If you thought that picking an FPL team ended your selection headaches, you were wrong as now it is time to choose FPL captain for the Gameweek 1. You have to choose wisely as there are only few things more frustrating than picking a captain that ends up taking 1-2 FPL points. There are a lot of options to consider when choosing your FPL captain though. Depending from your point of view that could be either a good and a bad thing, so we compiled this list of our FPL captaincy suggestions worth considering and hopefully it will help you decide.
Top FPL captain tips for GW1
Wayne Rooney, Man Utd v Tottenham Spurs
Wayne Rooney looks like a good choice for your FPL captain in Gameweek 1. He will start against Tottenham, team that doesn’t have good record at Old Trafford. Manchester United will look for a strong opening of the season, which should translate into FPL points for Rooney. Spurs’ defence was atrocious last season as they allowed 53 Premier League goals. To put that in perspective – one of the 3 relegated teams (Hull City) actually managed to concede 2 goals less! Anyway, Spurs did solidify their defence a bit, but the core of their team and the manager have remained the same. Manchester United should score a couple and Rooney looks like an ideal candidate to put his name on the score sheet. He has got talented players like Mata and Depay behind him to make that killer pass. Although both of them will likely get their chances as well, we choose Rooney as a captain because of his huge ownership of 36.4%. A lot of his owners will decide to give him the armband, so if he performs as expected and your captain fails – you will be left behind.
In this fixture many might look to captain Harry Kane. He is actually owned by more players than Rooney – not particularly surprising considering his excellent form last season and a £1.0m cheaper price. At this point though, Rooney looks like a better pick for FPL captain, considering Man utd is playing in front of their fans and Kane is likely going to be marked heavily.
Eden Hazard, Chelsea v Swansea
Hazard is the most owned player with ridiculous ownership of 56.8% among FPL managers. Can you really afford not to captain him, let alone not pick him in your team in the first place? Not really, especially when guys like Aguero and Sanchez are expected to miss at least first game of the new Premier League season. Hazard is our second best FPL captain suggestion for GW 1 as he is going to be main offensive weapon for Chelsea if in fact Costa misses this game through hamstring problem. Remy and Falcao both featured in the Community Shield match and didn’t look particularly promising. Falcao did try but he has woeful Premier League season behind him and will likely need more time to regain his confidence and his remarkable form from Atletico Madrid days. To be fair, Hazard didn’t really have a good game as well against Arsenal, but it should be different at home against Swansea, a team that’s not particularly good defensively. Hazard is almost certainly going to play the full match and he has potential to score goals and collect assists in a very likely routine Chelsea win.
Theo Walcott, Arsenal v West Ham
Wenger is expected to field the same team he did on Sunday against Chelsea, which means Walcott should get the nod up front again. He was out shined by young Oxlade-Chamberlain but still managed to pick up an assist to his name. As this is a game in which Arsenal are clear favourites, filled with confidence following a Community Shield victory, we expect Arsenal to score a couple with ease. Walcott will be eager to get on the score sheet and stay ahead of Giroud in the pecking order. Arsenal will likely start very strong in front of their fans so the game could be solved early on. West Ham changed their manager, from defensive minded Sam Allardyce to Slaven Bilic whose teams are known for attractive football. However, West Ham players will need more time to adapt to Bilic. Their Europa League qualifications were far from impressive, they have three unavailable players (Valencia and Carroll injured, Jenkinson ineligible) and a match tomorrow in Romania, so we suspect that Arsenal could catch them on the wrong foot and hand them a nightmare start to the new BPL season.
One thing I don’t like about captaining Walcott is the fact he was substituted in 65th minute in the Community Shield match. So if you don’ trust Theo – there’s plenty more talent in Arsenal squad. Ozil, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain or Ramsey are all looking dangerous and are legitimate FPL captain choices in the opening Gameweek.
Raheem Sterling, WBA v Manchester City
Sterling is a bit risky pick for your FPL captain in Gameweek 1, considering he recently joined The Citizens. Still, without Aguero, he is tipped to start as a forward, so he could be a good pick (his value as a captain might go down a bit more if Bony starts as a forward). He does have a competition in David Silva when choosing a Man City player best suited for captaincy in GW1. Nevertheless, Sterling has pace and talent to exploit WBA’s defenders and he will look to impress the City fans early in the season
Differential FPL captain Gameweek 1 picks
All of the above FPL captain suggestions have high ownership among FPL managers (except for Walcott who is owned by less than 10% at this point). Not many will look outside those 4 players for a FPL captain, but there are other interesting options as well.
Romelu Lukaku, Everton v Watford
Lukaku didn’t have an impressive season last year, with 10 goals and 6 assists under his belt. Those numbers are not bad, but he is capable of more. He has a good opportunity to start strong as newly promoted Watford comes to visit. Considering Everton’s first 10 opening fixtures it is a bit surprising that he is owned by 17% of FPL managers following a sub par season, but if you have him in your team, there won’t be much more better opportunities to choose Lukaku as your FPL captain than this one until GW 11.
Christian Benteke, Stoke City v Liverpool
Liverpool will be looking to wash the taste of that painful loss against Stoke in the final game of last season. They have a good chance of doing so as their team looks much stronger now. Their new striker Benteke is tipped for good seson in Liverpool and he could start strong on his debut. He is owned by a lot of FPL managers (35.8%) but I suspect many of them won’t trust him from the beginning so if you choose him as your FPL captain you could reap the benefits if he scores a lot of points.
Graziano Pelle, Newcastle v Southampton
Pelle proved to be an excellent signing for Southampton and there is no reason for his form to decline now. Southampton has a very nice set of fixtures to start new BPL and this trip to Newcastle looks like one of them. Newcastle has a new manager and, just like West Ham, might need some extra time to start producing. In the meantime, Pelle could score a goal or two to send your team high on the league tables if you choose to captain him. He is selected by only 13.4% of FPL managers which is second lowest percentage of all our FPL captain suggestions. This makes him a risky pick but also a great differential if he delivers.
Conclusion
Our first suggestion for FPL captain is Wayne Rooney as Manchester United are a team that will look to outscore their opponents just like they did in the last season. They should fear nobody at Old Trafford and a team with poor defensive record like Tottenham just might be what they need to start season strong. Rooney looked confident in the pre-season and, considering the fact that he’s leading the attacking line for United, he is likely the one to reap most FPL points in this game. Our second suggestion is Hazard because he plays deeper on the pitch than Rooney and he didn’t look good in Community Shield. However their opponent looks easier on paper and Hazard could get on the score sheet with maybe an assist as well. Walcott is our third suggestion, but only because there are plenty of more players in Arsenal capable of contributing in offence. Sterling is our 4th pick because he has away game against solid defensive unit in WBA.
What if you don’t have any of these guys in your team? Well, then you surely must have a strong forward line! Maybe Lukaku, Benteke and/or Pelle? They all seem as the main offensive weapon in their respective teams and all of them are looking to lead their sides to victories in rather favourable fixtures.They are also a fine choice for a captain in GW1.
What do you think? Have your say, who are you looking to captain? Please comment below and if you like this article, consider sharing.