CAPTAINCY HYPE 2018/19: 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 24 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 24: Essential Captain
Player: Mohamed Salah (LIV)
Position: Midfielder
GW24 Fixture: Leicester (H)
Player Price: £13.6 million
Player Selection %: 50.5%
Hands up if you've been waiting patiently for the FA Cup 4th round to come and go at the speed of light? We're all in agreement then. Whilst Premier League clubs continue largely continue to neglect the best domestic cup competition in the world, the real focus is for the forthcoming round of Premier League games.
Gameweek 24 pitted some likely captaincy contenders against one another, and despite a home match against lowly Cardiff, a club in the midst of tragedy right now, the appeal of Aubameyang was ultimately dwarfed by the masses electing Mohamed Salah as the essential captaincy pick, winning his 3rd consecutive poll by a majority.
The biggest question arises with Mo Salah's captaincy potential this week. Why was it only a 58% margin of victory? 98% of the top 100 players own The Egyptian, and just look at the below stat - 6 double-digit returns in 8 games - is quite frankly frightening given the length of consistency that Magic Mo has produced since a hat-trick away at Bournemouth.
Leicester's own form is adding fuel to the fire of a big win for the hosts at Anfield on Wednesday evening at the travelling Foxes recently shipped 4 goals away at Wolves in a recent 4-3 defeat, with their full-backs torn apart and brutalised by Diego Jota's bullish skills and finesse in the penalty area when scoring his own treble.
Liverpool beat Leicester in the reverse fixture this season, winning 2-1 during a Gameweek 4 victory - it was the game which saw Alisson make a hauler when trying to turn Jamie Vardy, only to be dispossessed and made to be humbled when conceding his first goal goal since arriving at the club. Salah was substituted on 70 mins without a goal or assist to his name, so only recent form is to go by.
The Reds have scored a minimum of 3 goals in their last 4 home games, with Salah contributing 4 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 home matches alone. Writing would appear to be on the wall this coming round of games. Mo is The Man and with a delightful run of fixtures still to boast, his reign as thee essential pick, even next week against a Double Gameweek for Man City, could stand the test of time.

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 Captain
Player: Sergio Aguero (MCI)
Position: Forward
GW24 Fixture: Newcastle (A)
Player Price: £11.3 million
Player Selection %: 24.9%
Moving swiftly on out of Mohamed Salah's growing shadow of Fantasy supremacy, we had a few options in mind when searching the wasteland for an alternative to The Egyptian that wasn't as basic as saying 'Auba again Cardiff...'
Then an announcement of the first Double Gameweek of the season hit, and it involved Man City's visit to Everton being rescheduled for Gameweek 25.
Then the FPL Community uttered in unison 'Aguero's Double Gameweek'. After much projectile vomiting at the notion of backing one of Pep Guardiola's rotatable attackers in such an important week, and even more eye-rolling after the same basic analysis by FPL accounts over on Twitter justifying the most sinful of acts, we have been beaten into submission into one singular thought about Sergio Aguero.
It'll be Gameweek 24 when he scores big, and in Gameweek 25 when he plays the joker.
With Aguero the top captaincy pick heading into next week, a visit to lowly Newcastle awaits this season. The Toon are seriously struggling for goals and consistency right now, and with teams rolling over like poisoned puppies for Pep's side in recent games, it's hard to imagine any other outcome other than a tepid home performance, sprinkled with away goals that will continue to put the pressure on Liverpool at the top of the table.
Speaking as a Newcastle fan, you've always got a sixth sense about opposing players, timings and likely outcomes against any opponent, and after a weak display against Watford in the FA Cup, another wasted chance at cup progression in the North East, the premonition has painted a blue picture.
How predictable would it be for Aguero to score big in Fantasy against Newcastle, have the FPL Community then rave about the Argentine all week, even though on the run of play this season he doesn't deserve many of the brass rings given to him, only for him to play possum with us when it matters most?
City play Arsenal before travelling to Everton in the supposed 'Gameweek of Aguero', but what this tale doesn't tell is a crunch match with Chelsea at home just 4 days later in a massive league match. Pep won't estimate Everton either and won't be afraid to ring in the changes ahead of the first of two El Plastico's in February.
The point in all of this? Sometimes the irritating cries of FPL players and their war-song from Aguero fanatics are occasionally heard, and for him to lead us to slaughter next week, he needs to reel in his prey before the eventual kill.

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 Captain
Player: Christian Eriksen (TOT)
Position: Midfielder
GW24 Fixture: Watford (H)
Player Price: £9.4 million
Player Selection %: 7.3%
For the last week @HypeTrainRob has repeatedly asked the question “have you changed your mind yet over the differential captaincy?” And the answer is no, and every time the question is asked it emboldens the captaincy selection this week that is locked in with Spurs Danish attacking midfielder.
The North London club are a great example of the term ‘differential’. No Kane, no Alli, and Son is just back from the Asian Games after being dumped out of the Asian Games by Qatar of all teams. You don’t know what you are going to get out of Spurs right now after they have been knocked out of both cup competitions in less than a week.
On a Premier League level Eriksen has eight returns from his most recent eleven games which is outstanding for a player who has been shadowed by the rampant form of Kane and Son (who tore apart households when they were both hitting double digits in the same week). As we mentioned last week it is the duty of their key players left to take responsibility for the goals on their shoulders, and it was Eriksen who provided for Winks’ winner against Fulham last week.
We are rolling the dice with Eriksen who has been nothing but prolific in our differentials and has slowly worked up the ladder to being differential captain. Ten of the twelve total returns have occurred in the last eleven games.
“Have you changed your mind yet over the differential captaincy?”
In a week where we have Higuaín making his Premier League debut, a central midfielder shoved out at left-midfield at Liverpool, and an Icelander who is the only thing from Everton’s season going into freefall, Eriksen is the most sane bet out of them all. So, no, our mind has not been changed.

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.
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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.