After what feels like an age, the Captain Sensible article is back.
It’s Gameweek 27 we turn our attentions to this time as Liverpool host a West Ham side in their hunt to win the Premier League title nice and early.
To pick out the best options we’ve compared their individual data from the last four matches against the defence numbers recorded by their opponents.
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Captain Poll
Despite last weekend’s blank, it’s another big win in the captain poll for Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) as he claimed 51.9% of the vote ahead of Gameweek 27.
Liverpool host a West Ham side that has conceded four goals in both of their most recent Premier League visits to Anfield and shipped a total of 11 in their last four matches this season, the worst of any other team. Such an appealing fixture is combined with Salah’s six goals in his last five league home games.
The gap between the Egyptian and the poll’s second-place option is quite considerable with Sadio Mané (£12.2m) accruing just 11.3% support for the captain’s armband.
Obviously, the Senegalese international faces the same opponents as his colleague Salah and, although he was the only Liverpool player to score against Norwich, he has not been as explosive at Anfield of late. Mané has three goals in his last three home matches, compared to Salah’s six.
Danny Ings (£7.1m) has been discussed as an interesting differential for this weekend as Aston Villa come to Southampton. The centre-forward now has 15 goals this season, just two behind current Golden Boot leader Jamie Vardy (£9.7m) while Villa are having ongoing defensive problems. However, in light of Salah’s overwhelming support, only 8% of our voters have seen enough to convince them that Ings is worth taking a punt on with the armband.
After the top three, there is a smattering of extreme differential options including the 4.4% who went with Raúl Jiménez (£7.8m) ahead of Norwich’s visit to Molineux, although Daniel Farke has overseen some defensive improvements of late.
2.8% selected Son Heung-min (£10.0m) before his potentially season-ending injury while 2.6% have gone with Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.7m) ahead of West Ham’s visit to Anfield. The Hammers have scored just once in their last three away matches and Everton were the last visiting team to score a league goal at Liverpool as far back as Gameweek 15.
Sergio Aguero (£12.1m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£10.8m) are both far down the pecking order for Gameweek 27 picking up the support of just 2.3% and 1.6% respectively. However, Leicester last kept a clean sheet at the King Power Stadium since Gameweek 15 while Aguero and De Bruyne combine for four double-figure hauls since Gameweek 20.
Steven Bergwijn (£7.5m), Willian (£7.1m), Anthony Martial (£7.9m) and Roberto Firmino (£9.7m) are the only other options with more than 1% backing in the poll.
4 years, 1 month agoA) DCL + Son >> Jimmy + B.Fernandes
B) DCL + Son >> Jimmy + Martial
C) DCL + Son >> Jimmy + Richarlison
0.3 ITB
Soy / TAA / VVD / Lunds / Cath
Grealish / Salah / KDB / Trossard / (???)
Jimmy / Pukki / Ings
Thoughts?