CAPTAINCY HYPE 2016/17: FPL Gameweek 12
- Robert Austin
- Nov 17, 2016
- 9 min read
Updated: Dec 13, 2023
Picking a Captain in the Fantasy Premier League is among the most important 38 decisions any person will make throughout the course of the season. There's a lot of self-help out there for FPL enthusiasts, with our Hype Team providing three major considerations for the armband 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. Strap in tightly, it's time to lose your marbles. All aboard.
Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 12 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.
In a change from last season, the early Saturday kick off time has now been moved back to 12:30am, meaning the weekly FPL deadline will also be moving 15 minutes back.
The transfer deadline for GW12 is Saturday November 19th at 11:30am
CORE CAPTAINS: SEASON PERFORMANCE
To help track our progress throughout the 2016/17 season, below you can check how our Core Captaincy selections have done by week to week in the Fantasy Premier League.
GW1
Essential: Sergio Aguero (Man City vs. Sunderland) - 9pts
Alternative: Jamie Vardy (Hull vs. Leicester) - 2pts
Wildcard: Nathan Redmond (Southampton vs. Watford) - 10pts
GW2
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs vs. Crystal Palace) - 5pts
Alternative: Roberto Firmino (Burnley vs. Liverpool) - 2pts
Wildcard: Fernando Llorente (Swansea vs. Hull) - 2pts
GW3
Essential: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Hull vs. Man United) - 2pts
Alternative: Eden Hazard (Chelsea vs. Burnley) - 11pts
Wildcard: Romelu Lukaku (Everton vs. Stoke) - 2pts
GW4
Essential: Eden Hazard (Swansea vs. Chelsea) - 1pt
Alternative: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal vs. Southampton) - 1pt
Wildcard: Tom Heaton (Burnley vs. Hull) - 2pts
GW5
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs vs. Sunderland) - 9pts
Alternative: Romelu Lukaku (Everton vs. Middlesbrough) - 12pts
Wildcard: Christian Benteke (Crystal Palace vs. Stoke) - 2pts
GW6
Essential: Sergio Aguero (Swansea vs. Man City) - 13pts
Alternative: Sadio Mane (Liverpool vs. Hull) - 7pts
Wildcard: Troy Deeney (Burnley vs. Watford) - 2pts
GW7
Essential: Alexis Sanchez (Burnley vs. Arsenal) - 3pts
Alternative: Philippe Coutinho (Swansea vs. Liverpool) - 2pts
Wildcard: Marcus Rashford (Man United vs. Stoke) - 2pts
GW8
Essential: Sergio Aguero (Man City vs. Everton) - -1pt
Alternative: Diego Costa (Chelsea vs. Leicester) - 9pts
Wildcard: Christian Benteke (Crystal Palace vs. West Ham) - -1pt
GW9
Essential: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal vs. Middlesbrough) - 3pts
Alternative: Theo Walcott (Arsenal vs. Middlesbrough) - 3pts
Wildcard: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea vs. Watford) - 2pts
GW10
Essential: Alexis Sanchez (Sunderland vs. Arsenal) - 13pts
Alternative: Romelu Lukaku (Everton vs. West Ham) - 12pts
Wildcard: Troy Deeney (Watford vs. Hull) - 2pts
GW11
Essential: Sergio Aguero (Man City vs. Middlesbrough) - 6pts
Alternative: Charlie Austin (Hull City vs. Southampton) - 7pts
Wildcard: Wilfried Bony (West Ham vs. Stoke City) - 2pts
Totals
Essential Total: 9 (1), 5 (2), 2 (3), 1 (4), 9 (5), 13 (6), 3 (7), -1 (8), 3 (9), 13 (10), 6 (11) = 63pts Alternative Total: 2 (1), 2 (2), 11 (3), 1 (4), 12 (5), 7 (6), 2 (7), 9 (8), 3 (9), 12 (10), 7 (11) = 68pts
Wildcard Total: 10 (1), 2 (2), 2 (3), 2 (4), 2 (5), 2 (6), 2 (7), -1 (8), 2 (9), 2 (10), 2 (11) = 27pts
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE ESSENTIAL PICK
Player: Sergio Aguero
Position: Forward
Player Price: £13.1 million
Player Selection %: 46.5%
If this trend with Aguero continually being voted in on our Twitter account as the essential captaincy pick, there will come a time when we literally run out of things to say, and we’ll end up sounding like a crazy ex whose writing constant love letters to their former lover. The trend with Aguero in the FPL is an infuriating one as he’s an obvious hit with both Fantasy football lovers, Twitter users that scream his name, but in reality he’s not the best forward, and he hasn’t been for a long time, despite being the most expensive player in the Fantasy Premier League.
Costa (73pts) and Lukaku (69pts) both have more points as Aguero. Defoe has the same number of points as Aguero (61pts), and you’ve also had the option of Zlatan Ibrahimovic (54pts) and alternative form options in Austin (47pts), Vokes (46pts) and Negredo once upon a time (38pts) to choose from. By the virtue of the 3 best forwards in the league, you could actually do without Aguero. His hefty price tag is the difference between having another Eden Hazard or Liverpool midfielder in your side. From our observations, the love for Aguero has dampened just slightly, but with the added forward options to choose from, Aguero is not currently featuring in a lot of mini-leagues, and large classic leagues.
What the general masses believes Aguero does offer is a giant captaincy return at any given moment. The consensus was that Aguero would score 10 goals against Everton during GW8’s 1-1 draw at the Etihad. Aguero managed to finish on negative points. A similar thought occurred during the Middlesbrough home game for GW11. Aguero scored, was booked, and ruined the chance at 3 bonus points. It was a modest figure considering Hazard, Costa, and the Liverpool midfield ran wild in massive victories.
To boost Aguero’s case, against all this scepticism is the fact that from 3/9 games this season, Aguero’s managed double figure points. Stoke (GW2 – 13pts), Swansea (GW6 – 13pts), and West Brom (GW10 – 16pts). Regarding of injury, Aguero’s not returned any meaningful points from 6/11 games this season, having only played in 9 games. To further Aguero’s case, Crystal Palace just don’t keep clean sheets, and Man City love a penalty, already being awarded 6 this season. The viewpoint adds up to the predictable – another Aguero rout.
Man City’s Fixtures
GW12: Crystal Palace (a)
GW13: Burnley (a)
GW14: Chelsea (h)
GW15: Leicester (a)
GW16: Watford (h)
GW17: Arsenal (h)
GW18: Hull City (a)
GW19: Liverpool (a)
Notes on Aguero
Aguero has scored 8 goals this season, but has only scored in 5 games, managing a brace on 3 occasions.
In the 4 of the 5 games that Aguero has scored in, he’s achieved the maximum 3 bonus points. The exception came during City’s 1-1 home draw to Boro.
Only Romelu Lukaku (13) has as many bonus points as Aguero (also 13). Filling out the top 3 is Hazard, De Bruyne, and Defoe, all on 12.
Aguero’s 8 goals have come against Sunderland, Stoke (2), Swansea (2), and West Brom (2), Middlesbrough (1) – teams that you’d classify as mid table or struggling teams. Aguero has failed to score against West Ham, Spurs, Everton, and Southampton, teams that in the past few seasons have been positioned in the top half of the table.
Aguero’s only completed the full 90 minutes on 5/9 occasions this season, missing 2 games through injury.
Aguero has featured 3 times in the FPL Gameweek Dream Team, more times than any other forward.
Aguero was booked just once last season, and he’s already been booked twice this season, at home to Southampton during GW9, and against Boro during GW11.
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE ALTERNATIVE PICK
Player: Jermain Defoe (Sunderland)
Position: Forward
Player Price: £7.4 million
Player Selection %: 15%
We're living in a world where a Sunderland player is in contention for a captain's birth in the Fantasy Premier League. We've Hazard, Coutinho, Firmino, Costa, Lukaku, and Sanchez as regular players that feature on our Captaincy Hype, but ahead of Gameweek 12, post the last international break until March, is a forgotten England striker who has been consistent in the Premier League since his arrival. Jermain Defoe is our man to rival Aguero, and why not, he's the same number of points in the game as the hefty priced Argentine.
Sunderland's home tie against Hull is already turning into a relegation six pointer, and in crunch situations there is no better man to rely on than Defoe. Sunderland's ace in the hole dominates the points Sunderland have acquired. In our recent FPL Stats Breakdown article, here's how Sunderland ranked.
Sunderland
GK – 30pts (from 2)
DEF – 82pts (from 10)
MID – 104pts (from 10)
ATT – 77pts (from 3)
TOTAL – 293pts
BEST PLAYER: Jermain Defoe (61pts)
Overall Points: 20th
GK Points: 19th
Defender Points: 19th
Midfielder Points: 20th
Forward Points: 7th
Overall FPL Forwards Table
LEI: 113pts
MUN: 111pts
MCI: 97pts
CHE: 89pts
EVE: 83pts
BUR: 78pts
SUN: 77pts
We worked the stats out, finding that Defoe has made 20.8% of Sunderland's points this season. One fifth of all points is the highest percentage value of any player in the Premier League. In Sunderland's case this worrying stat for the rest of their team comes down to the inability to properly defend or support Defoe in the last third of the pitch.
The bright horizon in our Captaincy article for GW12 once again comes at the expense of Hull City, who we have banked on once again. It worked for Charlie Austin, a big footballing character. and there is none bigger than Defoe. Remember we said Defoe was a big game player? He scored the winning goal to keep Sunderland up last season, netting against Everton in 3-0 home victory, and most recently scored at Bournemouth from the penalty spot. If there's any one time to put faith in Defoe to diversify our picks, Defoe is our man.
In this relegation battle (because let's face it, that's what the match is, we are predicting that Sunderland could continue to steer their season in the right direction.
Sunderland’s Fixtures
GW12: Hull (h)
GW13: Liverpool (a)
GW14: Leicester (h)
GW15: Swansea (a)
GW16: Chelsea (h)
GW17: Watford (h)
GW18: Man United (a)
GW19: Burnley (a)
Notes on Defoe
Defoe has the same number of FPL points as Aguero, with 61 points. The pair are currently joint 9th in the list of FPL point scorers this season.
Defoe started the season at £7.0 million, and has risen by £0.4 million in that time.
The Englishman has 12 bonus points, level with Hazard and De Bruyne in joint 3rd place. Only Lukaku and Aguero have more, with 13 points.
Defoe has yet to receive a yellow card this season. Sunderland’s forward was booked 3 times last season.
Defoe’s peak ownership was during Sunderland’s 2-0 defeat at Stoke during Gameweek 8. That week, Defoe was selected by 554,074.
Last season’s 15 goals in the Premier League was Defoe’s second best goal scoring return. Defoe managed 18 during the 2009/10 season.
Defoe has managed double figures for goal from 7/10 of his seasons in the Premier League. From the 3 seasons Defoe didn’t score 10 goals, he missed the majority of the season through injury.
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE WILDCARD PICK
Player: Harry Kane (Spurs)
Position: Forward
Player Price: £10.7 million
Player Selection %: 5.5%
The lack of returns from our Wildcard selections, with 9/11 fixtures resulting in just 2 points, has been in stark contrast to the essential and alternative captaincy picks. Whereas we’ve the luxury of picking Aguero and Defoe, 2 of the top 4 forwards, the risk of a differential means that it’ll never go our way. These third picks in our Captaincy Hype articles are becoming the poisoned chalice within the FPL, so we’re also fully expecting our third pick of Harry Kane, lowly owned due to injury and the form of premium options Costa/Lukaku, to return just another two points.
Last season Kane missed a penalty against West Ham in the final seconds before scoring the rebound. We keep saying it, but we’ll have limited opportunities to shoehorn a player like Kane into the Weekly Wildcard articles that we do, as his ownership is bound to dramatically rise, and against the Hammers at home, there might not be a better opportunity to get ahead of the curve.
Here’s what our Chief Writer, @TheHypeTrainSam, is saying about Kane in the lead up to FPL Gaemweek 12:
Arsenal slipped up against Spurs, they allowed Harry Kane a free shot on goal via a penalty after some terrible defending on Dembele. Released from England international duty Kane should have had the time to recover for the weekend when another London derby takes place. Having a player of Harry Kane’s ability and goal scoring prowess is a dream come true for differential enthusiasts, he could be the difference between beating your head-to-head rival or not. Kane reintroduced himself against the Gunners and now West Ham is the next blip on the radar of last season’s golden boot winner.
Spurs’s Fixtures
GW12: West Ham (h)
GW13: Chelsea (a)
GW14: Swansea (h)
GW15: Man United (a)
GW16: Hull (h)
GW17: Burnley (h)
GW18: Southampton (a)
GW19: Watford (a)
Notes on Kane
Kane’s 32 points this season is roughly half the points than Aguero and Defoe (both 61pts) have managed this season.
Kane has managed 3 goals and 1 assist this season from 6 appearances this season, managing 5 bonus points in the process.
The English forward has only completed the full 90 minutes on one occasion this season, away on the opening day at Everton in a 1-1 draw.
Kane picked up 5 yellow cards last season, but is yet to pick one up this season.
Kane missed GW6-10 through injury. In those 5 games Spurs beat Boro and Man City then drew the next 3 games against West Brom, Bournemouth, and Leicester. Overall, Spurs have drawn their last 4 games in the Premier League.
A net average of -678 took Kane out of their Fantasy squads for the 1-1 draw away at Arsenal, with 203,826 playing him.
Kane’s best FPL performance this season came during Gameweek 5’s 1-0 home victory over Sunderland, the game which saw Patrick Van Aanholt mysteriously subbed a few minutes before kick-off. Kane went on to score the only goal of the game.
Spurs have scored just the 1 goal from 7/11 of their games this season. They’ve only failed to score once this season, during Spurs’s visit to Bournemouth for Gameweek 9. The game finished 0-0.
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, television, live music, festivals, and any relevant topic in the public eye.
You can follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, or visit our website here at www.thehypetrain.co.uk
All aboard.
