CAPTAINCY HYPE 2016/17: FPL Gameweek 13
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 13 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 26th 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
GW12
Essential: Sergio Aguero (Crystal Palace vs. Man City) - 2pts
Alternative: Jermain Defoe (Sunderland vs. Hull City) - 11pts
Wildcard: Harry Kane (Spurs vs. West Ham) - 13pts
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), 2 (12) = 65pts Alternative Total: 2 (1), 2 (2), 11 (3), 1 (4), 12 (5), 7 (6), 2 (7), 9 (8), 3 (9), 12 (10), 7 (11), 11 (12) = 79pts
Wildcard Total: 10 (1), 2 (2), 2 (3), 2 (4), 2 (5), 2 (6), 2 (7), -1 (8), 2 (9), 2 (10), 2 (11), 13 (12) = 40pts
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE ESSENTIAL PICK
Player: Philippe Coutinho
Position: Midfielder
Player Price: £8.8 million
Player Selection %: 46.6%
Liverpool are playing at home again, and that means the FPL community is pondering which of their midfield options will score the highest number of points. Against Watford the core trio of Mane, Coutinho, and Firmino, all scored or assists, and Adam Lallana, now injured, even got amongst the numbers. Now that we're on the eve of Gameweek 13, the choice from the FPL community, for once, was to ditch the traditional Aguero/Sanchez hype, that has been adopted for the past 7 editions of our Captaincy articles. This weekend will mark the first number somebody other than Aguero or Sanchez has been the essential option, and that player being a Liverpool midfielder speaks volumes about their potential, even against an in-form Sunderland, who have recently admitted that they'll be parking the double decker bus at Anfield.
Coutinho battle through 2 rounds of polling to be given the honour as our main captaincy choice for Gameweek 13. In light of the last few weeks, there really shouldn't be any reason to doubt Coutinho's selection, and below we explain why.
Top Players & FPL Diamonds The Reds midfield is where the value of their team is this season, there are even midfielders playing in defence like James Milner. Here is a breakdown of every major midfield option that the Reds currently boast.
Philippe Coutinho: 5 goals, 6 assists
Roberto Firmino: 5 goals, 5 assists
Sadio Mane: 6 goals, 2 assists
James Milner: 4 goals, 1 assist
Adam Lallana: 3 goals, 5 assists
Emre Can: 2 goals, 0 assists
Gini Wijnaldum: 1 goal, 2 assists
Jordan Henderson: 1 goal, 2 assists
There is no mystery behind the driving force behinds Liverpool’s position at the top of the table, the front free of Coutinho-Firmino-Mane has been impossible to contain; this year’s great entertainers have rapidly improved due to a long awaited consistency having been found within this squad. Better yet is that Liverpool have plenty of players to rotate if they need it, Wijnaldum and Emre Can have both proven capable central midfielders along the energetic Lallana, a sign that there is finally depth on the bench to lay claim to a title challengers.
Liverpool’s midfield alone had made a whopping forty seven goal scoring contributions according to the FPL (twenty nine belong to the combination of Coutinho/Firmino/Mane), compare this to the eight contributions from the rest of the team in defence and forwards that are listed below.
Other contributions:
Daniel Sturridge: 3 assists
Dejan Lovren: 2 goals
Joel Matip: 1 goal
Nathaniel Clyne: 1 assist
Alberto Moreno: 1 assist
Results: 2016/17 Season
GW1: Arsenal 3-4 Liverpool (W) GW2: Burnley 2-0 Liverpool (L) GW3: Spurs 1-1 Liverpool (D) GW4: Liverpool 4-1 Leicester (W) GW5: Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool (W) GW6: Liverpool 5-1 Hull City (W) GW7: Swansea 1-2 Liverpool (W) GW8: Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United (D)
GW9: Liverpool 2-1 West Brom (W)
GW10: Crystal Palace 2-4 Liverpool (W)
GW11: Liverpool 6-1 Watford (W)
GW12: Southampton 0-0 Liverpool (D)
Liverpool’s Fixtures
GW13: Sunderland (h)
GW14: Bournemouth (a)
GW15: West Ham (h)
GW16: Middlesbrough (a)
GW17: Everton (a)
GW18: Stoke (h)
GW19: Man City (h)
Notes on Coutinho
Coutinho’s managed 5 goals and 6 assists this season, with 10 bonus points in the bag so far.
Coutinho is the only player in the FPL rooted on 10 bonus points. 7 players have more bonus points, but are all within 4 points. De Bruyne and Defoe lead the way with 14 bonus each.
Coutinho has managed assists from 3 corners this season – last season Liverpool didn’t register a single goal directly caused from a corner kick.
Liverpool’s top 3 midfielders are separated by 13 points. Coutinho leads the way with 77pts, Firmino is second with 70pts, and Mane in third with 64pts.
Coutinho is still the most selected player in the FPL with 46.4% ownership. Man City’s Sergio Aguero is in second, selected by 46.3% of players..
Only the Chelsea pairing of Diego Costa (82pts) and Eden Hazard (86pts) have more points than Coutinho.
The Brazilian midfielder is the third most transferred in player this season, with 1,684,659 players boarding the Coutinho Hype Train.
Coutinho’s price in the FPL has risen by £0.7 million. Only Costa and Lukaku have gained a bigger stock.
Coutinho has featured in the Dream Team on 2 occasions this season.
Coutinho is averaging 6.4 points per match, the same number as Roberto Firmino.
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE ALTERNATIVE PICK
Player: Diego Costa
Position: Forward
Player Price: £10.6 million
Player Selection %: 42.2%
Surprisingly, it has been quite easy to overlook Diego Costa as a frontrunner for captain. Despite a league high of 10 goals, Costa has been overlooked by the potential of Alexis Sanchez and Aguero in the prime Essential position. Yet again this trend has happened ahead of GW13, with Costa failing to get into contention for the essential slot, but as it is with our captaincy polls, the player who is overlooked usually scores.
This week we are playing with what we believe to be sensible points. Chelsea have the squad balance of a Champions elect side – with arguable the best defence and forward line – all that is missing is Liverpool’s forward thinking midfielders. Conte’s forged a reliability that even a side like Spurs might struggle with.
Remember Jamie Vardy’s positioning last season, always managing to find himself in the right place at the right time. Costa’s found that element, and is proving to be unplayable in and around the 18 yard box. Against Middlesbrough Costa’s instinctive thinking is on occasion winning games, and if that is the constant trend, then we’d be absolute idiots for ignoring Costa’s potential, even against an unbeaten Spurs side. Each week as we write our reasons why to pin somebody to the wall as a captaincy choice, none have been as easy and fluid to write as Costa. Speaking of Vardy, Costa has a similar appeal. He’ll get a goal and score between 6-10 points, and is reliable, whereas Hazard/Mahrez have the capability to score more points, but more inconsistently.
Will Spurs stay unbeaten? We’d be very surprised if they left the Bridge with anything, even if Harry Kane is back on the Fantasy radar. What we wouldn’t be so surprised about is if Costa picked up his 5th yellow card of the season, something that will through a further curve ball into the tactics of Fantasy managers. Playing with Costa is like juggling fire, and so far this season, there’s been an upright balance of points and performance.
Chelsea’s Fixtures
GW13: Spurs (h)
GW14: Man City (a)
GW15: West Brom (h)
GW16: Sunderland (a)
GW17: Crystal Palace (a)
GW18: Bournemouth (h)
GW19: Stoke (h)
Notes on Costa
It’s been said a million times now, but Costa is the top goal scorer in the Premier League after 12 games, managing 10 goals.
Overall, Costa has managed 10 goals, 3 assists, 82 points, and 13 bonus points.
Last season, Costa only managed 12 goals and 14 bonus points. He’s only 2 goals and 1 bonus point shy of beating his tally from last season.
The opponents Costa has not scored against are as followed: Burnley (GW3, but managed an assist), Arsenal (GW6), and Man United (GW9).
Costa is the third most selected player in the FPL, with 42.2% of players owning Costa. Only Aguero (46.3%) and Coutinho (46.4%) are selected more.
Only teammate Eden Hazard (86pts) has more points than Costa (82pts). Remind you much of Vardy and Mahrez of last season, just more expensive?
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE WILDCARD PICK
Player: Gylfi Sigurdsson
Position: Midfielder
Player Price: £7.2 million
Player Selection %: 3.6%
We paid close attention to Swansea’s away draw at Everton. The game is no surprise if you’ve been following the fixture. Swansea managed their first ever win over Everton in last season’s 2-1 victory, with Andre Ayew among the goal scorers on that day. In this new season, which has seen Everton slightly improve on Martinez’s spell (but not by much – a lot of their issues are still surfacing), and Swansea struggle without the leadership of Ashley Williams and the threat of both Ayew and Gomis up top, it was much of the same. By that, we mean a comfortable Swansea performance which should have been rewarded with more goals and a victory at Goodison Park.
Luck isn’t in Swansea’s favour, but there is the one constant this season: Gylfi Sigurdsson. In our Power Rankings Swansea are on the rise because the Iceland international is a true gem, usually never unearthed, but has massive point’s potential. Gylfi’s key to the success of Swansea being on every single set piece opportunity, Bob Bradley understands this and the profits are already being shown. Managing 2 goals and an assist in the last 3 games, despite not winning any games, the cracks of Sigurdsson’s form are quickly forming, and from our 10 selections this week, Gylfi is the obvious shout to rely on.
Swansea entertains a Palace side who quite literally can’t keep a clean sheet. 17 matches and counting is a worrying record for Palace, who we believe to be in more threat than Swansea due to their inability to defend. Swansea have hope, and a new manager who will potentially revitalise the squad in January. New American owners and a fellow national in the dugout suggest that the ambition is there. Until then, we’re backing Gylfi to build on his recent hot streak in the FPL.
Below are the thoughts of THT Chief Writer,@TheHypeTrainSam, on Gylfi Sigurdsson that has been pulled from our Weekly Wildcard differentials article:
The man with the plan, the Icelander, the shining light of Swansea’s terrible start to the Premier League season…step forward Gylfi Sigurdsson who has been an ever present FPL option this season despite his teams real danger of slipping off into the Championship if they don’t start picking up results soon. Three returns in three for Gylfi is currently his record, he always manages to cause teams problems in the penalty box or from free kicks, the all-rounded Sigurdsson controls everything from an attacking perspective and it is no surprise why he is so influential to the Swans chance of surviving this season. Four returns in four games doesn’t sound too dramatic either, in fact you may have seen a piece done by the BBC which has revealed that the Eagles are the worst defensive team currently in the Premier League, and also the worst performing side of 2016 in the Football League with an average points-per-game of 0.71. This is lower than York City and Dagenham & Redbridge, who were actually relegated from the Football League altogether, and statistically they are worse than the woeful Aston Villa side that got relegated pretty swiftly in 2015/16.
So yeah, Swansea shouldn’t have any problem getting back the Eagles defence, and if the current trend continues Sigurdsson will be lurking around any goals that they do manage to score.
Swansea’s Fixtures
GW13: Crystal Palace (h)
GW14: Spurs (a)
GW15: Sunderland (h)
GW16: West Brom (a)
GW17: Middlesbrough (a)
GW18: West Ham (h)
GW19: Bournemouth (h)
Notes on Sigurdsson
Sigurdsson has managed hal a dozen FPL returns this season, having managed 3 goals and 3 assists, with half a dozen bonus points (6) to match.
Gylfi only managed 4 assists last season, and is currently on 3, only 1 behind his tally for last season.
Gylfi’s goals this season have come against Arsenal, Chelsea, and Everton – 3 of the clubs in the top half of the table (traditionally speaking).
The Iceland international is averaging 4.3 points per match, the highest tally for a Swansea player.
A net worth of -4,652 removed Gylfi from their FPL sides for the GW12 clash at Everton. Gylfi score a penalty on that occasion.
Gylfi is ranked 17th on the list of FPL midfielders with 52 points. Above is Matty Phillips and James Milner on 53 points, and below is Mesut Ozil on 51 points.
Gylfi is rooted on 6 bonus points with Phillips, Son, Mata, Henderson, Defour, Stanislas, and Ozil.
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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.
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All aboard.
