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!
Jamie Vardy (Fixture: Newcastle, Away)
Despite a cameo appearance at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace, a well-rested Vardy is a top-pick for captaincy in Gameweek 17, 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.
The veteran striker has 11 goals and 7 assists this season, starting 13 league games. He's been consistently performing well in all the key metrics too such as; shots on target, shots in the box and expected goals and I have no doubt this will continue against Newcastle. Furthermore, as Vardy is on penalties, that is another route to points for him too.
Let's hope his rest against the Eagles means he will be fresh to terrorise the Newcastle defence.
Bruno Fernandes (Fixture: Aston Villa, Home)
Bruno Fernandes delivered for managers yet again against a Wolves team who put up a decent defensive display at Old Trafford. Unfortunately for those that captained him (like me) the return was just one assist, but hey, it' better than a blank. Prior to this, a goal, 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 Aston Villa side who have been solid this season on the whole.
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, and then bagged a last minute winner in Gameweek 16, taking his recent tally to 5 goals in his last 6 games.
Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son (Fixture: Leeds, 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 Gameweeks, but a promising fixture at home to Leeds 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:
Harvey Barnes (Fixture: Newcastle, Away)
After tipping Patrick Bamford successfully as an outside of the box captain for two Gameweeks running, this time it's the time for Harvey Barnes to be my outside of the box captain.
The Leicester midfielder is only selected by around 3.5% of FPL players at the time of writing, and therefore will be a huge captain differential, with your mini-league rivals likely to captain one of the premium assets like Salah, Bruno, Kane etc.
The Englishman has had a return to form with 2 goals in his last 2 games and now looking more nailed on for game time, missing only 7 minutes in the last 4 Premier League game. In terms of the underlying statistics he's performing very well recently, getting plenty of shots away.
Facing Newcastle at St James' Park next, Steve Bruce is bound to play a style which is difficult to break down. However, I cannot see them being able to stop Barnes, Vardy and co scoring, and hopefully Barnes 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!
