CAPTAINCY PICKS 2019/20: FPL Gameweek 6

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 6 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 6: Essential Captain

Player: Raheem Sterling (MCI)

Position: Midfielder

Fixture: Watford (H)

Player Price: £12.3 million

Player Selection %: 44.8%

Captaincy poll results:

Reason for victory:

After 5 goals in the opening 3 games of the Premier League season, Raheem Sterling has blanked in back-to-back fixtures, failing to score or assist against Brighton (GW4) and Norwich (GW5). Despite this, Sterling has been victorious in the last 3 essential captaincy polls that we've run.

Man City are back at home and are playing the bottom-placed side, Watford, who picked up their first point of the season in an entertaining 2-2 home draw against Arsenal.

Sterling's poll victory goes against the form of Aguero and Aubameyang in recent weeks, though the weight of expectation means that the English winger is a ticking time-bomb until another points haul is incoming. That's the only reason Sterling gets a third bite at the cherry.

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 6: Alternative Captain

Player: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (ARS)

Position: Forward

Fixture: Aston Villa (H)

Player Price: £11.0 million

Player Selection %: 22.9%

Reason for selection:

Arsenal Forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang loves a night out in London after a 2-2 draw at Watford, with the Gabon international likely celebrating the 13 FPL points he picked up after scoring twice last weekend.

Auba is 5 from 5 for Fantasy returns this season with an incredibly run of fixtures on the horizon, starting with a home tie against Aston Villa next weekend. The Gunners can't defend, but they've a Golden Boot nominee in their attack, with FPL players able to comfortably leave the £11.0m Forward in their squads for the future.

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 6: Dark Horse Captain

Player: Roberto Firmino (LIV)

Position: Forward

Fixture: Chelsea (A)

Player Price: £9.5 million

Player Selection %: 12.4%

Reason for selection:

If you've been watching Liverpool lately, there is one man running the show this season, with Brazil's main central attacker, Roberto Firmino in absolute fantastic form.

Liverpool's Number 9 has 4 out of 5 FPL returns this season, assisting 4 goals and scoring twice himself, and comes in at the shade of a price when compared to Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah in the game.

Opponents Chelsea just can't defend, with Frank Lampard's Blues conceding 11 goals in their opening 5 games, which include 2 in each of their last 3 matches. Chelsea played Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup recently in a 2-2 draw, so there will be opportunities for both attacks on Sunday.

Firmino is the perfect dark horse as his appeal is somewhat tinted by Mane and Salah's ownership, putting the Brazilian in very interesting waters if his fine form continues.

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 6: Differential Captain

Player: Heung-Min Son (TOT)

Position: Midfielder

Fixture: Leicester (A)

Player Price: £9.6 million +

Player Selection %: 5.4%

Reason for selection:

We’ve officially going into the FPL equivalent of the Twilight Zone, because here we are again talking about the irrational forces that are Spurs midfield options as our differential captain again. You should also be aware that the North London club also has some promising upcoming fixtures after this one: Southampton (GW7), Brighton (GW8), and Watford (GW9). Eriksen last week, Son this week, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Lamela or Moura leading the line for us in the coming weeks. Spurs are an oddity, and the longer the season goes we will find it harder to keep justifying their midfielders as leading differentials.

Discussing Eriksen last week only for the Dane to get 2pts (after a yellow card) makes us sceptical long term. Spurs are a competitive outfit, and they have lots of talented player in their midfield. The problem about Spurs is that they are the ‘best of the rest’ in terms of differentials, they have potential in most fixtures, but they are inherently inconsistent. Arsenal call it ‘Spursy’ on the streets. Take the Newcastle game, everyone loves to talk up Spurs at home but then they lost the game, and all we saw on social media was Kane leading the way in captaincy polls and draft teams. Eriksen last week played ninety minutes in a 4-0 win and didn’t do anything, but don’t you worry he made sure he got booked though for his efforts. Kane played a full ninety against Newcastle, and barely touched the ball.

They are truly a team living in the Twilight Zone as there is so much irrational behaviour on the pitch. You never know what you are going to get from them on a week-to-week basis. One-week Kane will score a hat-trick in the most unlikely game, and then go three games without a shot. Essentially…Spurs are THE differential team. There are reasons why FPL prices are getting out of hand, and why fantasy managers opt for Liverpool and City options who are a lot more stable in returning points.

Eriksen was picked for GW5 after scoring against Arsenal in GW4. Son has now been picked for GW6 after scoring against Crystal Palace in GW5. The problem is that form doesn’t mean anything for Spurs. Pochettino doesn’t even pick players on form, look at Moura who got them to a Champions League final, and the Argentine dropped him in a heartbeat to include Kane in his losing team. Based on pure facts, Son has an assist and two goals in his last two starts, and after coming back into the team he has picked up the pace to give Spurs a different cutting edge. Leicester, who Spurs face this Gameweek, even lost to Man United in GW5 in a pretty toothless performance. Arguably, Spurs are a shoe in to capitalise on their win over Palace to add salt to Leicester’s wounds. Spurs last three league games against Leicester have seen them win all three, and score ten goals in the process, and on the outset, it looks positive for Son this week.

Among the options this Gameweek, Son is the best option on paper…just as Eriksen was last week. All the chips are lining up in the exact same way again. We are backing yet another Spurs midfielder as differential captain, but we do ask you to proceed with caution. Spurs make life hell for fantasy managers, and we’ll be back here again next week telling you how great of an option Erik Lamela will be against Southampton.

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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