Not surprisingly, Robin Van Persie leads our gameweek 8 Captain Poll, although the margin between him and second placed David Silva is perhaps not as comfortable as expected.
By his standards, the Dutchman was anonymous at White Hart Lane in the 2-1 defeat last time out and a quiet Euro Qualifier for Holland against Sweden in midweek did little to convince that Van Persie is going into the gameweek with form. With struggling Sunderland travelling sheepishly to the Emirates, Arsenal’s skipper and talisman will surely be looking to boost his 3 league goal tally and carry the Gunners to a much-needed victory.
As for Silva, his class and form is undoubted. The impish Spaniard has been a mesmerising force in City’s midfield, pulling tricks from his repertoire to wriggle free of tackles and, more often than not, provide a killer end product to help feed City’s ravenous strikers. Alex McLeish may have plans to halt Silva’s ascendency as the Premier League’s outstanding performer this weekend; the odds are stacked against the Villa boss succeeding.
Behind these two, Wayne Rooney finds himself in an unaccustomed third spot in our poll, a position no doubt compounded by a testing trip to Anfield that arrives off the back of his dismissal in Montenegro. Rooney’s reaction to last week’s events will surely decide his returns from Saturday’s early kick-off – the Anfield faithful will be on his back, greeting every challenge that comes clattering his way. Rooney’s owners will hope that he’ll deliver an early reminder of his quality and form to help rid United of the ghosts of last season’s 3-1 defeat.
While Dirk Kuyt claimed a hat-trick in the corresponding fixture last term, it was Luis Suarez who was the architect of United’s downfall. The Uruguayan finds himself fourth in our poll, with memories of his performance still fresh. United will hope to welcome back defensive reinforcements in order to counter the movement and trickery of Suarez but, so far, the voting indicates that confidence in the United backline has yet to be restored – the expectation is goals at both ends.
Sergio Aguero’s fitness remains a concern and keeps him bubbling under in fifth place – should he be fit to face Villa, there’s little doubt that he will be set to be the major damage dealer. Noises from the City camp so far indicate that he may well sit out after a futile spell with the Argentina squad.
Daniel Sturridge, Rafael Van der Vaart and Frank Lampard offer strong differential options. It’s interesting to see that Lampard’s hat-trick at the Reebok last time out has immediately put him above the pecking order over Juan Mata when it comes to our poll. Mata is yet to deliver a return on the same scale as Lampard’s haul at Bolton – the Spaniard is surely set to be a slow burning Fantasy asset; we could yet see further evidence of that when Everton visit the Bridge this weekend.
With just over 970 votes registered so far, there’s plenty of time for opinion to shift. Visit the middle column of the homepage to throw your hat into the ring before end of play tomorrow.
