Captain Sensible – Gameweek 1

We’re taking a new approach with this season’s Captaincy article. From now on, we’ll split our pre-deadline regular into three parts, taking in the weekly Captain Poll, the player statistics and the Rate My Team projections.

The first section will be free for all visitors to the site and will analyse the chief protagonists, as selected in our Gameweek poll, though the latter two parts will be members-only, as we delve deeper into the Opta and Rate My Team projections.

The Captain Poll

With a massive 59% of the votes cast so far, Wayne Rooney is the runaway leader ahead of United’s home encounter with Swansea. Over the course of the summer, Rooney finished top scorer for Louis van Gaal’s side with four strikes to his name and with Robin van Persie still sidelined due to a lack of match fitness, the England international has now risen to 44% ownership in Fantasy Premier League (FPL). Juan Mata’s role in “the hole” in United’s new 3-4-1-2 formation has persuaded over 3% of voters to hand the Spaniard the armband as the Red Devils prepare to entertain a Swans side that managed just two clean sheets in 14 matches under Garry Monk in 2013/14. Mata notched twice over the summer and impressed in the final few months of the season, with six goals, five assists and 15 bonus points in 15 appearances.

Sitting in second spot – albeit some way behind Rooney – is Chelsea’s Diego Costa. The Brazilian has made an immediate impact since arriving from Atletico Madrid and his four goals and a trio of assists over the summer have persuaded over 12% to select him in this week’s Poll ahead of Monday’s trip to Burnley. Seen as the ideal frontman for Jose Mourinho’s 4-2-3-1, Costa is rapidly rising in ownership and now resides in 33% of FPL sides as he looks to replicate the form that delivered 27 goals in La Liga last time round. Eden Hazard’s late return to pre-season training has earned him just 1% of the votes cast, with Cesc Fabregas picking up 2% after being occasionally utilised in “the hole” behind Costa in recent matches.

You’ve placed Daniel Sturridge in third position as Liverpool prepare for life without Luis Suarez. Having recovered from a hamstring problem, the Reds frontman struck his first goal of the pre-season in Sunday’s 4-0 rout of Dortmund and with the Saints losing two of last term’s first-choice back-four in the summer sales, Fantasy faith in Sturridge is building – almost 7% are willing to hand him the armband.

Arsenal’s impressive win over City in Sunday’s Community Shield has brought Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud into the reckoning – the pair have been selected by a combined 5%+ of voters, whilst Bojan Krkic’s form over the summer has caught the eye. The Stoke forward has netted three times since joining the Potters and he’s subsequently earned 1.4% of the votes cast, the same as Yaya Toure.