FF247 #UCLFantasy Captain Picks Matchday 4

FF247 #UCLFantasy Captain Picks Matchday 4

Welcome back to another of The Stats Zone’s guest pieces here on FF247. This time we’re looking at the main captain candidates for #UCLFantasy matchday 4. If you’re familiar with the Champions League fantasy game, then you’ll know by now that one of the key strategic differences to FPL is the ability to swap the armband between Tuesday and Wednesday’s matches, giving you a second bite at the cherry in case your original choice didn’t quite do the business.

And so, here’s our lowdown of the main captaincy options for this coming week. We’ve got three selections for Tuesday’s matches, and three for Wednesday’s…

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TUESDAY
Edinson Cavani — PSG — Forward — £11.1m — Anderlecht (H)
Paris Saint-Germain were extremely comfortable winners over Anderlecht in the reverse fixture at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, with all three of their star strikers on the scoresheet, and few would bet against the trio repeating the trick on Tuesday night (because it’s Halloween, get it?).

So then, it’s a case of choosing between Neymar, Mbappé, and Cavani. The Brazilian sat out his side’s 3-0 victory over Nice on Friday night through suspension and may not be quite up to speed, while the young Frenchman has scored the fewest of the three so far this season. Cavani, therefore, who has scored 15 goals in 14 matches in all competitions so far this season, seems like the shrewdest selection.

Angel Correa — Atlético Madrid — Midfielder — £7.4m — Qarabag (H)
Azeri UCL debutants Qarabag may well have kept Atlético at bay in a 0-0 draw in Baku a fortnight ago, but they’re a much less foreboding opponent when forced to travel away from home, as evidenced by their 6-0 loss to Chelsea in the first game of this year’s group stage.

It would be tempting, therefore, to give the armband to Antoine Griezmann in advance of this game at the Wanda Metropolitano, but the Frenchman has scored only 2 goals so far this season in what has been a disappointing start to 2017/18.

His Argentinian teammate Angel Correa, meanwhile, has scored 4 in La Liga, including his side’s goal in the 1-1 draw with Villarreal on Saturday. He’s benefitted from regular appearances up-front this year, but is listed as a midfielder in the #UCLFantasy game. A differential for sure, but worthy of consideration if you’re chasing.

Lionel Messi — Barcelona — Forward — £12.1m — Olympiakos (A)
Speaking of Argentinians, why not just make the greatest player of all-time your captain?

Lionel Messi scored his 100th goal in European competition with a sumptuous free-kick against Olympiakos at the Nou Camp two weeks ago, and has already racked up 16 goals in the 15 matches he’s played since the beginning of the season, including three strikes in the Champions League.

Olympiakos, meanwhile, have had a poor start this term, and sit in 4th place in the Greek Super League after a chastening 1-0 defeat against rivals Panathinaikos at the weekend. Surely Leo will punish them again on Tuesday?

WEDNESDAY
Mohamed Salah — Liverpool — Forward — £9.6m — Maribor (H)
He may well have missed a penalty against Huddersfield on Saturday afternoon, but Mohamed Salah’s goalscoring record so far this season is seriously impressive. He’s notched 9 for Liverpool since his summer arrival, as well as scoring from the spot deep into injury-time against Congo to send Egypt to their first World Cup since 1990.

Roberto Firmino and Phillippe Coutinho scored good points in the Reds’ 0-7 drubbing of Maribor last time out too, but Salah was voted the fans’ best player on both matchday 1 and matchday 3, and his electric pace means he should find himself with plenty of chances to score against the Slovenians again at Anfield on Wednesday.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang — Borussia Dortmund — Forward — £11m — APOEL (H)
Peter Bosz’s Borussia Dortmund may well have taken advantage of the turmoil surrounding Bayern Munich’s poor start to the season under Carlo Ancelotti and made headway at the top of the Bundesliga standings, but their form has come a cropper recently and now they’re back in 2nd place having won only 1 of their last 5 matches in all competitions.

One of those failures saw them draw 1-1 in Cyprus against lowly APOEL on matchday 3, with goalkeeper Roman Burki‘s error meaning they face a tough ask to qualify for the knockout stages ahead of either Real Madrid or Tottenham Hotspur.

So, there’s no time like the present to make a statement of intent, and a thumping victory would certainly do so. If BVB can rack up a few goals on Wednesday night, it’s likely to be Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has scored 15 in 15 games this season, that has a hand in setting them on their way.

Cristiano Ronaldo — Real Madrid — Forward — £12.1m — Tottenham (A)
You didn’t think we were going to exclude the all-time Champions League top scorer, did you?
The Portuguese superstar, who has scored something near 7 million career goals (rough estimate), has started the season in mediocre form domestically, netting just once in La Liga so far, but as has been the case in recent seasons, Ronaldo has saved his best form for Europe.

With five Champions League strikes to his name already, he’ll be hungry to add to that on the large Wembley pitch against a Spurs side still smarting from their Saturday lunchtime defeat to Manchester United.

Thanks for reading FF247 #UCLFantasy Captain Picks Matchday 4

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