CAPTAINCY HYPE 2016/17: FPL Gameweek's 16 & 17
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 16 & 17 Deadlines
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.
All FPL transfer deadlines this season are set to one hour before the set kick-off time for the first game of the Gameweek. Gameweek 16 is the first round of games to take place in midweek.
The transfer deadline for GW16 is Tuesday 13th December at 18:45pm.
The transfer deadline for GW17 is Saturday 17th 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
GW14
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs vs. Swansea) - 13pts
Alternative: Alexis Sanchez (West Ham vs. Arsenal) - 23pts
Wildcard: Victor Anichebe (Sunderland vs. Leicester) - 2pts
GW15
Essential: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal vs. Stoke) - 5pts
Alternative: Diego Costa (Chelsea vs. West Brom) - 8pts
Wildcard: Divock Origi (Liverpool vs. West Ham) - 9pts
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), 13 (14), 5 (15) = 84pts 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), 23 (14), 8 (15) = 111pts
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), 2 (14), 9 (15) = 61pts
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE ESSENTIAL PICK
Player: Karry Kane (Spurs)
Position: Forward
Player Price: £11.2 million
Player Selection %: 19.2%
We’re now approaching the busiest part of the Premier League season. The fixtures are piling up, with GW16 the first midweek offering of the season. Due to time constraints we’ll be posting our Captaincy picks for both GW16 and GW17 in one article, but boy does it make it easy when you’ve got a dead certainty for the Essential pick. We put our options to Twitter and received a response that we kind of knew was coming.
Harry Kane, despite earning nothing more than appearance points during his last 2 away games against Chelsea and Man United, the Spurs forwards faces two consecutive home games for Gameweek's 16 & 17. With Hull and Burnley on the horizon, it’s the obvious captaincy pick ahead of the midweek games. Kane will be the Essential pick for both weeks. If Kane is injured during GW16, then Diego Costa will be bumped up to the Essential Captaincy pick, with West Ham’s Payet assuming the role of Alternative pick should either Kane or Costa get suspended or injured. In Costa’s case, if he does finally get that 5th yellow card, Hazard will assume Costa’s role as Alternative Captain for Gameweek 17.
We don’t think it will come to that though, and the form Harry Kane is on, we’d risk him even with one leg against Burnley and Hull. See below for the stats regarding the two sides on the road this season.
Away from Home: Hull & Burnley
It’s fair to say that Spurs must be licking their lips…
Hull:
Played: 7
Won: 1
Lost: 5
Drew: 1
Scored: 5
Conceded: 17
Burnley:
Played: 6
Won: 0
Lost: 5
Drew: 1
Scored: 1
Conceded: 15
Kane’s advantage at home is not only his good form, but his importance to the team on penalties shouldn’t be understated, with 3/5 of Kane’s latest Premier League goals coming from the spot. With 1 in 5 possessing Kane, he’s a frightening differential to be had, and is in no immediate danger of rotation due to Vincent Janssen being ruled out through injury. Also, having just come off of two recent away losses, Spurs will be eager to make up for lost points and close in on the top of the table. The visits of Hull and Burnley are a perfect chance to build on their recent inconsistency in the league, and put pressure on the teams above.
Spurs’s Next 5 Fixtures
GW16: Hull (h)
GW17: Burnley (h)
GW18: Southampton (a)
GW19: Watford (a)
GW20: Chelsea (h)
Notes on Kane
So far this season Kane has managed 7 goals, 1 assist, 62 points in total, and 11 bonus points.
Kane missed 5 games of the season with an injured ankle between GW6-10.
Rooted on 62 points, Kane has the same number of points as Christian Benteke and club mate Kyle Walker. Kane is ranked joint 29th in the overall list of players.
Kane’s selection has risen by over 10% in 14 days, and was selected by less than 9% when he was last featured as one of our Captaincy options.
From Kane’s 7 goals this season, 5 goals have come at home, with just 2 goals against Stoke and Arsenal coming away from the Lane.
Kane has scored a brace in each of his last 2 home games – against West Ham and Swansea.
Kane’s not the only player with 7 goals this season. The Hurrikane shares this number of goals with 3 midfielders – Sadio Mane, Theo Walcott, and Michail Antonio.
Kane is the 6th most selected Forward in the FPL currently with 18.9% ownership. Sergio Aguero is next up in 5th with 20.2% ownership.
Kane is also ranked 6th on the Bonus Points table for Forwards, managing 11 so far this season. Costa leads the way with 18 points.
Only Son (71pts) and Eriksen (67pts) have more points at Spurs than Harry Kane.
Hull haven’t scored in their last 3 away games, losing 1-0 to Watford, then 3-0 to Sunderland, and then 1-0 to Middlesbrough.
Hull have also conceded more than 5 goals away from home this seaon on 2 occasions – against Liverpool (5-1) and Bournemouth (6-1).
Hull’s Snodgrass (68pts) has more FPL points than Kane.
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE ALTERNATIVE PICK
Player: Diego Costa (Chelsea)
Position: Forward
Player Price: £10.9 million
Player Selection %: 52.1%
What we’ve been pondering since Sunday night, is that with the Harry Kane selection as the Essential pick, who is best placed for the alternative spot. With Kane playing twice at home, we thought we would balance the scales and pick Captain Obvious, Diego Costa, the ever reliable forward who plays twice away from the Bridge. As far as we’re concerned, Costa is this season’s Jamie Vardy, managing at least a goal or an assist in every game, with the occasion two goal game. Costa’s not the Essential pick due to the massive potential of Sanchez, Kane, Aguero, and others, in weeks when it’s likely they could score a treble or more.
The appeal with Costa away from home is actually more appealing. With more teams trying to shut up shop at Stamford Bridge, Costa’s got more license to play away from home as the hosts usually press more, leaving Chelsea’s forwards with more room to operate in attacking areas. As you’ll see, Costa’s best weeks in the FPL are actually away from home, so that’s definite reason for optimism in keeping Costa in the Alternative Captaincy role for another week of football.
Costa’s Best FPL Gameweek Scores
GW4 – Swansea (a): 12 points (2 goals)
GW7 – Hull (a): 12 points (1 goal, 1 assist)
GW14 – Man City (a): 12 points (1 goal, 1 assist)
Diego Costa: Home vs. Away
Home Games Played: 8
Away Games Played: 7
Home Goals: 5
Away Goals: 7
Home Assists: 3
Away Assists: 2
Home Points: 49pts
Away Points: 58pts
Total Points: 107pts
Chelsea’s Next 5 Fixtures
GW16: Sunderland (a)
GW17: Crystal Palace (a)
GW18: Bournemouth (h)
GW19: Stoke City (h)
GW20: Spurs (a)
As with Costa, there’s the risk that he could get banned for a game should he receive a 5th yellow card of the season. This has been the risk now since Gameweek 6, when Costa picked up a 4th yellow card against Arsenal in a 3-0 defeat. In truth, Costa’s owners are now more than half the game, meaning it would now only be a minority of players that wish for Costa’s sudden demise away at Sunderland or West Brom. If this is to be the case, we’ve the ideal replacement for Costa, who will be the Alternative pick for both weeks, in Dimitri Payet. West Ham face Burnley and Hull at home, just like Spurs do, so if he’s taken out of action by the mob of Sunderland players, there’s a potentially greener horizon.
In summation with Costa, and even though it sounds as silly as it does, there’s not a lot of hype in regards to putting the armband on Costa due to other potentially massive options for a Gameweek. Costa’s safe points and we’ll be sticking with the winning formula. Chelsea hasn’t won 9 consecutive games in the league out of luck. Costa’s literally dragging his Chelsea side to the title by hook or by crook.
Notes on Costa
Costa in the FPL has a total of 12 goals, with 5 assists, and 18 bonus points.
Only Alexis Sanchez (115pts) has more points than Diego Costa (107pts).
Costa was the second player to reach 100 points in the FPL this season with his goal against West Brom. Eden Hazard later joined Costa when his confirmed 3 points were registered following a substitution.
No player has more bonus points than Costa’s haul of 18pts.
Costa is the Forward with the most assists this season, with 5 so far this season.
Costa has scored in 11/15 games this season. The only opponents the Spanish forward has failed to score in has been Burnley (GW3), Arsenal (GW6), Man United (GW9), and Spurs (GW13).
Costa picked up each of his 4 yellow cards before Gameweek 6’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal Since then Costa’s been as clean as a whistle for 9 games. To avoid a suspension, Costa has to survive 4 games without seeing yellow, then after GW19 is played the suspension limit is 10 yellow cards.
CORE CAPTAINCY: THE WILDCARD PICK
Player: Marcos Alonso
Position: Defender
Player Price: £6.2 million
Player Selection %: 7.7%
It’s not often that we pick two players from the same game as a potential captaincy choice ahead of a round of Premier League fixtures is rare. We did it once before, when Arsenal drew 0-0 at home with Middlesbrough, with our picks Sanchez and Walcott both firing blanks. Now it’s Chelsea’s time to to better than Arsenal’s prior attempt. Costa is joined by team mate Marcos Alonso, who since playing full games for Chelsea have just had one Gameweek without a registering any FPL points.
Yes, Alonso’s a defender, but his record quick literally speaks for itself leading up to Gameweek 16. Unlike Costa and Kane, Alonso will not be featured as the Wildcard Captain for Gameweek 17. Our Wildcard differentials article has the pleasure of featuring that captaincy pick, so look out for that this coming week.
The rise of a Bolton legend hasn’t gone unheard in the FPL, but given that Alonso’s owned by a modest 7.6% of the FPL, the trend for Alonso in the FPL has its limits due to Hazard, Costa, and Azpilicueta’s popularity in the game. If, like me, you’d prefer two Chelsea options in defence, then there is no better player.
Alonso is the defensive equivalent of Costa, and below is why he’s so important to Fantasy players right now, and why his steady points flow makes him the ideal, and ultimate Wildcard Captaincy choice.
Alonso’s FPL Returns
GW6 – Arsenal, away: 1 point (only played 36 minutes)
GW7 – Hull, away: 6 points (clean sheet)
GW8 – Leicester, home: 6 points (clean sheet)
GW9 – Man United, home: 8 points (clean sheet, assist, yellow card)
GW10 – Southampton, away: 6 points (clean sheet)
GW11 – Everton, home: 13 points (goal, clean sheet, bonus point)
GW12 – Middlesbrough, away: 6 points (clean sheet)
GW13 – Spurs, home: 2 points (blank!)
GW14 – Man City, away: 6 points (assist, bonus point)
GW15 – West Brom, home: 6 points (clean sheet)
Chelsea’s Next 5 Fixtures
GW16: Sunderland (a)
GW17: Crystal Palace (a)
GW18: Bournemouth (h)
GW19: Stoke City (h)
GW20: Spurs (a)
Here’s what our Chief Writer, @TheHypeTrainSam, makes of Marcos Alonso heading into Gameweek 16’s away tie at Sunderland:
We are going to be riding the Alonso hype train for as long as we possibly can, the Spaniard is points-for-points the best FPL player so far, this season. Seven clean sheets, a goal, and two assists have put him up there as one of the best performers, and his Chelsea career started late having been introduced to the team after the hammering against Arsenal earlier in the season. The most incredible fact about Alonso's current FPL returns is that he has only dropped points once when he has started a game, that happened in the victory over Spurs when Eriksen scored from a powerful strike to take an early lead against the Blues. Apart from that one blemish it has been an immaculate campaign from the Spaniard and right now having a Chelsea defender just makes sense and justifying their existence in your FPL teams is pointless. There are stark comparisons with Alonso in 2016/17 and Fuchs from 2015/16, both playing a left-back/winger role they made their teams defensively solid and offered incredible returns for managers in the FPL. Alonso remains a wildcard due to the representation of Cahill and Azpilicueta, and their best overall option in defence.
Notes on Alonso
Overall, Alonso has 60 points this season, with 7 clean sheets, 1 goal, and 2 assists.
Despite 7 clean sheets, and a goal against Everton, Alonso has only picked up 2 bonus points for Chelsea this season.
Alonso has the same number of FPL points (60pts) as Jamie Vardy at Leicester.
The Bolton legend was signed after Gameweek 3 of the season, and didn’t feature against Swansea or Liverpool in week’s 4 or 5. His first appearance, lasting 36 minutes, was against Arsenal for GW6. Alonso’s since played 90 minutes in the last 9 Premier games.
From the 9 games he’s started this season, Alonso has 8 FPL returns, including 7 clean sheets, 1 goal, and 1 assist.
Alonso is averaging 6 points per game, having only played in 10 games this season.
Alonso’s price in the FPL has been rising by an average of 0.1 million for the past 4 Gameweek’s. During the close of GW9 Alonso was priced at £5.9 million.
Only Azpilicueta, Cahill, Walker, and Koscielny have more FPL points than Alonso, having all played an additional 5 games. This means that 3 of the top 5 defenders all play for Chelsea.
When playing for Chelsea, Alonso has conceded just 2 goals. Those goals in question were against Spurs and Man City, 2 fixtures Chelsea ultimately won.
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.
