CAPTAINCY HYPE 2016/17: FPL Gameweek 14
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 14 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 GW14 is Saturday 3rd December 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
GW13
Essential: Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool vs. Sunderland) - 1pt
Alternative: Diego Costa (Chelsea vs. Spurs) - 5pts
Wildcard: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea vs. Crystal Palace) - 10pts
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), 1 (13) = 66pts 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), 5 (13) = 84pts
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), 10 (13) = 50pts
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE ESSENTIAL PICK
Player: Harry Kane (aka The Hurrikane)
Position: Forward
Player Price: £10.9 million +
Player Selection %: 8.3%
Last week the essential captaincy choice, a Liverpool midfielder for the first time this season, ended in absolute agony. Much like Coutinho’s ankle problems that will keep him out of the side until January (at the very least), FPL managers in their masses were downright broken as the Brazilian international’s game against Sunderland came crashing to a swift halt after just half an hour. The main takeaway for the disappointed FPL players, who dared to dream of another Liverpool home rout, came back to haunt them. Alexis Sanchez and Sergio Aguero both managed double figures this past weekend, and are regulars in our essential Captaincy polls. The message for the week is to play it safe ahead of all else always go with Aguero, right?
Posed with that very question this week, our essential poll for Gameweek 14 once again defied the odds and chose not to vote in either Aguero or Sanchez. We believe it is going to be a tricky weekend for millions of players – there are a lot of clash games that will almost certainly end with disappointment. Chelsea travel to Man City, with many players having Chelsea defenders and Aguero. Watford travel to West Brom, with WBA defenders conflicting with Capoue and Holebas (if fit). Bournemouth defenders have been popular and reliable this season, but go up against a Liverpool side who know how to find the net. Gylfi Sigurdsson’s rise in the FPL is now challenged with Spurs – with most harbouring a defender or an attacking outlet… With so much potential clashing this week, the big thought that many players have echoed in worry is this:
'I’ve no idea who to captain.'
The main differential in terms of captaincy options, and why Harry Kane has won the week, is that he doesn’t have the same confusion as most other players. Kane’s back on form and was unlucky not to score against Chelsea, and come up against a Swansea side who quite honestly, are hapless at defending. It’s been a long road since the opening day of the season for Swansea, and there’s a sneaking suspicion that despite victory over Palace, Swansea could be carved open by a competent Spurs side.
Spurs, if you pay attention to the Fixture Difficulty Rating (FDR) play the three easiest sides at home in the next 4 weekends of football, with the London side travelling to Man United in between a mouth-watering set of home games against Burnley and Hull. Sustainability in FPL players matters, especially with the Xmas period quickly approaching, and there are already signs that Kane is becoming that man again. Kane’s finished the last 2 games having completed 90 minutes of football, and Spurs are primarily searching for Kane as the target man in the box with Toby Alderweireld still out injured.
Kane is our main man for the weekend, and there’s no better time to bank faith in the English forward.
Tottenham’s Fixtures
GW14: Swansea (h)
GW15: Man United (a)
GW16: Hull (h)
GW17: Burnley (h)
GW18: Southampton (a)
GW19: Watford (a)
Notes on Kane
So far this season in the Premier League, Harry Kane has 5 goals and 1 assist. In FPL terms this has led to 47 points, the same number of points as Christian Eriksen.
Kane has scored in 2 home games this season, against Sunderland and West Ham.
Kane’s picked up 8 bonus points this season, securing the maximum bonus twice (against Sunderland and West Ham).
Kane missed 5 games of the season through injury, with the Hurrikane failing to feature against Boro (GW6), Man City (GW7), West Brom (GW8), Bournemouth (GW9) and Leicester (GW10).
Kane picked up 5 yellow cards last season, but is yet to pick one up this season.
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.
If you’re a believer in the FPL Threat Index, Spurs have the easiest 3 homes of the season in a row, with a Man United away game sandwiched in.
Kane is ranked 10th in the overall Forwards list, a whopping 40 points behind Diego Costa (87pts).
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE ALTERNATIVE PICK
Player: Alexis Sanchez
Position: Midfielder
Player Price: £11.3 million
Player Selection %: 23.6%
The Gunners midfielder, playing out of position up top for Arsenal, has been an ever-present in our Captaincy articles this season. Often, he’s failed to capitalise on his potential as a captaincy pick, but has managed on 5 occasions this season a double digit return in the FPL.
Sanchez’s Best FPL Outings:
GW3: Watford (a) – 16 points
GW5: Hull (a) – 10 points
GW6: Chelsea (h) – 14 points
GW10: Sunderland (a) – 13 points
GW13: Bournemouth (h) – 14pts
With Giroud injured, and a visit to the Olympic Stadium on the horizon, there shouldn’t really be a complication with Alexis’s inclusion. He’s not facing any clashes, is on form and Arsenal don’t know how to lose away from home. West Ham are showing the form of a side who are going to struggle getting to 40 points this season, with another home defeat looking the most likely outcome in this scenario.
Arsenal’s Fixtures
GW14: West Ham (a)
GW15: Stoke (h)
GW16: Everton (a)
GW17: Man City (a)
GW18: West Brom (h)
GW19: Crystal Palace (h)
Notes on Sanchez
Only Eden Hazard (88pts) has more points than Alexis Sanchez (87pts). Alexis is level with Diego Costa on 87 points, and the trio are the only players to reach the 80 point mark this season.
Alexis is the 12th most owned player in the FPL this season, with 23.6% ownership heading into Gameweek 14. In terms of midfielders, only Capoue, Coutinho, and Hazard, are owned more.
So far this season Alexis has 8 goals and 4 assists to his name, with a total of 87pts, with 11 bonus points within that score. Alexis only managed 5 assists last season, so is just 2 away from breaking that record.
After just 13 games, Alexis is half way to match his best goal tally in the Premier League. In his debut season, Sanchez managed 16 goals and 8 assists.
Sanchez has appeared in the FPL Dream Team 4 times, more than any other player.
Sanchez is currently averaging 6.7 points per match. That’s a record only bettered by Hazard (6.8), Aguero (6.8), Robles (7.0), and Yaya Toure (8.5).
Alexis is the only player in the FPL on 11 bonus points. 8 players have more bonus points, with Aguero top on 16.
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE WILDCARD PICK
Player: Victor Anichebe
Position: Forward
Player Price: £4.6 million +
Player Selection %: 3.4%
Victor Anichebe is making one hell of a comeback in the Premier League. The viewpoint from much of the English football community regarding the Nigerian forward would have been largely negative due to his release from West Brom and subsequent signing for Sunderland. It seemed like a move backwards for the powerful forward who once had a lot of promise. The fad to back Anichebe may ultimately prove to be a flavour of the month judgement call, but we’re not so sure this will be the case. Supporting Defoe alongside Duncan Watmore, Sunderland no have a competent mix of power, pace, and determination, as a Sunderland side strung together from the transfer bargain bins. Now, after typically starting in abysmal fashion, Sunderland are on the march up the table, and it appears the constant flirtation with the dreaded relegation line will be going long into this decade and next.
What Anichebe offers is unmatched strength, pace, and a deadly eye for goal, helping the goal scoring cause with Jermain Defoe, rather than merely support the cause, and the stats are showing. Sunderland, if they were being judged based purely by FPL forward points, would qualify for the Champions League.
The Hype Team have been thinking carefully about who to captain for this week from our Wildcard 10. We’ve had 2 successful weeks with our Wildcard Captain picks, with Harry Kane and Gylfi Sigurdsson both managing big double digit returns. Gameweek 14, as we’ve highlighted is slightly different. There’s some major clashes and not enough assured points, and by no means is Anichebe that.
In your FPL team, the best way to use a £4.6 million asset like Big Vic is to rotate him in and out of your squad, using Anichebe as the interchangeable forward for weeks when you’ve no faith in your 5th midfielder. Sunderland also have the fixtures to back this idea up.
Sunderland’s Fixtures
GW14: Leicester (h)
GW15: Swansea (a)
GW16: Chelsea (h)
GW17: Watford (h)
GW18: Man United (a)
GW19: Burnley (a)
Below are the thoughts of THT Chief Writer, @TheHypeTrainSam, on Victor Anichebe that has been pulled from our Weekly Wildcard differentials article:
What happened to Leicester City?
Less than six months ago they were parading their city on an open air bus having just shocked the world by winning the Premier League title, currently sitting in the bottom half of the table you could be excuse yourself for being wrong for remembering that this team dominated the league and stunned everyone with incredible wins over Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea last season. This time round Leicester are not even the shadow that follows around the Champions of last season, they are totally unrecognisable mostly because the Tinkerman has had to actually tinker this season with the Champions League clearly the priority. In times of such disarray you must look at the unpredictable, and one name rises above all in this fixture.
Normally we would pick a Leicester defender in a fixture like this, but defensively the Foxes have been woeful, and Sunderland are proving to be tricky customers after two wins from their last three games. A big part of that has been down to Moyes having found a strike partner to accompany Jermain Defoe, so much in fact that his partner has been nominated for PFA Player of the Month for November. Step forward Victor Anichebe, a burly and strong forward whose qualities help add a different dimension to Sunderland's play, why West Brom let him go is beyond us. There is no longer faith in the Leicester defence and with two goal scorers who are in-form the Black Cats stand a real chance at defeating last seasons champions.
Notes on Anichebe
Victor has a total of 27 points from 5 appearances in the Premier League. Anichebe has only started 3 of those 5 games. This means he is averaging 5.4 points per game.
The Nigerian forward has 5 bonus points this season, managing 2 away at Bournemouth, and all 3 at home to Hull.
Leicester have yet to keep a clean sheet away from home this season.
When playing away from home, Anichebe is playing on the left of a midfield five, with Watmore on the opposing flank.
Only on one occasion this season has Anichebe had a negative amount of transfers. That occurred when a net average of -106 took the Nigerian out of their squads for Gameweek 8’s 2-0 defeat at Stoke.
Anichebe has managed 3 goals and an assist so far this season, with his efforts leading to a Premier League Player of the Month nomination.
Despite only playing 5 games, Anichebe is Sunderland’s 5th best player in the FPL – behin Defoe (74), van Aanholt (37), Watmore (37), and Pickford (36).
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.
