FPL Captain Picks GW17

Welcome to FPL Captain Picks GW17

The festive fixtures officially begin this weekend in GW17. In a period where self-restraint is often in short supply, it’s not just food, drink and overspending that we’ll get to overindulge in. Football is on the menu, lots of football. The games are heaped on with all the wild abandon of a Christmas dinner, 4 game weeks squeezed into just 16 days. Brilliant.

For some FPL managers, this can prove to be a challenging time. Missed deadlines, drunken midnight 8pt hits. We’ve all been there. But this is no time to take your eyes off the prize. Get your game face on, and make sure you set some time aside to manage your team, the mince pies can wait.

FPL has been fun in recent weeks, this is largely thanks to the demise of Manchester City and the firesale of Earling Haaland. But who knows, maybe Santa will give Haaland some new shooting boots this Christmas, which is nice, the problem is, he probably asked for some new teammates too.

I digress, last week it was all about Salah, Palmer, Saka and (ahem) Haaland. Other than a solitary assist for a Salah, a random bonus point for Palmer (Hurrah) and a clean sheet point for Saka, there was little to shout about. Will things be different in GW17? Let’s see what our weekly contributors, Rosco, Matt and Init have to say on the matter!

Rosco — Salah v Tottenham (A)

Last week it was a two-way battle between Salah and Palmer for most FPL managers. This week is no different. Last week I backed the blues man, and whilst Salah scored 2pts more than Palmer, neither exactly set the world on fire.

This week I’m switching my allegiance from blue to red, fitting perhaps, given the oncoming festivities. So, will the man in red come bearing gifts for his faithful supporters?

As ever, I first survey the opposition.

Both Salah and Palmer are away this game week. Salah travels to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium to face a Spurs side who are impossible to predict from one week to the next. Whilst they have managed 4 home wins this season, they’ve also lost 3 times, keeping just a single clean sheet in their 8 home fixtures, conceding 11 times. Compare this to Everton at Goodison (who Palmer faces), 3 clean sheets from 7 games, 8 conceded.

In terms of stats, I can pretty much cut and paste directly from my GW16 piece. Salah comes out on top with 22 goal involvements (13 goals, 9 assists), Palmer isn’t far behind with 17 (11 goals, 6 assists). There’s still not a lot in their underlying stats, Palmer is slightly ahead with an xG of 14.26 to Salah’s 14.02, it’s a similar story in terms of expected goals, assists and non-penalty goal involvement. Not much between them.

So, it’s back to Spurs being ‘Spursy’. Who knows, they might come into this game full of confidence following their 5-0 demolition of Southampton. It’s a risky play that I wouldn’t put past them. In their last home fixture, they raced ahead to a 2-0 lead over Chelsea, they ended up losing 4-3.

There are goals to be had in this one. Everton on the other hand, seem hell-bent on keeping clean sheets, perhaps an acceptance of their attacking shortfalls. It worked well at the Emirates, and whilst it will be difficult to repeat that feat against the most attacking away side in the league (Chelsea have scored 23 goals on the road compared to Liverpool’s 16), they might at the very least be better equipped than Salah’s opponents at keeping the score down.

Matt – Palmer vs Everton (A)

Cole Palmer (11.1) is the most depressed, bored looking 22-year-old I’ve seen in a long time but thank God you don’t need charisma to be a good footballer. The lad has had a brilliant start to the season yet again proving he was right to leave City having got 11 goals and 7 assists. He has an xG of 9.10 and an xA of 3.91. These are good numbers but he is maybe getting a little lucky with some of his assists. When Maresca came in, there was a slight uncertainty on how Palmer would work but, just like last season he is the main man for the Blues and I’d put my house on it that he’ll be the highest points scorer come season end!

Chelsea are on a 5 game winning streak and unbeaten in their last 8 games. They are pushing for a title run and have to be acknowledged it’s up for grabs. They are the highest scorers this season with 37 goals and an xG of 34.09 in the league. The size of their squad should help them deal easily with the congested fixture list but will Maresca rotate? Time will only tell but even if he does, I can’t imagine their talisman being dropped.

Palmer should be nailed to start, is on penalties and seems to be in the middle of the majority of Chelsea attacks. Coming up against Everton might be a stiffer challenge as Dyche likes to set up to defend and grab a clean sheet. If Chelsea score though, Palmer will probably be involved as he has been involved in 49% of Chelsea goals this season and the bookies have him as 39% to score at anytime. Palmer is also projected to get 6.6 pts this weekend which is just slightly ahead of Salah’s 6.5 predicted points. It’s a close one for sure! Will he get your armband? Or will you bet against him?

Init – Isak vs Ipswich (A)

A striker bang in form vs a team that cannot win at home, what’s not to like? Isak has 3 goals in 3 games, and in fact 6 in 8, with 3 assists in those to boot. In those 8 he got 11 bonus points, and has landed a deuce in all of the aforementioned last 3.

Newcastle themselves do seem to be showing signs of life once more. Their results may look sketchy but at least they are scoring again. They beat Leicester 4-o last time out, albeit this was proceeded by a 4-2 defeat at Brentford and a couple of draws vs Liverpool and Palace. But in those they score 10 goals, amd Isak was involved in 50% of them.

I’ll let you in on a secret or two here though – firstly I don’t own him, and secondly I wasn’t supposed to be doing this article at all! As for the 1st, that is unlikely to change, not because I wouldn’t want him, more just that I don’t have the spare funds or transfers right now. As for the 2nd, I’m sitting in for OddDane, who you will hear from tomorrow night on Tips. In absentee he still had some messages to pass on…

He seemed awfully keen and intent on spending most of this post promoting other players – “It’s brave to leave that Cap’n piece open for me. It think there will be some who will get Armstrong and DCL as captains, for the really naughty children I might even go as far as… Haaland”.

And to double down on his newly found Armstrong addiction – “That’s fine (to fill in for me), just crack in a joke about Armstrong for the lads”.

Now I’m not sure which Armstrong he meant, as I can’t imagine one being mentioned in the same breath as a Captain pick, so instead I’ll leave you with a quote from the Neil variety, perhaps apocryphal, but nonetheless fitting for a Capos article; ‘Good luck, Mr Gorsky’………

(Google it if you don’t know…)

The confessional…

Ok, so we forgot again, plus we rushed the article forward a day or so. We shall ask them and fill in their answers as we go along this week…

DMC —

Follow @DCoelho

The Gallant Pioneer —

Follow @MitchellC_FF247

Jamesimmo —

Follow @James777Simpson

Ivan —

Follow @IvanGB111

Swirly —

Follow @theswirly

Matt —

Follow @MattyMcveigh

Loud Atlas —

Follow @FantasyFooty247

Smash —

Follow @Chrismartin1984

Kop —

Follow @KenLyons79

Rosco —

Follow @eugoogooly

Ellefcee —

Floydeth —

Follow @TinkerManFPL

Init —

Follow @AdamalcockFF247

Gear —

Follow @Lukerouthorn

Stone Frog —

Follow @StoneFrog638

OddDane —

Jamie Mc —

Thanks for reading FPL Captain Picks GW17.

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