A little earlier than usual, we roll out our pre-Gameweek members article assessing the armband options available for the reduced round of Gameweek 28 matches.
To kick off, we begin by checking in with the main Captain Poll contenders, then take a look at the Opta numbers and Rate My Team rankings before throwing a differential or two into the mix.
The Captain Poll
There’s a two-way tussle at the top of our Gameweek 28 Captain Poll, with Romelu Lukaku claiming the summit on 43% ahead of Everton’s home encounter with West Brom.
The Toffees frontman has scored in each of his last four at Goodison, including a four-goal haul against Bournemouth, and faces a Baggies defence with just a single clean sheet on their travels this season – way back on the opening weekend.
Sadio Mane is regarded as the Belgian’s main contender as Liverpool entertain Burnley on Sunday afternoon.
Double-digit hauls against Spurs and Arsenal in each of his last two Anfield appearances since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations means that the Senegal international has five sets of 10+ returns at home.
Both Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho are clear differentials for the Merseysiders, with 3% of votes apiece.
Somewhat surprisingly, Firmino, for all his inconsistency, has delivered double-figures five times at Anfield already, including last week’s 12-point tally against Anfield. Yet the Brazilian faces a late assessment after picking up a knock ahead of the Clarets’ encounter.
With one goal in his last nine league appearances, though, Coutinho’s output has been less than impressive, yet the former Inter man has boasted a considerable goal threat of late and fired more attempts on goal over the last four Gameweeks than any player.
Burnley’s top level defensive data certainly boosts Liverpool’s prospects, with Sean Dyche’s side shipping 28 goals in 13 road trips.
Encouragingly, all four visiting teams in Gameweek 28 have managed just a single clean sheet apiece away from home so far, indicating that that goals could be on the menu for the host sides.
Bournemouth’s Josh King grabs third spot ahead of a home clash with West Ham.
Assigned spot-kicks with Callum Wilson injured, the Norwegian boasts five goals in the last six Gameweeks and has mainly been utilised up front by Eddie Howe in recent matches.
Swansea City pair Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente both hover around the 3% mark for a trip to Hull City.
Now up to joint-sixth in the FPL midfield standings, the Icelandic international has bagged returns in seven of his eight outings under Paul Clement – that includes points at Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea in his last three road trips.
Llorente arrives on the back of his fourth brace of the season in last week’s win over Burnley – the Spaniard is the most transferred in player ahead of tomorrow’s deadline.
Elsewhere, Michail Antonio and Andy Carroll have been largely overlooked for West Ham’s trip to Bournemouth’s creaking defence.
Antonio has already bagged double-figures against the Cherries earlier in the season, while Carroll’s aerial ability threatens to wreak havoc on a defence that has the second-worst record for headed efforts conceded over the season.
