FPL Captain Picks Gameweek 3
Welcome to FPL Captain Picks Gameweek 3
There were goals and assists galore last week, unfortunately not that many from the obvious picks! To illustrate how odd it got we had 4 picks for you in GW2 and they managed 1 goal and 2 assists between them. Kane got a goal and 4 assists all on his own. KDB was probably the least obvious of our picks and he accounted for 2/3 of those ‘returns’. Or to put it another way, when Leicester score 4 and Vardy is involved in exactly none of the goals you know it’s going to be one of those weeks. Let’s not even mention how the ‘confessional’ went…
So let’s go see if we can fare any better for you this week…
Cookie: KDB vs Leicester City (H)
Back in his stride on Monday night at Wolves, KDB looks as if he ready to carry on just where he left off last season and keep producing the goods for his owners. Already a goal and an assist to his name and of course on penalty duty, certainly at the very least until Kun returns, there seems little that can stop the Belgian churning out the points week after week. With attacking options in abundance, City look primed to mount a more clinical challenge to Liverpool this year and with goals never a problem for City who better to give the armband to than their chief creator, their penalty taker, their conductor. There is even the thought that it may just be the safe play to ‘perma-captain’ De Bruyne given his consistency.
Loud Atlas: Kane vs Newcastle United (H)
You may have heard the celebratory/sorrowful clamour on the boards recently: the Kane and Son double-act really got going last gameweek. After one goal, four assists and three bonus points, Kane had plenty to show for his 83 minutes on the pitch: 21 fantasy points! He became the first player in PL history to solely assist four goals by one player and even José wanted Son’s well-deserved Man of the Match award to go to Kane (see Son’s post-match interview!). His passing, vision, decision-making – all of it was top-notch. Some might say he was even KDB-esque at times. Frankly, Harry Kane was ace.
Spurs fans will rejoice that at last, he and the team are brimming with confidence. And with Gareth Bale expected to start at some point in October (well-timed with the golf courses getting a bit wetter over here), Spurs will have a front three to rival the very best out there. But let’s not jump to conclusions, dear scroller, let’s get September out of the way first.
Looking back to their last meeting, only two months ago, Kane scored twice against Newcastle in a 3-1 win. This coming weekend Kane faces a Newcastle side deflated by a 3-0 loss to Brighton. During that game, the Magpies failed to get a shot off until the 40th minute and couldn’t muster a single shot on target during the whole game. Another problem they have is a very large Dubravka-shaped hole between the sticks. All of this points to one thing: Newcastle are ripe for the picking and who better to do the picking than Captain Kane?
One slight caveat to this is that Kane and chums travel to Macedonia to play in the third qualifying round of the Europa League versus Shkëndija on Thursday at 7pm. After that warm-up game’s out of the way, the match on Sunday will go swimmingly!
Swirly: Salah vs Arsenal (H)
Before I was asked if I would like to feature in this article, I had done a bit of research of my own to look at who is best for the armband. After sifting through stats, Salah was the leader and will, indeed, be my captain this gameweek. In just seven times he has played Arsenal, he has scored six and set up another four. Then you look to Liverpool’s record against the Gunners at Anfield – they haven’t lost a game against them there since 2012 and in the eight games across all competitions since, have netted a whopping 30. The hat-trick and resultant 20 points in Gameweek 1 against an admittedly quite different team could still very well be an omen now the Egyptian is back at his home ground. His high ownership of 37.6 per cent also offers a bit of an insurance policy.
Kop: Raul Jimenez vs West Ham United (A)
When I agreed to write a piece for this week’s article, I said I’d confirm my choice at a later date. This was a stupid move on my part as it meant that the obvious choices were snapped up. Ah balls, I thought. But then it hit, Mr. Consistency A.K.A. Raul Jimenez! Having scored 17 last season, he has already picked up where he left off with a goal in each of Wolves’ opening fixtures. His stats are never the best but he’s always there or thereabouts. His eight goal attempts are only bettered by two forwards while his three attempts on target are only bettered by three forwards. For good measure he’s the designated penalty taker which appears to be a pre-requisite for capo material these days. He faces a West Ham side who have lost a couple of players to Covid and you’ve got to assume they could potentially lose a couple more ahead of the game. There’s also the fact that the Hammers have conceded two goals in each of their first two games.
Smash: Werner vs West Bromwich Albion (a)
Timo ‘Turbo’ Werner has not exactly got off to the fast start we were all hoping for. It’s probably been more Skoda like (not bad) than a turbo charged Ferrari. Over 300k FPL managers have had enough of waiting and shipped the German international out of their team ahead of this gameweek. Is that too dissimilar to Son last week? Well we all know what happened there – 4 goals and a massive headache for those that sold him. So what has Werner actually contributed so far? Well not that much, In two games so far, granted one was against Liverpool with ten men, Werner has registered 6 shots with 5 of them taken within the box. The data suggests he’s certainly due a goal. Werner has won a penalty in each of his Premier League outings and come close to scoring on a few occasions. Those are not exactly stats to jump out of your chair about.
So why captain Werner this week?
Chelsea prepare to face West Bromwich Albion in Gameweek 3 – that’s the real reason. It’s a classic example of chasing the whipping boys and West Brom may be just that! The bookies make him the odds-on favourite to score this week with anytime scoring odds at 55% just ahead of Salah and Kane. We are only two games into the season and West Brom have already conceded 8 big chances this season, 5 of them to the opposition’s strikers. For context, two of them were when they were down to ten men. The Baggies have conceded the joint-highest number of shots over the first two matches and already given up two penalties in that time as well. After Jorginho missed from the spot last time out for Chelsea, Werner might now even be on penalties himself.
West Brom’s xGc (expected goals conceded) of over 7 in two games is comparable to a certain Norwich side in their slump after project restart and we all remember that Norwich side which we targeted last season for fantasy points. At least Michail Antonio owners certainly do! West Brom away certainly seems like a game for Werner to finally go off. A turbocharged hatty will be nice!
The confessional…
This is where we ask our entire writing team to tell us who they think they will pick this week…. There are more caveats and get out clauses than a Lionel Messi contract but this is their initial gut feeling based upon who they actually own.
DMC — Harry Kane
Jamesimmo — Kevin De Bruyne
Swirly — Mohamed Salah
Horse — Kevin De Bruyne
Matt — Timo Werner
Loud Atlas — Mohamed Salah
Smash — Kevin De Bruyne
Kop — Mohamed Salah
Cookie – Kevin De Bruyne
The Gallant Pioneer — Kevin De Bruyne
Rosco — Mohamed Salah
EFC — Mohamed Salah
Floydeth — Mohamed Salah
AT — Kevin De Bruyne
Init — Timo Werner
Mito — Kevin De Bruyne
VOTE ON THIS WEEK’S CAPTAIN POLL GW3
Thanks for reading FPL Captain Picks Gameweek 3. This article was written by everyone.
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The article within the article. :manic:
Some of these things I talked about when rating teams or answering questions but let us address them all in one post and a couple of other things that may have not been brought up. Going to run a little love/hate/not sure
– Bamford: Hate. His production has been great in particular when you consider his price point. Surely, he won’t be dropped as long as he is scoring/assisting. Rodrigo is capable of playing in different roles, think he prefer to play up top and for the most part I think that is what they brought him in for, but you can’t drop Bamford in the form he is in. A couple of things to have in mind if you do go for Bamford. Rodrigo will get his chance sooner rather than later. Bamford has done all this damage by making the most of close to nothing. He has one chance created over 2 games and he got the assist from it. He has 3 shots total and has 2 goals. Frankly, he barely touches the ball, has completed only 16 passes. So he has done really well, but his lack of touches on the ball, upcoming fixtures and the big signing waiting in the wings makes me lean to the hate side.
– Werner: Love. Strange right, I hate the guy producing who is cheaper than chips, but love the guy not doing enough to justify his fpl price tag. Well this game is more about what is likely to happen than what already did. How much did we all really expect from Timo the first two gameweeks? Sure, he faced Brighton in the first game, but that was his first game. He wasn’t bad, took 5 shots in the game which is in part what you want to see if you own him, plus he did get an assist. Against LFC we all knew it be tough, yet he could have gotten an assist from earning a penalty again if Jorginho would have scored. Would we see Werner in a different light if he had back to back games with 5 points, yeah probably, even if only a little. Having checked some odds for this upcoming weekend, he is the favourite of the bookies for the anytime scorer, so perhaps something to ponder. Well that and they play West Brom this week and in general have very nice fixtures. A lot of this is said by Smash above in the article.
– Everton assets: Love. Are they primed for a letdown? Possibly, but should you discard them if they struggle to produce one game? No, I don’t think I would let go of their players too quickly. Ancelotti likes to attack, I watched it every game when he was at Madrid. That is why James had a fantastic first season at Madrid. Also, the reason Carlo got sacked as he sometimes liked to attack too much and left his defence vulnerable. If you have watched Everton I should not need to justify James to you, the quality can be seen and Ancelotti has given him a lot of license to roam like the kind he gets on the national team. DCL has done great and while I do not love the player in general, I like what he is good at on a team that looks good at creating chances. DCL can do well as a poacher in this side and looking to get at the end of crosses. It could be argued that he should have scored 4 as he missed what looked like a great cross from James for a header early on vs West Brom. Show me a striker who is good at heading and works hard add the James crossing and the recipe is there for goals, let us hope DCL makes the most of it. It is his striking partner I really love. Sure, he has not produced what DCL has and he is pricier, but man, man, man (please say that slowly with the correct pause to get the right effect). Hard to have watched the Brazilian the past couple of games and not seen the intensity and involvement. He is going at opposing defenders when he is on the ball, he has taken more shots than any other player bar Salah. It is just a matter of time before Richarlison starts scoring goals to add to his 3 fpl assists. The last player I will mention is Digne. Great GW1 haul and a disappointing GW2 total. However, his GW2 score was a bit misleading. He was so close to scoring hitting the crossbar on a free kick. Plus, he had 5 key passes, 4 of which were near the penalty area. Plus, he led GW2 in attempted crosses with 13, on another day he is bringing home a double digit score.
– Lamptey: Love. To be clear, I don’t love the defence he is on, but I do love me some attacking wingbacks and at 4.5, man, man, man (you know the drill). Life happens and sometimes you just can’t follow every little thing that happens. You don’t have time to look at all the highlights or look at the match reviews after a game. Sometimes all you do is look on fpl to see who got the points, because well, you have a life and if there is no spare time something has to be sacrificed. So where am I going with all this? Heck, I don’t know, like those dumb cat videos on youtube once you head down that rabbit hole is hard to get out. Think what I am trying to say is that this Lamptey kid looks good, but he might be going a little unnoticed. First game he got an assist, but his team lost and he picked up a yellow so 3 points is not going to put you on anyone’s radar right quick. Second game he was brought down in the box got an assist from it. Almost scored, looked very lively throughout and it looked very possible that he could get even more returns on the attacking end, but then he got subbed out in the 57th minute. As an owner that hurt. Brighton kept a clean sheet and Lamptey looked set to probably earn about 11 points at the very least if he just stayed on the pitch a bit longer. It was just the manager taking care of him as he had taking a few knocks and had some tightness in his groin. So instead of double digits he only got 4 points. So it is possible that if you were not paying attention, you will have missed the kid’s performances because 7 points in fpl wouldn’t exactly jump out at you. Guessing he plays this GW, but even if he doesn’t it is against Man United so you could sit him anyway. My man is fast, he is skilled, he is playing wingback and at 4.5 he is definitely on my team.
– Son and Kane: Not sure. I like both players, I just don’t think I like them together on my team, well unless they are playing Southampton every week. What Spurs side should our eyes trust? The one we saw in GW2 or the one we have seen under Jose during his tenure. This is a team that is likely to score under 2 goals a game for the season and spending nearly 20 million on two of their attacking players seems a lot to me. What worries me more with the pair is that what you saw in the first two GWs is what we will see for the season. Of course we take that tally in a heartbeat, but I don’t mean those exact scores, more the nothing and then a big haul. Except, I expect a lot more nothings rinsed in between the big hauls. If a manager was patient with them it probably be worth it over the long haul, but who we kidding, we are fickle and after two straight blanks we will be ready to call it a day on them. Which is exactly what happened with Son owners. They had him for GW1, sold him for GW2 and are buying him for GW3. If he has two blanks in a row they will sell him again before GW5 and buy him back GW7. It is a nasty cycle to be caught in, so if you want Son or Kane stick it out with them. One further note on them. Son is likely to end up on 170 points or so if the last 4 seasons are anything to go by, which is a total that TAA, VvD and Robbo would have beat the last two seasons and probably will again for a much cheaper price. Kane, who really knows with him, playing 3000 minutes would go a long way to helping him go back to his above 200 point seasons.
– Podence: Not sure: I own the guy, but the signing of Semedo makes a little worried as that will probably push Traore up the field and I am little unsure how that all works out with Neto added to that mix. If given consistent starts, I think everyone will own him. He got an assist against City, but he should have scored, had to do better on that one on one he had. Plus, he let a ball go through his legs in the box to a teammate on an opportunity that I think he could have done damage with. I really like the look of him and love his price. Think he is an ideal 5th mid as the first guy off the bench. He is cheap enough for it, but I would hate to miss out on some nice hauls when he is a starter by benching him. So that leaves me unsure on him. Think time might give us a better idea on what Nuno plans to do with the side or it could be a season long thing where we don’t know when he will start or when he will come off the bench. That is the reason I am unsure, because I just do not know, if I knew he start I would absolutely have him as a love.
– Manchester United assets: Begrudgingly Love. For the record I hate the team, but I don’t dislike their players for my fpl team. Yes, I saw how Palace beat them and Zaha did his thing. Like in the Son and Kane part what are you more willing to trust though, one game or well you know the rest. Yeah, I get that United can be a tad inconsistent, but when they score, they score in bunches. Last season only City was outscoring them over the last 12 fixtures. If you think I am being a bit selective by picking 12, just know that it doesn’t change if you pick 10, 8 or 6 it is still City one and United two in terms of goals scored. So we know they have it in them. Bruno didn’t get a penalty and he is not likely to get them at the same rate he got them last season, but with Martial, Rashford and Greenwood on the ball in the box, he should still get a decent amount. I don’t mind any of the 4, I would prefer that Greenwood gets in the xi and he will. Once he is in that probably be my preferred option because of his price. I probably stay away from the United defence though, I wouldn’t trust Lindelof and Maguire on my Sunday league team.
Wanted to get into Barnes from Leicester and Watkins from Villa, but this was getting a bit long perhaps two players we can discuss on the boards.
Super insights here Mito, great to see other people’s thoughts on players like this.
via GIPHY
Wow this is amazing Thanks a great insight and deserves to be highlighted.
Top insights, Mito. Really good food for thought :good:
Wow. Top class effort here Mito. Lots to digest.
Mito, that is an article on it’s own :good:
After reading, might change my mind for the WC. Maybe won’t retransfer Kane in and stick with my Man U players who are about to comeback in form. Everton players can wait for another week :yes:
To be fair to Kane if fit he probably lands around the 210 point mark if history is anything to go by. My doubt is not with Kane or Son is with both at the same time. It is the problem I had with ASM and Wilson on the same fpl team, is there enough goals to go around to make both worth having?
This is it, if Mourinho choose to go with the same formation we might see another massive scoring from those two. It’s scary not to have at least one. After a few drinks tonight I might take a hit and bring Kane for Martial.
The season has started so badly for me that only risks could salvage it.
Ivan, it’s a bit early for risks!
Kop, I know but it’s a tragic start. I’ve never ever had such dismal first two rounds, it’s beyond comprehension.
Only some bold moves can rescue me, or indeed sink me down further :unknw:
I haven’t had the greatest of starts myself. The fact that everyone seems to be wildcarding makes me wonder if I should be doing likewise!!
It’s been going around my head since Monday. Get up in the morning and thinking that has to be done, comes afternoon, start thinking that maybe should suffer for a little longer and then do it. I become a schizophrenic :wacko:
Suffering is good for the soul!!!!!
:laugh2: :drinks:
Ivan I think you sacrificed your FPL team for a good start in Bundesliga. :laugh2:
Mito, I did this in the past with MLS, trying not to again.
Talking about Bundesliga, any ideas? Deadline tomorrow.
Not really, but Bayern play today vs Sevilla and again Sunday, so I am a little worried about any players who play today and played GW1. I don’t usually look at Bundesliga until the day of unless I am busy that day. Think that is one of the advantages of not having to worry about prices. Will start to look at it tonight a bit after I see how the Bayern game plays out.
I think they will OK, unless there are some injuries.
They should be ok, but remember Bayern came back late because of CL and they have depth, so it could turn out to be trickier than normal. I really hope to see Sane on the bench tonight as that is the one that really worries me.
True, he is in my plans to bring in. Had a great opening round, in fact top performer overtaking Lewa and the rest.
Great stuff Mito..
What a legend! Well done, Mito! Tbh, it felt like I am reading my own thoughts! I agree with everything and feel the same way about the aforementioned players.
I am ready for the next one haha
To name a few: Zaha, Foden, Mitrovic, Leeds mids, Castagne, etc. :good:
:suicide:
In your own time, mate! :laugh2: Don’t get suicidal, we need you around here :drinks:
Sorry…posted in wrong article.
Ok still going round in circles on this one. So let’s put it to a vote. Who gets the biggest haul this weekend?
DCL vs Palace
Foden vs LEI
Podence vs WHU
What is with you and tough questions this week. :dash:
One could make a case for all three. If a City player gets the minutes and he plays high enough to get scoring chances, it is hard not to take that player as that team just scores more than everyone else. On paper he has the toughest fixture though and that is the difficulty in picking one. City did beat Leicester both times last season scoring 4 total so is not like they can’t score on them easily. I probably pick Foden, but it is a bit of a toss up to me on all three including Podence for this week.
I might have all 3 on my wildcard
Answer the question!
Foden
Ok I’m done. Foden and DCL with 2 FTs. Podence will have to wait. Thanks again.
haha I know Mito, apologies!
Smash – I think that’s why I’m leaning towards just doing all 3 for a -4 and then will just be down to who to bench (which I’ll of course get wrong, but that’s for another day!).
Cheers gents. Green arrows for ya both.
DCL – 2, Foden – 3, Podence – 3. No hauls (pls) 😉
:punish:
Havertz, Jimenez or Son? On WC, on Jimenez at the moment, but think Havertz will come good soon…
If I was picking one now, safe and reliable Jiminez, with the fixtures to back it up. Definitely wouldn’t be Havertz, and I have him on my team…
all 3?
Thinking Jimenez.
Jimenez is a player that I think of as an 8-8-2 guy. Those are about the scores I expect from him over every 3 games, doesn’t mean it will happen, but I just think he is a consistent player. Some players you sort of expect a 14-1-3 . I think Kai is a 14-1-3 guy, you want him when he goes off, but will probably have to suffer through bad GWs or owning him at the wrong time. I probably take Jimenez if I were picking right now. He might be capable of a higher ceiling this season.
Great articles!! Thanks to everyone who contributes. Some really good insights.
Like many, I pulled the trigger on my WC. It’s that age-old thing….can’t have ’em all. Want Jimmy, Son, KDB, TAA etc., etc. Have settled on this for now. Any thoughts?
I have transferred Havertz out but after seeing him score a hatty yesterday, I am now thinking twice…I know it was only Barnsley but he looked like he was finally finding his feet and he played really well. Some great touches and excellent movement.
Can’t really argue with. Don’t personally like Mitrovic but don’t have an alternative. Maybe in time Werner may become Jiminez/Ings and Mitro could be upgraded.
Looks really good. Just out of curiosity as I didn’t watch, what position did Kai play yesterday? Was it the same he played in the PL games?
He played number 10 so behind Abraham
That’s good, I wasn’t expecting much against LFC and if he was placed ideally I didn’t think he score much in fpl, but when I saw him on the right in their first game that did worry me that he would not be worth it. Hopefully Lampard keeps him down the middle, that is the only Havertz worth owning based on prior experience.
When everyone is fit he will be number 10. Problem currently is Pulisic and Ziyech are injured. I’m not sure how he will do as a fantasy asset. Yeah that’s clearly his position for me he does not have the pace to be out wide and I feel to get the best out of him it will have to be a 4-2-3-1 formation
Yeah, no. 10 and he linked up really well with Tammy. It’s gonna be interesting how that develops. Chelsea are spoiled for choice. In FPL terms it’s gonna be a case of which 3 attackers to have i think, once they’re up and running.
Mitro is in there cos of penalties and he is really the only one who can score in that Fulham team, I think.
Would you downgrade Patricio in goal and use the funds elsewhere? No 4.5 keeper really appeals to me. Martinez possibly, but it is Villa and how sure are they at the back? I don’t see many clean sheets. Save points ok…It could mean I can upgrade Podence to Foden…double City and no Wolves though…
@Sarri, funny enough it was Patricio that sort of stuck out to me when I looked at your team, which is odd because I barely look at keepers. I didn’t say anything because I really couldn’t fault you for picking him. I went with Martinez not because I think he will outscore a Patricio or is a better pick than someone else, but because he is 4.5 and that .5 to 1.0 I save makes it worthwhile to me.
@Mito. The extra 1.0 comes in very handy, of course. I could upgrade VVD to TAA or Podence to someone like Foden or even Traoré. What do you think?
So say Martinez or any 4.5 keeper and Foden/TAA vs Patricio and VvD/Podence.
I don’t think it will be that much of a difference between keepers, every year they are a little unpredictable. I rather have that upgrade. For now, it could prove me wrong if he is treated like a permanent starter (Podence) but Foden feels like he could separate further in terms of points from Podence than TAA can from VvD. But maybe someone feels different or you do.
In my head
4.5 keeper about 10-20 points behind Patricio
TAA about 20-30 points ahead of VVD
Foden wide range it depends how both are used, but I see the most possible upside here if Foden is given plenty of minutes.
No love for Capt Sonny vs Newcastle? Sheesh what’s a guy gotta do 😉
He is goaled out. 😉
Kane’s close enough :mosking: .
Newcastle aren’t Southampton and they put 7 past Morecambe…I know it was a league 2 side and they went down to 10, but any team is gonna be buoyed by such a win…could be tougher for Spurs than we think..???? Dunno…he’s my captain at the moment, though :yes:
Afternoon all.
Think I’m down to these 2 on my WC…
Thoughts welcome
The second one for me. I don’t like the idea of having Mitchell, Burke and Brewster on one team. All 3 could be warming the bench in 2 weeks.
Second one
+1