Fantasy Premier League Captain Picks Gameweek 35
Welcome to Fantasy Premier League Captain Picks Gameweek 35. Well, woe betide the following unlucky players that I’m recommending in this article, as 3 of my last 5 picks were Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sadio Mane and Seamus Coleman, all of whom have since suffered a fairly nasty season-ending injury. There’s not long left of this one now, in fairness, which means time’s running out for us to catch that irritating mate who sits just above us in our mini-leagues: that process has to start with a great choice of captain! There is (in my meagre opinion) no stand-out option for this weekend, which will ensure a wide variety of captains across the boards, quickly followed by plenty of heartache across the FPL lands. Perhaps we should ask Joey Barton who he’s captaining? No doubt he’s already blown his ‘All Out Attack’ whilst out on the training ground. I bet Michael Keane was having none of it… right. Let’s crack on.
Christian Benteke vs Burnley (H)
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[/three_fifth]There’s arguably no better place to start our search than with last DGW’s hero for many. I can’t say Burnley are quite as bad as Liverpool but another brace may well be on the cards here. The Clarets are rock-bottom of the away-form table and have conceded a grotesque amount of goals on their travels.
One potential downfall is that Burnley, unlike Liverpool, didn’t squander £32 million to have him warm their bench; I doubt Christian is feeling quite as fired-up as he was against his old teammates on Sunday afternoon. Palace have also taken an incredible 19 points from the last 24 available (exactly doubling their tally for the season in less than a quarter of their total games played!) so they may also be lacking motivation in general: they’re safer than Walcott’s hairstyle choices now.
Form: 7
Fixture: 9
Explosiveness: 7
Sergio Aguero vs Middlesbrough (A)
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[/three_fifth]This man just cannot be left out of any captaincy article that I write. Usually it’s been a case of “why *not* Aguero this weekend?” but his name hasn’t carried that sort of omnipotent weight for much of this grueling season. I’m just going to make it clear now that he hasn’t actually got double digits in his last 12 starts… not since November! That last occasion was, funnily enough, a 12-point haul away against Burnley: a very tough place to go. Boro, like Burnley, have conceded less than 20 goals at home so far but I think Aguero can make the difference for City in this clash.
Sergio scored in the FA Cup defeat against Arsenal and should be ready after a fierce midweek battle with United for a Champions League spot (although I don’t actually know how that game pans out as I type this!) and can be so explosive… he has (currently) scored in all but 1 of his last 7 games too. I will struggle to resist his allure once again.
Form: 6
Fixture: 7
Explosiveness: 9
Marcus Rashford vs Swansea (H)
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[/three_fifth]Similarly, given my lack of knowledge of how the Manchester derby pans out, it was hard to include this young man. It was even harder when I recalled his lack of game time against Burnley in the previous game. It was especially hard when I recalled the recent response that The Swans gave against Stoke on Saturday afternoon. However, when you look at your team’s fixtures this week, if Rashford is in there then it’s probably he who jumps out as your obvious captain for the weekend.
Swansea haven’t won an away game for over 3 months. Ibra has, as mentioned in his obituary above, departed from the United striker scene for now. Rotation could still be an issue, but United have a full 4 days between this game and their clash with Celta Vigo in the Europa League, so there is a good chance of Marcus getting a 60/70 minute opportunity to run at Mawson and Fernandez in this Sunday lunchtime kick-off.
If you can afford to take the risk (or, perhaps more realistically, simply *need* to take the risk!) then I think Rashford could be your answer. His confidence is only second to Joey whilst sat on a 20-fold accumulator these days.
Form: 5
Fixture: 9
Explosiveness: 6
Harry Kane vs Arsenal (H)
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[/three_fifth]All you have to do here is look at his recent home-game record. He has, in his last 3 starts at The Lane, averaged an insane 15 points per game. That barely decreases to 13.6 points per game if you sample his last 5 home starts instead! None of those games were against opposition as ‘good’ as Arsenal — except for West Brom, Boro, Stoke, Everton and Bournemouth — but Harry is certainly no stranger to scoring against us Gooners.
The main reason for him not having an ‘8’ or ‘9’ out of 10 form rating is due to his injury lay-off that nestled within those recent home games. His penalty duty secures him the title of being one of the ‘safest bets’ (even for Barton) this weekend, regardless of the fixtures, as Spurs will be looking to cement what has been their most successful season since colour TV and the birth of Iwobi’s grandma.
Form: 7
Fixture: 6
Explosiveness: 8
Eden Hazard vs Everton (A)
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[/three_fifth]Everton have been quite literally unstoppable at home so far this year: they’ve won 8 out of 8 at Goodison Park since Koeman got his international present-delivering duties out of the way and have only conceded 6 goals in the process. Bournemouth (see King below) were responsible for 3 of those! So, with all that said, why on Earth go with Hazard this weekend? Stay tuned to find out.
Welcome back. He has 4 goals in his last 4 appearances in the Premier League and recently dazzled when he came off the bench against Spurs in the FA Cup: his influence is of such greatness that, whenever he’s amongst Chelsea’s goals, he rarely fails to claim either 2 or all 3 of the bonus points on offer.
Eden’s away success has, admittedly, been mixed. He’s put in 10-point (or better) away performances against Southampton, West Ham and Bournemouth so far, also with a fair few 5-10 pointers shows chucked in there for good measure. That’s not exactly great going from him, though, not when compared to some chronic away scorers like Sanchez… all that I can say is, it’s almost never a bad idea to captain a player of Hazard’s quality, and this perfect home record in 2017 must come to an end for Everton at some point. Chelsea do also have a *slight* incentive to win this game…
Form: 8
Fixture: 4
Explosiveness: 7
Finally, I think Joshua King, playing away but against a dire Sunderland team, also deserves a mention for this weekend. He offers a promising differential if you (a) need it and (b) are unfazed by the comparatively early 3pm kick-off.
All the best!
Thanks for reading Fantasy Premier League Captain Picks Gameweek 35. This article was written by Jamesimmo
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Thanks to James for his take on the best options for the armband this weekend.
James, why didn’t you include Negredo??? 😉
Negredo and captain shouldn’t be in same sentence EVER
Unfortunately I’ve found that out the hard way!
After reading this article I kind a feel sorry for myself for how stupid I am having chosen Negredo over Benteke !
Thanks James!
Awesome and very logical tips !!
Kun for me.
Not stupid HL. Other options had their risks too and he actually looked safer fixture wise. It’s Boro, of course, and that possibly could’ve shaded you away (it did for me) but hindsight is a wonderful thing. DGWs are what they are and of course the Negredo call caused some casualties all round but had Gaston not been stupid (he’s the stupid) who knows if we wouldn’t be calling you a genius. It wasn’t a stupid choice, in my view. Don’t do that to yourself! And don’t choose Kun without knowing if Jesus has comeback from the dead. If there’s a spot at risk, that is the one.
I must say… Kop, mate, you’ve got me stumped! Negredo and Downing should’ve been joint first.
Brilliant write-up thanks James, I may go with Gabbiadini but you have made a solid case for each of the above…and Kane always scores vs Arsenal!
Cookie: cheers, mate, it’d be awful to back against Arsenal but I really am tempted given their home form!
James, I’m sure I’m right in saying that Kane has scored in all 5 NLDs he has played in.
Yep…..
Cheers James! Think my WC will be activated after tonight’s games so I think a few of your choices will be in my team.
can’t keep up with you Mitro!!
I know – slight risk that hazard going up tonight could screw up some of my plans – every penny counts 😉
Got my WC team down to these two options!
Both are very strong Mitro. Would you consider Cech for Courtois just to have another dgwer in 36 and then use the FT for 37?
I see you always have Evans in your WC teams which I suppose works as an enabler but given WBA’s fixtures I can see him ending up on a 2 pointer anyway. In that sense, have you considered a sgw enabler with better prospect of a CS like Holgate for instance? Would also give you another 0.4.
Benalouane is covering for Morgan so he’s a risk, as you know, which means my comment is still valid for the 2nd team.
agree 100% with DMC re Holgate and Benalouane
Cheers DMC – you have made some good points especially the cech idea! Didn’t really consider that option
Better?
Stong team Mitro.You have a serious squad value.Falling millions behind to replicate that team.
Hi Mitro, yeah it is. Just let me say that I’m not necessarily advocating we should look for sgw enablers.
Just saying that in case we can’t find a killer XV and find ourselves with a dgw filler just because he has two games, that is when we should look for a sgw with better chances for pts. This is the case between Evans-Holgate. Not sure why you ended up with Evans in the first place though! ?
Anyway, what I’m saying is that if you can manage a different approach to have XV with a good chance of points than I’d prefer it! Better said than done, I know, but you now ‘only’ have 13 dgwers which isn’t enough in my book for a WC36/BB37 strategy!
Confusing?
Mitro, cheers, mate. Your potential WC squads look good. It’s very tempting…
My team value’s been stuck in the 105m-ish region for a while now. You’re sorted!
It’s just causing me a major headache! Really want to activate it now
Nice one James – Kane for me.
DMC, thanks, you can’t go far wrong with that choice. Not when he’s playing at home.
Thanks for the articles ads, they seem to be getting more and more important as we near the season’s end, fingers crossed I’m not a GW late in giving the (c) to Benteke but surely it won’t be as disappointing a ride as the Negredo train was in 34.
I have shipped a 50 point lead in one gameweek to now find myself 5-10 points behind and I am in need of help….Negredo and Zaha in particular were a disaster but I need to try and get back….
Ive tripple captain and bench boost still remaining
Any advice is greatly appreciated for this squad
Friend to Holgate(check his status tho)
Lose Walker and Valencia for guaranteed starters.
Try to fit Hazard/Sanchez or both.
Negredo to Gabi?
Cheers
Im thinking gabbiadini for negredo and possibly amat for a gauranteed starter
Amar for Stephens could be an option
I’d take a hit this GW and bring in double Saints coverage with Amat and Negredo going for Yoshi/Stephens and Gabbiadini, you need a nailed defender in now with Nyom/Amat not starting and with Valencia being such a rotation risk so making that extra FT for a defender with a double DGW and who will be useful for the BB so making that extra FT this week seems worthwhile alongside Negredo which shouldn’t need explaining.
Cheers Andy
Gabbiadini for Negredo seems a definite
I was looking at Cedric for Amat as he has a bit more of a threat in gw36 when they play arsenal and liverpool
The only issue with cedric is that if i do that i wont have the funds to do firmino to sanchez for arsenals two dgws
The central pairing of Yoshi/Stephens are far less likely to see any of Puel’s rotation (He will be rotating if the Christmas period is anything to go by) so I’d stick with them, next week’s Arsenal decision could be a bit more complicated as it’ll be either Firminio to Sanchez or Siggy to Ozil, not sure on which way I’d go with that one at the minute but that’s next week’s problem.
Puel still has Caceres to use, so he might yet rest one of the duo, probably Stephens since he is young and unaccustomed to ‘squeaky bum time’.