Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 4
Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 4
The Haaland Fracas…
Mr H caused a bit of a McScuffle in our offices this week. Well, sort of. Truth be told it was actually Jamie Mc who did that by announcing that he wanted to take one of the picks this week, but that that pick would be none other than…. Taiwo Awoniyi. Obviously. We won’t go into this now, as he does so himself below, but suffice to say that it was mainly as a differential pick, and to add a little spice to the variety.
What it did lead to though was a debate about the actual merits of this article, in light of Haaland’s EO (effective ownership), and the sheer amount of managers picking him regardles (7,142,808 did so this week) of any other viable options. All we can do really is present some others to you, as not everybody will simply want to play it safe each week, heck, some don’t even own him… I know, I have one in my league. He’s dead last already.
All that said, Erling did not win in our picks in GW2, and in GW3 he only hauled 8 points for The Gallant Pioneer. However, this was enough for a draw with Matt and his Saka pick on 8 also, and only 1 more than Swirly who get 7 for each of Jackson and Rashord.
The good news though is that when peace broke out once more it lead to some great ideas about a new regular article, to sort of address the above issue. More news on that to come in GW5! For now, here are this week’s selections from our panel of experts. And Jamie Mc… 
#perhaps 
Init – Haaland v Fulham (H)
(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
I’ll keep this one as brief as is necessary. Let’s face it, it’s the FEAR isn’t it?! The fear that this guy has a hat-trick, or more, in his locker, and that locker can, and most probably will, break open at any given time. Now then, to add to this, City do have a habit of hammering a few teams early doors at home in recent seasons. The likes of Norwich (5-0), Arsenal (5-0), Bournemouth (4-0) and Forest (6-0) will all attest to this. Fulham, not that there’s anything wrong with them, do feel like they could be the sort of team added to this early season feeding frenzy that they tend to go on after a few sighters.
FEAR HIM!
Or just pick one of these below.
Gear – Salah v Villa (H)
(Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Perma-Captains are boring, aren’t they? Variety is the spice of life and for those of you that feel Haaland has hit a bit of a rough patch, maybe it’s time to spice it up a little!
After 13 points against Burnley, he’s delivered a paltry 2 and 4 points since.
For those of you who are considering alternatives, then I would suggest Mo Salah is the man for your armband. I personally went with this strategy in GW2, and whilst it proved to be only a small gain, it was a gain, nonetheless.
Mo has had a consistent, if somewhat uninspiring start to this season, with 5 points delivered in each game week thus far. In 8 games against Villa as a Liverpool player, Salah has 5 goals and 3 assists. Whilst you may think that Villa have had a strong start to the season, if you look closer, you may spot an opportunity here. They shipped 5 goals against Newcastle on the opening day and have since beaten Everton and Burnley. Could they concede a few verses Liverpool? I’d suggest they will. Could Salah be amongst the goals and assists? I’d suggest HE WILL.
Gear – Sterling v Forest (H)
(Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)
Whisper is quietly, but Sterling could be back. 2 goals and an assist last week, although this was against Luton Town. Still let’s look at the positives, if he keeps up this scoring rate of 0.66 goals per game, he’ll easily surpass this best scoring tally from 2019/20, of 20 goals. Granted its only really one game, but if there is one thing we know about FPL, it’s jump on form when you can (think Almirón last season).
He also has a lovely home fixture against Nottingham Forest, who it’s worth noting, he scored 3 goals against last season.
For those that do not own Raheem, maybe it’s time to considering a shrewd purchase and get ahead of the curve (he’s still only in 10.6% of teams).
Jamie Mc – Taiwo Awoniyi v Chelsea (A)
(Photo by Ash Donelon/ via Getty Images)
One of the age-old conflicting fantasy football dilemmas in my opinion is a player’s fixture in the game week over his form in previous game weeks.
Well I have looked at the fixtures in game week 4 and volunteered to the FF247 bosses to write a few words about a certain in form forward.
“Did you have drugs on your holiday?” said one of the esteemed writers.
“Just thought about someone not so obvious” was my reply.
“Might be worth writing about someone who anyone other than those not on drugs might actually captain” was the esteemed writers response.
“The proof of the pudding will be once game week 4 ends” was my response.
Esteemed writer double downed by suggesting that “if I captain him and he double digits then he will buy me 6 pints at the next meet up”.
The player in question scored in the last four consecutive games of last season which I accept is not too relevant and has started this season on fire by scoring away to Arsenal, home to Sheffield United and away to Manchester United.
I present to you; Nottingham Forest forward Taiwo Awoniyi (£6.5m with only 3.1% ownership).
Who cares that Chelsea will in all likely win and probably win quite handily this game week. I am sure that any Awoniyi owners would be quite delighted if Chelsea were to win with Forest scoring a goal or two in any defeat taking their chances on any Awoniyi goal involvement.
At the time of writing, 105,495 managers have transferred Awoniyi into their squad with 17,890 managers deciding to now go without.
For any managers considering transferring Awoniyi into their squad then a word of advice / caution, FPL Statistics has at the time of writing Awoniyi at 83.5% with only 19,148 nett transfers required for a £0.1m price increase.
Well Rosco my friend, I look forward to you buying the drinks!!!
As for me, I am not on drugs and will be captaining Haaland just like the vast majority of the other 91.3% of his owners. A home fixture at home to Fulham is just too good to turn down.
Good luck for the game week.
The confessional…
This is where we ask our entire writing team to tell us who they think they will pick this week…. and the answer is almost always Haaland.
DMC — That man Haaland
The Gallant Pioneer — Still crying in Holland…
Jamesimmo — Haaland
Ivan — 
Haaland
Swirly — Oooh, you’re Haaland
Matt — Haaland
Loud Atlas — Haaland
Smash — The Usual
Kop — Haaland
Rosco — Haaland
Ellefcee — 
That Nordic fella
Floydeth — 
Haaland
Init — Beto, like Haaland on steroids, vs Doncaster…
Gear — 
Haaland
Stone Frog — 
Haaland
OddDane — 
Erlingho Brautinho Haalando
Jamie Mc — 
Haaland
FPL Dizz — 
The Nordic Meat Shield
VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 4.
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Done Salah to Sterling. How does the team look? Is playing Baldock over Saliba a good move?
I prefer playing Saliba buddy
Looks good to me, If it were me I would play Baldock over Saliba this week, easier game out of the two.
+1 Everton have looked pretty poor upfront. High chances of manu scoring
G2G
Cheers guys. I think I will play Baldock. High chances of getting a CS. Saliba shall be out of the team soon anyways
Baldock.. has 0-0 written all over that game, United could lose, but i think they,ll score
Hey guys, hope you’re enjoying the transfer dateline more than I do. How does this lot looks? 1 FT 2.7m itb. Tempted to do Alvarez to Antonio as one week punt but I also like carrying 2 FT into int break.
I would just bank the transfer
+1 they could be a late transfer you’ll want and with 2 ft you but yourself in a nice place.
The starting 11 is fine and Alvarez could well get returns.
It’s just a matter of time before Pep Strikes. Here’s to Alvarez to start 4 consecutive matches
cheers guys
If I were you, would bank the transfer. Alvarez seems to have a place in Pep’s main line-up making him slightly less likely to be Peprotate rouletted.Antonio tends to blow hot and cold, Luton away may not be easy.
Just to mention, one point to take into account, if someone’s thinking whether to transfer in Maddison or Sterling. Unlike Maddison, Sterling is not selected to England squad against Ukraine and Scotland. Means fresh legs and less injury worries after the international break.
Very good call mate!
But whom to sell? Bruno, Saka, Mbeu are hold I guess, that leaves either of Rashford and Martinelli – both can be replaced with Sterling and Maddo, but its like replacing good players with good players.
When European football comes to play there will be rotation and minutes managed. Madders and Sterling won’t have this problem week in week out
Mbeumo I’d say
You have just convinced me Gavy!
What a UCL GROUP F PSG, Dortmund, AC Millan and Newcastle.
I’m in such a hole on total points that I might actually start to go against Haaland. I’m already drowning, so either I get a few surprise points going against the herd or I just continue on my already pitiful start. Couldn’t hurt?
I’m not sure, “couldn’t hurt” applies here!
Yeah, I’d have a look at the other 10 maybe…
Remember the season is a marathon and not a sprint. Still plenty of time to turn it around.
This week doesn’t feel like the time to go against the herd, just feels like unnecessary risk. A few shrewd transfers and you’ll be back in the mix
My score wasn’t too good over last 2 game weeks, I’ve already got rid of Gabriel to Romero. I have 0.2 in bank & 1 transfer. I’m 50/50 on using wild card & swapping salah & pedro out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
No need to wildcard mate.
Your bench is a bit light and Pedro not a guaranteed starter.
Nothing a few transfers won’t sort over the next few game weeks.
Jamie
+1
Thank you Jamie & Gear. I’m hoping pedro might get a start this week
+1 only addition would be to check Antonie Semenyo (Bournemouth), seems to be a guaranteed starter for them. The funds would likely be useful to upgrade the bench.