Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers will get a short break from the helter-skelter schedule of doubles but, ahead of Gameweek 30, the armband decision is far from a formality.
Following his return to Manchester City training on Wednesday, the expected minutes of a certain Erling Haaland (£12.0m) has been a robust hot topic.
Furthermore, the Norwegian faces stiff competition for the armband from Manchester United assets, with options from Aston Villa, Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur representing a spread selection.
As usual, the Captain Sensible article is here to highlight which assets have the best chance of hauling.
First, we will assess the fallout of the captain poll, before then analysing the best options, Rate My Team (RMT) and the Premier Fantasy Tools ratings ahead of Saturday’s 11:00 BST deadline.
THE CAPTAIN POLL
After failing to recover sufficiently from injury to face Liverpool last week, Haaland tops a highly competitive captain poll, backed by a mite over three-tenths of the total votes cast by users at the time of writing.
Man United’s Marcus Rashford (£7.3m) provides the main competition, backed by just over a quarter of users in second place.
Ollie Watkins (£7.5m) occupies third place with a not insignificant 18% of the vote, followed a long way further back by Harry Kane (£11.7m) and Bruno Fernandes (£9.6m).
THE CANDIDATES
ERLING HAALAND/KEVIN DE BRUYNE
The striking prowess of Haaland needs little introduction, with Man City’s marksman a revelation in his debut Premier League season.
His 34 attacking returns, 28 goals, six assists and 203 Fantasy points are simply phenomenal numbers for a young player in his first-ever English top-flight campaign.
The issue with Haaland is not a matter of quality, it’s about fitness, scheduling and trying to logically build a picture of his game-time prospects. His last outing was Gameweek 27’s trip to Crystal Palace, as Pep Guardiola’s side then blanked in Gameweek 28.
Haaland was called up by Norway for Euro 2024 qualifiers but had to be released due to a groin injury, subsequently missing the 4-1 hammering of Liverpool.
However, video footage released by the club showed him participating in full training sessions on both Wednesday and Thursday.
Legomane’s graphic below highlights City’s extremely congested schedule, with a Champions League quarter-final first-leg against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Above: Man City’s immediate schedule, with no more than a three-day recovery period
My opinion is that the Norwegian will start at Southampton, playing roughly 60 to 70 minutes to gain the all-important match rhythm before facing Bayern. However, a substitute cameo is also possible, given the array of talent available to Guardiola. That risk and possibility must be calculated for captaincy.
Alternatively, Kevin De Bruyne (£12.0m) provides a differential route into their attack, having recorded a 13-point haul against Liverpool. The playmaker turned centre-forward to prod home their third goal, before turning provider for Jack Grealish‘s (£6.9m) icing of the cake.
De Bruyne is a predominantly creative force with his 17 key passes and five big chances supplied, ranking in the division’s top six over the last six matches.
He likes a shot – normally from outside the box – with his 11 sitting within Man City’s top five over this same period, scoring both the big chances he has received.
Although opponents Southampton have improved since the appointment of Ruben Selles, with initial wins against Leicester City and Chelsea, the new manager bounce has been short-lived as they’re now winless in their last four league matches.
The Saints have decent underlying defensive numbers during their last six outings, ranking joint-second best for shots on target conceded (17). Yet a seventh-worst non-penalty expected goals conceded (NPxGC) tally of 9.24 could be brutally exposed by Guardiola’s charges, as could their zonal weaknesses.
The Saints place in the bottom five for conceding crosses (66) and chances (24) from their right flank over the last six, also being the joint-second worst for allowing headed goal attempts (19).
MARCUS RASHFORD/BRUNO FERNANDES
