This article is part of our Setting the Table series.
Back Patting
As I sat home watching Sergio Aguero dismantle Newcastle to the tune of five goals Saturday, I was patting myself on the back for making him my captain in the Premier League's official fantasy game.
Not that I thought I was alone in my decision, as Man City at home against a struggling Newcastle side is surely an advantageous matchup to say the least. Choosing the Citizens' best player was hardly going out on a limb. Truthfully, I had been a little weary of Aguero given the number of matches Man City had played of late, and I convinced myself that there was no way he was going to play 90 minutes, particularly with Wilfried Bony back from his knock.
And though I was technically right on the playing time issue (Aguero came off after 65 minutes), he certainly did enough in that time to remind me that 45 minutes (or even 20) of Aguero is usually better than 90 minutes of most other players. And in case you missed it, here are the five goals:
But back to the captain decision. The Premier League offers up some great stats about it's fantasy game but it doesn't easily show captain numbers. Thankfully they tweeted them out to give us an idea how smart we all were:
Most selected #FPL captains in Gameweek 8: Aguero - 688,533 Mahrez - 255,724 Hazard - 226,864 Rooney - 202,222 Martial - 188,211
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 5, 2015The Riyad Mahrez decision bit people in a big way, as he was surprisingly named to the bench for Leicester's match against Norwich City. Those choosing Eden Hazard (home against Southampton) and Wayne Rooney (at Arsenal) were either hoping both players would snap out of season-long funks or were going after a differential play. Either way, those failed too.
I thought my Aguero captaincy would push me up the RotoWire FPL group, and while it did, there was no way I was catching up to our own Nick Pitner, who continues to have a commanding lead, while Laurence Headlam tied him for the high points in Gameweek 8 for the group to move up to second.
Interestingly enough, while they both had Aguero, their teams are hardly identical and yet they finished with the same number of points this week. Great job, gentlemen.
Best Fantasy Value
Despite not playing last weekend, Mahrez still leads all players in the Premier League's official game with 60 points, remarkable production for a player that opened the season costing just £5.5. His price has increased considerably since then, though at £6.5 he's still a tremendous value.
However, he's not the best point-per-pound player this season. That player? Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who has racked up 43 points at a salary of just £4.5. He leads all goalkeepers in scoring this season and his price is unchanged from the opening fixture.
And in case you're wondering, the best price-per-pound value defender is Bacary Sagna (43 points, opened at £5.0 and now £5.4) and forward is Watford's Odion Ighalo, who has scored 45 points so far and has seen his price rise from £5.0 to £5.3. The early season talk was that Bournemouth would be the promoted side to provide all the fantasy value, but Watford is the club to focus on now, particularly with Callum Wilson likely done for the season with a torn ACL.
International Break
While we won't have any Premier League matches this weekend because of the international break, there is plenty to watch, particularly players who were able to break out of their early-season slumps. However, DO NOT make any fantasy Premier League moves until after the matches are played. Plenty of players can get hurt while playing internationally and you don't want to waste a transfer on a player who then gets hurt. Hopefully all of our targets make it through, but it's best to wait and ensure they do before making a move.
