Captain Sensible – Gameweek 15

There’s no sign of the winter schedule slowing as Fantasy managers prepare for the first of seven Gameweeks in December.

Next up, then, we roll out our analysis of the top captaincy contenders for Gameweek 15, running through the current Captain Poll and Opta’s advanced stats before suggesting a differential (or two) to help resolve this ever-thorny dilemma.

The Captain Poll

At the time of writing, Eden Hazard and Mohamed Salah are dead level on 21% at the summit, with our faith in both players strengthened by their midweek appearances off the bench.

Hazard and Chelsea team-mate Alvaro Morata look to dust themselves down after earning just a single point apiece in the 1-0 win over Swansea. The Belgian came into that match on the back of three goals and two assists in his previous four and should be fresh to terrorise the Newcastle backline at Stamford Bridge.

Morata, meanwhile, has two goals and a pair of assists in his last five but a 90-minute run-out on Wednesday earns him just 13% backing amid concerns over his pitch-time against the Magpies.

Fresh of his two-goal cameo on Wednesday night, Salah looks poised to run a shaky Brighton defence ragged. The leading scorer in Fantasy Premier League, the Egyptian now has seven goals in his past four appearances and has racked up six sets of double-digits in 12 starts.

Harry Kane (17%) makes it a three-horse race for the armband, having scored in back-to-back fixtures for the first time since Gameweek 7.

The Spurs striker faces off against a Watford defence who shipped four goals in midweek and boast the league’s worst home defensive record, conceding 15 times in front of their own fans. Kane has netted twice on his travels on three occasions this season and produced two goals and an assist in the corresponding fixture in 2016/17.

With the above-mentioned quartet claiming around three-quarters of the votes, there are a host of differential candidates to consider.

League leaders Manchester City offer plenty of big-hitting options at home to a West Ham outfit that have conceded more goals (30) than any other side.

Yet Pep Guardiola’s rotation continues to dent their points potential. Leroy Sane (2%) is back in contention for a starting spot after recovering from a midweek illness and has four sets of double-digits in his last five at the Etihad.

Sergio Aguero (4%) has started the last three in all competitions, while Raheem Sterling (2%) has been named on the teamsheet in each of their last six.

Of the two, Sterling’s home average of 9.6 points per match (ppm) far exceeds the Argentine’s 6.5ppm at the Etihad Stadium for those prepared to gamble on Guardiola’s line-up.

With less than 1% backing, Alexis Sanchez (1%) could also tempt us as a differential candidate, despite a testing matchup with Manchester United.

The Chilean has been in supreme goal scoring form of late, notching in each of the past three Gameweeks and hosts a defence that have conceded twice to Huddersfield and Watford over their last three toad trips.