Captain Sensible – Gameweek 14

With just a few hours remaining until this evening’s deadline, we roll out our usual pre-Gameweek members article.

As always, we kick off by assessing the current Captain Poll contenders, then take a look at the Opta numbers and Rate My Team rankings before suggesting a differential or two to help with your armband decision.

The Captain Poll

It’s all about Chelsea at the top of our Gameweek 14 Captain Poll, with little to separate Blues’ pair Alvaro Morata (28%) and Eden Hazard (25%) at the summit ahead of a plum home fixture with Swansea City.

Up against a defence with a single clean sheet in five, both are among the top three players for transfers in ahead of this evening’s deadline.

Thriving in his new central support role, Hazard has three goals and as many assists in the last five Gameweeks, though he has just a single assist in four home outings this season.

Morata has two goals and a pair of assists in four, with two of his three double-figure hauls arriving at Stamford Bridge.

Harry Kane (16%) is regarded as the main challenger to the Chelsea duo with Spurs making their way to a Leicester City side with just three clean sheets to their name all season.

Having scored twice on three separate occasions on the road, Kane will be looking to replicate his four-goal haul in the corresponding fixture last season.

Mohamed Salah (8%) is the only other player with more than 2% backing. He is set to be part of a Liverpool attack who pay visit to a porous Stoke City defence that’s conceded 26 times in the first 13 Gameweeks – only Everton (28) have shipped more goals.

The top scoring player in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), the Egyptian’s effort against Chelsea means that he has netted five times in his last three outings, including a 15-point tally at West Ham in his previous away match.

Alexis Sanchez is among a host of big-name differentials for Arsenal’s home clash with Huddersfield – all three of his goals this season have been scored in the last five Gameweeks.

The never-ending uncertainty over Pep Guardiola’s teamsheets keeps Man City’s attack under the radar.

Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus both sit on just 2% for the visit of Southampton.

Aguero has started every home match he has been available for, scoring in four of his five Gameweek appearances at the Etihad this season.

Yet looking at their minutes over City’s last two matches in all competitions – Aguero 176 vs Jesus 36 – it could well be the latter who leads the line against the Saints.

Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling hover around the 1% mark.

Sane’s home output, though, is outstanding – he has four sets of double-digits in his last five at the Etihad, while Sterling is the form midfielder amongst Guardiola’s contingent, with three goals and four assists over the last six Gameweeks.

A single goal in six means that Romelu Lukaku earns just 1% of the votes for a trip to Watford.

The Man United frontman continues to shed owners at pace and is the most transferred out (268,000) player in the Gameweek. Although just one side (Everton, with 12) have conceded more times at home that Watford (11), a recent switch to 3-4-2-1 has harvested successive shut-outs for Marco Silva’s men.

The Hornets’ Richarlison is similarly overlooked, despite already picking up points against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in front of his own fans.

Meanwhile, Pascal Gross’ visitors Crystal Palace are the only side yet to claim a clean sheet this season.

Now up to fifth in the FPL midfield standings, the Brighton playmaker has averaged 7.7 points per match in front of his own fans and has been involved in – scored or assisted – 75% of their goals at the Amex.