FPL: Gameweek 8 Captaincy Conundrum
Another International Break is over, and although it seemed to drag on and on, we now need to refocus for the next four weeks until the final International Break of the calendar year which takes place after Game-week 11.
The early kick-off on Saturday lunchtime comes at Anfield, where a struggling Liverpool take on arch-rivals Man Utd. With Klopp feeling the pressure and Mourinho riding high on ego and confidence, this could be a very interesting game.
If you are looking at captaincy options from this fixture, be mindful that the South American duo of Firmino and Coutinho will have only arrived back late. For me, only Salah is a standout option for the armband; he will be BUZZING after sending his country to next year’s World Cup Finals with his late penalty.
Mohamed Salah – 43pts (4 goals, 2 assists, 4 bonus points)
If you want to go for a Utd player, then it makes sense to go with the highly owned, consistently scoring Lukaku. But if you do own them, Rashford or Martial could also be an interesting option.
Romelu Lukaku – 50pts (7 goals, 1 assist, 8 bonus points)
Marcus Rashford – 33pts (2 goal, 3 assists, 3 bonus points)
Anthony Martial – 30pts (3 goal, 2 assists, 1 bonus point)
Moving on to the 3pm kick-offs, I shall now give you one option per team:
Burnley v West Ham
Nick Pope – 21pts (2 clean sheets, 1 goals conceded, 3 bonus points)*
*3.5 games played
Joe Hart – 22pts (3 clean sheets, 13 goals conceded, 0 bonus points)
Crystal Palace v Chelsea
Andros Townsend – 13pts (0 goals, 0 assists, 0 bonus points)
Eden Hazard – 5pts (0 goal, 0 assists, 0 bonus points)
Man City v Stoke City
Leroy Sane – 37pts (3 goals, 2 assists, 5 bonus points)
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting – 30pts (2 goals, 1 assists, 3 bonus points)
Spurs v Bournemouth
Harry Kane – 45pts (6 goals, 0 assists, 9 bonus points)
Jermaine Defoe – 17pts (1 goals, 0 assists, 1 bonus point)
Swansea v Huddersfield
Tammy Abraham – 26pts (2 goals, 0 assists, 5 bonus points)
Aaron Mooy – 28pts (1 goal, 1 assist, 2 bonus points)
The early evening kick-off is at Vicarage Road where Watford take on Arsenal. For some reason, there seems to be a misguided opinion that manager Marco Silva has improved the Hornets defensively. A quick scan reveals they conceded 9 goals in their 3 home games so far. Admittedly 6 of those were in one game (the mauling from Man City) and they have kept one clean sheet (against Brighton). But, with an average of 3 goals conceded at home so far this season, I don’t fancy them keeping Arsenal out.
Abdoulaye Doucoure – 38pts (3 goals, 0 assists, 8 bonus points)
Alexis Sanchez – 15pts (0 goals, 2 assists, 0 bonus points)
Sunday’s fixtures aren’t really all that tempting for a captaincy selection, but if you’re a fan of the differential skipper then the following players may tickle your fancy.
Brighton v Everton
Solly March – 23pts (1 goals, 1 assist, 0 bonus points)
Gylfi Sigurdsson – 11pts (0 goals, 0 assists, 0 bonus points)
Southampton v Newcastle
Nathan Redmond – 19pts (0 goals, 1 assist, 0 bonus points)
Joselu – 21pts (2 goals, 0 assists, 3 bonus points)
Monday Night Football throws up Leicester v West Brom. A team who has scored the most headed chances v a team who has conceded the most headed chances. This will either be 0-0 or 4-4 in my opinion. I just have a funny feeling in my water that this is going to be looked back on as a Premier League Classic akin to “that” Liverpool v Newcastle game.
Leicester v West Brom
Jamie Vardy – 38pts (5 goals, 0 assists, 7 bonus points)
Matt Phillips – 22pts (0 goals, 2 assists, 0 bonus points)
My personal selection in the form of a Top 5 from those identified would be (in reverse order):
5. Hazard
4. Sanchez
3. Vardy
2. Salah
1. Kane
I will leave you with “Fly’s Final Thought”. Harry Kane is still only owned by 40% of FPL Managers. Ok, so this makes him the second highest owned player in the game, but this is STILL 20% less than Lukaku. Guys, Harry Kane is currently one of – if not the – best strikers in the world right now. 40% will include many “dead” teams (those who picked him in their GW1 squad but have since given up on the game. Realistically, his “live” ownership is probably around 30%. This is crazy. You simply must own Kane. No questions, no arguments.
Good luck with whoever you choose, may your arrows be green and I hope you remain just 1 point behind me in the overall rankings!
Written by @FPL_Fly