Who's the best FPL Gameweek 38+ 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 37+ Captain Recap
Congratulations, you’ve made it to the final week of the season we all thought might never finish.
So what have we learnt?
Motivation (top four) – it’s all to play for in the last game. If Leicester and Man United draw then Chelsea need to at least draw. If Chelsea draw or win then Leicester need to win. All of these factors will influence how these teams approach their game e.g. If Leicester are informed that Chelsea are ahead they’re going to have to go for it against Man United whereas if Chelsea are losing, Leicester can park the bus and play for a draw.
Motivation (relegation) – at the other end of the table, two of Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Watford are going down. It’s so tight with Villa only a single goal better off on goal difference than the other two. Bournemouth need to win and for the other two sides to lose. That suggests they’re going all out attack against Everton, as goal difference will count. A draw is enough for Watford and Villa to survive. I would expect them both to set up ultra defensively.
Who to target – given the above, I don’t think Watford are the ideal side to target despite their recent displays unless the team really is ready to throw in the towel. I would be targeting the teams on the beach and Norwich.
The strikers are back – the strikers haven’t really enticed for the majority of the season but right at the end a few have staked a claim for our attention. Jesus is enjoying a run as the spearhead of the best attack in the league. Aubameyang (at least in the cup), Ings and Kane all look razor sharp.
How have we done to date?
Captaincy Gameweek 38+ Our Performance
It was a disappointing display considering that it was quite a high scoring week with several highly owned players scored well but none of the main captaincy candidates did much (although ironically Sterling did top the metric). It looks like the “Punt” selection has fared the best lately and what’s more fun than a punt on the final week?
FPL Gameweek 38+ Captain - The Fixtures
Captaincy Gameweek 38+ Fixtures
Gameweek 38+ fixtures are the reverse of Gameweek 5, here’s what happened last time:
Captaincy Gameweek 38+ Reverse Fixtures
Liverpool v Newcastle – Mane scored a brace (15 points) and Salah scored (9 points).
Man Utd v Leicester – Rashford (9 points) scored the only goal here.
Spurs v Crystal Palace – Kane only got an assist here (5 points) whereas Son got a brace (16 points).
Wolves v Chelsea – this was a crazy score line, Abraham got a hat trick (14 points) but his purple patch appears to be over.
Norwich v Man City – I can’t see this result happening again in another classic example of how poorly we do without De Bruyne. The City goals were scored by the now injured Aguero and Rodrigo.
Bournemouth v Everton – Wilson scored a brace (13 points) and Calvert-Lewin (6 points) scored. Bournemouth have to win, they need to boost their goal difference and he could be a dark horse.
Watford v Arsenal – Aubameyang scored a brace (13 points) and I wouldn’t be surprised if he added to that tally.
Nobody of note returned in the other games.
Twitter / @FFH_HQ FPL Gameweek 38+ Captain Poll
Who do our Twitter followers think is the best FPL Gameweek 38+ captain?
With so many options we ran two polls with City assets dominating both:
Hub Gameweek 38+ Twitter Poll 1
Hub Gameweek 38+ Twitter Poll 2
Old Hunting Ground – do any of the likely lads have a good history vs their opposition?
Captaincy Gameweek 38+ Past Performance
Aubameyang – has a great record although only one of those goals was scored at home.
Son – continuing the theme, none of his goals have come away.
De Bruyne – he was brought on late for this game and I expect him to do damage in the reverse fixture.
Salah – similar to Aubameyang, only one of his goals was scored away from Anfield and his away record in general has been poor this season.
Mane – none of his goals have come away.
Rashford – only one of his four goals was scored away.
Kane – he’s scored two goals and assisted away but he hasn’t scored against Palace in his last three games.
Members Stats breakdown - FPL Gameweek 38+ 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 and displayed them as ‘totals’. We have a sufficient sample now to extrapolate from and players with less minutes or appearances could score lower, so keep an eye on the number of minutes played.
Thank you for all the effort you put into writing these over the season.
Thanks Mike, hopefully you’ve found some of it useful.
Chris we all are waiting each gw for your article m8, you have lots of fans!
This comment box is not like twitter but know for sure you got a lot of views.
Hi Switch,
Thanks for your kind words, I’m really humbled by all the praise.
I love FPL and it’s nice to be able to share my thought process with you guys.
great detailed article Chris
who are you leaning towards part of me think KDB should be angry about missing out on the FWA & he should be on the next pen
Thanks Kazza,
It’ll probably be Sterling but a lot depends on the lineup and I’m not opposed to Silva. KDB is a good option and a lot aren’t considering him, which makes it even better. I’m wary that he’s more interested in the assist record, so he probably doesn’t care about the next pen (so that could go to Sterling or Silva) and Silva will be on direct freekicks. He’s as good a shout as any of the front 5.
Great article, thank you! WhatsUp Hub Team#2 thank you! :)
Great articles all season, I am wondering are you doing a captain season review article ?, lessons learnt , which of you criteria best predicted a cap pick , would you weight more or less next season depending on last seasons results, add new criteria , remove less reliable etc.