Captain Sensible – Spurs and Man City the focus in Gameweek 17

Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City appear to be the two sides at the centre of this week’s captaincy debate.

Both clubs have favourable fixtures in Gameweek 17 as well as some interest options for the armband.

As usual, we are here to compare the players themselves, their clubs, their opposition in order to work out which player should be our captain this weekend.

Captain Poll

Harry Kane (£12.6m) is our runaway poll leader for Gameweek 17 as Tottenham prepare to host Sean Dyche’s struggling Burnley side. He tops the pile with the backing of 46% of the vote, despite his no-show at Leicester in Gameweek 16 and an intense outing at Barcelona midweek. We are sure that the bulk of his support is chiefly influenced by opponents Burnley, who we will assess later in the article. That and the fact that Kane has four goals and two assists in his last five Premier League starts.

Raheem Sterling (£11.6m) is proving the second-most popular captain choice this week with 17% in the poll. That makes him the most fashionable Manchester City option ahead of their meeting with Everton on Saturday lunch-time. Sterling has four goals and five assists in the last seven Gameweeks but hasn’t registered attacking returns for the last two.

Up next is last week’s poll winner Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.5m) who comes in with 10% backing with Arsenal travelling to Southampton this week. The Saints are still in a transitional period with new manager Ralph Hasenhuttle fresh in his role and the Gunners, given their attacking form, are expected by many to record a comfortable win at St Mary’s Stadium. Aubameyang has registered returns in three of the last four Gameweeks. The fact he was rested for Thursday night’s Europa League match indicates he should get an eighth successive Premier League start on Sunday afternoon.

Eden Hazard (£10.9m) looks to be the best of the rest heading into Gameweek 17 with a backing of 4.56%. Chelsea travel to Brighton this weekend, where they emerged 4-0 winners last season. The Belgian has four assists in his last three matches but is without a goal of his own since Gameweek 8.

Despite last week’s hat-trick, Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) remains in the differential section of another captain poll. Ahead of Liverpool’s meeting with Manchester United, just 3.93% of our voters are confident enough to hand the Egyptian the armband. That could prove a sensible decision considering that Salah has never scored or assisted against Manchester United in the Premier League.

Gameweek 17’s potentially powerful alternative Son Heung-min (£8.5m) sits just behind the Liverpool man on 3.44%. The fact that such a small number are backing him this week, those putting the armband on him may feel more confident in doing so, as the effect could be bigger.

The effect of Pep Guardiola’s rotation policy means that, despite Manchester City being at home, Sterling is the only of their options above 3% backing in this poll. Leroy Sané (£9.5m) and Sergio Aguero (£11.2m) are the next most popular but have been chosen by 2.03% and 1.61% of voters respectively.

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