With the Gameweek 6 deadline of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) approaching, it’s time to have a good think about who to captain.
On paper, it’s a tough week for captaincy.
Erling Haaland (£15.6m) faces Liverpool away, and his fellow expensive talisman, Bruno Fernandes (£11.9m), is being sold by plenty of managers. Bukayo Saka (£9.6m) hosts Leeds in the early kick-off, which is not an easy fixture by any means, while there’s injury uncertainty at Chelsea, who face Bournemouth.
Should we be moving away from Messrs Haaland and Fernandes? Do we trust Arsenal’s attack against an impressive Leeds defence? Can we back a flagged Chelsea attacker? That’s what we’re considering in this week’s ‘Captain Sensible’ article.
In this piece, we will assess the on-site captaincy poll, analyse myriad player and team statistics, consult the Rate My Team (RMT) points projections, and settle on a top three for the armband, ahead of Saturday’s 11am BST deadline.
Captaincy Poll
In one of the closest captaincy polls of the season, Saka holds the lead with over 25% of the vote. The Arsenal winger scored twice for England over the international break, continuing his strong start to the season. He has netted three times in five Gameweeks.
Fernandes sits second with a mite under 15% backing, just five votes ahead of Haaland at the time of writing. The latter avoided a yellow flag, despite asking to be taken off in Norway’s final Nations League game, and has since trained. Fernandes has dropped in price since the Gameweek 5 deadline.
Elsewhere, two other players have managed to garner more than 5% support: Riccardo Calafiori (£5.9m) and Cole Palmer (£9.7m). The former is the most-owned defender in the game, currently sitting in over 50% of teams. He’s also first name in the poll list, and the player in pole position tends to pick up accidental votes! Palmer, meanwhile, remains flagged but reports suggest Chelsea are hopeful over his availability.
Player Stats – Gameweeks 1-5