Can we remove the captaincy aspect of Fantasy Premier League now, please? The one thing I wanted to improve on going into this season more than anything else was captaincy success rate. Six weeks in, I haven’t made the right call yet and it’s bloody frustrating. Captaining Sterling and vice-captaining Salah over De Bruyne last weekend was the latest in a run of captaincy fails. Surely Gameweek 7 is going to be the one – surely?
It’s another tricky decision for the armband this week with Man City and Liverpool both playing away. Tammy Abraham (£7.5m) is being mooted in the community but can he be trusted?
Harry Kane (£11.0m) and Son Heung-min (£9.7m) have a great fixture at home to Southampton but Spurs are a bit of a mess right now.
Jamie Vardy (£8.9m) could do well on Sunday at home to Newcastle while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.0m) can’t be ruled out either despite an away trip to Old Trafford. Let’s face it, that’s probably a green fixture on the FDR for Arsenal given how United played against West Ham in Gameweek 6.
All that said, it’s hard to look past a free-scoring Man City team off the back of their 8-0 drubbing of Watford. Everton have been shipping goals for fun recently so it could be another big Gameweek for the City attackers.
Sergio Aguero (£12.2m) is the pick of the bunch again this week for those lucky enough to own him. Kevin De Bruyne (£9.9m) is a reliable captaincy pick now given the form he’s in. The big question is whether to trust Raheem Sterling (£12.1m) or not with the armband after two blanks and a benching (and a couple of price drops thrown in for good measure). Is it madness to keep the faith with him or should we play safe with someone like De Bruyne or Salah? How sweet would it be to captain him and he scores 15+ points after being sold by 275,000+ managers?
As my excitement levels rise typing this, the pain of last Saturday returns to remind me what could happen again this weekend. Another Sterling captain blank would be too much to take, but I’m probably going to do it anyway. If he does let me down again, Lord Lundstram is getting the armband for the rest of the season.
Wildcarding during the next international break is on my mind, but I find myself wondering when is the ideal time to play it this season? It’s always nice to have two weeks to build a shiny new squad but that’s not a good enough reason to activate it. I’m happy with my squad and if the next two Gameweeks go smoothly, then there will be no need to hit the button ahead of Gameweek 9.
As Fantasy managers, do we play it too early just because we have it burning a hole in our pocket? When you look at taking a -4 or -8, the natural reaction is, why should I sacrifice points when I could just do it for free with a Wildcard?
The second Wildcard is usually kept for the final third of the campaign which is an awful long way away. Use a Wildcard now and you are effectively setting your team up for the next five months.
Is there more to be gained from being patient with it and using it in November/December to prepare for the busy festive schedule? It’s something I’ve never done but can see myself doing it this season.
There’s a wealth of options delivering consistently at present but fast forward to December and there could be a whole new crop players that we desire. Having a Wildcard in hand if that does happen could prove to be very powerful. It’s something to think about, at least.
Good luck in Gameweek 7 folks.
Lessons learned from Gameweek 6:
- Southampton 1-3 Bournemouth
- Leicester City 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
- Burnley 2-0 Norwich City
- Everton 0-2 Sheffield United
- Manchester City 8-0 Watford
- Newcastle United 0-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
- Crystal Palace 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
- West Ham United 2-0 Manchester United
- Arsenal 3-2 Aston Villa
- Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool
