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 18 Captains:
Kevin De Bruyne (Fixture: Brighton, Home)
De Bruyne produced the goods with a 13-pointer away to Chelsea, followed by only playing 45 minutes in the FA Cup and therefore he is nice and rested for Gameweek 18 at home to Brighton.
De Bruyne was last seasons top point scorer, and he finally scored from open play. Whilst I admit he needs to add more open play goals to his assists if he wants to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, he � and Man City � are looking back to their best. He has a strong chance of doing that this week, at home a Brighton side who concede a lot of goals and because of their style of play, they are likely to come and try and play, rather than 10 men behind the ball style.
Will Man City be able to kick on further and build upon their free-scoring performances in both the league and cup? For those captaining De Bruyne, they'll sure hope so.
Bruno Fernandes (Fixture: Burnley, Away)
Bruno Fernandes delivered for managers yet again against an Aston Villa team who put in a solid defensive display at Old Trafford. He scored from the penalty spot, bagging himself 10 pointers. Prior to this, he had 3 good weeks too, with 3 goals and 3 assists in 3 games.
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 7 games.
Back to Bruno though, his away record is phenomenal too, and he's even outperforming De Bruyne in some of the key FPL metrics:
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, breaking a Premier League record for a single season before we are even half way through! They've been largely stifled in recent Gameweeks until both scoring well at home to Leeds in Gameweek 17.
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. Even more so when they face a Fulham squad recently depleted by COVID-19.
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:
Bukayo Saka (Fixture: Crystal Palace, Home)
The Arsenal midfielder is only selected by under 12% 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 De Bruyne, Bruno, Kane etc.
The Englishman has had a return to form with 2 goal and 2 assists in his last 3 games and now looking more nailed on for game time. In terms of the underlying statistics he's performing very well recently, getting plenty of shots away and performing well creatively too.
Facing Crystal Palace at The Emirates, Roy Hodgson is bound to play a style which is difficult to break down. However, I cannot see them being able to stop Saka, Lacazette and co scoring, and hopefully Saka 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!
