Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 8
Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 8
Mitrovic v Nottingham Forest (A), by Stone Frog
The Fulham talisman has made a great start to the season with 6 goals in 6 games and has gained 7 bonus points along the way. It could have been more, but for a missed penalty against Wolves and if that had gone in, he would have returned in every game so far. The stats back-up his strong start, with most shots (27), equal most shots on target (15) and 2nd for expected goals.
The Friday night opponents, Forest, have not made a strong start defensively, having conceded the most shots (104) and the 3rd most goals (14), including 3 to newly promoted Bournemouth last week. In the corresponding fixture last October, Fulham won 4-0 at the City Ground, including a brace from you know who. The Serbian has been a right handful this season and I wouldn’t be surprised for him to add to his tally this week.
Haaland v Wolves (A), by Rosco
(Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)
The last time I chose to write about Haaland I didn’t really think it necessary to write anything, instead choosing to use my time creating an infographic which took way longer to produce than a couple of succinct paragraphs would have taken. What’s changed since then? Not a lot. Well, not a lot in terms of me needing to convince anyone that Haaland is the best captain pick. In real-world terms, a lot has changed. We have a new king, we’ve lost a queen but most importantly (I jest somewhat) in FPL terms we’ve had a game week blank and we’ve got another (albeit not wholesale) this very game week.
Haaland has of course done what many thought he would; score lots of goals. And he’s not done what many feared; been rested or rotated. So the question shouldn’t be why you should captain Haaland but why would you captain anyone else? It is of course a bit dull, and in truth, if you take into account EO (Effective ownership for those who have not let this suck the fun out of FPL) then captaining him does very little for your overall rank or mini-league position. One thing it does do is protect you from those brutal captain fails, variance can be a real mother f@cker. So, In some ways, he’s made the game a lot less volatile, which for some is a blessing, for others a curse.
So there you have it, if you want an easy life, captain Haaland, if you like to do FPL on hard mode simply choose someone else. It really is that simple. Are therebetter candidates? Maybe. Will you captain them? Probably not. My advice is to read what the guys have written, pick the best one as your VC and follow the herd. Moooooooooo.
Son vs Leicester (H), by OddDane
Alright this next one will be a short one and, a bit surprising to say, an unconventional pick. It’s Son Heung-Min (£11.7) from Spurs.
Now before you roll your eyes at me, take a quick look at his last two seasons’ results. Good, and now the opposition? Alright then.
Son faces off against Leicester who are currently rocking the absolute bottom of the league with just one point. I repeat, ONE MEASLY point. Not only that, but they’ve also conceded 16 goals over six games – this is only “bettered” by Bournemouth (thanks to LFC’s 9-0 game, mind you!).
Right then, let’s move on to the elephant in the room, Son’s current form. He’s returned only one assist which is downright shocking, but honestly whilst he hasn’t been his clinical own self, he has also been unlucky with a few games (hit the bar vs Fulham and the post vs. Wolves). His underlying expected goal contribution stats so far is 0.55 non-penalty xGoal+Assists (npxG+A) according to fbref.com. Whilst this is not as good as last season (0.73 npxG+A), it is still in fair comparison to that of 2019-20 (0.55) and 2020-21 (0.53).
Son also came off at the 72’ mark vs. Sporting this week and, in my view, is likely to start against Leicester come this Saturday. So what do you say, give him a last shout or not?
At any rate, and just in case, you may want to wait with your decision until closer to deadline to see if any comments from Conte or early leaks give any guidance.
Good luck!
Isak vs Bournemouth (H), by DMC
Alexander, the Isak
My fellow panellists (one of at least!) will have tried to convince you to captain Haaland but, is that really the way to go this week?
Well, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, who knows? What I do know is that Wolves are yet to lose at home this year and City have just had a midweek game in which they had to dig deep to overcome a Dortmund side that is very far away from the glory days of reaching a UCL final. Sure the Norwegian beast scored again and in emphatic style but that’s his 7th game in 25 days including 6 starts and 3 ninety minutes appearances. Will this take its toll against a Wolves team that despite not being able to score goals (they are joint bottom with 3) are very good at not conceding them (best in the league with only 4), especially at home (1)?
Well, if you are open to give other players some consideration you could do worse than Isak. There’s only one Alexander, Fulham fans chant. But that’s not true, as Bournemouth fans are about to find out, as our friend Isak shares the first name with the Serbian powerhouse. He doesn’t offer a great goalscoring record throughout his career but he’s a very talented player and has hit the ground running at Newcastle with two goals at Anfield on his debut. Ok, only one counted but that was the closest of offsides ever given by VAR and does not erase what he did afterwards to score.
He’s up against Bournemouth who sit bottom of the table for goals conceded overall (18) and of course for goals conceded away from home (15). Now I appreciate those numbers need context as 9 of those were shipped in only one game, but, even if you take those away, they still conceded 4 at the Etihad and 2 at Forest – who themselves had only scored twice before that game. New manager bounce, I hear? Well, that’s the thing, they haven’t signed one yet. Granted Gary O’Neil, the interim manager, has nicked two good results in his two games in charge but let’s not get carried away as these were a 0-0 against Wolves (who can’t score, remember?) and a 2-3 Championship thriller against Forest (who also can’t score, better said, couldn’t score until they met B´mouth).
Newcastle, on the other hand, despite not being too expansive, have really made a good account of themselves as they’ve had a very tough start to the season coming up against the four best defences in the league in the form of Wolves (4), Brighton (5), City (6) and Liverpool (6) and also Palace whom are no mugs either. The only game they had against clearly lower opposition was at home against Nottingham Forest and they won, 2-0.
Now Isak was not around on that occasion but he is now and he is looking sharp and direct so a haul is on the cards. If you can buy him, I suggest you do so as Newcastle’s fixtures are about to turn good and if you do so you might as well give him the armband and climb those rankings while others see Haaland blank! Maybe.
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 an Antoine Griezmann contract but this is their initial gut feeling based upon who they actually own.
DMC — Haaland
Jamesimmo — Haaland
Ivan — Mitrovic
Swirly — Haaland
Horse — Haaland
Matt — Haaland
Loud Atlas — Haaland
Smash — Haaland
Kop — Haaland
The Gallant Pioneer — ?
Rosco — Haaland
Ellefcee — Haaland
Floydeth — Haaland
Init — Haaland
Carolyn — ?
Gear — Haaland
Stone Frog — Haaland
OddDane — Haaland
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