FPL Heisenberg's Captain Series
Welcome to the latest article in a new series for the 2020/21 Fantasy Premier League season from @FPL_Heisenberg for FPL Bet. In this weekly series, Heisenberg will be looking into the best captaincy options, as well as ‘outside of the box' captaincy choices for each Gameweek. Heisenberg has a proven track record in FPL, having finished inside the top 32k in each of the last 6 seasons, including a best finish of 836th. Let's cook!
Gameweek 16 Captains:
Bruno Fernandes (Fixture: Wolves, Home)
Bruno Fernandes delivered for managers yet again against a Leicester team who are doing well overall this season. A goals, an assist and maximum bonus points saw him score a massive (relative to the other big hitters) 12 points in Gameweek 15 and he'll be looking to add to that at home to a Wolves side which aren't as good as they were last season.
He's central to everything Man United do, and, importantly he takes penalties which as we all know, United win a lot of them!
Depending on your team structure and bank balance, you may not have the cash for Bruno and therefore you can't squeeze him in. However, you may have his teammate Marcus Rashford who bagged an impressive brace in Gameweek 13 and followed this up with a goal in Gameweek 15 against Leicester (but he could have had at least one more goal!).
Rashford is a slight injury concern having tweaked his shoulder injury against Leicester, so keep an eye on any news which may emerge on this before trusting him with the captaincy!
Mo Salah (Fixture: Newcastle, Away)
Despite a surprising blank at home to West Brom, Salah is a top-pick for captaincy in Gameweek 16, especially since he's facing a Newcastle side bereft of confidence. He's coming into this game off the back of a good run of consistent season-long form only blanking three times this season.
The Egyptian King has 13 goals and 4 assists in 14 league games. He's been consistently performing well in all the key metrics such as creating chances, shots on target, shots in the box, expected assists and expected goals and I have no doubt this will continue against Newcastle. Furthermore, as Mo is on penalties, that is another route to points for him too.
Let's hope his quiet night against West Brom was a one off and he can find the net again against the Magpies!
Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son (Fixture: Fulham, Home)
These two have been on fantastic form this season, setting each other up for goals more so than any other combination by quite a distance. They've been largely stifled in recent Gameweek, but a promising fixture at home to Fulham could be just what they need to be back amongst the points.
Harry Kane really is looking back to his absolute best in front of goal following a period towards the end of Pochettino's reign where he was looking a little jaded. Add to this with his newly found assist threat this season, Harry Kane is a genuine captaincy contender against any opposition.
Kane has been a goal threat for many years in the Premier League, but his assist threat is something he's added to his game. His passing ability has always been exceptional, but tactically he was more the man to get on the end of passes, now he's dropping into the number 10 position at times to feed the lightning quick lethal finisher Heung-Min Son. The stats show how much better he's become creatively, with the highest expected assists score in the league with this season and the most big chances created.
Both Kane and Son are up there for overall points along with other premium assets Salah and Fernandes. Benefitting from Harry Kane's new found creativity, Heung-Min Son is a genuine captaincy option too, especially as he gets an extra point per goal and also has the possibility of a clean sheet point too.
‘Outside of the Box' captain:
Patrick Bamford (Fixture: West Brom, Away)
I tipped him in my previous article and he didn't disappoint, bagging a penalty he won. Klich was previously on penalties, but now Bamford's scored this one he could be on them for the foreseeable future!
Although the Leeds centre-forward is currently selected by around 46% of FPL players at the time of writing, he will be a huge captain differential, with your mini-league rivals likely to captain one of the premium assets like Salah, Bruno, De Bruyne etc.
The Englishman has had a great season so far, with 10 goals and 3 assists in 15 games, playing in a team who see plenty of action in both penalty areas! In terms of the underlying statistics he's performing very well out of all players for non-penalty expected goals, so I expect this to continue in Gameweek 16.
Facing West Brom at the Hawthorns next, Sam Allardyce is bound to play a style which is difficult to break down. However, I cannot see them being able to stop Bamford and co scoring, and hopefully Bamford can be involved in the goals that do inevitably flow.
Thanks for reading the latest article in this captaincy series from FPL Heisenberg, be sure to follow @FPLBet and @FPL_Heisenberg on Twitter so that you don't miss the weekly article. Agree or disagree with these captaincy picks? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!
