Erling Haaland (£12.1m) returns to the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) captaincy conversation in Gameweek 13, but the decision over who to hand the armband to isn’t entirely clear-cut with a range of options from Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal rivalling the Norwegian.
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 Saturday’s 11:00 BST deadline.
THE CAPTAIN POLL
Erling Haaland dominates the captain poll, with almost two-thirds of the total votes cast by users at the time of writing.
No other player has garnered more than 21% of votes at this stage, with Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) currently in second place, backed by around one in five of our users.
Darwin Nunez (£8.8m) occupies third place with a little under 4% of the vote, followed by Kevin De Bruyne (£12.3m) a mite further back.
THE MAIN CANDIDATES
ERLING HAALAND/PHIL FODEN
Erling Haaland makes a welcome return to the captaincy debate following Manchester City’s Blank Gameweek 12, in which a host of alternative options failed their armband auditions.
The status quo remains for the best fantasy asset in the division – and Erling Haaland continues to produce gold-standard numbers.
The Norwegian leads the division for shots inside the box (24), big chances (eight), and shots on target (16) over the last six matches.
The all-important expected data confirms Haaland’s dominance, ranking best for expected goals (xG) and expected goal involvement (xGI) over the last six matches, with 4.90 and 6.14 respectively.
Above: Erling Haaland leads the division for shots inside the box (24), big chances (8), and shots on target (16) over the last six matches
Phil Foden (£8.3m) has been snapped up by 300,000+ FPL managers before Manchester City host Brighton in a hugely enticing home fixture, the most bought player ahead of Gameweek 13.
Foden has scored six goals and supplied four assists this season and, except for his strike against Wolverhampton Wanderers in Gameweek 8, all his returns have arrived at the Etihad Stadium.
While understandably Erling Haaland sets the pace as far as City’s underlying goal threat numbers are concerned, Foden is no slouch.
Among City teammates over the last six matches, Foden plays understudy to only Haaland for shots inside the box (13), big chances (three), and shots on target (nine).
Guardiola’s charges host De Zerbi’s Brighton in Gameweek 13, with the match of playstyles suggesting an open high scoring encounter.
Analysing the Seagulls at a team level, over the last six matches Brighton have registered a single clean sheet, against Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 12.
However, the underlying defensive numbers for Brighton remain strong: the Seagulls rank in the top four over the last six matches for shots on target against (19) and expected goals conceded (xGC), with 5.98.
MOHAMED SALAH/DARWIN NUNEZ
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