CAPTAINCY PICKS 2019/20: FPL Gameweek 5

Picking the right captain in FPL can make or break your season and has a massive impact on your final overall rank come the end of the season. We attempt to ease the burden of any potential captaincy stress by offering a host of worthy selections ahead of each Gameweek - an Essential that is voted by the FPL Community, an alternative of our choosing, a Dark Horse who might spring a surprise, and a lowly selected Differential - to cover the bases. All aboard.

Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 5 Deadline

For the 2019/20 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. Our website provides a real-world countdown timer for the the upcoming Gameweek, whilst you can read our latest Fantasy articles from the season on our 2019/20 FPL weekly hype sub-section.

CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE ESSENTIAL PICK

Our Essential picks for captain are selected each and every week on our main Twitter account, @RealHypeTrain, with four highly selected FPL options battling it out for alpha status amongst fellow FPL players.

Gameweek 5: Essential Captain

Player: Raheem Sterling (MCI)

Position: Midfielder

Fixture: Norwich (A)

Player Price: £12.3 million +

Player Selection %: 46.3%

Captaincy poll results:

Reason for victory:

Mo Salah was winning our captaincy poll until Sterling was in action against Kosovo. A goal and a trio of assists pushed Salah out of the top spot this week, even though The Egyptian King didn't compete for Egypt this past fortnight and will be in tip-top condition for the Newcastle encounter.

Sterling didn't manage a goal or assist in the 4-0 win over Brighton, though City are a predictable attacking outfit, which means it is only time before Sterling gets his next involvement, and this could be against a Norwich side who can be carved open like a soft cheese. The side from Norfolk have conceded 10 goals in 4 fixtures, and with back-to-back defeats in the league, and 3 out of 4, only a win against Newcastle has stopped a very bad start to the league campaign.

CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE ALTERNATIVE PICK

Our Alternative selection for captain typically commands a smaller FPL ownership percentage than our Essential poll winner, though this pick is usually reserved for The Hype Train's own gut instincts on who could be captaincy inspiration for the upcoming Gameweek.

Gameweek 5: Alternative Captain

Player: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (ARS)

Position: Forward

Fixture: Watford (A)

Player Price: £11.0 million

Player Selection %: 22.1%

Reason for selection:

My motivation to write this particular section about an alternative pick is at zero. You'll all likely captain Sterling, Aguero, Kane or Salah this week, though there are other options out there to entrust the armband with.

A perfect storm has been brewing for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ahead of Week 5. Pepe is coming in to form and trying to prove his fitness. Lacazette is injured, meaning Auba gets the central role this weekend and on penalties. Watford sacked Javi Gracia after just 4 matches. It's also a London derby, so a lack of travelling is a plus.

Auba has a great run of fixtures on the horizon and will start posing some more serious questions if he returns well at Watford of the most 'template' attackers.

CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE DARK HORSE PICK

A new captaincy selection this season sees us introduce a Dark Horse pick, which will be a player who typically has a good scoring record against an opposing team, or a player in good form that is being overlooked due to other popular captaincy picks.

Gameweek 5: Dark Horse Captain

Player: Sebastien Haller (WHU)

Position: Forward

Fixture: Aston Villa (A)

Player Price: £7.5 million

Player Selection %: 6.6%

Reason for selection:

We considered players from Man United, Leicester, Wolves and Chelsea this week to fill our Dark Horse pick, though there's another tricky fixture to call with a pair of interesting Forward options.

Wesley and Sebastien Haller have joined the Premier League and look like absolute units. We're not sure how the decks are stacked, though we do know that class is permanent, and with Haller, he's performing like a top FPL attacker after just four games, and though I won't get carried away, there's a big ceiling for the mid-ranged Forward if West Ham show any signs of form - which yes, is a hard ask.

Haller has scored in back-to-back games and has scored 3 of the last 5 Premier League goals for The Hammers, and travel to a promoted side on Monday. This selection totally depends on what West Ham turn up on Monday Night Football, so roll the dice and hedge our bets.

CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE DIFFERENTIAL PICK

Our Wildcard selection is one of the ten differential picks that is featured in our Weekly Wildcard Differentials article. This captaincy selection has a very small percentage of owners in the FPL, and is our left-field option.

Gameweek 5: Differential Captain

Player: Christian Eriksen (TOT)

Position: Midfielder

Fixture: Crystal Palace (H)

Player Price: £8.8 million -

Player Selection %: 4.3%

Reason for selection:

The summer transfer window has shut for all European clubs now, and to be honest we are not surprised that Christian Eriksen remained at Spurs. The Dane is one of their standout players, and his ability isn’t in question, and after Atletico spent for Joao Felix, and Real Madrid acquired Eden Hazard, it looked unlikely that Eriksen would be leaving North London.

The problem mainly being that he can run down his contract until next summer which would make it easier for clubs at the verge of Financial Fair Play to pick up Eriksen, but we also think that due to him nearly being 28, it will be the last big move of his career and have little resell value in his thirties.

To us, the ability is also in question. Eriksen has been a player that has dipped in and out of form, and even though he has been at Spurs since 2013 is still not regarded as one of the leagues ‘elite’ players. Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamad Salah, Sadio Mane, N’Golo Kante, Bernardo Silva, and David Silva are the leagues best offensive midfielders and game changers. Only a few years ago we regarded Eriksen as the Premier League’s most inconsistent midfielder, which has created an element of risk regarding the players rating. Eriksen has improved a lot in the last two years, but he was always missing in big games, such as this years Champions League final in which Spurs lost to Liverpool.

What that means is that Eriksen has been the Premier League’s best question mark, and it is no surprise that in the five years of writing differentials we have always been able to rely on Eriksen for large parts of every season. The truth is, the price of the Dane in this years FPL makes him unattainable, especially if you wanted a Man City and Liverpool midfielder to spearhead your midfield. Eriksen is in the ‘best of the rest’ category of the midfielders. You know, the players who you say to your friends ‘I wish I could fit him in if I had the budget’.

The Dane made a big impression in the North London derby before the international break with a well taken goal, and until the next transfer window will now be a big part of Spurs team going forward. Eriksen can lay someone in or take the goal for himself, and rightfully should be starting every game until the question of his future rears his head in again.

Spurs missed Eriksen’s creativity against Newcastle in which Spurs lost convincingly, and he is better against defences who will most likely sit with two banks of five to stay competitive. Crystal Palace at home should be a fixture that a Spurs win shouldn’t be in doubt, and they have a better chance of that happening with Eriksen in their team supporting Kane.

Want to know more about The Hype Train?

The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.

We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.

In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles.

The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.

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