NMA Reader Poll: EPL GW-2 Best FPL Captain

Picking the right captain is so important in FPL - those who captained Salah or Haaland last week gained 10 or 11 points over those who captained Kane. All three were considered good options, but clearly some worked out better than others!

The top points earners in GW-1 with 15 points were both surprises: Fabian Schär from Newcastle (goal & clean sheet plus three bonus points), and Pascal Groß from Brighton with two goals plus three bonus points. Nothing pointed to Groß being a good choice, with a (supposedly) difficult match-up, but Schär’s performance demonstrates that sometimes picking a defender as captain can pay off.

Still, one week is not a good sample to predict future points, and we have different match-ups this week. Man City’s home tie against Bournemouth looks very tempting, despite Bournemouth starting well with a win over Aston Villa. Away to City is a completely different proposition though. Liverpool has a decent home tie against Crystal Palace, and Arsenal is at home to Leicester. With Chelsea facing Tottenham, it is hard to look beyond those first three teams this week.

So who will be good options? I cover five possibilities below, and give you the chance to have your say in a reader poll.

Mo Salah

Last week’s most captained player, Salah was an excellent choice in week one, mustering a goal and an assist plus two bonus points for a total of 12. This week he has a home game against Crystal Palace, which is unlikely to put off too many of his owners. Arsenal scored two goals against Palace in week one, so it’s hard to see Liverpool doing less. Salah tends to be involved in Liverpool’s goals, and of course he’s on penalties.

I expect to see him heavily captained again — and throughout the season. Indeed, we could say right now that Salah will be par for the captain choice in any game-week he isn’t injured. How often can you break par choosing otherwise?

Trent Alexander-Arnold

If you don’t want to go for Salah, but do fancy a Liverpool player, then you could go for one of the attacking options in Darwin Núñez or Luis Díaz (one being in excellent form but not playing so many minutes, the other yet to get into goal scoring form but playing well), or you could look into the defense. TAA offers a decent clean sheet opportunity along with plenty of attacking potential. He earned only one point in week one, but I wouldn’t be surprised by a decent return this time out.

Erling Haaland

Last week, some people stayed away from Haaland because of doubt over playing time, his form after the Community Shield, and a fairly tricky-looking fixture away to up-and-coming West Ham. So of course he picked up two goals (including a well-taken penalty) plus three bonus points for a total of 13, making him a slightly better choice than Salah. We shouldn’t have been surprised given that he scored hattricks on both his Bundesliga and Champions’ League debuts, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and many of us, including myself (and Chris Manfredi), are kicking ourselves for not even having him in our teams, let along captaining him. That is clearly changing fast, and his price has already gone up a tick thanks to so many transfers in. Harry Kane’s price has moved in the opposite direction, so a fair number of those transfers are undoubtedly straight swapping the two players.

This week’s fixture looks very inviting, home to Bournemouth. While the Cherries did a lot better than predicted in GW-1 with a nice 2-0 home win over Aston Villa, this game is not likely to go so well for them. Haaland will want to deliver in his first competitive home fixture, and is likely to be a very popular captain pick this week.

João Cancelo

As with my second Liverpool pick, I’m looking into the Man City defense, and this one is also pretty tempting. Other attacking City options include Kevin De Bruyne, but Cancelo is the second most selected City player after Haaland, so he is more tempting for many players. Clean sheet potential is extremely high in this one, and he has already picked up two bonus points from the GW-1 game despite a yellow card, and he generally scores heavily in the bonus point system. Add in plenty of attacking potential, and you have the chance of a monster score. He isn’t likely to be heavily captained, so would be a sneaky differential choice for your armband this week.

Gabriel Jesus

For those few who don’t wish to select a player from Liverpool or Manchester City, how about the game’s most selected player, Gabriel Jesus? He didn’t score last time out, and was outscored by several of his team mates, but while the game against Leicester might offer the chance of more goals, it perhaps is less likely for a clean sheet and so the high-scoring defenders aren’t quite so attractive. Jesus had a great pre-season and is another one who will be desperate to do well in his first competitive home fixture.

• Join our FPL NMA mini-league
• Join our Fantrax NMA-11 mini-league
• Join our Fantrax NMA-17 mini-league

And be sure to follow us at www.nevermanagealone.com for daily fantasy footie content!

~

What do you think of my options for captain? Where will you place your armband this weekend? Please log in to take our poll and then elaborate in the comments!

~

~