This article takes a deep dive look at the all important Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 27 captain decision. It's written by our resident FPL captaincy expert Chris Tan who takes a close look at the fixtures, poll and stats breakdown before concluding on his best pick for the armband.
FPL Gameweek 26 Captain Recap
Before we delve into the FPL Gameweek 27 Captain Decision it’s important to cast our eye back over the last Gameweek to get a feel for team and player form. It does feel like this Gameweek has lasted forever, but it was nice to unplug for a while.
8 February – 9 February 2020
Everton have quietly produced under Ancelotti, both Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison have both shown consistent output and now it’s a real case of considering form over fixtures. Never mind the Winter Break, Palace look to be on their summer holidays already. Brighton are right in the relegation battle, as they struggle to get any momentum. Despite their initial surge under Pearson, Watford haven’t managed to escape the battle either, but Doucoure and Deeney have performed well recently. Sheffield Utd put a swift end to Bournemouth’s mini resurgence thanks to a goal from their super sub Lord Lundstram. Those that sold him may have a tinge of regret, but it does appear that he’s lost his place and do you really want to start someone that is only going to get 20-30 minutes? Interestingly, Callum “The Troll” Wilson got himself on the scoresheet again, he has proven pedigree and could be quite the differential going forwards.
14 February – 19 February 2020
Wolves and Leicester ended in a stalemate with a lacklustre performance from Vardy possibly due to a lack of support from Maddison and Tielemans, but maybe credit should be given to Wolves. They looked the better team with Jimenez not as clinical as usual and Traore definitely added some energy when he came on. Ings maintained his excellent goal scoring run, Stephens looked like a real attacking threat hitting the crossbar, but despite their good stats and fixtures, can Southampton actually keep a clean sheet (CS)? Westwood scored a bit of a freak goal due to a mix up between Ings and McCarthy. Wood picked up a hamstring injury early in the game and Vydra capitalised on the opportunity with an excellent strike. If Woods and Barnes remain out he might be a sneaky option for those on the look out for a cheap striker that plays in Gameweek 31. As I mentioned in the previous article, I thought that the break could disrupt Liverpool’s flow and as I anticipated, they looked to be out of rhythm after their mini break and struggled to break through Norwich despite dominating the game. It took an excellent take by super sub Mane to break the deadlock, but it was the defenders that dominated the bonus points.
Spurs picked off Villa on the counter attack with their penalty taker Son taking the plaudits (despite missing the penalty). Although they lost, Grealish impressed again and such is his importance to Villa that he might be worth holding for the Gameweek 28 blank. After a quiet first half Arsenal finally spring to life. Arteta has already instilled some much needed defensive solidarity but the attack has been lacklustre for a while. The much hyped Pepe was the star of the show with a goal plus two assists and Aubameyang scored his customary goal, but is that enough to justify his price?.
Ole extended his winning record against Chelsea with a goal from Martial and an assist from new boy Fernandes. However, it was the defence that stole the show with a goal for Maguire and an assist from Wan_Bissaka combined with a CS that secured the bonus points. Maguire was fortunate to get away with his kick out though. Chelsea got hit by further injuries and despite taking a lot of shots, they lacked any real threat other than some VAR’d efforts. Finally, to end Game-month 26 City breezed past a dogged West Ham who set up for some damage limitation and achieved their objective, although if it wasn’t for wasteful finishing from Jesus it could have been a lot worse. De Bruyne stole the show with his 14 point return.
Who did I tip?
Salah (3) – the break disrupted his run and Liverpool didn’t create many clear cut chances, as Norwich put on a dogged display to try and contain them. He was heavily captained, so this blank shouldn’t be massively painful.
Aguero (2) – Mahrez (0) / De Bruyne (14) / Jesus (2) – for anyone that went with De Bruyne, great call! For the rest you were unlucky and on another night there would have been a lot more goals.
How have we done to date?
I did an analysis of my picks over the season to date to compare with the top poll choice:
Captaincy Gameweek 27 - Our Performance
This was an ideal week for a differential captain with the vast majority going for Salah, when he blanked it opened up an opportunity to close ground. Sadly, with the exception of De Bruyne and Son a lot of the other high scorers were harder to predict.
What did we learn?
North London Reborn – after spending the majority of the season being ignored, both of these sides look to have some enticing options and motivation to push for the top four (possibly five if City are banned from the UCL). Jumping on the right differential could really help you to catapult up the ranks. Although the loss of Son could dampen the mood for Spurs.
You get what you pay for – some of the teams with the lower league positions have great cheap defender options and fixtures, but how often do these result in actual CS?
FPL Gameweek 27 Captain - The Fixtures
Captaincy Gameweek 27 - Fixtures
We’re finally back to normality with a normal run of fixtures, there are a few enticing options. Gameweek 27 fixtures are the reverse of Gameweek 18 (with Liverpool’s fixture being in the infamous DGW 24), here’s what happened last time:
Captaincy Gameweek 27 - Reverse Fixture
Games against Villa are always attractive fixtures and Ings picked up a brace in the last game. Grealish also scored and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar outcome, although that might be disappointing for those with two Southampton defensive assets. Jimenez scored in the last game against Norwich, with one from Saiss (who interestingly took a direct freekick against Leicester last week) and an assist from Doherty. When you factor in Boly’s goal that was absurdly VAR’d, Wolves have a plethora of tempting defensive options. Jesus and Mahrez scored for City, but rotation will be a threat with Madrid midweek and Leicester scored a consolation goal from the forgotten Vardy. Chelsea comfortably despatched Spurs last time with a Willian brace, but this could be a different story. Finally, Gameweek 24 Salah triple captainers will fondly remember his goal and assist in the previous game.
Twitter FPL Gameweek 27 Captain Poll
Who do our Twitter followers think is the best FPL Gameweek 27 captain?
Old Hunting Ground – do any of the likely lads have a good history vs their opposition?
Captaincy Gameweek 27 - Player History
Ings – he certainly enjoyed playing against Villa last time. Gameweek 26 showed us that he’s still looking sharp and Villa concede a multitude of chances.
Salah – his recent 14 point return against West Ham is still fresh on our minds and I wouldn’t expect him to blank this week.
Mane – last Gameweek was a frustrating look for owners of what could have been in the double Gameweek and this week could be a chance to demonstrate that further.
Grealish – the talisman scored in the last match and looks like Villa’s best (only) hope going into this.
Mahrez – if he plays I don’t think Chillwell will be able to stop him and his recent rest makes it look fairly likely.
Jimenez – it’s a small sample, but I’ve got confidence that he’ll add to his record against Norwich.
Aguero – his record has been slightly inflated by four goals scored at home in the 17/18 season and if you strip those away it doesn’t look quite as consistent.
KDB – he picked up an assist in the last match and looks to be quite a consistent option
Son – hasn’t got the best record against Chelsea, which might make some think twice about bringing him in after his recent brace. His recent injury has cemented that, he’s out for weeks now.
Members Stats breakdown - FPL Gameweek 27 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. I have pulled data from the last four Gameweeks, as we’ve had a lot of games recently and I wanted a more current overview.
Excellent stuff!