After a two-week hiatus, our Friday evening analysis of the armband options in the Gameweek ahead comes around again. Our three-part approach takes in the weekly poll standings, the Opta player statistics and our Rate My Team projections to help steer your thoughts on the Captain conundrum.

The first section is free to view for all visitors to the site and will analyse the chief protagonists, as selected in our Captain Poll. The latter two parts are restricted to our members, as we delve deeper into the Opta and Rate My Team data.

Captain Poll

Unsurprisingly, Chelsea’s Diego Costa leads the way after notching four times in his first three appearances. The Spain international once again heads into the weekend with hamstring doubts hanging over his pitch time but, after recovering from a similar problem to bag a brace at Goodison in Gameweek 3, he has earned the nod from over 29% of Fantasy managers so far as Jose Mourinho’s side welcome Swansea to the Bridge.

Despite scoring just twice in their first three matches under Louis van Gaal, United are still heavily backed for their home encounter against QPR. Radamel Falcao and Wayne Rooney sit second and fourth respectively in the Captain Poll and the Colombian’s previous ability to settle quickly in his new surrounds have persuaded 15% to select him compared to Rooney’s 13%. Harry Redknapp’s side have shipped four goals in their only road trip to date but a switch from 3-5-3 to 4-4-1-1 earned the R’s their first clean sheet of the campaign last time around.

Liverpool’s attackers are also high in our collective estimations. Raheem Sterling is the favoured option from Brendan Rodgers’ side – after scoring in two of his first three appearances, the youngster has picked up over 13% of your votes for a plum home clash with Aston Villa. With Daniel Sturridge sidelined for the Merseysiders, Mario Balotelli could be a real differential for this one, bearing in mind he’s owned by less than 6% of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.

In spite of a testing clash with City at the Emirates, Arsenal new boy Danny Welbeck remains on the radar. A double for England against Switzerland has certainly had an impact – 3.55% of Fantasy managers fancy handing him the armband, more than either Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard for Chelsea’s encounter with Swansea.