FPL Captain Picks GW16

Welcome to FPL Captain Picks GW16

For a while there it seemed like our weekly Captain article had become all but redundant. FPL had become a little dull, captain Haaland come rain or shine, it was difficult to make gains. Oh, how things can change so quickly. Haaland has been ticking along, but ticking along won’t cut it when you cost £15m+ (he’s now dropped to £14.9m), and as managers sold him in their droves, they were forced to look elsewhere for their precious captain’s armband.

So here we are, we have 3 powerful contenders in Saka, Palmer and Salah for this week’s captaincy (and some bloke who plays up top for Man City). Salah has himself been pushing his claim for the ‘perma-captain’ mantle with 10/14 double-digit returns that include 4 on the bounce in his last 4 fixtures. However, is he the best option this week? Maybe. Maybe not. Let’s see what Rosco, Matt, Swirly and OddDane have to say about the matter – over to you gents.

Rosco — Palmer v Brentford (H)

We’re spoilt for choice this week with many managers genuinely torn between Palmer, Salah and Saka for the armband. I’m not here to talk about the other two, that’s not my job, my job is to talk about Cole Palmer, my captain last game week and very likely this week too.

So, how have I made this decision? Well, the first thing I always do when choosing my captain is to weigh up the opposition.

Palmer faces a Brentford team who are night and day when it comes to their performances home and away. No away team has conceded more than the 156 shots that the Bees have conceded away from the Gtech, for comparison, Fulham (Who Salah faces) and Everton (Saka’s opponents) have almost half as many (87 and 86 respectively). In their 7 away games, they’ve shipped 14 goals, compare that to teams that Salah and Saka face and you’ll see that Everton are not far behind with 13 conceded, Fulham however, have the best away record in the league with just 7 goals conceded.

Of course, it’s not just about the opposition. Salah comes out on top with 21 goal involvements (13 goals, 8 assists), but Palmer isn’t far behind with 17 (11 goals, 6 assists). There’s not a lot in their underlying stats, Palmer is slightly ahead with an xG of 13.72 to Salah’s 13.43, it’s a similar story in terms of expected goals, assists and non-penalty goal involvement. Inconclusive.

So, it’s back to the opposition. The Cottagers, simply put, are a better team on the road than both Brentford and Everton. Will this guarantee that Palmer outscores both Saka and Salah? No, but it’s fine margins this week, it could come down to a lucky penalty call, and if that happens I’d back Cole from the Spot over Salah all day long.

Matt – Salah v Fulham (H)

PAY THE MAN HIS MONEY!!! Like seriously, how can FSG even be contemplating letting Salah leave? Letting him leave on a free is an even bigger travesty. I found myself agreeing with Roy Keane last week after the Man City game, which doesn’t always happen, but he said that most players when having a contract dispute down their tools and throw their toys out of the pram. Salah has done the exact opposite of that. He is showing Liverpool how great he is! How they can’t do without him! How much he deserves what he wants. Basically, he’s putting his money where his mouth is and backing everything up with his performances.

In the 14 league games, Liverpool have played this season, Salah has returned double-digit scores in TEN of those games! He has 13 goals and 8 assists. Only blanking in 2 games against Forest and Palace. Salah’s last 7 games has seen scores of 12, 10, 9, 14, 13, 13, 18. These are just immense returns. He’s had a week of rest after the Merseyside derby was postponed and a run around against Girona in midweek, where he scored yet again, so a well-rested Egyptian maestro in a home fixture against a Fulham side who have kept only 2 clean sheets all season could be a prime captaincy game.

There are plenty of nice games and options this week which my fellow writers will discuss but really, I don’t think you can back against Salah and Liverpool. They are flying high this season. Slot has proven a lot of doubters wrong and has surpassed a lot of expectations from even the most optimistic of Liverpool fans. Hopefully Salah will continue to prove his worth and FSG will finally come to the realisation they need to just hand the man a blank cheque and let him do what he wants!

Swirly – Saka v Everton (H)

Bukayo Saka, when fit, is becoming a stalwart in FPL. Since properly arriving on the scene as an option for our fantasy squads back in the 2020/21 season – yes, THAT season – he has scored 51 and set up 49. The last campaign was the most prolific, though the fact he’s found the back of the net five times and is just two off setting a new personal record for assists in a single season, this could be the best yet.

Now you have taken in some of the context, let’s look at who the £10.5m midfielder will be facing – Everton, at home. While the Toffees will have enjoyed an extended rest after Storm Darragh saw off their plans to face Liverpool in the Merseyside Derby, they go to the Emirates with a record of losing 4-0, drawing 0-0, going down 1-0 and being held 1-1 when on the road versus Man United, West Ham, Southampton and Fulham respectively. Not exactly the best record and whilst the gulf isn’t as large as Brentford’s, it certainly seems their home record is responsible for keeping them higher in the table. Their previous trips to the home of Arsenal in the last 10 years have seen as many defeats and one win. Across that time, there have been 32 goals, averaging more than a trio in favour of the Gunners per match. As for Bukayo, he’s faced the Merseysiders nine times, scoring one and assisting four across those games.

Having been held 1-1 at Fulham as Chelsea and Liverpool run the risk of moving away from them, Arsenal will want to get their campaign back on track. Saka will no doubt be at the centre of that, hoping to recreate the 18 or 13-point hauls against West Ham and Nottingham Forest respectively.

Oh, and he scored two vs Monaco, and almost got a 3rd, ending up with an assist instead, to boot.

Odd Dane – Some Norwegian bloke vs ManU (H) (and the best of the rest)

[I trust an unfitting image is provided for the article]

Right then, by now I’ll wager that between Rosco, Matt and Swirly we’ll have Palmer, Salah and Saka covered. Now I don’t know why they’re still playing in 2021/22 and why this here city bench kid Palmer is on here. Clearly they’ve not heard of this Braut fella, also goes by the name of Erling to some.

Why he is only THE top goalscorer of the league and no one even comes close (okay, so some apparently do come very close and one ties…) to his goalscoring capabilities!

But not only is he great in front of goal, he is also facing the league’s #13 at home (#12 for expected goals conceded). Yep, that’s ManU for you. And rest assured, Pep will have seen Onana’s fear of saving shots in the box, something we can all agree Haaland could benefit from 😉

On a final side note; City are 2nd only after Liverpool for shots on target per 90mins, Haaland himself as a player leads this stat with 4.5 shots/90mins – the caveat being that ManU have actually been ok in limiting allowed shots on target against them.
So what do you say, let’s give the young lad a chance more?

No? Oh okay, well I guess he’s still a tad expensive after all…

Have you at least considered the likes of A. Isak who is facing Leicester, a team who’s have been shaky defensively recently and is ranking third worst for goals against (both expected and performed)?
Isak is one of the more active shooters in the league with Shots/90 of 3.1 which is fairly similar to e.g. Salah and Saka and has a non-penXG/90 of 0.5, I reckon that gives him a decent chance to show up against a team like Leicester.

Or what about an outside pun with the 2nd most goal scoring team of the league and one of the most prolific goalscorers so far…? Drumroll… Mister Wissa!

He’s performing at an impressive 0.64 goal to shot ratio, a non-penXG/90 of 0.64 and has 0.92 goals per 90mins to his name (this compares to Salah’s 0.96, but the latter has had 4 penalty goals). Brentford is only beaten by Chelsea when it comes to goals scored, busy bees indeed.

Finally we have Spurs visiting the Saints and who better than So… Nah, just kidding folks. It’s Spurs!

Have fun and rest assured, the one you pick to carry your armband, will not be the one with the most points!

The confessional…

This is where we ask our entire writing team to tell us who they think they will pick this week…

And we must admit that we forgot to ask them!!!

We shall fill this in as we go along this week, so please check back in if you put any stock in anybody’s choice in particular.

Jamesimmo — Palmer

Follow @James777Simpson

Ivan — Salah

Follow @IvanGB111

Swirly — Palmer

Follow @theswirly

Matt — Salah

Follow @MattyMcveigh

Loud Atlas — Salah

Follow @FantasyFooty247

Smash — Palmer

Follow @Chrismartin1984

Kop — Palmer

Follow @KenLyons79

Rosco — Palmer

Follow @eugoogooly

Ellefcee — Saka

Init — Palmer

Follow @AdamalcockFF247

Gear — Salah

Follow @Lukerouthorn

Stone Frog — Salah

Follow @StoneFrog638

OddDane — Ehm… Palmer? Probably

Jamie Mc — Salah

Thanks for reading FPL Captain Picks GW16.

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