CAPTAINCY HYPE 2017/18: FPL Gameweek 24
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 4-0 West Ham) - 13pts
Alternative: Roberto Firmino (Watford 3-3 Liverpool) - 12pts
Wildcard: Josh King (West Brom 1-0 Bournemouth) - 2pts
GW2
Essential: Romelu Lukaku (Swansea 0-4 Man Utnited) - 6pts
Alternative: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool 1-0 Crystal Palace) - 1pt
Wildcard: Steve Mounie (Huddersfield 1-0 Newcastle) - 1pt
GW3
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs 1-1 Burnley) - 2pts
Alternative: Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Man United 2-0 Leicester) - 5pts
Wildcard: Alvaro Morata (Chelsea 2-0 Everton) - 12pts
GW4
Essential: Romelu Lukaku (Stoke 2-2 Man United) - 6pts
Alternative: Alvaro Morata (Leicester 1-2 Chelsea) - 6pts
Wildcard: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal 3-0 Bournemouth) - 1pt
GW5
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs 0-0 Swansea) - 2pts
Alternative: Gabriel Jesus (Watford 0-6 Man City) - 6pts
Wildcard: Eden Hazard (Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal) - 1pt
GW6
Essential: Sergio Aguero (Man City 5-0 Crystal Palace) - 11pts
Alternative: Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal 2-0 West Brom) - 13pts
Wildcard: Benjamin Mendy (Man City 5-0 Crystal Palace) - 0pts
GW7
Essential: Romelu Lukaku (Man United 4-0 Crystal Palace) - 6pts
Alternative: Dele Alli (Huddersfield 0-4 Spurs) - 2pts
Wildcard: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal 2-0 Brighton) - 6pts
GW8
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs 1-0 Bournemouth) - 2pts
Alternative: Jamie Vardy (Leicester 1-1 West Brom) - 2pts
Wildcard: Raheem Sterling (Man City 7-2 Stoke) - 15pts
GW9
Essential: Gabriel Jesus (Man City 3-0 Burnley) - 1pt
Alternative: Eden Hazard (Chelsea 4-2 Watford) - 5pts
Wildcard: Tammy Abraham (Swansea 1-2 Leicester) - 2pts
GW10
Essential: Sergio Aguero (West Brom 2-3 Man City) - 0pts
Alternative: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool 3-0 Huddersfield) - 4pts
Wildcard: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal 2-1 Swansea) - 2pts
GW11
Essential: Sergio Aguero (Spurs 1-0 Crystal Palace) - 2pts
Alternative: Mohamed Salah (West Ham 1-4 Liverpool) - 15pts
Wildcard: Riyad Mahrez (Stoke 2-2 Leicester) - 7pts
GW12
Essential: Romelu Lukaku (Man United 4-1 Newcastle) - 6pts
Alternative: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool 3-0 Southampton) - 16pts
Wildcard: Glenn Murray (Brighton 2-2 Stoke) - 1pt
GW13
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs 1-1 West Brom) - 8pts
Alternative: Gabriel Jesus (Huddersfield 1-2 Man City) - 4pts
Wildcard: Callum Wilson (Swansea 0-0 Bournemouth) - 2pts
GW14
Essential: Alvaro Morata (Chelsea 1-0 Swansea) - 1pt
Alternative: Mohamed Salah (Stoke 0-3 Liverpool) - 13pts
Wildcard: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal 5-0 Huddersfield) - 8pts
GW15
Essential: Mohamed Salah (Brighton 1-5 Liverpool) - 5pts
Alternative: Alvaro Morata (Chelsea 3-1 Newcastle) - 8pts
Wildcard: Riyad Mahrez (Leicester 1-0 Burnley) - 6pts
GW16
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs 5-1 Stoke) - 12pts
Alternative: Eden Hazard (West Ham 1-0 Chelsea) - 2pts
Wildcard: Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool 1-1 Everton) - 1pt
GW17
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs 2-0 Brighton) - 2pts
Alternative: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool 0-0 West Brom) - 3pts
Wildcard: Alexis Sanchez (West Ham 0-0 Arsenal) - 3pts
GW18
Essential: Eden Hazard (Chelsea 1-0 Southampton) - 6pts
Alternative: Jamie Vardy (Leicester 0-3 Crystal Palace) - 2pts
Wildcard: Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle) - 3pts
GW19
Essential: Raheem Sterling (Man City 4-0 Bournemouth) - 13pts
Alternative: Jamie Vardy (Arsenal 3-3 Liverpool) - 10pts
Wildcard: Charlie Austin (Southampton 1-1 Huddersfield) - 6pts
GW20
Essential: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool 5-0 Swansea) - 9pts
Alternative: Sergio Aguero (Newcastle 0-1 Man City) - 2pts
Wildcard: Charlie Austin (Crystal Palace 2-3 Arsenal) - 2pts
GW21
Essential: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool 2-1 Swansea) - 14pts
Alternative: Alvaro Morata (Chelsea 5-0 Stoke) - 2pts
Wildcard: Alexis Sanchez (West Brom 1-1 Arsenal) - 5pts
GW22
Essential: Harry Kane (Swansea 0-2 Spurs & Spurs 1-1 West Ham) - 3pts
Alternative: Alvaro Morata (Man City 3-1 Watford) - 6pts
Wildcard: Sadio Mane (Burnley 1-2 Liverpool) - 8pts
GW23
Essential: Harry Kane (Spurs 4-0 Everton) - 13pts
Alternative: Romelu Lukaku (Man United 3-0 Stoke) - 5pts
Wildcard: Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace 1-0 Burnley) - 3pts
Totals
Essential Total: 13 (1), 6 (2), 2 (3), 6 (4), 2 (5), 11 (6), 6 (7), 2 (8), 1 (9), 0 (10), 2 (11), 6 (12), 8 (13), 1 (14), 5 (15), 12 (16), 2 (17), 6 (18), 13 (19), 9 (20), 14 (21), 1, 2 (22), 13 (23) = 143 points
Alternative Total: 12 (1), 1 (2), 5 (3), 6 (4), 6 (5), 13 (6), 2 (7), 2 (8), 5 (9), 4 (10), 15 (11), 16 (12), 4 (13), 13 (14), 8 (15), 2 (16), 3 (17), 2 (18), 10 (19), 2 (20), 2 (21), 6 (22), 5 (23) = 144 points
Wildcard Total: 2 (1), 1 (2), 12 (3), 1 (4), 1 (5), 0 (6), 6 (7), 15 (8), 2 (9), 2 (10), 6 (11), 1 (12), 2 (13), 8 (14), 6 (15), 1 (16), 3 (17), 3 (18), 8 (19), 2 (20), 5 (21), 8 (22), 3 (23) = 99 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 24: Essential
Player: Mohamed Salah (LIV)
Position: Midfielder
Player Price: £10.2 million +
Player Selection %: 53.8%
It's another late one on a quiet Friday evening, left pondering over the stoves of what will eventually be our final iterations for our Gameweek 24 teams. If Gameweek 23 offered very few clear cut choices for the armband (which it did), then Gameweek 24 offers a host of potential picks.
At the summit of consideration, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah was victorious in our essential captaincy poll with 40% voter approval, compared to 30% backing Sergio Aguero, 26% banking on Harry Kane, and just 4% entrusting Romelu Lukaku.
'The King of Egypt' is enjoying an absolutely stellar season in front of goal for this season, and we saw a ruthless streak against Man City. Lobbing the stranded Ederson from 35 yards out, the attacker scored his 18th goal of the season at Anfield in the 4-3 victory, and expectations are high.
Salah returned to full training on Friday after sitting out Liverpool first team training on Thursday due to illness. With Liverpool playing away in South Wales on Monday evening there is no doubt that a few hot lemons will sort Salah's runny nose out in time for the fixture - a fixture which most are thinking will be a figurative slaughter.
Liverpool ran out 5-0 winners at Anfield against The Swans, a game which Leon Britton oversaw as interim Manager. On that occasion during Gameweek 20, Philippe Coutinho scored a brilliant goal to opening the scoring, his last in a Liverpool shirt before his transfer to Barcelona.
Salah assisted twice against Swansea last time out, and didn't score, but there will be great expectations on the Egyptian to claw closer to the 200 point mark sooner rather than later.
Swansea have conceded 10 goals in their last 5 Premier League matches, 5 of which came against Liverpool, with the Welsh club failing to keep a clean sheet since Gameweek 16's 1-0 home win against West Brom.
The craziest thing to come out of this week is the fact that the Official FPL account and its Scout service has left Salah out of their picks for the week... What the hell are they thinking?
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 24: Alternative
Player: Raheem Sterling (MCI)
Position: Midfielder
Player Price: £8.9 million +
Player Selection %: 37.4%
With Mohamed Salah beating Sergio Aguero the the tag of essential captain this week, we thought it would be unwise to not feature Man City in our completely opinionated alternative captaincy selection, with Raheem Sterling featuring.
Our second midfield pick of the week has had his best season yet, aided by the endless supply from a brilliant supporting cast deeper in midfield, with David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne unlocking defences with ease this season.
Already experiencing his best goal tally of his career, Sterling has scored 14 goals this season and has managed 7 assists this season, which puts the winger on the same number of points at Spurs's talisman, Harry Kane.
In the reverse fixture this season during Gameweek 20, Man City were victorious in a 1-0 away victory at Newcastle, with Sterling scoring the only goal of the game.
At the Etihad in Saturday's televised evening fixture, nobody envisions Rafa Benitez's men putting up a solid defensive performance as they did at St James's Park, which by all accounts saw 11 Toon players camped at the edge of the box.
The visit of Newcastle has FPL owners licking their lips over Aguero's potential, due to the fact that he has history of scoring against Newcastle in identical fixtures from past seasons, but just to be sure we've chosen to back the overlooked captaincy option ahead of Gameweek 24.
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 24: Wildcard
Player: Cenk Tosun (EVE)
Position: Forward
Player Price: £7.5 million
Player Selection %: 0.7%
The new Toffee didn’t quite make the impact against Spurs that he would have wanted, it was a dominant performance by the North London team, so it isn’t the end of the world. Tosun loses nothing of his new reputation against Spurs, it will be the test at home against West Brom which will be the defining attribute to whether Cenk Tosun is worth the £7.5mil price-tag. The Turkish international was lively, did well to create chances at Wembley, and he should have a better time of things at home against West Brom.
The reason why we picked Tosun is once again due to his differential status. Nobody knows what to expect of him still, there hasn’t been enough evidence to assess his threat. There were positive signs at Wembley, and in the battle of the English managers it will be the big debut where all eyes are on Tosun.
The reason we didn’t pick Hazard as differential captain was because Chelsea’s poor attacking form.
We didn’t pick Mane as Salah is already the primary captain for GW24.
Jose Mourinho might rotate Anthony Martial, it wouldn’t surprise us.
Manuel Lanzini is too big of a risk, we would have preferred Arnautovic.
Tosun could come out of obscurity this week, and then doubters might be convinced.
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.
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All aboard.
