I sold Sanchez as I feel that he may not start the next 2 GWs and also I don't stand to lose out on player value on him as I bought him late. Cazorla makes sense as a viable replacement, but Arsenal's attack is becoming flooded, so he will complement Theo at best. Incidentally, they have a good run of upcoming games, so 2 Arsenal attackers should be OK seeing as they score a lot. As for Silva, he also has a good run of upcoming games. Will he wane once Aguero gets his shooting boots on? Only time will tell. But at the very least he will serve as an assist master. Overall I am pleased with my midfield. You would be hard pushed to find a better Power 7/8 on paper than the team above for £103M or less.
*I considered buying Cazorla, Ward-Prowse, Walters, Puncheon and Pelle.
Why did I buy Defoe and Walcott?
Both have FPL pedigree via historical stats.
Defoe and Walcott aren't simply risky purchases.
Both are "Super Differentials" (less than 1% ownership).
Arsenal and Sunderland have a good run of games & need wins/goals.
I'm not a fan of template teams & I hope this is the beginning of 2 bandwagons.
I have slumped dramatically down the rankings & I need to try something different.
They haven't shown prolonged form of late due to different reasons, but they are special.
Extra Notes:
I initially wanted to sell Chadli for Walters as I already have Kane and Stoke have a good run of games till April. In addition, as a result of Chelsea and Tottenham reaching the League Cup final, GW27 is a truncated GW with no Chelsea, Tottenham, QPR or Leicester. However, GW28 is now a DGW for Tottenham and QPR. Chelsea and Leicester's DGW should be announced soon. I am hoping to sell Hamer and Chadli before GW27.
It’s slim pickings this week – but you knew that already. Assuming
you’re without your wildcard and you still have designs on being relevant at
the end of the season, it’s time to start thinking hard about double gameweeks.
You would be my first choice... if there were no other choices
Manchester United: A rose by any other name?
The name used to be synonymous
with success and dynasty. Now it conjures contemplations of underachievement,
questionable management and a disaffected dressing room. When Roy
Carroll is taking the piss, you know you’re in trouble. But Man U players
could be the inspirational picks that let you waltz to the top of your
mini-league and stay there until the final whistle blows on 11th
May.
United have the best remaining schedule
of any team – with no fantasy break. Their only tough fixtures are against
Liverpool and City. Both are at Old Trafford. Both are also ritual goal fests
in which the formbook is shredded, defenestrated and roundhouse kicked in the
balls by Chuck Norris. If you’re still worried about the City game, don’t be –
they also face Wham three days earlier as part of a double GW. The Hammers top
the clean sheet table but tend to concede heavily at Upton Park for some reason
– and lost 3-1 to United in the reverse fixture.
RVP (13.6m)
The Dutchman's return from injury hasn't
been spectacular but it’s been crucial in United’s quest to obtain a top four
berth. He’s scored four in his first five games back from injury – not bad
considering how his teammates were getting all up in his area.
RVP's area - stay out
More consistent than a
vegan’s stool, more effortlessly reliable than Tom Selleck and more imposing
than a topless Putin; RVP is a great buy if you can bear to part with the newly
omnipresent SAS pairing (Suarez and Sturridge).Maybe your budget isn't big enough. Maybe you’re reluctant to gamble on
the most injury-prone player since Jaime Redknapp, but he’s only owned by 16.7%
of FPL managers compared to Suarez's ownership of 50.3% – now that's what I call butter.
When not strutting stuff, Jaime ponders how good he could have been, had he ever played 3 games in a row
Rooney (11.1m)
The £85m mancosts a mere £11.1m in the fantasy world. That’s
a snip when you consider he’s bagged 8 or more points 11 times this season,
making him excellent skipper material. His goal against Palace ended a 9 game
baron spell but, much like Leonardo Di Caprio, he will inevitably rise from the
ashes of shame and show us what he’s made of. It’s worth remembering that you
won’t have to pay him £300,000 a week, and if he’s awful you can just blame
Moyes like everyone else does.
Best Before: 2014
Januzaj (4.8m)
It’s staggering how many people
neglect the first rule of fantasy football – No Man Utd midfielders. It’s as apt
under Moyes as it was in the Fergie era; there’s just no way of knowing who’ll
play. If you’d only ever met United fans, you’d think Januzaj had scored 20
goals this season. He's scored 3. He’s still owned by 10% because he’s cheaper than
chips and had been playing pretty well for a young’un (even though it wasn’t really
translating into consistent points) but his playing time has been slashed dramatically
since RVP’s return and, well, see rule 1.
Defenders/De Gea
Vidic is off to Inter in the
summer. Rio will probably be hanging up his boots (if not he should be) and
United conceded two goals (real life goals, not dodgy penalties or nothin’) at
home to Fulham. That’s all you need to know really.
All right so they’ve made back to
back clean sheets at Arsenal and Palace but whom are you going to put in? Evra?
He costs more than the sun (£6.5m). Vidic (£5.8m)? He’s also spenny, has his
mind set on Italy and hasn’t scored once this season.
Smalling (£5.1m) is the only
decent option but when Evans and Jones return, Moyes could revert to rotation
at the back. Steer well clear. Old Trafford just ain’t the fortress it used to
be.
It is increasingly becoming evident that there is a golden rule to selecting your Captain this season. It goes as follows:
"If Liverpool are playing at home, captain Suarez. If they are playing away, captain Suarez"
So surely that is the end of this weeks article then? Captain Suarez. End of.
Not quite. Although following his exploits against Spurs in GW16 (22 points, or 44 if he was your Captain pick) it seems impossible to consider anyone else.
This is even more relevant following the injury to his only other real rival for the armband, Sergio Aguero. Predictions currently vary as to the extent of his calf injury and how many GW's it will keep him out for, but I don't think he'll be back before the New Year.
So, does Suarez have any rivals for the captaincy. Arguably not, but he can't continue to rack up double figure scores every GW can he? Let's look at his stats. Bearing in mind he missed the first 5 GW's this season due to suspension, the top 3 scoring players each GW is listed below, with Suarez's stats alongside. All scores have been doubled to reflect what you would have scored if they were your Captain that GW.
The evidence is overwhelming. Suarez has no clear rivals for the captaincy. Even in the weeks he was outside the top 3 scoring players, he would STILL have given you double figure points except in GW10 and GW13.
Suarez has been the top points scorer in 5 separate GW's, including the last 3, and in the top 3 highest points scorers in 6 of the 11 GW's he has been eligible to play in.
Contrast that with his nearest rival, Aguero, who has appeared in the list only once as top points scorer and only 3 times in total. In terms of multiple appearances in that list there are only:
Other popular Captain picks include Romelu Lukaku, Yaya Toure, Loic Remy, Mesut Ozil, , Daniel Sturridge (pre-injury), Olivier Giroud and Wayne Rooney.
It may surprise you to note that all of these have appeared in the top 3 only once, except Olivier Giroud and Wayne Rooney who have not appeared AT ALL!
But what about representatives in the top points scorers based on the club they play for? This may affect your decision making for future Captain choice in future. Listed below are the number of appearances in the overall list of top points scorers (top 3) per club. If the club is not listed, it means they have only been in the list once, or not at all:
Liverpool - 12
Man City - 8
Arsenal & Chelsea - 6
Everton - 5
Southampton - 3
Cardiff, Swansea, West Brom, Newcastle, Tottenham - 2
This suggests you might want to select your Captain from one of the current (at the time of writing) top 5 teams in the Premier League. Choosing from elsewhere is always going to be risky looking at the evidence above.
If you (by some miracle) have managed to select the correct Captain choice in every single GW to date, it averages out at 34.6 Pts per GW. Realistically, if your Captain delivers 30 Pts per GW you will probably be floating around near the very top of the overall rankings.
This is not going to happen if you select the incorrect Captain. Suarez is probably the only realistic choice at present, but even he has to have an off day like in GW's 10 and 13 again surely? A lot of us predicted it last weekend against Spurs, but his 2 goals, 3 assists and 3 bonus points made us all look a bit stupid. Most of us decided to switch the Captaincy from Suarez to Aguero, Rooney or Lukaku who all managed 10 Pts (remember, I'm talking about if you captained them) compared to the 44 racked up by Suarez.
Fixtures coming up for him are:
GW17: Cardiff (H)
GW18: Man City (A)
GW19: Chelsea (A)
GW20: Hull City (H)
If FPL managers decided to not Captain him away at Spurs in GW16, then you'd no doubt be tempted not to Captain Suarez away at Man City or Chelsea. But this is a truly world class player. Does the opposition matter? Does home advantage matter? Evidently not.
Who else are you going to go with? Lukaku has some attractive looking fixtures when Suarez is facing his "difficult" opposition; The Beast goes up against Sunderland and Southampton at home.
Rooney will come into contact with Hull City and Norwich City (both away). Potentially points there surely? Especially with RVP's continuing absence.
A lot of managers are already rushing to ditch Aguero (100,000 transfers out at the time of writing, and rising fast! [EDIT: 250,000 - An increase of 150,000 in 24 hours!!] and apart from Suarez and Rooney, the most popular player to bring in is the guy who will try and fill Aguero's boots in real life - Alvaro Negredo.
Hang on a minute though. Managers are rushing to transfer Suarez IN to their teams? This GW? But...but...but....but that means YOU DON'T OWN HIM ALREADY!?!?!?!!?
Let's check the ownership stats. 44.3% ownership. No, hang on. 44.4% ownership. Wait a minute, 44.5% ownership. It's going up by the minute! [EDIT: Now 45.6% ownership - 91,000 managers have brought him in during the last 48 hours] But this seems ridiculously low considering the points return he has been consistently giving.
Granted, he is the second most owned player this season, but he is still waaay behind this years leader, Aaron Ramsey, who is owned by 62.4% of all managers.
I'd hate to think what your overall position is if you don't already own Suarez. And if you do own him but have chosen not to Captain him every week, what were you thinking?!?
I'm speculating here, but based on the fact Suarez has been the top points scorer for the last 3 GW's running, and he faces Cardiff at Anfield this weekend, EVERY SINGLE Suarez owner is going to Captain him!
So, have you got the bottle to do anything different? Lukaku? (Reminder - top points scorer once in GW6.) Rooney? (Never been in the top 3 weekly highest points scorers.) Maybe a punt on Negredo seeing as you've brought him in? Be warned, he's only scored double figures once in GW 12. 10 Pts (or 20 if you captained him of course).
It's a choice of Suarez or Suarez for GW17. The following 2 GW's will test your faith in Suarez. Will you swap him out because of the quality of the opposition he is facing away from home?
Remember:
"If Liverpool are playing at home, captain Suarez.
PS - Stay tuned later this week for my #FlyBuy pick. He won't be worth giving the captaincy to, but with everyone going with Suarez in GW17, you'll probably need a differential somewhere!!
