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CAPTAINCY HYPE 2018/19: FPL Gameweek 17

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 17 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 17: Essential Captain

Player: Harry Kane (TOT)

Position: Forward

GW17 Fixture: Burnley (H)

Player Price: £12.6 million

Player Selection %: 30.8%

It's late at night here at Hype Train HQ, with the minutes counting down to the start of Gameweek 17. We're in the midst of setting our final teams for the week, and sometimes that makes decision making easier when pressed for time.

There's been a real depth of captaincy options ahead of this weekend and we anticipate that there might be a wide spread of players with the armband. Each of our essential picks - Salah, Sterling, Kane and Aubameyang - all have arguments in their favour though it was Spurs attacker and England captain, Harry Kane, who was the majority win with a 54% margin of victory.

There will be a lot of soured Fantasy players after Gameweek 16, with Harry Kane one of the top captaincy picks. Ahead of a tie at Barcelona, Harry Kane found himself on the bench in a 2-0 away win at Leicester, with Kane earning a single point after a 16 minute cameo appearance off the bench.

With Champions League qualification secured thanks to a Lucas Moura goal at the Nou Camp against Barca, Spurs move away from an unlikely qualification with sole focus on Premier League football.

Harry Kane managed a hat-trick in the away fixture against Burnley at Turf Moor, but saw his FPL momentum derailed at Leicester, with the Englishman scoring in three consecutive matches prior to Gameweek 16.

The biggest positive for Spurs will the form of their attacking players, mainly Son and Kane, with whilst Sean Dyche and Burnley are really feeling the pressure at the bottom of the table. With 112 points from their opening 16 games, The Clarets are in 17th, just above Huddersfield but could easily find themselves right at the foot of the table again if FPL players get their wish this weekend.

Kane might be the safe pick this week, with Auba's explosive potential shortly behind, though it could be a game with limited chances at a big Wembley pitch. Millions will be hoping that this won't be the case and Kane's legend continues to grow in the world of Fantasy Football.

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 17: Alternative Captain

Player: Eden Hazard (CHE)

Position: Midfielder

GW17 Fixture: Brighton (A)

Player Price: £10.9 million

Player Selection %: 34.9%

With Harry Kane securing a majority vote this weekend, we look further afield for an alternative captaincy pick, and there's one that came to the forefront having missed out in our weekly captaincy poll this week.

Eden Hazard might just be coming back onto the FPL radar despite a few injury niggles this season, and might be primed to deliver at the very top of Chelsea's attack when Sarri's side visit the south coast.

Alvaro Morata picked up an injury in Chelsea's 2-2 away draw at Hungarian side, Vidi, which could put Hazard in line to play in the Forward position at Brighton. Olivier Giroud could also be primed for a start, but given that Sarri lined up with Hazard as Chelsea's lone attacker in his sides impressive 2-0 home victory over Man City, there's no reason to change a winning formula, right?

Hazard has actually provided FPL returns in his last 3 fixtures, assisting 4 times in that time, including a brace of assists against the reigning Champions, with the feeling in our camp that if he starts against Brighton, Hazard could be set to exploit his opportunity up top against a Brighton side that have so far been very, very good at home.

There's not a lot of confidence across the board with Hazard and the armband, which is putting him into the perfect Vice Captaincy position, with one of Kane or Aubameyang picking up the top pick this weekend, though it'll be nice to bank on the Belgian in an away game with a potentially high points ceiling.

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 17: Wildcard Captain

Player: Javier Hernandez (WHU)

Position: Forward

GW17 Fixture: Fulham (A)

Player Price: £6.4 million +

Player Selection %: 6.3%

The one time we have selected the Mexican as our differential captain, it was three weeks ago against Cardiff at home after an intense burst of fantasy points that came after a thirteen-point haul against Newcastle. In that game against Cardiff he picked up two points when West Ham scored three goals, but then returned with a nine-point week last week against Crystal Palace.

Four attacking returns from the last three weeks is big returns for the reasonably priced forward who is destined to start in the wake Marko Arnautovic’s injury, and the recent knock to Lucas Perez. Regarding Javier’s form it cannot be dropped from the team, and we said last time that the Mexican has been a reliable scorer for every team he has played for in his career. He is showing the same form that earned him praise at Manchester United, someone that you turn to for goals, and it is overdue that Manuel Pellegrini has seen the light at the end of the tunnel for the Mexican.

Travelling a stones' throw away to the Cottage, Chicharito faces the only team to have failed keeping a clean sheet in the entire of the English footballing league. With such a record it would be foolish to not look at the goal potential, after all, the Hammers have scored three league goals in each of their last three fixtures, and we like our odds of a similar performance from the East London team against England’s worst defence.

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.

You can follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, or visit our website here at www.thehypetrain.co.uk

All aboard.


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