Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 5
Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 5.
The writers for the week gone by had picked out three seemingly brilliant picks for the captaincy. Spoilt for choice we were.
A week is a long time in politics – and an eternity in FPL! Frustration for one, sheer disbelief for the other!
Erling Haaland (Swirly) was the clear and obvious winner – a huge 28 points better than Mohamed Salah (Rosco, second) and 32 better than Gabriel Jesus (Stone Frog, third) – so well done Swirly, we hope you picked him yourself?! (He didn’t….)
The same names undoubtedly will reappear, so join us as we dust down and focus quickly on Tuesday, as we look at the best bets for Gameweek 5.
GP – Mohamed Salah – vs Newcastle United (H)
In a forgiving mood are you?
If you haven’t already sold him, firstly, well done! You’ve recognised that the 9-0 v Bournemouth will go down in FPL history as the single biggest WTF moment in its history. Morosely fitting for the FPL game’s greatest ever player to be grabbing even this sort of headline. You have to laugh. (Probably).
You were correct to captain him then, and you’ll be correct for captaining him now, as Eddie Howe’s Newcastle roll into Anfield.
No one on the face of the earth can explain, or could have predicted, that there would be 18 (EIGHTEEN – E I G H T E E N!) goal involvements in Liverpool’s match against Bournemouth and Salah wasn’t involved in any. Strength in numbers as almost everyone captained him but this must be the most ‘comforting’ captain fail ever. You can’t really get upset about it. You have to laugh (Probably).
Yeah, so he missed two great chances which on another day he would have gobbled up and this only lends to the extraordinary events of Saturday – highlighted in his BPS score of -5. ‘Minus’ anything for Salah? You have to laugh. (Probably).
He is in the correct places for the chances, is in a team which will be as high as a kite now and he will be doubly determined to show he’s still top dog.
This is Newcastle’s first big road test and Salah did score in the corresponding fixture last season.
Let’s slap the armband on him and back the boy, come on, we know he’s going to respond, but the question is, how many goals equals redemption?
Rosco – Gabriel Jesus – vs Aston Villa (H)
As with game weeks 3 and 4, the captaincy will likely come down to a three-horse raise again this game week, as Jesus once more goes up against the premiums Salah and Haaland.
2, 19, 4, 1. As far as sequences go it’s no Fibonacci; it has no real rhyme, reason or predictability. For anyone who hasn’t realised, that’s the 4-game FPL scores of Gabriel Jesus, the highest-owned FPL player (81.9% and still rising) ever.
So, with such unpredictability, how can I in good conscience push the narrative that he is the man to hand your captains armband this week?
Well, it’s a mix of poor opponents (sorry Swirly) a high likelihood that he will play substantial minutes, and despite his lack of FPL returns, he’s looked very good in pretty much every match this season. The stats also support ‘the eye test’. No other forward comes close to Jesus’ 44 penalty area touches (Haaland comes in second with 29), and whilst Mitrovic (19) and Haaland (18) have had more than Jesus’ 14 goal attempts, there is of course more than just goals to Jesus’ game. Indeed, only Ivan Toney (8) has created more chances than Jesus (7) thus far this season.
I’ll be honest, Haaland is probably the best pick on paper this week, but will he play? Salah is ‘due’, and there will be no denying he’ll want to make up for his lack of attacking returns in their 9-0 victory over Bournemouth, but an Unbeaten Magpies side won’t make it easy for him. Jesus is up against a Villa side who have looked far from convincing this season. The Villians visit the Emirates having lost 3 of their 4 opening fixtures and I can’t see anything other than another victory for the Gunners. Jesus was unlucky to come away with just a point at the weekend, this may sway his owners from giving him the captaincy, but it shouldn’t, I expect him to be on the team sheet and more importantly on the score sheet.
Init – Haaaaaaaalllllaaaaaand! vs Nottingham Forest (H)
Ahem, sorry, just trying out the new Agueroooooooo thing there in my mind. It’s certainly something we should all get used to hearing, and sooner rather than later too, as I have a feeling that records will tumble with this guy fairly quickly.
Initial thoughts aside then, I probably could swagger in to this article by pointing out that I was the only one on last week’s ‘confessional’ to plump for Haaland. That’s really not my style though, so I absolutely won’t be pointing that out here.
Joking aside, I was genuinely worried about the pick, well ok not the pick itself but the damage the alertanives could do, let me explain why…
Firstly I was concerned that Salah could easily go off on one against Bournemouth in a Liverpool style backlash. Said backlash duly occured and it has to be said that it was more by pure luck (fluke?) than judgement that one didn’t blow up in my face spectacularly. I don’t think I’ve ever been more relieved / pleased / surprised that someone who I actually own didn’t get any real FPL points.
Secondly I hadn’t been able to follow the 1st half going-ons on Saturday but I did catch the half-time scores. When I saw ‘Liverpool 5’ I was initially relieved / pleased / surprised to see no Salah involvement, as I was sort of expecting that if they had scored 5 then he would already be 30 odd points to the good. And then it dawned on me that this one could be massive and that I was unlikely to get away with it for much longer. And then I saw the City score and my heart sank….
I began this section by deciding not to mention the reason why I was so out of touch on Saturday but in all honesty I’m still on a bit of a high (no pun intended) from it, and no I wasn’t on drugs at the Leeds / Reading festival! At HT on Saturday I was about half way back down Mount Snowdon, about 6 hours after I’d began ascending it earlier that morning. I was probably slightly delirious by that point and so I wasn’t quite believing what I was seeing on my phone at that point either! I appreciate it’s no Everest (I’m not that mad… yet) but it’s still the biggest mountain in England and Wales and a bit of a beast at 3,500 odd ft. I wasn’t even particularly doing it for me, it was with somebody less able than myself who had it on their ‘bucket list’ and so I was simply there to help / encourage / drag them up it. And I’m rightly proud that we made it, as I know many who are ‘more able’ who have tried it and given up along the way.
Anyway an hour or so later and my worst fears had not been realised, in fact they had gone completely the other way. Salah had somehow blanked and Haaland had gone on one.
The reason I had gone for Erling over Salah, gut over head if you like, is more pertinent here to the article. I had pretty much decided to perma-captain him this season after what he did to West Ham in GW1. But I didn’t follow through. I was being swayed by other factors, like his actual output in GW2, and the form / fixtures of others. I was determined to double down and simply follow my own path as I do genuinely feel that he can and will score in any given game. And multiple times. He’s scarily good, he’s playing in the best team, he’s a monster already but the best thing is that he’s a baby one and Pep will mould him into a fully grown one, game by game.
And of course he’s finally got ‘Phil’ to “play the ball to me”. Which helps. Although he’s probably quite persuasive in such matters…
Deforestation ahead on Wednesday.
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. Or don’t. Confused yet?
DMC — Erling Braut Haaland
The Gallant Pioneer — Mohamed Salah
Jamesimmo — Erling Braut Haaland
Ivan — Erling Braut Haaland
Swirly — Erling Braut Haaland
Horse — Erling Braut Haaland
Matt — Trent Alexander-Arnold
Loud Atlas — Erling Braut Haaland
Smash — Erling Braut Haaland
Kop — Mohamed Salah
Rosco — Gabriel Jesus
Elleffcee — Mohamed Salah
Floydeth — Erling Braut Haaland
Init — Erling Braut Haaland
Carolyn — Erling Braut Haaland
Gear — Erling Braut Haaland
Stone Frog — Erling Braut Haaland
OddDane — Erling Braut Haaland
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Ok, was going to do Zinchenko->Saliba, but is the fact he isnt in the predicted line-ups a cause to maybe bring in Gabriel instead? Or is Saliba still worth bringing in?
I’m sure he’ll be fine
You think Saliba will play then Gear?
Hi all. I have 2 FT and 0.5 ITB. I know James misses out for this game but I’m not going to get rid now. I hate burning a transfer but I’m actually stumped this week. Obviously Andreas and Bailey are sort of weak links but I can’t get rid of them without upsetting the balance of the team etc.
Patterson to Webster maybe as a more solid option?
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Good to go?
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