FPL GW5 Preview
“If you brought Ronaldo in, Captain him.” - Mahatma Gandhi*
Yep. Ronaldo (£12.6 - he has gone up £0.1 already) doing what Ronaldo does. 90 minutes, 2 goals and all 3 Bonus points wrapped up a 13-point haul on his second Man Utd debut, rewarding FPL managers who put their faith in him, and, more importantly, the Captaincy armband on him.
Matching him on 13-points was the other forward of the moment, Lukaku (£11.6), who mirrored the 90 mins, 2 goals and all 3 Bonus points.
As for this weeks Captaincy picks, both players have tough fixtures away in London, with Man Utd travelling to West Ham, and Chelsea making the short trip to Spurs, both on Sunday.
Perhaps more favourable is Liverpool’s home fixture against Crystal Palace; a team in transition after Patrick Vieira took over the managerial reigns from Roy Hodgson in the summer. They convincingly beat Spurs 3-0 in GW4, but Mo Salah (£12.5) and Sadio Mano (£11.9) just seem to love playing the Eagles.
Salah has 6 goals and 5 assists in his last 6 games against them, and Mane has scored in his last 8 meetings with them. Both players are in the top 3 for shots and shots in the box this season, so may prove to be better Captaincy options than both Ronaldo and Lukaku.
There are a couple of Red Flags for popular forwards this week, as West Ham’s Michail Antonio (£7.9) faces a one match ban after two yellow cards against Southampton last week and Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.1) faces a few more weeks on the sidelines with injury.
For those of us looking for replacement candidates, Patrick Bamford (£7.9) is a good option, as Leeds travel to a Newcastle side who have conceded the most goals this season.
We spoke about Wolves last week, hoping they could turn their attacking stats into goals, and they did exactly that against Watford, running out 2-0 victors. Raul Jimenez (£7.4) is posting some impressive stats so far, being one of only two players to have registered double figures for both shots in the penalty area and chances created (both 12). Mo Salah is the other player.
One final thing to consider is the midweek European games, with Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, West Ham, Leicester and Spurs all playing. We may see some rotation, so it is a good idea to have some playing players on your bench to cover this.
Deadline is TONIGHT (Friday 17th) at 18:30.
*Not really, I said that in last weeks preview.
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Denny Ledger
Twitter: denny_ledger