Who's the best FPL Gameweek 4 captain? Our resident FPL captaincy expert Chris Tan takes a close look at the fixtures, poll and stats breakdown before concluding on his best pick for the armband.
FPL Gameweek 3 Recap
Penalty Overload – another weekend, another seven penalties. Take a look at this projection from @SkySportsStatto. It doesn’t seem feasible that we’re going to get nearly three times as many penalties as the highest total in the past five seasons (players are already adapting by keeping their hands behind their back), however at the current rate we’re going to get at last double. Currently, when it’s a close call between captaincy candidates I would side with those that have penalty duties. I’ve noted that there’s been an announcement that the referees will be given more leeway on these penalty decisions, however the same announcement also indicated that the Maupay and Dier penalties would still stand, so I’m not sure whether this will dramatically decrease the number of penalties awarded.
FPL Gameweek 4 Captain - Penalties
Whipping boys – Fulham and West Brom remain in this category and they’re joined by Manchester City and Wolves! Not really, for now it’s just the two promoted sides although Newcastle and Sheffield United look rather suspect.
Liverpool are relentless – we’ve had a mixed bag of results so far. Chelsea are yet to click, Manchester United don’t look the same, Wolves are no longer resolute, and Manchester City are inconsistent. What hasn’t changed is that Liverpool are a well oiled machine, and it’s worth targeting their players both for your teams and captaincy. When there’s so much uncertainty, its nice to have some consistency in your side.
How have we done to date?
FPL Gameweek 4 Captain - Our Performance
It was a disappointing week for many, and none of the candidates did particularly well, with the big scores coming from lower owned players. There are some interesting choices this week and you need to ask yourself whether you want someone ‘safe’ that is likely to return, who might have a lower ceiling, or do you want someone that has the potential for explosive returns, but could blank.
FPL Gameweek 4 Captain - The Fixtures
FPL Gameweek 4 Captain - Fixtures
Twitter / @FFH_HQ FPL Gameweek 4 Captain Poll
Who do our Twitter followers think is the best FPL Gameweek 4 captain?
Hub Twitter Gameweek 4 Captain Poll
Old Hunting Ground – do any of the likely lads have a good history vs their opposition?
FPL Gameweek 4 Captain - Past Performance
Not many of the good options have any history against their opposition this week:
Mane (£11.9m) – has an amazing record against Villa, although it’s a tiny sample. In the away game last season he picked up a goal and assist.
Vardy (£10.0m) – he’s only picked up a single assist at home against West Ham, however he’s also scored five already this season from just two open play shots such is the power of penalties.
Salah (£12.1m) – doesn’t have the best record against Villa, he hasn’t returned against them away from home, but it’s only a two game sample and like Vardy, he’s on penalties.
Jimenez (£8.6m) – is the postman, he always delivers, apart from against Fulham it seems. Again, it’s a tiny sample and he’s got penalties in his locker.
Members Stats breakdown - FPL Gameweek 4 Captain
These stats are pulled from the Fantasy Football Hub OPTA Stats tool that is available to all members to help you analyse the players and teams.
In all honesty, you can't read too much into these stats from a three Gameweek sample, especially as the opposition strength plays a major factor. It will take at least four weeks before we get anything meaningful and even then it's a tiny sample. What we can do is utilise these stats in combination with the eye test to help us make our decision.
I’ve shown these as per appearance, as some teams / players have only played one game.
