Yahoo Lifestyle Premier League fantasy football tips: The Son or Haaland captain gamble
If, like me, you have had a hugely disappointing start to the season then you might well be tempted into a gameweek five wildcard. In fact you may have already pushed the button!
I have decided to hold fire because it is such a valuable chip in the game and I don't feel my squad is actually so bad that it needs a complete overhaul.
We had fantasy football pundit Gianni Buttice on the Fantasy 606 podcast as our guest expert last week and his rule of thumb was to set your team up for gameweek five, ignore the goalkeepers and your subs and just look at your 10 starting outfield players - if you are not happy with three or four of them then he reckons that is enough to justify a wildcard.
Try it with your squad and see what you think.
Our resident expert Statman Dave was back on the pod this week and I asked him the pros and cons of going with the wildcard - on the plus side you can try and get on to a few form players early before other managers pile in and their prices start to rise, while you're also getting rid of the dead wood in your squad. The downside is you might find yourself wanting another wildcard in gameweek nine or 10 when the fixtures swing in the favour of Aston Villa, Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester United.
That's why I've decided to keep my powder dry.
Dave also pointed out that you've still got at least four free transfers available to you before gameweek nine so have a look at what you can do with those before playing that wildcard, unless of course you've already taken the plunge!
Captaincy
I genuinely think this is a week when you could take a calculated gamble by going against Erling Haaland who has an away game at West Ham. My plan is to sell Phil Foden to bring in Son Heung-min and give him the armband for Tottenham's home game against Sheffield United. Son matched Haaland's 20 points in gameweek four and I'm backing him to haul in points again if he continues as the centre-forward for 'Angeball'.
I'd be more comfortable giving the captaincy to Son than James Maddison, even though the England midfielder has made a sparkling start with his new club, but there are plenty of other candidates looking at this week's fixture list - take your pick from the Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United attackers who are up against Everton, Bournemouth, Wolves and Brighton respectively.
I'm not dismissing Brighton lightly, but they always give other teams a chance to score and are yet to keep a clean sheet in the Premier League this season.
Haaland is obviously the safest captaincy bet, but I just fancy taking a risk this week as I'm already well behind in my mini-leagues.
Fixtures to target
Newcastle have had a tough start to the season but managers will flock in numbers towards their defenders over the next couple of gameweeks as their fixtures look to get a little easier.
Brentford will provide a stiff test at St James' Park in gameweek five so you may want to hold off a week, but you have four main options - Kieran Trippier is the most expensive at £6.5m, the most creative and a bonus-point hoover; Fabian Schar costs £5m and offers a real goal threat; Sven Botman is the budget option at £4.5m but missed gameweek four through injury and Nick Pope is a very reliable choice in goal but he's too expensive for my blood at £5.5m.
Differentials
There are some great differential choices up front at the moment if you're looking to shake up your strikeforce - Taiwo Awoniyi, Odsonne Edouard, Gabriel Jesus, Rasmus Hojlund and Carlton Morris are all under 5% owned.
You probably want to see a bit more of Hojlund in action for Manchester United before you commit to him and you might also raise your eyebrows at Morris' name in that list, but Luton are away to Fulham this week then at home to Wolves and have a double gameweek seven with fixtures against Everton and Burnley.
Gamble of the week
My gamble this week is to give Son the captaincy and even if it backfires there's the small consolation that Chris Sutton will lose his bet he made with Statman Dave on the Fantasy 606 podcast that I wouldn't have the guts to do it.
Another gamble worth considering is getting Darwin Nunez in for Liverpool's trip to Wolves.
He's scored 19 points in the last two gameweeks and is a way into that potent Liverpool attack without having to break the bank for Mo Salah.
Alistair Bruce-Ball presents the Fantasy 606 podcast alongside former Premier League winner Chris Sutton and Statman Dave. You can find the podcast by searching for 'Fantasy 606' on the BBC Sounds app, then just click subscribe. The code to join the Fantasy 606 league is 'j03mnp'.
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