Yes, that’s right, here we are again: Fantasy Premier League Captains.
If the c-word doesn’t make you shudder or cause a twitch of the eye right now then you can’t be human.
For several weeks now, the armband discussion has been a sore point for many of us as a host of options fail to deliver on their promise.
Well, if you thought recent events had deterred us you would be wrong.
We remain just as committed to digging out the best captain option every week and we’re hoping that Gameweek 10 can be when everything returns to normal for us and for the readers.
That still includes weighing up who is most popular with the public, assessing their underlying statistics over the last four weeks and comparing these with the defences of their upcoming opponents.
As this article uses data from the Fantasy Football Scout Members Area, only those signed up for the 2019/20 season can access it in full.
Captain Poll
Following a midweek hat-trick Raheem Sterling (£12.1m) has crept to the top of the captain poll.
29.9% of our voters have handed him their backing ahead of Aston Villa’s trip to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
He has nine goals in his last eight in all competitions for club and country outside the Premier League, but FPL returns have dried up recently.
Sterling has scored just once in each of the last six Fantasy Gameweeks but recent displays have encouraged his owners.
As we assessed earlier this week, the return of Benjamin Mendy (£5.9m) could help Sterling return to more central areas, as we saw against Atalanta.
However, there will be some managers concerned about Sterling’s chances of starting in Gameweek 10. He has now played 90 minutes in each of Manchester City’s last two matches, while Riyad Mahrez (£8.6m) was handed a rest in Gameweek 9 and Bernardo Silva (£7.9m) midweek.
Kevin de Bruyne (£10.1m) was leading the Gameweek 10 captain poll before the recent Champions League action and even now sits just two percentage points behind Sterling.
29.7% of you have declared the Belgian midfielder as the best captain for this weekend considering his strong form at the Etihad Stadium this season.
While de Bruyne blanked against Atalanta on Tuesday night, he has double-figure hauls in each of his three appearances at home in the Premier League in 2019/20.
He scored 11 points against Spurs, 13 in the win over Brighton and 17 as Watford were swept aside 8-0.
Those in possession of de Bruyne will still feel aggrieved that he did not get any attacking returns at Crystal Palace, after Gabriel Jesus (£9.5m) refused to square to him for an open goal.
It will be interesting to see which of Sterling and de Bruyne will top the poll come tonight’s Friday Night Deadline.
Currently sat in third place, and capable of offering a potential differential option is Sergio Aguero (£12.2m), backed by just 16.9% for Gameweek 10.
The Argentinian’s stock certainly fell after his Gameweek 9 no-show but that should probably be seen as evidence that he is more likely to start against Villa than Sterling, who has already played 180 minutes this week.
Aguero scored twice midweek to get back in the goals, suggesting he can deliver against Villa, who have conceded an average of two goals per away game this season.
The Manchester City forward himself has six attacking returns in four Premier League appearances at the Etihad Stadium so far, making for a compelling captaincy case this weekend.
Jamie Vardy (£9.1m) heads up the best of the rest as Leicester prepare to travel to Southampton.
The centre-forward has three goals in as many Gameweeks and has been one of just a few players to deliver for Fantasy managers in that time.
Vardy may only have one goal in four away matches this season, but his three blanks all came in trips to sides from last season’s top six (Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool).
Southampton are usually more leaky, having conceded an average of 2.5 goals per home game in 2019/20.
That’s probably why James Maddison (£7.2m) also features in the top 10 captain candidates in this poll, backed by 1.6% of voters.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang‘s (£11.1m) stock has fallen a little in recent weeks with blanks against Bournemouth and Sheffield United.
A home match against Crystal Palace might still mean some hard work for Arsenal in Gameweek 10.
That fixture probably underpinning such a small backing of just 3.3% this weekend.
There are not very many more players backed by more than 1%.
In fact, the only ones left that fit that description are Mohamed Salah (£12.4m) and Sadio Mané (£11.8m).
Both of them scored midweek, assisting each other in the process, while Spurs come to Anfield on a run of relatively poor defensive form.
They may have seen Red Star Belgrade off with relative ease, although it must be said the quality of the opposition was not particularly strong.
In the three games before that, Mauricio Pochettino’s men conceded (heavily in some cases) to Watford, Brighton and Bayern Munich.
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