Mohamed Salah (£12.9m) is without a fixture this weekend, so Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are mainly looking to Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and even Fulham players for the Gameweek 8 captaincy.
The Captain Sensible article is here to highlight which assets have the best chance of hauling, discussing the pros and cons of each candidate.
First, we will assess the fallout of the captain poll, before then analysing the best options, Rate My Team (RMT) and the Premier Fantasy Tools ratings ahead of Friday’s 18:30 BST deadline.
THE CAPTAIN POLL
Erling Haaland (£12.0m) is the clear winner of the captain poll, with just under 60% of total votes from users at the time of writing.
No other player has garnered more than 17% of votes at this stage, with Harry Kane (£11.4m) currently in second place, backed by 16.2% of our users.
Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.9m) occupies third place with just over 7% of votes, followed by Kevin De Bruyne (£12.2m) and Alexander Isak (£7.0m) with 4.73% and 2.51% respectively.
THE MAIN CANDIDATES
ERLING HAALAND/KEVIN DE BRUYNE
Erling Haaland has continued his goal-scoring exploits on the continent, in the absence of domestic football, bagging a brace in Manchester City’s dominant 4-0 Champions League victory in Sevilla last week.
The Norwegian continues to demonstrate a division-leading threat, placing top for shots inside the box (24) and big chances received (14) over the last six matches.
Furthermore, Haaland dominates the expected goal metrics ranking top by some distance for expected goals (xG), with 6.40, and expected goal involvement (xGI), with 7.16.
Above: Erling Haaland’s expected goal (xG) shot map – the Norwegian leads the division, with 6.40
The Nordic marksman displays sniper-like accuracy with his staggering shot conversion rates – 60% of all attempts register on target with 40% finding the back on the net.
Kevin De Bruyne has found a rich vein of form with one goal and four assists over his last six matches and continues to produce strong underlying numbers.
The Belgian has created 20 chances this season, four fewer than Mohamed Salah (£12.9m), but De Bruyne has produced chances of a consistently higher quality.
The all-action ‘regista’ has produced division-leading creativity, placing top for assists (four), big chances created (seven), and expected assists (xA), with 2.46.
De Bruyne also possesses considerable goal threat, registering 17 shots and five shots on target over the last six matches, the second-highest totals among Manchester City players.
Analysing at a team level, Manchester City continues to dominate the key attacking metrics placing top for goals (20), big chances (28), and expected goals (xG), with 13.94.
The Citizens face Bruno Lage’s defensively resolute Wolves in Gameweek 8, with City’s hosts ranking best for goals conceded (four) and clean sheets (three) this term.
Wolves have conceded a mere seven big chances, bettered only by Tottenham Hotspur (four), but rank joint second-worst for crosses conceded (75) for their left flank – an area City can target with Joao Cancelo (£7.1m) and De Bruyne.
HARRY KANE/SON HEUNG-MIN
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