The most owned assets across Gameweek 1 turned out to be extremely profitable from a fantasy perspective, which went down well with the majority of FPL managers, many of whom would have selected one of those as their captain. Erling Haaland (£14.0m), the most captained player of Gameweek 1, netted twice and racked up 13 FPL points, whilst Bukayo Saka (£8.6m) also recorded a double-figure points return, picking up 10 points thanks to his goal against Nott’m Forest. However, it wasn’t all plain-sailing as Man Utd’s Marcus Rashford (£9.0m) drew a blank vs Wolves, scoring just 3 points.
We now look ahead at the most enticing captaincy candidates for Gameweek, putting forward our case for numerous different names.
Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) – LIVERPOOL vs Bournemouth
Bournemouth fans won’t want to be reminded about what happened last time they came to Anfield. Their team under the command of Scott Parker at the time, were taken apart as Liverpool put nine goals past them. However, despite starting that game, Mohamed Salah was not among the scorers. The Egyptian also failed to find the net last weekend against Chelsea for the first time in Gameweek 1 since joining the Reds. But a player of Salah’s quality won’t be kept down for long and he will be expected to open his account for the season in Gameweek 2.
Liverpool are expected to be afforded significantly more possession against the Cherries and should control the contest, allowing Salah to get himself into scoring opportunities. With Jurgen Klopp’s likely to create plenty of chances to score, a number of those will surely fall to Salah and when considering that midfielders gain an extra point for a goal scored compared to forwards, that only increases the attraction of captaining Salah.
Erling Haaland (£14.0m) – MAN CITY vs Newcastle
Although Salah has the better fixture on paper, Erling Haaland’s massive ownership and unrelenting penchant for goals means that most FPL managers will no doubt hand him the armband once again in Gameweek 2 and for good reason. The Man City striker needed just four minutes to get off the mark on the opening night of the new Premier League season and he doubled his tally just over half-an-hour later. No matter the opposition, Haaland always seems to be in among the attacking returns and has made a good start in the bid to break his own record accrued last season, when he scored 36 Premier League goals.
Man City have a much tougher task on their hands come Gameweek 2 when Newcastle travel to the Etihad Stadium and Pep Guardiola’s side will be without creative midfield talisman Kevin De Bruyne, who is set to miss the next few months as a result of a hamstring injury. Whilst this may have an adverse effect on the number of chances Haaland will get to score, he remains one of the best captain options available.
Bukayo Saka (£8.6m) – Crystal Palace vs ARSENAL
The FPL price-tag of Bukayo Saka has already increased following his magnificent goal against Nott’m Forest in Gameweek 1, which saw him curl a long-range shot right into the top corner of the net. This was enough to earn him three bonus points and a healthy haul of 10 fantasy points. As his ownership continues to rise (most recently reaching 65%), those who want to make the most FPL profit on Saka points-wise going forward will need to name him as their skipper.
Gameweek 2 sees Arsenal face Crystal Palace away in a London derby. When taking into account the way Mikel Arteta’s men played in Gameweek 1, you’d expect another dominant performance from them. Whilst picking an Arsenal player as captain is always a risk due to their multiple attacking options from midfield, Saka has earned the right, especially with him likely being on penalties.
James Maddison (£7.5m) – SPURS vs Man Utd
Only three midfielders accumulated more fantasy points over the course of Gameweek 1 than James Maddison, who stole the show at new club Spurs. Away to Brentford, Maddison completed assists for both of Spurs’ goals in a match which ended 2-2 in West London. FPL managers certainly saw enough to be impressed with Maddison and his ownership is likely to increase rapidly moving forward.
However, those who want to take a step further than that can also hand Maddison their Gameweek 2 captaincy as Spurs host Man Utd, who kept a clean sheet last time out vs Wolves, but looked extremely suspect defensively. Maddison won’t be as popular as the three options listed above but this works in his favour, making him more of a differential for those FPL bosses brave enough to hand him the armband.
