Who you choose to give the captaincy armband to is the most significant decision an FPL manager makes every week.
It’s where your Gameweek often succeeds or fails, how your rank rockets or plummets, or sometimes can represent salvation when everything else has gone catastrophically wrong.
In advance of every Gameweek, I’ll be providing you with 3 (or maybe more, depending on the situation) key candidates to consider as your FPL captain.
Ahead of the second Gameweek of the season, here’s three individuals high in mind:
Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal, £8.1m)
- Opposition: Bournemouth, away
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Against Leicester, Arsenal’s new no9 heavily punished the nearly 270k managers who lost faith with him after one game (?) via a 19 point haul thanks to a brace of goals and assists respectively.
With a very high ownership and remaining managers who don’t own falling over themselves to buy him in, Jesus will very likely find himself the most captained this week simply due to the high number of individuals who will see the high score last week, see Bournemouth away and think that’s an ideal captain.
And why not? Arsenal have started the season very well, sporting the second highest xG in the league currently (only just behind Man City) and look a team transformed.
He's currently my captain.
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, £13.0m)
- Opposition: Man Utd, away
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Off the back of a quiet week as his club began the season in a stuttering fashion, quite a few managers are thinking again about captaining the Egyptian star this week.
One thing to bear in mind, though, is that with Darwin Nunez’s suspension Salah is likely to reassume his former role spearheading Liverpool’s goal threat.
And given that stuttering start, a reaction is to be expected from Liverpool who played very well against Crystal Palace, especially in the second half with ten men but just couldn’t find a breakthrough.
The atmosphere at Old Trafford is sure to be mutinous. United have conceded the 4th highest xG this season, highlighting how slipshod their defending has been.
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Salah also scored a hat trick away there last season, so never count him out.
Erling Haaland (Man City, £11.7m)
- Opposition: Newcastle, Home
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The Norwegian had a quiet game in the data on Saturday against Bournemouth, disappointing many managers who thought a hat trick was on its way.
He had just 8 touches, but this shouldn’t set alarm bells ringing in the same way it did last season with Romelu Lukaku at Chelsea. Haaland’s movement off the ball coupled with three or four moments that would’ve led to a goal to add to his assist if things had gone his way means we shouldn’t lose faith yet.
Newcastle are of course a whole new team this year, which probably means my interest in captaining a Man City player against them is diminished. But nonetheless if you really fancy it I’d never bet against them at the Etihad where, more often than not, they’ll play the opposition off the park.
There’s obviously a similar case to be made for Kevin De Bruyne in that; if you own him, he’s definitely worth a look in my opinion.
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Honourable mentions to Harry Kane and Son Heung Min at home to Wolves; the late equaliser to steal a draw in the feisty game at Stamford Bridge should keep their momentum going.
Topics: Mohamed Salah, Gabriel Jesus, Erling Haaland, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Fantasy Football
Tom C