Ahead of Gameweek 9, a costly international break and tricky fixtures make for one of the most challenging Fantasy Premier League captaincy debates of the season so far.
Our teams are awash with multi-coloured flags representing injuries and positive coronavirus (COVID-19) tests, limiting our ability to trust assets we have regularly turned to for the armband in 2020/21.
Mohamed Salah (£12.3m) is set to miss at least the next Premier League game as he recovers from COVID-19 while this year’s top-scoring assets so far in Harry Kane (£11.0m) and Son Heung-min (£9.5m) face Manchester City.
But fear not, the Captain Sensible article is here to help you pick the best captain from the bunch this week.
As ever, this uses extensive data from the Fantasy Football Scout Premium Members Area so only those with a valid subscription can access it in full.
CAPTAIN POLL
For the first time since last season, Bruno Fernandes (£10.6m) is the runaway leader in a Fantasy Football Scout captain poll, fresh from a 17-point haul at Everton in Gameweek 8.
The Portuguese midfielder has gained more than a third of all votes ahead of Manchester United’s favourable fixture against relegation candidates West Bromwich Albion.
Fernandes appears to be the only trustworthy Fantasy option among the alternatives for this particular fixture, as no other Manchester United player achieved more than 2% of votes.
Competing for the second and third-place spots are Jack Grealish (£7.5m) and Hakim Ziyech (£8.2m) with 11.9% and 10.3% of votes, respectively.
The Aston Villa midfielder enjoyed a busy week with the English national team, starting all three of their international break matches, against Ireland, Belgium and Iceland. Deserved game-time considering the four goals and six assists Grealish has registered in the Premier League this season; only Salah (67) and Son (74) have more points among midfielders at this stage.
Ziyech, meanwhile, continued his great form by scoring three goals and providing two assist in two games for Morocco having put up double-figure hauls in both of his league starts for Chelsea in 2020/21.
The remaining players with more than 5% of votes are Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.8m, 9.9% of votes), as well as Chelsea’s left back Ben Chilwell (£6.0m, 8.4%) his team-mate, Timo Werner (£9.4m, 5.7%).
With so many premium assets not featuring at the top-end of the poll this week, is it possible Fantasy managers are overlooking options that still have potential for Gameweek 9? Let’s find out…
KEY MATCHES
Newcastle United v Chelsea
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