Fantasy Premier League Captain Picks Gameweek 21
Welcome to Fantasy Premier League Captain Picks Gameweek 21. Let me begin with wishing all our loyal and active site members and readers a Happy New Year. Hope you were all surrounded by your dear and near ones as we all ushered the beginning of 2017. But that shouldn’t deter us from what we have been religiously doing since the beginning of August, with half of the season behind US and the games coming thick and fast with a few international breaks here and there, it becomes of utmost importance how you and me target the second half of the season. For some it might be to top their own private leagues or for some it might be to do a personal best in overall rankings. With our 2nd wildcard now play now, it would be much more important to get your captain right each and every week (we all know that doesn’t happen) and use that Wildcard effectively to get you where you want to be. Enough said, let’s move on to the Captaincy Picks for this week:
Alexis Sanchez (away vs Swansea)
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[/three_fifth]Ending 3 matches without scoring a goal, Sanchez was able to deliver some much needed FPL points to his owners in GW20 in the comeback at Bournemmouth. Somehow (and like always) Arsenal have started to struggle to keep cleansheets with them somehow scraping wins and draws, with the gorgeous Frenchman Giroud saving them recently. With an away trip to Swansea (who lost to Hull in the Cup last weekend!), expect Arsenal to be among the goals with Alexis clearly the standout candidate. As mentioned earlier another Arsenal prospect can be Oliver Giroud for his recent knack of chipping in goals at the fag end of matches of late, the only problem with him is his game time being handed to him by Wenger which should be definitely more than what he currently gets considering his form of late. The potential return of Theo Walcott could potentially see Giroud starting on the bench again. The last time these two teams met in October at the Emirates stadium it ended with a 3-2 win to the Gunners with goals chipped in by Walcott and Mesut Ozil.
Deli Ali (home vs West Brom)
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[/three_fifth]One of the most exciting prospects in England, Deli Ali has somehow managed to again prove this season why he is definitely one of the finest talents out there and why he should command attention. With six goals in his last three games and with 10 goals for the season so far, he seems to have stolen team-mate Harry Kane’s thunder! With a home fixture to West Brom, it makes it even more compelling to give him the arm band. It is interesting to note the last time these two had met in October, it was a draw with this man himself saving Spurs from the brink of defeat. West Brom’s habit of keeping a clean sheet is worse than many people realise – they have only kept three all season with just one since GW3. Therefore it’s reasonable to expect goals and who to better to captain than the hottest property in FPL right now?
Sergio Aguero (away vs Everton)
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[/three_fifth]Kun’s return from suspension has seen him hardly turn up vs Liverpool, come off the bench at half time vs Burnley to score a goal which could easily have been given as an own goal and then get on the scoresheet in the Cup romp vs West Ham courtesy of Yaya smashing the ball into him. So why the justification of handing Kun the captaincy? Despite his erratic form before and after suspension, Kun remains Kun, one of the few FPL players with the potential to make a game-week on his own. We’ve all witnessed the damage he can do by not owning him, let alone not captaining him. With City dropping to fourth and Pep suddenly finding himself under pressure, maybe it’s time to return to the tried and tested method of starting one’s best player. City are unbeaten in their last seven meetings with the Toffees and having been dumped out of the Cup at home by Leicester, confidence in the Everton camp is at best, fragile – not what you need when the game’s most lethal predator is in town.
Jermaine Defoe (home vs Stoke)
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[/three_fifth]Now we accpet it’s not normal to recommend or indeed to consider skippering a Sunderland player. The Black Cats are of course, perennial relegation battlers, who normally find just enough to scrape themselves out of the drop zone just in time, following seven months of dire performances. We have of late seen some sort of early recovery from Moyesie’s Monsters and this week they play host to enigmatic Stoke. Mark Hughes selected a strong team for last week’s home Cup tie vs Wolves….which they went on to lose 2-0. So with Sunderland battling and Stoke flailing, will Defoe be your honoured armband wearer this weekend? The striker has scored 11 goals and assisted 3 this season, that’s 14 in total (for those who struggle with basic arithmetic) – bear in mind Sunderland has scored 19 all season, it’s a fair assumption that Defoe will be involved…it’s also a safe bet that Stoke won’t keep a clean sheet – they have only kept two on the road this season.
Thank you for reading my Captain Picks. Four good candidates above, will you choose one of them or someone else?
Good luck, and Happy New Year!
*** NEW ARTICLE ***
Capo is live and big thanks to Jeet for this week’s effort. Do you agree with Jeet’s choices or are you tempted with someone else?
I’d take Giroud if I owned him. Probably Sanchez given as I don’t. That’s unless I can magic up some transfers from somewhere.
The only problem with Giroud is his playing time Adam.. Fancy him starting this week?
I don’t agree with Aguero (away vs Everton, Everton is good defense).
For me, 5 players such as:
1. Alexis Sanchez (away vs Swansea)
2. Kane (Home vs West Brom)
3. Costa (Away vs Leicester).
4. Ibrahimovic (Home vs Liverpool)
5. Jermaine Defoe (home vs Stoke)
Cheers Jeet. Great read mate. It’ll be Sanchez for me anyway!! Plus he’s the only one you’ve mentioned I actually have haha
Hahaha! Sure mate. Thanks for the read! Good luck for the week!
Why No mention of Giroud? Sanchez no longer plays as a striker and that was what had him see amazing returns in the past. As a winger he will still score but usually strikers score more than mids. Not saying Sanchez shouldn’t be mentioned as he’s the obvious pick but everyone knows that. Bit disappointed with the article in all honesty all I see are routine picks I could have told people to Croatian these players. I think people come to this site for more reasons not just for news and advice from professionals but also for some ideas outaide the box as well.
On another note Aguero’s playtime may be comeomised so everyone watch out for that.
Giroud I can understand but, but, no Rooney??
Rooney needs to prove himself again. My praise for him was when he was in form and scoring before he got injured. Although he seems to be in form recently he must prove to be a starter and a consistent goal scorer.
Simply put it’s Sanchez -> Giroud, all day every day.
Hang on a second, I only read the first part of that crap before posting but as for the rest of it, what **** are you shoveling. What players were you potentially expecting to see?
Differentiators. Defoe wasn’t a bad call. I wouldn’t call some constructive feedback ***** but each to their own
Lol, constructive criticism, is that what it’s called these days.
Think **** is a considerably more fitting description than “constructive criticism,” lol :ban:
It is what it is.
Last 4 weeks show Giroud having better returns and is over £3 cheaper but no
Sanchez > Giroud
Waxys, tell me I’m wrong but Giroud is mentioned in the Alexis piece, if you bothered to read it. The point is that, at time of writing, Walcott was expected to return and there was a big question mark if Giroud would start, after already starting three games in six days, following a lengthy period out. There is nothing worse than one’s Captain starting from the bench, which is why Giroud isn’t headlined – yet his form dictated he was mentioned.
Re looking for differentials – in my view, and I haven’t discussed this with the rest of the team, or indeed others on here, but differentials should really appear in Tips, rather than Capo. Only those looking for a punt or a gamble or those chasing down a lead tend to take a risk with their Capo pick. I agree there is a place for a “Punt of the Week” (no jokes please, it’s too easy) and maybe even that could appear in Capo, but not a whole list of differentials. That would just lead to those who followed the articles in losing ground in their leagues and rank, a risky Capo tends not to pay off over the course of a number of weeks – therefore that in itself would make us look stupid as a site and lack credibility.
Just my thoughts.
Waxys, everyone who writes articles for this site has personal lives outside of here and makes an effort to contribute to this great community, and as such it is in very bad taste to come on here and directly state that you are disappointed with the article. If you believe that you could have done equivalent/better yourself then why not start your own site and show us?
I disagree. It’s not about me doing a better job. If I wrote for a site I would welcome criticism so I can improve I never said it took effort or the article wasn’t written well but more differentiators would be nice so we’re not all doing the same thing.
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Lovely article Jeet! Oddly I feel Alli can’t keep it up at that pace. Or can he? If I had him I’d be tempted though.
Sanchez for me this week too, but would also ponder Kun, for the exact reasons you mention, if I had him.
Cheers mate.
Thanks for the read mate. It’s just one of those weeks where you feel Ali might not score and he proves us all wrong like how Capoue did in the first half of the season. Despite scoring, he was still benched by a majority of people week after week! All the best for the coming week! Cheers
Many thanks Jeet, great article. Was looking at Giroud or Zlatan myself but I’ll cap Sanchez now out of pure solidarity given the bad taste someone’s “constructive criticism” gave me! :poof:
Grow up!
The irony.
“Was looking at Giroud or Zlatan myself but I’ll cap Sanchez now out of pure solidarity given the bad taste someone’s “constructive criticism” gave me! :poof:”
Your comment seems petty to me
Appreciate the honesty, thanks for the read and good luck for the week