Here’s my fantasy premier league captain tips gameweek 36,  including the analysis and thought process.  There’s a summary at the end if you want to cut to the chase.

Doublegameweek teams

You undoubtedly will know that this gameweek  36 is a double gameweek with Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, WBA, Swansea and Wigan all playing twice.  Lets look at firstly at who teams are playing in order to assess where the best captain pick could come from:

Man City – Swansea A, WBA H

Chelsea – Man Utd A, Spurs H

Spurs – Southampton H, Chelsea A

Swansea – Man City H, Wigan A

WBA – Wigan H, Man City A

Wigan – WBA A, Swansea H

In terms of assessing teams then,  lets be honest you’re never going to have your captain from Wigan are you so lets rule them out.  Man City have the best fixtures quite easily.  No one else has 2 good fixtures.  With WBA and Swansea having games against Man City I’m also going to rule them out.

So lets, based on current form and history, look at some of the candidates in the remaining teams

Man City – Aguero Nasri Tevez

Spurs – Bale

Chelsea – Mata Hazard

Rotation

Gametime and rotation is going to be crucial in the captain choice.

Man City play Swansea A today then WBA H on Tuesday then the FA Cup final on Saturday and then Reading A on the Tuesday.   Then the final game home to Norwich on the Saturday.  So a lot of games.  With 3 strikers and a number of midfielders, rotation is a possibility for the WBA home game as the strongest team will definitely play in the FA Cup final.  Man city are 6 points ahead of Chelsea for 2nd with 4 games to go so 2nd place is not certain although there will be far less pressure and more chance of home rotation should Chelsea lose at Utd on Sunday.  Especially with Reading away and Norwich at home as the last 2 fixtures he could gamble on a weakened team against WBA where there is nothing at stake as far as WBA are concerned.

Of the 3 players Tevez has played 2153 minutes in the league and started the last 7 in the league.  Nasri has played 1545 minutes and started the last 5.  Aguero has played 1765 minutes and just returned from injury last week against West Ham.  From that you would say Tevez is the most likely to be rotated although Agueros injury record this year means that Mancini may not want to risk him with 3 games in a week.  So there’s no guarantee for any of the 3.  Nasri in my mind is the most likely to play 3 games and while he’s in good form its a big step to give the captaincy to him and for me probably a step too far.

Chelsea played on Thursday in the Europa  then on Sunday away to Utd, Wednesday home to Spurs, Villa away on the Saturday and then the Europa final on the following Wednesday.  Rafa will play the best team in the final but the DGW will be dictated to by the game just gone.  Hazard started and picked up a small injury which in my mind means he  wont play against Utd.  Therefore Mata and Oscar will definitely start as they were on the bench on Thursday and given the crucial nature of the Spurs game will both probably start in that in my mind.  Oscar is a step too far for me as captain but Mata is a possibility.  However away to Utd and home to Spurs are not easy fixtures especially given the strength of the Utd defence at the moment and the fact that SAF wont give Benitez an inch in terms of team selection given the history and on going animosity between the 2.

Bale will definitely play both games in my mind.  The champions league is too important for there to be any rotation of this crucial player.  Also Champions league qualification may be their only hope of keeping Bale.  He will definitely play both games.  He will be extra motivated against his boyhood club Southampton and the Chelsea game is one of the most important of the season.

Despite what I said above I’m going to make a special mention of Lukaku.  Long term visitors of the site know that I’ve been talking up the 19 year old Belgian all season.  He will become one of the worlds best strikers and the only hold back on him was Clarkes strange rotation of him with Long who’s clearly the inferior player.  After playing 3 strikers though last week I think he will play 2 at least against Wigan although he may revert to 1 away to City.  I personally think Lukaku will play both but away to City, unless there’s massive pre FA Cup rotation, is virtually no game at all.

Summary

Here’s the candidates in order and a short summary:

Bale – Will play both games, in fantastic form.  Fixtures aren’t perfect but good enough.  He has been better away from home which is a shame as the best fixture is at home but overall he’s the best choice.  Will be my captain in all teams

Aguero – Should play both although not without rotation risk.  Great fixtures and the most forward player for City.  Not been returning as he would like but the quality cant be ignored.  Rotation risk and current form puts him behind Bale.

Mata – Should play both games although no one apart from Cech is safe from rotation at any time.  Consistent returns but away to United and home to Spurs is not going to be easy.

Tevez – The original flat track bully who loves playing against ordinary teams.  Suffers from playing deeper than Aguero and also with the most minutes played has a far degree of rotation risk

Lukaku – Should play both games and quality player but away to City just puts too much of a dampener on it

Nasri – In good form, should play both games, as has been on the bench for large parts of the season but a big risk given Mancini rotation and lack of history of returns over the season.

Hazard – staring on Thursday and with an albeit minor injury means for me he wont start against United and this takes him out of the equation for me

That’s it then for my fantasy premier league captain tips gameweek 36.  Bale all the way.  Good luck.