Gameweek 17 Preview

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Captain Picks
With the short gameweek I'm going to keep this brief. Your basic choice is to either captain your City players, or, if you are worried about rotation (which is a concern) then stick with a proven asset with a somewhat tricky fixture (ie Van Persie and Rooney).

City's fixture is just too good to avoid and if you hold Aguero or Silva it's tough to look elsewhere. As with prior year weeks I think Silva is the safer option, though Aguero probably has the higher upside. Aguero looked sharp early against Arsenal but drifted out of the game a bit as it went on (though I don't really understand why he was stripped of his assist). At this point I am leaning towards Silva, who appears less likely to be dropped (Dzeko must be due a start soon) but it really is a coin toss and I don't have anything concrete to help you make a decision either way.

Outside of the City stars you're left with Van Persie who had a rare off week at City but faces a Villa side who have conceded 7 goals in their last 4 home games. Arsenal are clearly a riskier play than City but that is somewhat offset by the fact that Van Persie is involved in an higher proportion of Arsenal's goals than either of the City pair (the Dutchman has scored or assisted 18 of the 25 Gunner goals).

You could also take a look at Rooney given the last couple of games, though back-to-back home clean sheets for Fulham suggests United won't have it all their own way. If you own him you will of course consider captaining Rooney, though I don't think United are quite at a place where you captain Rooney no matter who the opposition.

I omitted Ba from the rankings last week (by mistake) but even then he wouldn't have cracked the top  3. Players from the non-elite sides struggle to consistently deliver big scores and thus make risky captain picks. Even a fit Darren Bent and his 10 2-point games would therefore not have made this list, no matter how good the fixture is.

I might not get to a full reader questions post this week but if you send them to @plfantasy I will try and reply tonight.

Comments

Steven said…
You the man Chris.

Fortunately, last week, even though I captained Aguero for a whopping 2 points, a lot of folks captained Ba.

I'm happy with Aguero/RVP/Sturridge for now.. with a swap of Aguero to Adebayor possible soon.. so hard to get off the RVP train! I think he'll net against a suspect Villa side as of late.
December 19, 2011 at 9:43 PM
Raddz said…
Thanks for another great post Chris!
I just wanted to point out that the fixture for Arsenal looks pretty good this week as Aston Villa looked terrible last week vs Liverpool as Liverpool hit the post 3 times with the net empty and Guzan didn't look convicing in net instead of the injured Given. I personally rate this game higher than the Man City game a Stoke don't give up too many goals and have 5 clean sheets. So I gave the armband to Van Persie this weekend as he seems to score after being kept off the score sheet the previous week and has a good fixture.
Hope this helps anyone
December 19, 2011 at 9:49 PM
Raddz said…
Also what do you guys think about Chiek Tiote for Newcastle? He looked pretty good for Newcastle and might be a good budget option on the bench.
He has also been linked to be transfered to a number of the big EPL teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool during January
December 19, 2011 at 9:55 PM
Steven said…
Raddz: Stoke at home is one thing, on the road 17 goals allowed. They are terrible. I'm with Chris. You have to look at Silva or Aguero. Or if you're feeling cheeky, Balotelli. But that's pretty risky.

As for Cheik. I bought at 4.6. He's down to 4.4 but I'm not letting go anytime soon. Great player at a bargain price though he doesn't seem to go forward all that often as his role is holding mid.. Look at his passes on guardian chalkboard, mostly in his own half, not many, if any key passes.
December 19, 2011 at 10:21 PM
Ali Dia said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
December 19, 2011 at 11:52 PM
Anonymous said…
Hi Chris,
I would captaining Silva, only I'm worried about him being rested, and then given one of his late 1 point cameo roles. Given 90 minutes, he would be top of my list, but I think as a result I prefer van Persie. And since a vice captain should be absolutely nailed on to play, I shall vice captain Ba, as he's less likely to be rotated. (I don't have Rooney.) Do you have any thoughts on this?
Regards,
James
December 20, 2011 at 1:28 AM
Ali Dia said…
Thanks for your advice last week on captaining Silva. I have 2 questions;
1.Who should I start between Assou Ekotto and Brunt. I think Chelsea will surely score against Spurs and BAE is not much of a goal threat.I had Brunt on the bench the weekend and I got burnt by his 8 points
2.Dyer is injured and I need a bench fodder in the range of ~4.6M
December 20, 2011 at 1:32 AM
Steven said…
Ali Dai: Moses is 4.6 and seems to finally be getting some rewards for his high shot count over the course of the season. He plays every game as a CF. My 2 cents.
December 20, 2011 at 7:30 AM
scout said…
Chris, for the next few weeks until the wildcard, would you swap n dyer out for yaya toure or larsson/sinclair/moses + cash to boost future transfers?
December 20, 2011 at 9:07 AM
Shugobot said…
I'm thinking of using Yakubu as my captain this week. He's playing at home against Bolton, who have been horrible. Also, he hasn't scored in the past two games (and not since his 4 goals on Swansea). Is this a reckless move? My other choices are RVP or Silva, who would be safer choices. Silva would be the safest bet, but doesn't have the upside of RVP. I think Yak has the greatest points potential of the three and has a great match-up. What do you think?
December 20, 2011 at 12:33 PM
Steven said…
Shugobot: Great risk to take, especially against Bolton who are the worst defense in the EPL .. 38 goals allowed in 16 games.. ouch.

Silva could be rotated, watch out for that. I'm going with RVP and praying he is not rotated as well..
December 20, 2011 at 1:42 PM
Shugobot said…
I'm in a big risk big reward mood. It's Yak Attack time! Thanks for the response, Steven.
December 20, 2011 at 2:20 PM
Steven said…
Nice goal there by Yak. He was pretty much uninvolved until that strike.. glad it paid off for you Shugobot! There's still 23 mins left as of this post so who knows.
December 20, 2011 at 4:25 PM
JayDavies said…
Thank you Chris for another great post and your twitter reply :). Your posts does help me in a way but I am too stubborn to follow your Captain pick (last week i had Ba instead of Silva :/) this GW i got Ba as Captain again and hoping he will have goals as he looked good against Swansea. I just hope Silva doesnt do well as Ba though or I will be well pissed off
December 20, 2011 at 11:32 PM
nsj91 said…
Thanks for the blog Chris..
i'm a long time reader, first time commenter.
I learnt from my Ba mistake last week, RVP all the way (at least for the next 2 enticing GWs anyway)

keep it going!
December 21, 2011 at 7:11 AM
amtosh said…
Hey Chris,

Quick question, with P. Jones looking likely to be out for a while (damn), should I replace him and Bale with Mata and Assou-Ekkoto, or VDV and Shawcross?

Any other good combos for 15 millionish?

Or alternatively, keep Bale and bring in a good defender like M. Richards, Kompany, Rio or Skrtel?

Or lastly, keep Bale, put in a cheapish defender like Smalling and use the additional 1.8ish to upgrade Walters or Moses?

Your help would be appreciated in these trying times.
December 21, 2011 at 7:43 PM
vicky said…
a bit early but cant help my anxiety...i already did my gw18 transfer..evans in for jones..and one extra i had, used it for getting skrtel for barnett(shouldnt have done that) ...i have .2 in the bank..so if i hold on to my team i would have 2 ft for gw20..bale and adebayor in my team..no everton cover..plan to use that 2 ft for vdv in for mata and drenthe for walters keeping in mind the double gameweek...
suggestions from anyone would be appreciated...
thanks in advance...
December 22, 2011 at 7:08 AM
fplhints said…
With the growing number of injuries and hectic end of year fixture jam it may be worth investing in this amazingly cheap Premier League superstar:

http://fantasypremierleaguehints.blogspot.com/2011/12/recommended-player-for-gameweek-18.html

Your thoughts?
December 23, 2011 at 3:23 PM
vanilla said…
My thoughts:
Ahoy there, Captain Obvious
December 23, 2011 at 4:22 PM
Steven said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
December 23, 2011 at 10:37 PM
Steven said…
@vanilla HAHAH seriously man. I am really happy that I've had him from day 1 at 4.0.. pretty sweet.
December 23, 2011 at 10:38 PM
ll said…
i recommend michu oer holt as both are in great form... But it'll be difficult for michu as he is playin against a strong defensive line up.
I feel holt is a gamble which will pay off or the more safer option would be rooney or RVP
December 12, 2012 at 7:54 AM
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