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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The Fixture Tracker in full…
apparently Austin might be back in training for all of us jumping onto Gabbiadini this GW, not sure when he’ll be match fit but with the double DGW upcoming in a couple of weeks it’ll make Gaby more of a rotation threat.
Maybe. Not if he keeps scoring though. I’m not sure how much Pyle rates Austin. It took him a (big) while to start him over Long. Even Redmond played up top beginning of the season if I recall correctly. Something to monitor of course but not to hold us back from investing in Gabby!, me thinks.
Pyle is Puel FFS!
He rotated heavily over the Christmas period with Long/Rodriguez sharing starts, (granted Gabby looks a step up from both) but with all them games in a short space of time (5 games in 16 days) and with the Saints having not much to play for this season I’ll be shocked if Gabby starts them all. I’ve still got him in myself this GW.
Yeah, it’s more the 4 games in 10 days but yeah he’d be a concern, especially coming out from recent injury himself. Humm. Hadn’t seen these dates before actualy. This is a really heavy schedule for them and arsenal. We must choose wisely.
Man City XI: Bravo, Zabaleta, Kompany(c), Otamendi, Kolarov, Luiz Rosa, Touré, De Bruyne, Sterling, Sané, Agüero #MCIMUN
Man Utd XI: de Gea, Valencia, Bailly, Blind, Darmian, Herrera, Carrick(c), Fellaini, Mkhitaryan, Rashford, Martial #MCIMUN
No Stones on City bench
Jesus is !!
Cheers Brooky, would take a 0-0 in this one right now, Jesus on the bench alongside Clichy but no sign of Stones still, he hasn’t been a part of the match day squad since I signed him again the bugger.
Same ! So much rotation in that City back line,although he is supposed to be carrying a knock ! I think there will be goals in this game !
Any must have players for WC ????
From your squad I’d say that Hazard was the biggest miss Silvers.
Yes Hazhard what can I say good call guys 😉
Hazard !
Despite our (and, admittedly, his) form… I’m going to add Sanchez to Hazard on this must-have list.
Probably starting 3-4 games in 2 gameweeks: it’s too dangerous to not have him in my opinion.
First go at WC what do we thk ?
Silvers, I really like it.
If you changed Redmond to JWP can Sane by Erik or Alli?
Hey how are we Cookie not been around much lately lost my Auntie suddenly, so had to sort all arrangements & you wouldn’t believe how lg it took my Mum not well enough to do it
You going alright
Sorry to hear that Silvers, not been a fun time for you pal.
Hope things get a tad easier for you going forward.
I’m ok thanks mate.
Many thanks for this James, it’s a superb read. I was kind of stumped as to who to give it to this week but I think you’ve convinced me to go back-to-back Benteke.
On another note, and anybody is free to answer this – I need a new striker this week, money no object, who would you go for? It’s a one week punt as I’m on a WC next week. Answers on a postcard please. Or below
Good shout, and cheers, init. Glad that I could actually deliver when required to this time!
Benteke appears to be the best all-round option when you look at my numerical ratings. That’s probably not a good sign though… 😉
My striker of choice? Negredo.
Oh, wait, hang on…
9.0m in the bank. Shit: you’re not joking! Rashford if things go well for him tonight. Gabbi otherwise.
Not sold on Rashers, mainly due to rotation possibilities. Gabbi should be fine in that respect, at least this week. Kun is available too of course but yeah, see Rashers I suppose. Costa is an option and it’d be a cover move as pretty much all rivals have him.
In terms of Tekkers Burnley have conceded 33 away which is the 5th worst. Hull, just in terms of Gabbi have the worst with 41. Both bode well in that respect except that both Palace and Saints are in the bottom 5 for home goals scored! Although both have done better as of late at home. Kind of getting into a secondary debate here though as to which to Captain if I got Gabbi which is sort of where I’m leaning right now.
Rashford
Innit
if not gabbi and beyond the obvious like rashford or kun i would suggest smth differential like afobe against sunderland. Hull and Swansea are fighting for their existence, i think they ll put a fight more than Sunderland.And aguero from now on is a risk with jesus fit. It is only for one week as you say….
Cheers teo, could be a good shout that, I’ll add him to my growing list!
Gabbi
He’s leading my internal debate
If I WC he will be my cappo
Thought you’d taken a step back on that?
Init – a couple have a caught me up in my other ML – they burned there WCs! Need to increase the gap!
Kun is going to blank ain’t he?
Yes Jesus on in 15 😉
I’ve got him 1st goal and anytime!!
:thumbup:
Jesus is warming up!!!!
EIGHT shots in this game, so it ain’t for the want of trying mate.
I have him as captain, could be one of those nights.