts this weekend, though whether he then plays again four and seven days later against Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa respectively is a different matter. Anyway, let’s worry about that later and concentrate on the tie against Crystal Palace, as the visitors to the Etihad have bounced back from their 2-0 loss against Arsenal on the opening match of the new season, having drawn 1-1 at Anfield and beaten the lacklustre Villans 3-1 last weekend. Pep’s men, of course, are a different kind of opposition, as Haaland himself has already found the back of the net three times – picking up an assist too, for good measure. The Eagles may be able to scrutinise the data superbly, however looking past the 2-0 victory the last time they travelled to east Manchester, the lads from south London have conceded 30 goals in the last eight visits.

I’ll be the first to admit that Salah will be getting my armband, but if you feel like you need to claw back some ground after Gameweek 3’s shenanigans, risks don’t get much better than relying on the lad who is third when it comes to influence and threat and fourth when the previous two are combined with creativity. He was second when it came to xG for last gameweek and tops the charts when it comes to anytime goalscorer odds this weekend, according to Drafthound.

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 — Salah

Follow @DCoelho

Jamesimmo — Salah

Follow @James777Simpson

Ivan — Jesus

Follow @IvanGB111

Swirly — Salah

Follow @theswirly

Horse — Salah

Follow @harryhorse2

Matt — Salah

Follow @MattyMcveigh

Loud Atlas — Salah

Follow @FantasyFooty247

Smash — Salah

Follow @Chrismartin1984

Kop — Jesus

Follow @KenLyons79

The Gallant Pioneer — Salah

Follow @MitchellC_FF247

Rosco — Salah

Follow @eugoogooly

Ellefcee — Salah

Floydeth — Salah

Follow @TinkerManFPL

Init — Haaland

Follow @AdamalcockFF247

Carolyn — Toney

Follow @Carolynl1972

Gear — Salah

Follow @Lukerouthorn

Stone Frog — Jesus

Follow @StoneFrog638

OddDane — Salah

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