Fantasy Premier League Captain Picks Gameweek 27

Fantasy Premier League Captain Picks Gameweek 27

Welcome to Fantasy Premier League Captain Picks Gameweek 27. Surely nobody will be captaining a player who doesn’t wear the light blue of Manchester City this week???! They have a double gameweek to look forward to and whilst it’s a slightly sudden and unexpected one it is surely a prime one with it being against Sunderland and Stoke. Indeed you could make a case for it being the best one this season looking at the potential ones ahead and we suspect there will be a good few Triple Captain armbands waved around this week as a result. The only, and main, problem with that is of course the risk of rotation. City have two league games in four days followed swiftly by an FA Cup game at the weekend and then a huge Champions League one in midweek and then another league game the weekend after against Liverpool, meaning six games in nineteen days beginning last night, or just over one every three days! You pick them at your peril, all we can do is say which ones we would have assuming that they did actually play. However, if you do decide to not risk the light blue rotation, and who could forgive you, then don’t forget that there are actually some other options this week, and good ones too. We have tried to balance the article out accordingly and have three or four to pick from each side of the fence.

Ok so let’s start with those who don’t fancy riding the rotation risk…
Zlatan Ibrahimovic Bournemouth (H)
[three_fifth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fifth]When writing our Tips article ahead of GW1 I stated “I can’t stand Ibrahimovic, I never have and I never will”. I also said that I couldn’t deny his talents. So yes I expected him to do well at United but I didn’t expect him to do as well as he has done. He is United’s one truly world class player and he has already won them one trophy and I also expect him to secure the club a top 4 finish and possibly another trophy. My opinion of the Swede has also softened somewhat and while I’ll never be his biggest fan he’s a more likeable character than I’d previously given him credit for.

But that’s enough about me and Ibra, I’m supposed to be putting forward a case as to why you should captain him. Many fantasy managers benched Ibra last week ahead of his game against Bournemouth this week so I thought to myself that this would be an easy case to make. Defensively Bournemouth have made my task pretty easy, they’ve conceded 11 in their last four away games and if we look back a little further they’ve conceded 20 in their last eight away games. They have only kept two clean sheets away from home all season while they rank 7th worse for goal attempts conceded in their penalty area and 8th worse for goal attempts conceded from outside their area. Essentially they’re dire away from home. From an attacking point of view United are making me sweat a little. They’ve scored just five in their last four home games and 11 in their last eight. Over the season they rank 3rd for shots on target (home games) so they’re problem certainly isn’t creating the chances. While Ibra has been more clinical on his travels it’s worth noting that he leads the way for goal attempts on target a home. In effect it comes down to a team who creates lots of chances but takes a low % of them to a team who doesn’t defend very well. Fresh from their League Cup success and in the knowledge, that Liverpool continue to stutter I fully expect a Swedish masterclass at lunchtime on Saturday.

Diego Costa West Ham (A)
[three_fifth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fifth]In last week’s Tips article, I tried to make a case as to why you should have purchased either Harry Kane and Diego Costa…hopefully someone listened to me and purchased Harry Kane! This week I’m going to outline why you should captain one of them and I’ll start with Costa as on paper he’s got the easiest fixture. While I’m not sure Upton Park was ever what you’d call a fortress teams rarely looked forward to playing there particularly under floodlights. The same however cannot be said for the London Stadium where the Hammers have a record of 5-3-5. Their recent home form doesn’t make for great reading either, they’ve taken just 4pts from their last four games and have conceded eight in the process. I should point out that on the five occasions West Ham have won at home this season they have kept a clean sheet. Can you see them winning on Monday night? No neither can I. Chelsea haven’t been as free flowing away from home as they have been at the Bridge, in fact they’ve scored nearly twice as many at home as they have away, 36v19. They’ve struggled to create chances away from Stamford Bridge although they do rank 5th and they slip to 8th in terms of attempts on target. However it doesn’t appear to bother Costa where he plays, of the 16 goals he’s scored eight have come at home and eight away, while he has three assists at home vs two away. His underlying stats also suggest that Costa has no issue playing away from home as he ranks 2nd for penalty box touches and 3rd for attempts on goal. The Chelsea juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down and I wouldn’t be at all surprised should Costa score in a comfortable win on Monday night.

Harry Kane Everton (H)
[three_fifth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fifth]After tipping him last week Harry Kane certainly didn’t let me down as he plundered a hat-trick at home to hapless Stoke. When tipping him I noted that he hasn’t exactly been consistent this season and that his goals have come in clusters. Ignoring the penalty he scored in GW24 I’m going to be bold and suggest that Sunday’s hat-trick was the beginning of another cluster. Unfortunately history suggests that this will be a low scoring encounter with just 17 goals being scored in the last 10 games between the two sides. Everton’s recent away record would also suggest that goals will be at a premium, they’re unbeaten in their last four conceding just three times. It is however Spurs’ home form which raises interest in Kane. Their record at White Hart Lane this season is 11-2-0 scoring 30 goals, they’ve won their last eight scoring 24. Kane himself is a homer, he’s scored 12 at home compared to just five away from home. I’m not sure if my argument has been very convincing so let me throw one more stat at you. Kane has now scored 66 goals in 104 top flight games. He averages a goal every 127 minutes which puts him 3rd on the all-time list of PL strikers, behind Thierry Henry and a certain Argentinian I suspect may get a mention in this article!

And now for those who do… All in on City!
Well ok maybe not all in, let’s not forget that as a direct result of this DGW they then miss out in GW28 so you have to think carefully and balance your plans for that one against your ambitions for this. The strength of your bench along with your squad numbers for GW28 may well be key as to whether you can make the most of this one, or indeed choose to. Let’s take a look at the options for the armband should you want to…

Sergio Aguero
[three_fifth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fifth]
No surprise that Sergio tops our list of City picks. If we asked you back in GW1 who you would be most likely to put your precious Triple Captain armband on, given any DGW, the answer would probably have been Aguero. If we mentioned that the games themselves would be against a Sunderland side bottom of the league and a Stoke side who have conceded 4 on 6 occasions this season already and have almost exclusively capitulated against the top 6 teams then we’d bet you’d have bitten our hand off. Well here we present you with just that very opportunity. Dare you not take it? The argument FOR is basically all of the above plus the evidence of what he did to Monaco last week, proving once again that he is vital to City’s chances, if only Pep would let him be so. Another brace against Huddersfield reserves will only strengthen his case. It matters not the opposition at this point, it’s more that he’s on the pitch (always helps, Pep) and that he’s in rude health and form. The argument AGAINST? Probably just rotation. It’s difficult to analyse his recent stats as he was of course jettisoned for a higher being just recently but that didn’t last long as the promised one was struck down in true Biblical fashion and tradition. With a metatarsal injury.

The Others!
Would you trust any other City player with the Triple Armband knowing that you could alternatively wait for say a Sanchez or a Costa or an Ibra to land on a nice DGW? Probably not. But would you captain one? Probably, yes. Now the main question here is why you aren’t just jumping on Kun but there will be some who either just plain don’t fancy it or just aren’t in a situation to bring him in without some major team surgery. Or some combination of the above two. Is he really worth a -8 only to see him rested in one of them? That’s the chance you take and it’s not a decision we can make for you.

If you don’t have him then perhaps you will simply look to bring in one of the more affordable midfield options and we think that there are three main candidates who you should be looking at here –

Raheem Sterling
[three_fifth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fifth]
At just £7.8m Sterling is certainly attainable for most and he too is in good form with his two assists against Huddersfield adding to a goal and an assist against Monaco as well as 4 assists and a goal in his last 4 Premier League games. So that’s 7 assists and 2 goals in his last 6 outings. That’s the sort of form that gets you game time under Pep and as such we think he will probably play both games. The most likely scenario is that he then gets rested in the FA Cup game ahead of the Monaco tie such is his importance to the cause right now. He’d probably be our pick for the armband out of the City contingent if you didn’t have Aguero.

Leroy Sane
Sane seems to have settled in finally and is showing the sort of form that he did in Germany which persuaded City to fork out £37m for his services. After very few appearances early on and the odd substitute cameo he has now begun to rack up the appearances as he has started 7 of their last 8 games in all competitions and in that sequence he has managed 4 goals and 3 assists. A bit like Sterling then he feels like part of Pep’s main furniture now and we expect he will be handed starts in both the Premier League games and at £7.5m he’s even more affordable.

Kevin De Bruyne
Unlike Sane, KDB has been getting the minutes. Like him though he only seems to have come to life very recently. His stats, his overall positioning and his price are what puts him as basically our 4th choice though. He has 2 goals and assist in his last 4 Premier League games which has somewhat brought him back to our attention and he’s probably been more consistent over the course of the season than the aforementioned three players with 4 goals and 12 assists in total. He is playing deeper than the others though as they all basically make up the main front three at the moment. His price is much steeper than his two ‘midfield’ compatriots at £10.5m too meaning that actually bringing him in is more of a task in itself. Given his steady consistency and that he is on corners and set-pieces though, we would captain him if you already had him and had none of the other three to pick from. We shall leave you with that emphatic endorsement!

Thanks for reading Fantasy Premier League Captain Picks Gameweek 27. This article was written by Kop Warrior and inittowinit

Follow @AdamalcockFF247

Follow @Kenlyons79

The Tracker in full…