CAPTAINCY HYPE 2018/19: FPL Gameweek 14
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 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
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 14: Essential Captain
Player: Sergio Aguero (MCI)
Position: Forward
GW14 Fixture: Bournemouth (H)
Player Price: £11.5 million
Player Selection %: 53.6%
Fixtures are coming thick and fast for Premier League players over the course of the next month, with Gameweek 14 set to be followed in quick succession by a first round of midweek games of the campaign. With the fixture pile up posing some headaches, what isn't changing are the habits of FPL players ahead of this weekend.
Sergio Aguero, who is the only player with more than 50% ownership in the game, faces a home game against Bournemouth for Gameweek 14, and on each of City's home ties this season Aguero has been selected by the masses as our essential captain. This is most likely going to be the case for most the season given his unmatched ownership in the game, so we guess that we have to live with the reality that the Argentine is the man to back with the armband.
With 82 points, Aguero is the top points scorer as a Forward, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (75) and Callum Wilson (74) the closest chasers to Aguero's throne right now.
Gameweek 13 was the first time this season that Sergio Aguero did not score or assist against a side that was not a 'Top 6' team from last season (ARS, TOT and LIV). Aguero was not involved in any of Man City's goals in a 4-0 win away at West Ham, though given the imbalance of his home verses away returns, it's hardly a surprising stat 14 weeks into the season.
Aguero has scored 8 goals and provided 6 assists having played in all 13 Premier League games, though just one return, a single goal against Cardiff during Gameweek 6, remains Aguero's triumph on the road this season. All other returns have come at home, scoring 7 and assisting 6 times.
You don't have to over-analyse stats or predicted statistics to understand the polarity with Aguero's form this season, and why the the majority this weekend is a no-brainer captaincy pick.
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 14: Alternative Captain
Player: Raheem Sterling (MCI)
Position: Midfielder
GW14 Fixture: Bournemouth (H)
Player Price: £11.3 million
Player Selection %: 13.5%
Whenever Sergio Aguero is picked as the essential captain, we tend to stray away from picking a player from the same team as a captaincy option, though we have made an exception ahead of Gameweek 14.
What we typically for in an alternative captain is a potential differential that is owned by 10-20% of FPL players, which tends to be a fraction of a highly-owned essential. This player has more often than not been Alexandre Lacazette until very recently, with Raheem Sterling fitting this role perfectly, despite he is in direct competition with Aguero this weekend.
Statistically speaking, Sterling has Aguero dead to rights as the FPL's top player with 95 points, as well as boasting an average of 11 points-per-game over the course of the last 4 games. Sterling was the main influence for City in their 6-1 victory over Southampton during Gameweek 11, scoring and assisting twice.
Sterling is currently the most transferred in player ahead of Gameweek 14 with 171,739 new suitors bumping both his status, and most likely his price later in the week.
If we were pitting both together, the only real outlet Aguero offers that is any different is set-pieces, though Man City find most their joy with low-crosses into the penalty area and six-yard box. Sterling is typically the one either making that all important key pass or the one at the end of it, and if there's one pick who could maximise your points potential this week, and you're sick and tired of the Eden Hazard roller-coaster, then Sterling is the man to bank on.
Now we've just said that, no doubt Sterling's time for a seat on the bench against Bournemouth is inevitable.
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 14: Wildcard Captain
Player: Jamie Vardy (LEI)
Position: Forward
GW14 Fixture: Watford (H)
Player Price: £8.9 million
Player Selection %: 4.2%
Captaining our differentials is a man who returned to the Leicester team with a goal to his name after a thunderous penalty against Maty Ryan. We rued not selecting him due to his injury, instead favouring Chilwell against the Seagulls, but we won’t make that mistake again. Vardy is still their sharp edge, but he is on our differential warning list. Vardy may be their best option but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is a good thing. Leicester may have scored in every league game this season, but they haven’t won all of them, and they are shaky in defence.
Vardy hasn’t looked the same since Riyad Mahrez abandoned the King Power for the abandoned Etihad. What we like about this Leicester versus Watford fixture is that is could be a very open affair, we have no idea what to expect, or who to win. The neutral will favour a draw out of uncertainty, but we think that the Foxes will come out victors in this fixture. We think that they’ll concede, but it could be a dogged win from the home side.
Having previously selected Vardy as captain there is an element where our patience has been tested by the Englishman. Leicester are all over the place, and we have seen that before with Southampton when Claude Puel managed the Saints. The same markers are starting to show themselves again under the Frenchman which arguably make Leicester one of the most differential teams around. They have potential in any game they play in, you don’t know what you’re going to get, and that is why fantasy managers don’t want to trust their players due to this inconsistency.
Banking on a differential requires one-part luck, one part expectation, and this time we are selecting a captain who could deliver on both.
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.
