Manchester City Forward Selected As FPL Pingreen Makes Best Captain Pick In Gameweek 29 Tips

Pingreen returns with his latest set of FPL tips for Blank Gameweek 29 – this week outlining his top captaincy pick, as well as the best options for your defence, midfield and attack.

Hello FPL fans! My name is Pingreen, and I’m back to share my top picks for Gameweek 29 and beyond, right here on SportsCasting. I finished 700th in the world in 2022/23 and ranked 1,330th last season, so make sure you take my advice seriously.

Due to the League Cup final, four teams don’t have a fixture this Gameweek. Once you also exclude Leicester and Southampton – that leaves just 14 real football teams to choose players from.

FPL Pingreen Gameweek 29 Tips

Captain Pick – Erling Haaland – £14.7m – BHA (H)

Once again, I am going against Mohamed Salah for captaincy this week. Yes, he doesn’t have a fixture, but I still wouldn’t put it past the pesky Egyptian to punish anyone who bets against him.

In the absence of the new Fantasy Premier League record points scorer, Erling Haaland is the standout captain pick. Despite his mid-season struggles, City’s number nine’s underlying numbers have never really dropped off. He’s still averaging 0.79 xGI per 90, slightly down from last season’s 0.96 but still the third-highest in the league behind Salah and Nicolas Jackson.

It’s not just his underlying numbers either. Since the turn of the year, Haaland has eight goal contributions in eight Premier League games. This weekend, he faces a Brighton side in good form, but their defensive numbers are still middle of the pack. At home, I’d fancy Manchester City to score goals in this one.

The only question is how you fund it. Is it worth selling Salah in favour of the Norwegian striker once again? I will be.

Defender – Rayan Aït-Nouri – £4.8m – SOU (A)

You won’t see me recommending Wolves players too often—they sit just above the relegation zone and have looked anything but impressive for the majority of this season. However, two things do go in their favour this weekend. Firstly, there are fewer teams to choose players from. Secondly, they play Southampton.

If Aït-Nouri played for a better side, he’d probably be far more popular as an FPL pick. He has 8 goal contributions on the season, level with Trent Alexander-Arnold and only beaten by Antonee Robinson. With Wolves’ back five setup, he gets to play as a left wing-back, which allows him far more attacking freedom than most fullbacks in a traditional back four.

Clean sheets have been hard to come by for Wolves and Aït-Nouri, with Wolves conceding 54 goals in the league this campaign. Only the three sides in the relegation zone have let in more. However, if there was ever an opponent to keep a clean sheet against, it’s Southampton. They’ve scored the fewest goals in the division, with just 10 in 28 games—utterly toothless.

Midfielder – Bruno Fernandes – £8.4m – LEI (A)

Often a polarising figure in Fantasy Premier League, Bruno Fernandes looks back to his best. I feel like I’ve said that in a previous article this season, but this time I really mean it.

In his last 6 games across all competitions, the Portuguese maestro has ed 7 goal contributions. I’ve just had to go back and update this paragraph after he scored a hat-trick against Real Sociedad in the Europa League to secure United a spot in the next round. United have had their struggles under Ruben Amorim, but his compatriot looks like he’s putting the team on his back at times to drag them to wins.

Sunday’s fixture is almost as good as it gets, with a trip to Leicester City to face former United player and interim manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Where United have struggled at times under their new manager, Leicester have been an absolute car crash under theirs. The Foxes’ 59 goals conceded is the second-highest in the league, and it doesn’t look like slowing down with them conceding 13 goals in their last 6 league games.

Forward – Chris Wood – £7.3m – IPS (A)

Chris Wood has been an absolute pain in my backside this season. I’ve continually ignored him due to his mediocre underlying numbers, and it’s cost me time and time again.

This week, I can’t ignore him, and it was a relatively easy striker pick to make. I still think he’s massively overperformed, with his 21 goal contributions off 10.4 non-penalty expected goals + assists (npXG+A) looking largely unsustainable. But at some point, you just have to ire his ability to get one big chance in a game and put it in the back of the net every single time.

As well as that ability to make the most of every opportunity, the other reason he’s my forward pick this week is once again a fixture against a side that looks doomed to Championship football next season—Ipswich. I spoke about how many goals Leicester have conceded, but Ipswich Town’s underlying numbers are even worse, with the Tractor Boys giving up 2.0 xG per 90 minutes. If Chris Wood can score 1 goal from one small chance, imagine how much he can score from multiple big chances. Terrifying.