Our Gameweek 6 captain poll is now open for your votes and the middling form of Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) is likely to dominate thinking this week.
A home fixture against Southampton, who have conceded more big chances than all bar three teams, would have surely seen the Egyptian unanimously handed the armband last season but after two successive blanks – and another in the UEFA Champions League last night – the captaincy debate remains wide open.
Jurgen Klopp’s promised rotation also nags in the back of the mind and there remains the possibility that Salah could have his minutes managed at Anfield on Saturday or even be dropped to the bench. The Egyptian’s underlying statistics, however, continue to impress.
With four goals to his name this season, Sadio Mane (£10.0m) is a viable alternative for the armband for this fixture – but after starting all six of the Reds’ competitive matches this season, the threat of possible bench duty also hangs over the Senegalese midfielder.
We may be fretting over nothing, of course: Liverpool have a Carabao Cup third round tie against Chelsea next Wednesday, which could be the fixture in which Klopp decides to wield the rotation axe.
One Liverpool player who can be more confident of a start this weekend is Roberto Firmino (£9.4m), who has scored in each of the Reds’ last three matches in all competitions and only played 18 minutes of his side’s 3-2 win over Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday evening.
The scintillating form of Eden Hazard (£10.8m) is sure to attract the Belgian midfielder plenty of votes in our poll, with Chelsea taking on West Ham United this weekend.
Maurizio Sarri’s comments about wanting Hazard to spend more time closer to goal – this after the Chelsea star scored a hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Cardiff City – are portentous and their opponents this weekend sit joint-18th for shots on goal conceded and are tied in 19th for big chances conceded.
Hazard has scored in every match in which he has started this season and delivered assists in the two fixtures in which he appeared as a substitute.
While we are still unsure as to how seriously Sarri will take the UEFA Europa League, there is a general feeling that Hazard won’t be prone to the same frustrating rotation in the league that may dog the other premium picks in this article. Sarri traditionally doesn’t chop and change his domestic starting XIs much, either.
Given that Sergio Aguero (£11.4m) is in contention to feature for Manchester City on Wednesday evening against Lyon after an ankle knock, the 50.8% of FPL managers who own the Argentinean striker will be increasingly confident that he will be fit enough to make the trip to Cardiff City in Gameweek 6.
The ideal scenario tonight for his owners would be perhaps a cameo substitute’s appearance, proving his fitness while not draining his energy reserves.
Aguero has yet to deliver an attacking return away from home this season, but will likely be presented with ample opportunities to break that duck with Neil Warnock insisting that his team won’t just sit behind the ball and defend.
Romelu Lukaku (£11.0m) and Aleksandar Mitrovic‘s (£6.8m) fine runs of form make them level-headed differential captaincy picks, though the pair are up against two defences in Wolves and Watford who sit in the top five for least amount of shots conceded this season.
Our weekly captaincy video with Joe and David is available to watch at the foot of this article or here, while you can let us know who you favour for armband duties by casting your vote in the poll below or on the sidebar.
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