The cup break is almost over! 2 weeks without Premier League football after the festive fixtures makes it seem like forever. Last gameweek saw a lot of rotation which caused havoc with our captaincy selections, but as always, here’s how last gameweek’s FPL Captaincy Analysis did:
1. Harry Kane – 3 points
2. Raheem Sterling – 9 points
3. Jamie Vardy – 0 points
Differential – Marko Arnautovic – 5 points
Gamble – Mohamed Salah – 0 points
Now onto this week’s picks…
1. Romelu Lukaku (STK)
Bit surprising to choose Lukaku as number one considering his form recently, however I think his form will definitely change in 2018. Firstly, Lukaku seems to play much better when playing a team from the “other 13” teams and this week’s opposition, Stoke, qualify in that group. In the reverse fixture, Lukaku scored and he also buried in there midweek match. His ownership is quite high, but they’re mainly ghostships. Few people will be willing to captain him as they’ll be put off by his form! However, from knowing him at Everton, he will definitely come into good form and I think it’ll come starting from this week.
2. Harry Kane (EVE)
After scoring back to back hat-tricks in the last few weeks, it was shocking when Kane didn’t register more than 3 points in the DGW, however, this may have been due to his ill health. Every time he isn’t in good health, he seems to perform much worse than we usually see, and it’s happened a few times this season. After a restful week, Spurs will play Everton at the weekend who only won 2 away matches in the entirety of 2017, and as Kane scored 2 against them in the reverse fixture, I can definitely see him adding to that tally. He’s scored in 3 consecutive matches against Everton, can he make it 4?
3. Eden Hazard (LEI)
Every week I seem to include, and every week he seems to perform well, but just can’t find any involvement in any goals for Chelsea. He scored last week against Arsenal, however this came from a controversial decision that resulted in him scoring a penalty. Before that, he failed to score in 6 weeks, but he genuinely isn’t even playing that badly, which puts us in a tricky situation. He’s the perfect player on paper but he just needs to up his game when in the final third! Chelsea take on Leicester this week, who have only kept 2 clean sheets in their last 12 gameweeks, so there may be some goals in this fixture!
Differential – Riyad Mahrez (CHE)
Two things surprised when looking at Mahrez on FPL – his unbelievable form that has gone unnoticed, and his ownership! He’s owned by 10% of players, and has rewarded them by blanking only once in the last 8 gameweeks, a fantastic record. In that time, he’s scored 5 goals and assisted 4 times, and considering his low ownership, it makes him a perfect differential option for captaincy!
Gamble – Mohamed Salah (MCI)
Last week he didn’t feature, which was expected, however this week, it’s still tricky to determine if he will start or not. He’s a slight doubt for the match, however Klopp has said that he’s trained and looks ready, giving the impression that he may start. For us, it’s not as easy as that as knowing Klopp, it’s likely Salah will return to the bench as Klopp will not want to aggravate his injury so won’t rush him back into the starting line-up! It’s a massive gamble, because if he doesn’t start, he may come on for a 1 point cameo, a dreaded thought!
Written by Bonus FPL (@BonusFPL)
