Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are faced with a final and very crucial captaincy decision before the FIFA World Cup mid-season recess with the now familiar heavyweight tête-à-tête between Erling Haaland (£12.2m) and Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) topping the bill.
Meanwhile, alternative options from Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal provide the undercard support in the Gameweek 16 captaincy conundrum.
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 GMT deadline.
THE CAPTAIN POLL
Erling Haaland dominates the captain poll, with just under two-thirds of the total votes cast by users at the time of writing.
No other player has garnered even a quarter of that, with Mohamed Salah currently in second place on 13%.
Kevin De Bruyne (£12.6m) occupies third place with just over 6% of the vote, followed by Joao Cancelo (£7.4m) and Harry Kane (£11.6m).
THE MAIN CANDIDATES
MOHAMED SALAH/DARWIN NUNEZ
Mohamed Salah proved that class is permanent when notching a ruthless double in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur, producing a 15-point haul to reward a loyal army of armband backers.
Salah was at his clinical best registering three goal attempts, all of which were on target, with Liverpool’s Egyptian producing the fourth-best non-penalty expected goals tally (NPxG, 0.67) in Gameweek 15.
Over the last six matches, Salah places in the top division’s five for shots (24), shots inside the box (18) and shots on target (11).
Notably, Salah ranks second-best over that same period for non-penalty expected goals (NPxG, 3.16), bettered by only Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus.
Above: Mohamed Salah places second for non-penalty expected goals (NPxG) over the last six matches, with 3.16
Darwin Nunez’s direct mentality and free-shooting nature were a constant menace for Spurs with the Uruguyuan dovetailing beautifully with Salah, to provide the assist for the Egyptian’s opener.
Nunez registered four goal attempts in Gameweek 15, of which three came inside the box, marking the former Benfica striker’s card as a “shoot-on-sight” throw-back – and potentially Fantasy gold.
Despite limitations on Nunez’s game-time reducing his clip, over the last six matches, the marksman places in the division’s top six for shots (21) and shots on target (nine).
Analysing the Uruguyan using the metric minutes per non-penalty expected goals (NPxG) gives us an insight into Nunez’s truly explosive potential – his rate of 159.2 minutes was only marginally topped by Erling Haaland (154.1 minutes).
Liverpool host Southampton in Gameweek 16 with the Saints recently parting company with Ralph Hassenhuttl after nearly four years in charge with the club sitting precariously in the Premier League bottom three.
Southampton have registered a solitary clean sheet this season – away to fellow relegation strugglers Bournemouth – and place in the bottom four over the last six matches for shots conceded (92) and shots inside the box against (62).
Furthermore, flank weakness is a concern for the Saints, placing in the bottom three for crosses conceded from their right flank (66), and chances conceded from both the right (31) and centre (26).
ERLING HAALAND/KEVIN DE BRUYNE
