The Scout helps managers in Fantasy Premier League to pick the right captain, who earns double points, ahead of Friday’s 18:30 BST deadline.

Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) and Nick Woltemade (£7.4m) both have the form and fixture to rival Erling Haaland (£14.7m) in the debate about who is the best captain for Gameweek 9.

Arsenal‘s Saka has scored in both his home starts this season ahead of a home encounter with Crystal Palace.

Crucially, he collected seven points in the Gunners’ 1-0 win at Fulham last weekend, despite not being involved in their decisive goal. He picked up one point for the clean sheet, two points for his defensive contributions, two points for playing 90 minutes and two more bonus points as he created a match-high six chances. 

Newcastle United‘s Woltemade, meanwhile, is the most-bought player in Fantasy for Gameweek 9, with more than 672,000 managers rushing to bring in the German. The Magpies’ forward has scored in four of his five league outings ahead of his home match with Fulham. 

Despite the pair’s strong form, Manchester City‘s Haaland is set to be the runaway captain favourite once again for his visit to Aston Villa.

A massive 6.3million managers entrusted Haaland with the armband last week and he rewarded them with two goals and a 26-point haul against Everton. 

The Norwegian’s incredible consistency and ability to deliver big hauls shows why he has to be the No 1 choice in Gameweek 9. Haaland has blanked just once on his way to the top of the player standings on 83 points, producing a minimum of eight points in seven of his eight appearances.

Who’s had the greatest attacking threat?

By assessing the statistics over the last four Gameweeks, you can get an idea of the players who are boasting a similar goal threat to Haaland.

As you can see from the table below, Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.6m) has boasted the greatest goal threat of any player in Fantasy in the last four Gameweeks. 

The Frenchman has had 12 big chances, which are situations where a player is expected to score. He’s also created one of them, giving him a total of 13 big-chance involvements.

Mateta betters Haaland on both counts here, and also for shots in the box, by 17 to 15.

Woltemade’s impact at Newcastle is clearly reflected too, with his five big chances (BC) ranked fourth in the league over those four matches.

Elsewhere, Brentford‘s Thiago (£6.1m) and Liverpool‘s Mohamed Salah (£14.3m) are tied on six big-chance involvements ahead of their head-to-head at the Gtech Community Stadium. 

Top players for big-chance involvement, last four Gameweeks

Player
Shots in box
BC
BC created
BC inv.

Mateta
17
12
1
13

Haaland
15
8
1
9

Thiago
10
6
0
6

Salah
9
4
2
6

Woltemade
8
5
0
5

Calvert-Lewin
10
4
1
5

Isak
6
4
1
5

Welbeck 
5
4
0
4

Sesko
7
4
0
4

Scroll across on mobile to see the full table

Who’s got the best fixture?

A look at the team defensive data also helps to shed more light on those players who could have a successful Gameweek 9.

It’s fair to say that a host of clubs have struggled at the back recently, with as many as eight of them conceding an average of at least three big chances per match over their last four matches. 

Nottingham Forest‘s poor showings are laid bare here, with 15 big chances conceded and no clean sheet in this spell.

Those frailties look encouraging for AFC Bournemouth‘s Antoine Semenyo (£8.1m), who is both the top-scoring and most-owned midfielder in Fantasy. The Ghana international has amassed 42 of his 70 points at the Vitality Stadium, averaging over 10 points per home appearance.

Saka’s appeal also rises here. Palace’s numbers are almost as bad, with Oliver Glasner’s side allowing just one big chance fewer than Forest. 

Meanwhile, Brentford’s Thiago and Leeds United‘s Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.5m) are the only two who are favoured by both the player and team data, with the latter entertaining West Ham United on Friday evening.

Team defensive stats, GW5-8

Club
Goals conc.
Clean sheets 
BC conc.

Nott’m Forest
7
0
15

Chelsea
6
1
15

Crystal Palace, Liverpool
7
0
14

Man Utd
5
1
14

Burnley
8
1
13

Everton
6
0
13

West Ham
7
0
12

Scroll across on mobile to see the full table

So, who is the best captaincy alternative to Haaland?

As the player statistics show, Mateta’s goal threat is not only greater than the rest of his rivals, it even surpasses Haaland himself right now.

However, a visit to Arsenal rules the Frenchman out of contention for the captaincy. Mikel Arteta’s side have kept nine clean sheets in 12 matches across all competitions, conceding a mere three goals.

Instead, it’s Saka’s multiple routes to returns, added to Palace’s poor defensive displays, which make him the most likely to reward you with a big haul.

Woltemade’s prolific form is also worth considering, while both Semenyo and Thiago have the form to exploit their opposition’s problems in defence.