CAPTAINCY HYPE 2017/18: FPL Gameweek 9
Picking a Captain to double down on in the Fantasy Premier League is the most important question asked ahead of each of the 38 Gameweek's in the Premier League season. There's a lot of self-help out there for FPL enthusiasts, with our Hype Team providing three major considerations for the armband for each and every Gameweek. We'll be detailing the Essential choice for captain, a popular alternative that's pushing the consensus, and a Wildcard pick to add to the chaos. Captaincy can make of break a Gameweek so strap in tightly, it's time to lose your marbles. All aboard.
Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek Deadline
For the 2016/17 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. The Premier League website lists each FPL deadline, you can always ask on social media, and you can also view a real time countdown on our Weekly Hype page.
CAPTAINCY HYPE: 2017/18 SEASON PERFORMANCE
In each Captaincy Hype article we track our progress throughout the 2017/18 FPL season. Below you can check how our Captaincy selections have performed by week to week in the Fantasy Premier League.
GW1
Essential: Romelu Lukaku (Man United vs. West Ham) - 13pts
Alternative: Roberto Firmino (Watford vs. Liverpool) - 12pts
Wildcard: Josh King (West Brom vs. Bournemouth) - 2pts
GW2
Essential: Romelu Lukaku (Swansea vs. Man Utnited) - 6pts
Alternative: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace) - 1pt
Wildcard: Steve Mounie (Huddersfield vs. Newcastle) - 1pt
GW3
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs vs. Burnley) - 2pts
Alternative: Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Man United vs. Leicester) - 5pts
Wildcard: Alvaro Morata (Chelsea vs. Everton) - 12pts
GW4
Essential: Romelu Lukaku (Stoke vs. Man United) - 6pts
Alternative: Alvaro Morata (Leicester vs. Chelsea) - 6pts
Wildcard: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal vs. Bournemouth) - 1pt
GW5
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs vs. Swansea) - 2pts
Alternative: Gabriel Jesus (Watford vs. Man City) - 6pts
Wildcard: Eden Hazard (Chelsea vs. Arsenal) - 1pt
GW6
Essential: Sergio Aguero (Man City vs. Crystal Palace) - 11pts
Alternative: Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal vs. West Brom) - 13pts
Wildcard: Benjamin Mendy (Man City vs. Crystal Palace) - 0pts
GW7
Essential: Romelu Lukaku (Man United vs. Crystal Palace) - 6pts
Alternative: Dele Alli (Huddersfield vs. Spurs) - 2pts
Wildcard: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal vs. Brighton) - 6pts
GW8
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs vs. Bournemouth) - 2pts
Alternative: Jamie Vardy (Leicester vs. West Brom) - 2pts
Wildcard: Raheem Sterling (Man City vs. Stoke) - 15pts
Totals
Essential Total: 13 (1), 6 (2), 2 (3), 6 (4), 2 (5), 11 (6), 6 (7), 2 (8) = 48 points
Alternative Total: 12 (1), 1 (2), 5 (3), 6 (4), 6 (5), 13 (6), 2 (7), 2 (8) = 47 points
Wildcard Total: 2 (1), 1 (2), 12 (3), 1 (4), 1 (5), 0 (6), 6 (7), 15 (8) = 38 points
CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE ESSENTIAL PICK
Our Essential picks for captain are selected each and every week on our main Twitter account, @RealHypeTrain, with four highly selected FPL options battling it out for alpha status amongst fellow FPL players.
Gameweek 9: Essential
Player: Gabriel Jesus (MCI)
Position: Forward
Player Price: £10.7 million
Player Selection %: 23.3%
With Manchester City in fine form heading into Gameweek 9, for the first time this season we included two of their players in our essential captaincy poll. Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, who were both at the forefront of the points in the 7-2 victory at home to Stoke, earned a birth, whilst we saw it best fit to include the highly popular duo of Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku for good measure.
The results were quite clear, though a victory for Gabriel Jesus was achieved without a majority (though the combo of him and Sterling surpassed 50%).
The case for Gabriel Jesus as the man to back against for another home encounter for FPL players, this time against a Burnley side who have started the season incredibly well, is due to a lack of legitimate options for the armband.
Kane, who has failed to score at Wembley in the Premier League, hosts Liverpool. Man Untied have begun parking the bus and Romelu Lukaku's form has taken a bit of a dive due to small changes in approach. Jamie Vardy's recently lost his manager and all is up in the air at Leicester. Alvaro Morata is just back from an injury, but at least offers a compelling alternative if you don't want to bank on Jesus.
As for Jesus himself, he managed a second brace of the season against Stoke (and an assist as well) taking his points tally to 13pts, his highest return from a single Gameweek so far this season.
With Aguero coming back into contention, this will likely not have an impact on Gabriel Jesus's minutes or potential, as there has been a set plan for the Brazilian all season.
Jesus starts, he makes a menace of himself for 60 minutes, then he gets subbed. The Brazilian has been subbed in every game bar one, the 1-0 away victory at Chelsea, with the Forward playing 475/720 available minutes so far this season. Aguero has played 466/720 minutes, and is just behind Jesus in the pitch time played, even though the Argentine has been ruled out for the previous two Premier League matches.
As for Jesus's opposition, Burnley are a tough nut to crack, and might provide more defensive resilience than a Stoke side that have leaked 7 goals to Man City, and 4 to Chelsea, in quick succession this season.
Burnley have kept 3 clean sheets this season, with their only away shutout coming against an Everton side who are struggling in the table, so there is the potential once again for Man City to add to their goal tally this weekend. That much is obvious.
Stats and Information: Gabriel Jesus
Gabriel Jesus has started the season with 6 goals, 1 assists, and 9 bonus points, for FPL players, with 47 points overall.
Jesus has played 475/720 available minutes, which is just ahead of Sergio Aguero with 466/720 minutes played, in the Premier League.
The Man City trio of Jesus, Sterling, and Aguero, each have 6 Premier League goals so far this season, which is just one behind the leading scorer, Romelu Lukaku, on 7 goals.
With 47 points, Jesus is tied as Man City's 4th best player in the FPL so far this season (tied with Leroy Sane).
Gabriel Jesus has been substituted in 6 of his 7 Premier League appearances so far this season.
Jesus has more Bonus Points (9) than any of his Man City teammates.
A total of 9 bonus points for Jesus is the second highest figure in the league, level with Harry Kane (TOT) and Wayne Rooney (EVE).
CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE ALTERNATIVE PICK
Our Alternative selection for captain typically commands a smaller FPL ownership percentage, but can be reserved for The Hype Train's own gut instincts on who could be captaincy inspiration.
Gameweek 9: Alternative
Player: Eden Hazard (CHE)
Position: Midfielder
Player Price: £10.6 million
Player Selection %: 4.8%
Coming off a rough defeat against win-less Crystal Palace during Gameweek 7, FPL players had been excited for the potential that Eden Hazard could bring to the table. The 2-1 defeat, which saw Hazard earn a meagre 2 FPL points falls in line with the widespread disappointment that was felt by the FPL community.
For the first time this season, Crystal Palace were made to look a unit, and it was all Chelsea's doing. Palace dominated the ball and couldn't handle with the trickery, drive, and execution of the returning Wilfried Zaha, a player who is surely going to be moving on to a bigger stage sooner rather than later (right?). Hazard and Chelsea looked out of sorts, so FPL interest had slightly cooled, until another exciting European night happened.
Chelsea followed up their defeat to Palace with a hard-earned draw against Italian side Roma, with Chelsea squandering a lead, and had to salvage a point in their Champions League tie, being 3-2 down. It was Eden Hazard who took the plaudits for the result, scoring twice against the Serie A side, which has once again made FPL players stand to attention, despite the Belgian failing to score or assist so far this season.
With Alvaro Morata back in the fold for another tricky Premier League fixture, this time against a Watford side who have surprised under Marco Silva, there is once again raised stakes that Chelsea might reward their FPL faithful with some big points returns, especially with Hazard and Morata's link-up play as an attacking unit making some corners of the Chelsea fan-base begin to purr.
Though there aren't any stats or figures to back up Hazard's output in the Premier League, there are underlying factors which could tempt a few FPL players in to sticking the armband on Hazard, who is surely a ticking time-bomb right now, waiting to explode into form.
Stats and Information: Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard has started the season making 5 appearances in the Premier League without a goal or an assist to his name, with just 7 points for FPL players.
Alvaro Morata has more Bonus Points (8) than Hazard has points.
Hazard has scored 4 goals this season, twice in World Cup qualifying, and twice in the Champions League against Roma.
With 4.8% ownership, Eden Hazard is the 9th most selected Chelsea player in the FPL.
Chelsea have yet to be awarded a penalty kick in the Premier League this season. Hazard has always been the primary spot-kick taker for the Blues.
CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE WILDCARD PICK
Our Wildcard selection is one of the ten differential picks that is featured in our Weekly Wildcards article. This captaincy selection has a very small percentage of owners in the FPL, and is our left field option.
Gameweek 9: Wildcard
Player: Tammy Abraham (SWA)
Position: Forward
Player Price: £5.7 million
Player Selection %: 10.7%
Rounding off our Captaincy selections ahead of Gameweek 9 is another Chelsea player, a forward playing his trade on loan at Swansea City this season, being told he wasn't needed for the season.
Tammy Abraham has caught the eye of FPL players with four goals this season, with his latest performance against newly-promoted Huddersfield tempting players into a Fantasy re-think.
Abraham's brace against David Wagner's side earned a huge 13pts in the FPL, with the England under-21 international managing the maximum three bonus points, for the second time this season.
With @HypeTrainSam's differential picks each and every week, it was quite obvious from the pool of lowly selected players that Abraham was the standout option.
Abraham has value, form, and goals against Crystal Palace, Watford, and Huddersfield, with Leicester in and around that calibre of opposition that the Forward has relished playing this season.
There is also the added factor of Leicester sacking Craig Shakespeare just days after the Foxes drew 1-1 at home to West Brom, which makes this game a perfect 'wildcard' fixture, which means Tammy could strike big yet again, or suffer a sting in the tail of a resurgent Leicester outfit.
Stats and Information: Tammy Abraham
Tammy Abraham has begun the season with 4 goals, 8 Bonus Points, and 39 overall points for FPL players.
Abraham has scored 4 of Swansea's 5 Premier League goals this season. 3 of Abraham's goals have come at home.
Tammy Abraham has 8 Bonus Points this season, 2 more than any of his Swansea teammates.
Abraham has started 7/8 games this season, being subbed on once, and has been subbed in 4/7 games in which he has started.
With 10.7% FPL ownership, Abraham is the most selected Swansea player that is playing regular first team football.
Want to know more about The Hype Train?
The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in the Fantasy Premier League (#FPL), providing beautiful graphics and weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb ranking tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review movies, live sport, and professional wrestling.
As well as providing FPL articles on our website, we are a founding Contributor to the new Fantasy Football Hub, where you can find more unique articles, including weekly Power Rankings, from The Hype Team. You can support us and read exclusive members only content for just £2 per-month by clicking here.
The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog 2016' by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), with the final presentation held at Old Trafford in Manchester.
You can follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, or visit our website here at www.thehypetrain.co.uk
All aboard.
