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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Fantastic read once again. Thanks for this.
Settled on a WC. Thoughts? A bit of cash on the bench, but I like the idea of Basham covering Foden when he doesn’t play.
*Bamford :wink2:
Yeah I don’t mind your squad at all Shrizz. Nice.
My only problem with the Foden and Basham (your words not mine) idea is that Foden is still likely to get a cameo when he doesn’t start, so not sure that you will need a 5.5 sub that might not get in. I get the reasoning behind it though and it could work out if Foden stays on the bench.
Ah yes, Bamford! Lol. Ya, I guess I will have to put up with the Foden cameos as they come. Thanks guys!
Bruno on pens: “It doesn’t matter if I take penalties. We have a lot of qualities in the team. Rashy was the guy who took the penalties, so I tell him, ‘when you feel confident, if you want to take the penalty, it is not a problem.’ I will not fight”
:mosking:
So Bruno still on 90% of pens
Not with Rashford, Martial and Pogba just hearing that.
Nothing is new though it’s always been like that with him taking nearly all of them
Well done this week writers. :bravo:
Welcome Loud Atlas to the madness – the debut piece on Harry Kane was excellent. Well done mate.
KDB or Salah or Kane or Werner for me. Narrowed it down from four to those four.
Thanks, GP! KDB, Werner or Salah for me – I’m equally as undecided :mosking: .
Looks like Lamptey has trained normally.
That looks to be great news
that’s what i want to hear..straight into my team…
Thank you to everyone involved! Great stuff!
I am on my WC, therefore I have no idea who’s gonna be in my team, let alone who to captain… one thing I am pretty sure about, though, this will be a decision taken at 10:58 on Saturday.
Everytime I think of hitting the wildcard, I keep getting reminded of wishing I didn’t use it this week when I would’ve probably needed it much more later on in the season.
Point being, think of how bad your team has gotten over the past few seasons come December and decide if your current team is as bad. My 2 cents.
I already used mine right before GW2. I actually did well GW1 and still found that I wanted to use it. I was one of the few that did well in GW1 and avoided the bad score in GW2 like happened too many. I am glad I played it, but I agree that come December I probably wish I had it. There are so many factors in this game. Even if you save it you might not do yourself any good if you pick the wrong players, if you use it early you might get the wrong players in also and start taking hits to correct the errors in judgement. I think the WC in the end is more about who you buy in that moment then when you play it.
I think like players, fpl managers can be in form or out of form. My first season I took hit after hit and it just kept working out even when the hit was included. There have been seasons like last where I barely took a hit was patient played my WC before the double and it still didn’t work out. Remember Rosco last season starting off bad and then hit a patch of one good decision after the other. So I think when you play the WC is less important then who you use it to buy and if you buy them at the right time.
+1
:big_boss: