Fantasy Premier League managers are presented with a wealth of appealing options for the captaincy in Gameweek 35+.
There is a healthy selection of appealing options this weekend, pitting form players against poorly performing defences, a welcome change to some of the recent debates for the armband.
As ever, the Captain Sensible article is here to analyse the key candidates, comparing their recent underlying statistics against those of their upcoming opponents.
As this uses data from the Fantasy Football Scout Members Area, only those with a valid subscription can access it in full.
Captain Poll
Yet another double-figure haul for Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) in Gameweek 34+ is enough for the Manchester United midfielder to top the captain poll for Gameweek 35+.
The Portuguese international has been in sensational Fantasy form ever since the Premier League restarted, averaging 11.2 points across the five matches played in that time.
Therefore, it is no surprise to see Fernandes become the captaincy favourite for Southampton’s visit to Old Trafford, pulling in the support of 33.8% in our latest vote.
Three goals in the last two matches and an increasingly heated Golden Boot race has thrust Jamie Vardy (£9.8m) back into the captaincy debate like it’s the Autumn of 2019 all over again.
The fact that he and his Leicester colleagues are travelling to Bournemouth only encourages the interest in Vardy, as they remain the most obliging defence since the Premier League returned. Even though an uninspired Spurs side blanked at the Vitality Stadium on Thursday, the Cherries have still conceded an average of 2.4 goals per game since Gameweek 30+.
Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) was another player to go back to his scintillating best in Gameweek 34+ registering a massive 18-point score at Brighton, his highest of the 2019/20 season.
As a result, 15.2% of our voters are looking to make the Egyptian their skipper in Gameweek 35+, despite his upcoming meeting with this season’s top-scoring goalkeeper Nick Pope (£5.0m).
Burnley have kept three clean sheets in their last four matches, which might be enough to ward some punters off Salah, although they have conceded a minimum of three goals in three of their last four away trips to last season’s top-six.
Kevin De Bruyne‘s (£10.8m) seven-point score in Manchester City’s 5-0 win over Newcastle has dampened the interest in the Gameweek 34+ favourite.
Just 7.7% have backed the Belgian for the weekend’s action, which takes Pep Guardiola’s men to Brighton.
Raheem Sterling (£11.7m) is not far behind his colleague having outscored him over the last three matches. In that time, the Englishman has scored 27 points to De Bruyne’s 22 and, as a result of that midweek benching, is arguably more likely of a start at the Amex Stadium too. That case is good enough for 5.3% of voters to back Sterling for the Gameweek 35+ armband.
Sadio Mané (£12.3m) is also attracting some consideration as a differential option for this round, despite scoring just zero points against Brighton. It is likely his benching that has unlocked the interest of 4.2% of voters, the Senegalese international likely to reclaim his place for the visit of Burnley, and he has 10.3 points per game across the last four at Anfield.
Michail Antonio (£6.9m) is benefitting from the Norwich-factor, earning 3.8% backing for the Gameweek 35+ captaincy ahead of Saturday’s trip to Carrow Road. Daniel Farke’s men have conceded 11 goals since the Premier League restart, an average of 2.2 per game while Antonio has three attacking returns in as many matches since Gameweek 32+.
Jarrod Bowen (£6.4m), Allan Saint-Maximin (£5.5m), Anthony Martial (£8.3m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.8m), Gabriel Jesus (£9.7m) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.9m) are the only other options with over 1% backing in the poll.
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