Who are the best FPL captain candidates for Gameweek 16?

Fantasy Premier League managers have a tougher decision to make for the captaincy this weekend than they did midweek.

A relatively frustrating evening for owners of Leicester attacking assets was contrasted with high-scoring affair at Anfield.

It’s these two clubs at the heart of the conversation for Gameweek 16 and, as ever, the Captain Sensible article is here to help.

We’ll be comparing all the individual assets on their own performances in the last four matches and weighing them up against their upcoming opponents defensive shortcomings.

As this article uses data from the Fantasy Football Scout Members Area, only those signed up to either a season-long or monthly deal can access it in full.

Captain Poll

The captain poll for Gameweek 16 was considerably closer than it was midweek.

Sadio Mané (£12.3m) is the current leader on 23.2% ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Bournemouth.

The Senegalese international lit up Gameweek 15 with a huge 15-point haul that arguably should have been even bigger considering he missed two golden chances.

Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth pits Mané against a defence that is now without a clean sheet in each of its last four outings while the player himself has attacking returns in each of his last two league road trips.

Meanwhile, Jamie Vardy (£10.0m) is not far behind in second place, currently on 20.9% of the vote ahead of Leicester’s trip to Aston Villa.

Vardy has been exceptionally reliable over his last nine Premier League matches, netting 11 goals over that period, scoring in each of his last seven.

Aston Villa have kept just one clean sheet since Gameweek 6 and should provide plenty of chances for Vardy to continue his excellent run.

As Son Heung-min (£9.8m) and Dele Alli (£8.6m) compete to be considered the best Spurs asset, the two of them are very close in the captain poll too, each in with a chance of claiming third place.

The South Korean is just ahead at the time of writing (Friday morning) with 11.9% of the vote after scoring 25 points across Jose Mourinho’s first three games in charge at Spurs.

Alli, meanwhile, is backed by 10.2% having secured attacking returns in each of the last three, scoring 29 points and averaging 9.7 per game.

Both Son and Alli will fancy their chances of further goal involvements in Gameweek 16 as Burnley come to their brand new north London stadium.

The Clarets have conceded six goals in the last week while last season’s top-six sides have netted 13 times against them in four matches so far in 2019/20, an average of 3.3 per game.

Nearly 12 months on from his famous Vitality Stadium hat-trick, Mohamed Salah (£12.2m) has very much fallen off the Fantasy radar ahead of his return to Bournemouth.

The Egyptian’s midweek rest arguably makes him a more likely starter in Gameweek 16 than perhaps even Mané. With two goals in his last four starts, there is some form there for Salah, who has attracted 4.9% of the captain poll vote.

Just behind him is Tammy Abraham (£7.9m), who registered a 12-point haul in his return from injury against Aston Villa.

This weekend Chelsea travel to a managerless Everton side without a clean sheet since Gameweek 9.

Abraham remains the Premier League’s top-scorer in away matches, having found the net seven times on his travels this season, which has convinced 4.8% to vote for him in the captain poll.

That’s slightly more than have gone with Christian Pulisic (£7.5m) on 3.7%. The USA international has scored more times than any Chelsea player since he broke into the team in Gameweek 10 but has blanked in each of the last three matches.

Ahead of a Manchester derby, Kevin de Bruyne (£10.3m) is the most popular option from Pep Guardiola’s men, backed by just 2.6% in the Gameweek 16 captain poll.

The Belgian may have assisted just once since Gameweek 8 but he has found the net in two of the last three Premier League outings.

That’s enough to give de Bruyne more support than Raheem Sterling (£11.9m) whose XX attacking returns in the last X matches was good enough for just 2.3% of the vote.

Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.9m), Mason Mount (£6.6m), Gabriel Jesus (£9.6m) and Alexandre Lacazette (£9.3m) are the only other options backed by more than 1%.

Player statistics – Last four matches