Erling Haaland (£12.2m) is without a fixture in Blank Gameweek 12, so the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) captaincy debate is more open than usual.
Another premium pick at Liverpool, of course, is still the front-runner for the armband.
As usual, the Captain Sensible article is here to highlight which assets have the best chance of hauling.
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 Tuesday’s 18:00 BST deadline.
THE CAPTAIN POLL
Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) is the clear winner of the captain poll, with over half of the total votes cast by users at the time of writing.
No other player has garnered more than 15% of votes at this stage, with Leandro Trossard (£11.4m) currently in second place, backed by 14.11% of our users.
Harry Kane (£11.4m) occupies third place with a little over 10% of the vote, followed by Mason Mount (£7.7m) and Wilfried Zaha (£7.5m) some way further back.
THE MAIN CANDIDATES
MOHAMED SALAH
Mohamed Salah delivered the knock-out blow in Liverpool’s 1-0 victory over modern-day rivals Manchester City, handing City their first defeat this season.
Liverpool’s Egyptian spun Joao Cancelo (£7.3m), all too easy for the Portuguese international’s liking, before slotting coolly past Ederson (£5.5m), who had previously denied Salah one-on-one.
Much of the recent Salah narrative in the community focuses on whether the Egyptian represents value with Erling Haaland (£12.2m) dominating the captaincy armband conversation every week.
In recent days, Salah has issued a stark reminder that rumours of his demise have been greatly exaggerated, with his eight-point return against the division’s best team in Gameweek 11 swiftly following the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history.
Liverpool generated more than two expected goals against Manchester City, and an advanced and central deployment helped Salah place top for non-penalty expected goal (NPxG) in Gameweek 11, with 0.86.
Notably, Salah ranks second over the last six matches for non-penalty involvement (NPxGI), with 4.33, bettered by only the imperious Erling Haaland.
Above: Mohamed Salah (No.11) was pushed front and centre against Manchester City, leading to greater goal involvement for the Egyptian
Salah’s visitors West Ham arrive at Anfield following a disappointing 1-1 draw at Southampton in Gameweek 11, with wayward finishing costing the Hammers.
Despite one clean sheet in the last six matches, West Ham demonstrate strong defensive underlying numbers over the period ranking best for expected goals conceded (xGC), with 3.73.
The Hammers’ place in the top three for shots inside the box conceded (32), set piece attempts against (eight), and bog chances conceded (four) over the last six matches.
However, a raft of injuries to senior centre-backs Craig Dawson (£4.8m), Kurt Zouma (£4.5m) and Angelo Ogbonna (£4.4m) has forced David Moyes into fielding an unorthodox and unestablished defence which Salah, Nunez et al can exploit.
HARRY KANE
