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 23 Captains:
Bruno Fernandes (Fixture: Everton, Home)
Bruno Fernandes delivered for managers yet again against an Southampton with another huge haul. He scored from the penalty spot and got 2 assists bagging himself 17 points. He's central to everything Man United do, and, importantly he takes penalties which as we all know, United win a lot of them!
What a season Bruno is having, he's the ultimate threat as can pop up with a goal or assist at any time. He has 12 goals (joint 2nd in the league) and 11 assists (joint 2nd in the league) this season, there's no reason why he couldn't reach 20 goals and 20 assists come the end of the season.
With Man City and Liverpool playing each other, for me that puts Salah, Sterling, Gundogan and Cancelo off the table as captaincy options. Also, with other premium options like Kane and De Bruyne out injured, Bruno's the standout option on paper. Don't rule out some of the below having great Gameweeks though.
Heung-Min Son (Fixture: West Brom, Home)
With Kane out injured there are two schools of thought on how this will affect Heung-Min Son.
The first theory is that he will perform better without Kane, possibly playing even more centrally and be relied upon even more for goals and assists. He could also be on penalties with Kane out.
The second theory is that because him and Kane have linked up so well this season, assisting each other for goals, and therefore he will be negatively affected by Kane being out.
So far, Spurs and Son have definitely suffered from Harry Kane missing games. However, Son has been superb all season and has a kind fixture at home to West Brom to put his recent form to bed. So I still think he could be an excellent captain choice this week. He's currently sitting in 3rd place for overall points and it's worth noting that with Kane out, he is likely to be on penalties.
Michail Antonio (Fixture: Fulham, Away)
The Englishman has been performing very well recently, getting plenty of shots away and performing well creatively too leading to goals and assists in recent games. West Ham are playing very well currently, with new signing Jesse Lingard adding another positive attacking option to the West Ham side.
Since returning to the side after a long lay off with injury issues Antonio has scored 2 goals and 3 assists in his last 5 games. He's also getting used to playing large portions of matches again playing 78-90 minutes in each of the last 5 Premier League games.
Facing Fulham at Craven Cottage in Gameweek 23, West Ham � and Antonio in particular � will be looking to build upon their impressive attacking displays of late.
‘Outside of the Box' captains:
James Maddison (Fixture: Wolves, Away)
Although the Leicester midfield maestro is currently selected by around 16% of FPL players at the time of writing, he will still be a huge captain differential.
The England international will be full of confidence following a brace of assists at Craven Cottage in Gameweek 22. If he can keep that attacking momentum going, then Maddison could score against Wolves.
Making Maddison your captain over the likes of Bruno Fernandes is not something that a boring player like myself would ever do, but if you like taking risks then James Maddison could be your man.
Patrick Bamford (Fixture: Crystal Palace, Home)
Although the Leeds centre-forward is currently selected by around 48% 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 Bruno Fernandes.
The Englishman has had a great season so far, with 11 goals and 8 assists, playing in a team who see plenty of action in both penalty areas! In terms of the underlying statistics he's top of all players for non-penalty expected goals in the league this season.
Leeds are facing Crystal Palace who have had defensive issues this season so I cannot see them being able to stop Bamford and co scoring at least 2 goals. 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!
