This article is part of our The Armband series.
Things didn't end up as difficult as imagined last week, even with only four matches. Of course, if you captained Ignacio Piatti, well, maybe you didn't get the result you wanted. The Impact went down to 10 men early in the second half against the Red Bulls and couldn't do much after that in a 1-0 home loss. On the other side of that, there were three clean sheets with the three non-Montreal home teams scoring a combined nine goals.
The returns of Lee Nguyen (four assists) and Romain Alessandrini (goal, assist) led the weekend. Captaining either would've landed you a nice week, and the same could be said for hat-trick hero Kei Kamara, who played games with the Orlando back line for 90 minutes.
A normal slate returns for Round 27 outside of New York City FC and Sporting Kansas City both having two matches, with the first being played Wednesday. With that one early match, make sure to get your lineups in early.
The unfortunate thing for the Wednesday fixture is that both NYC FC and SKC will be missing multiple players on international duty, namely David Villa and Matt Besler. Both will undoubtedly miss the first match while being questionable to play Saturday. Villa will be extremely questionable after suffering an adductor injury in training this past Sunday. Even if healthy, Villa would still have to travel from Tuesday's match in Liechtenstein.
With that out of the way, I'll still focus on a couple NYC FC players due to two home matches (SKC, POR), while SKC is on the road for both of theirs (NYC, CLB). One player who hasn't deserved captaincy in a while is Maximiliano Moralez, but that could change this week. He's had at least five fantasy points in his last three starts and will be the easiest to trust in the NYC attack. With a clean sheet a solid possibility against Sporting, Ben Sweat, Frederic Brillant and Alexander Callens all have sneaky differential value. Sweat has assisted in two of the last three games, but more importantly, SKC have just six goals in 12 away matches this season.
As for the teams with single matches, Toronto (v. San Jose), D.C. United (v. Orlando), New England (v. Montreal), Houston (v. Colorado), Columbus (v. Kansas City), Seattle (v. Los Angeles) and Atlanta (v. Dallas) are all in good situations. Considering that's almost every match, I'll take D.C. out of the equation unless you want another defender (Kofi Opare).
Sebastian Giovinco is a good place to turn as usual, having scored four times in his last three matches. The Earthquakes have given up an enormous 30 goals in 14 road matches this season, so Jozy Altidore and Victor Vazquez will also be solid differential plays for the armband.
The Revs are coming off a huge win and have won their last four matches, including three consecutive clean sheets. They could be set for another good performance against a depleted Montreal side. Nguyen is the best choice as he's always around the ball, but Kamara has scored six times in his last four home starts.
The Dynamo remain a home-or-bust side with eight goals in their last three at home. They don't have anyone who's easy to trust in fantasy as their forwards switch places quite often, but Erick Torres is coming off a solid performance with a brace and an assist last time out. If he starts, that would be a great spot against the Rapids, who have two points from 13 road matches.
After a rough run of road matches, the Crew have turned things around with three-straight wins at home, scoring seven times. That said, the scoring between Justin Meram, Federico Higuain and Ola Kamara hasn't been consistent. But going against SKC, Jonathan Mensah may be worth a deep look with hopes of a clean sheet.
The Sounders were on a great run, but have slipped up with back-to-back 1-1 draws. Home against the Galaxy will be tough to predict as L.A. has actually been better on the road this season. Nicolas Lodeiro remains the top choice with at least five fantasy points in his last 10 starts, while Clint Dempsey's fantasy value relies solely on scoring.
In a normal week, Atlanta would be a top team to consider, but having scored five goals in their last five matches, I'll stay away. That said, Josef Martinez can't be overlooked as he's scored in his last four home appearances and Dallas has allowed seven in their last three away games.
