A few of the popular captaincy picks for gameweek 1 managed to rack up the points with their managers reaping the rewards. The most captained player was Romelu Lukaku, who managed to score 2 goals and claim 3 bonus points in United’s 4-0 win against West Ham. Other big choices such as Sergio Aguero (9 points), Firmino (12), Salah (10) and Alli (8) would have been solid captaincy choices.
So, what are the options for gameweek 2?
Romelu Lukaku – Swansea (A)
Bit boring, innit? Well, you’ll be taking a huge risk by not putting the armband on big Rom this weekend. In his two-goal performance, he managed 5 shots, with 4 of them being in the box – the joint-most of any player last week. He also managed to touch the ball inside the box once every 9 minutes, the most often of any player.
United travel to Swansea next week, who managed to pick up a draw away at Southampton. This wasn’t for lack of trying, as Southampton managed the most shots of any side with 29, though just 2 of them were on target. Swansea have improved massively since the Bob Bradley days, but United should be far more clinical in their chance taking, with Lukaku being the clear focal point of these attacks.
Lukaku’s price has risen to 11.6m with his ownership now standing at a staggering 51.7%. He’ll be the most captained player by a considerable distance this week, so he represents the safe choice.
Christian Eriksen – Chelsea (H)
Another player who performed well last week was Spurs’ Christian Eriksen. He claimed both assists in their 2-0 win away at Newcastle, picking up 12 points. As mentioned in the gameweek 1 review, Eriksen had the most shots of any player last week with 6, as well as the most shots on target (3) while providing 3 key passes.
Spurs have an odd fixture next week, as they play Chelsea at home. It’s a real landmark moment for Spurs as it’s their first game of the season at their temporary home of Wembley. They played there during their short stint in the Champions League last season – short being the operative word in telling you how well that went. This has provided a bit of a “Wembley curse” for Spurs, which they’ll be desperate to put behind them straight away.
Chelsea lost 3-2 at home to Burnley last week, with both Fabregas and Cahill being sent off. Bakayoko isn’t back yet due to an injury prevented him from having any sort of preseason, the same goes for Hazard.
Eriksen is massively capable of scoring 10+ points in a match due to his threat from set pieces, his creativity, and the amount of shots he takes – he took the third most shots per game of any player last season, just behind Aguero and Ibrahimovic. Also, just worth noting, he has been directly involved in each of Spurs’ last 6 goals against Chelsea (credit to Big Luke over on /r/fantasypl – the stat, not the goals).
If you fancy another player from this fixture, Harry Kane is also a great shout. He loves playing in derbies, took the most shots of any player last week, and has 4 goals/2 assists in 8 games against Chelsea. Breaking both the Wembley curse and his own personal August curse against a depleted Chelsea? The script writes itself.
Mohamed Salah – Crystal Palace (H)
Salah picked up 11 points last week in Liverpool’s dramatic 3-3 draw away at Watford last week, with a goal, an assist and a solitary bonus point. He looked threatening throughout the match, always looking to get in behind the defence and often playing rather centrally. He took 5 shots in that game, with 4 of them being in the penalty area.
Looking at the average positions for Liverpool in that match, we can see that Firmino (9) tends to drop a bit deeper, while Mane (19) and Salah (11) aim to run in behind.
Source: WhoScored
Mane and Firmino both had 2 shots and provided 2 key passes, whereas Salah didn’t create any chances as he attempted far more shots.
Thanks to this, Salah may well be the best choice of Liverpool’s attackers, making him a prime captaincy option as they play Crystal Palace. They kicked off their season with a 3-0 loss at home to newly promoted Huddersfield. This bodes very, very well for Liverpool as they could run riot against a Palace side that’s under new management and is still getting used to their new 3-4-3 system.
Mane and Firmino both represent great choices as well, both scoring in the 3-3 draw at Watford, with the latter seemingly taking penalty responsibilities.
Differential: Christian Benteke – Liverpool (A)
So… a Liverpool player gets recommended because Palace are looking rough, and then a Palace player is suggested? Damn right. As mentioned, Palace travel to Liverpool on the weekend, and would ideally like to bounce back from their 3-0 defeat at home to Huddersfield.
While they may struggle to keep Liverpool’s attacking talents at bay, they may well find some joy at the other end of the pitch. It’s no secret that Liverpool aren’t fantastic defensively – watching the goals they conceded against Watford will attest to that. With that in mind, who better than Christian Benteke to take advantage of that?
He poses a serious aerial threat, especially at set pieces – a noted weakness of the current Liverpool side. Benteke scored twice against Liverpool at Anfield last season. One goal came from a counter attack, the other came directly from a corner.
Also, even though he played for them, Benteke’s best form generally comes against Liverpool, with him picking up 7 goals and 1 assist in 8 games against them during his career. Oddly reminiscent of Lukaku’s form against West Ham, which continued last week with his brace.
#Benteke🆚#LFC
🅿️🅿️🅿️🅿️🅿️🅿️🅿️
⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️
🅰️
🔶🔶#Rooney🆚#MCFC
🅿️25
⚽️8
🅰️
🔶9#Gayle🆚#HTAFC (Championship)
🅿️🅿️🅿️
⚽️⚽️⚽️#FPL #FPLvs— FPL🆚 (@FPL_vs) August 17, 2017
Liverpool are also book-ending this fixture with matches against Hoffenheim as they aim to qualify for the Champions League group stages, potentially making things slightly more difficult for them. It’s a bold shout, but one that could pay off.
Differential: Steve Mounie – Newcastle (H)
Mounie managed to grab 2 goals last week as his Huddersfield side won 3-0 against Benteke’s Palace side, music to the ears of his <4% ownership. This lad could genuinely be the real deal, offering one of the biggest FPL bargains of the season. He scored 14 goals in Ligue 1 last season for a relatively poor Montpellier side that finished in 15th place, and scored 4 goals during preseason for Huddersfield.
His price is set to rise before the weekend, reaching 6.1m – still a potential steal. Alongside Lukaku and Vardy, Mounie is a massively hot commodity among strikers this week:
Source: Fantasy Football Fix
Huddersfield and Mounie will aim to keep up this form as they host Newcastle, a side that last 2-0 to Spurs last week. They key here would be the depletion of the squad that Newcastle suffered in that game. Shelvey managed to get sent off for stamping on Dele Alli, while Dummett and Lejeune both picked up injuries, leaving their rather bare at the back with Yedlin also out on the sidelines.
Mounie could potentially be up against a thrown-together Newcastle defence as Huddersfield play their first ever Premier League game at home. They may well put them to the sword here, making Mounie a fantastic differential captain shout.
Who will you be captaining for gameweek 2?