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 get stuck into it!
Gameweek 3 Captains:
Mohamed Salah (Fixture: Arsenal, Home)
Salah is my top-pick for captaincy in Gameweek 3, despite facing a reasonably tough fixture against Arteta's Arsenal at Anfield. Salah's home record since joining Liverpool is phenomenal, with 50 goals in 58 games at Anfield in the Premier League.
He's started the season well too, with three goals already (all at home), and has taken 10 shots in the box so far this season, the joint highest alongside Harvey Barnes and Richarlison. According to Fantasy Football Hub's expected goals (xG) metric, the Egyptian King has the highest of anyone this season with an xG of 2.1. I should note this was helped considerably by the two penalties in Gameweek 1, but, with penalties becoming more frequent this season, there's even more reason to target penalty takers for your captaincy decision.
Mane stole the show for Liverpool in Gameweek 2 with 2 goals, however, for me Salah is still the best pick. He is on pens and I believe he will score more FPL points over the course of the season than Mane. Salah has been more creative than Mane so far this season with 9 key passes to Mane's 4, ranking him higher in the expected assists metric. Salah has also taken more shots than Mane this season, 13 to Mane's 8, with more inside the box, 10 to 5.
Kevin de Bruyne (Fixture: Leicester, Home)
I move onto another penalty taker now, last season's top points scorer returned to Premier League action with a bang against Wolves at The Molineux in Gameweek 2. Kevin de Bruyne started his season away at Wolves off the back of 13 goals and 23 assists, amassing 251 FPL points last season. He's picked up where he left off with 1 goal, 1 assist and all 3 bonus points. Although De Bruyne can score well against any team in the Premier League, this is hardly an ideal fixture for Guardiola's men. Leicester were solid defensively last season, registering 13 clean sheets, only conceding 41 goals - which on average is just 1.08 goals per game.
The exciting thing about De Bruyne this season is the advanced position he could be deployed in more often. Against Wolves, he was used in the number 10 role, with Rodri and Fernandinho providing cover for the back 4, giving De Bruyne licence to drive forward into the box like he did in Gameweek 2. This was highlighted by his 7 touches in the opposition box which was the joint highest (along with Sterling) of any Man City player in Gameweek 2.
This brings me nicely onto the Belgian's City teammate, English international Raheem Sterling who is also capable of big hauls too. How well City do in Gameweek 3 at the Etihad against tough opposition remains to be seen. If they do score goals, it's likely these two will be heavily involved for City.
Timo Werner (Fixture: West Brow, Away)
Werner has looked incredibly sharp in the first couple of gameweeks, his pace in behind is going to cause a lot of trouble for opposing defences this season. He's also won 2 penalties in the opening 2 games, which is a good sign of a source of assist points. Having said that, there's also the possibility of Werner being the first choice penalty taker now, following Jorginho's miss against Liverpool in Gameweek 2.
It'll be interesting to see how he - and Chelsea collectively - perform following their defeat to Liverpool. West Brom have been poor defensively and I believe this will be the game in which the German international will bag his first Premier League goal.
‘Outside of the Box' captains:
Harvey Barnes (Fixture: Man City, Away)
One of my differential captain picks in Gameweek 3 is the £7.0m Leicester midfielder Harvey Barnes. Currently sitting at less than 4% ownership at the time of writing he is a huge differential, especially if you captain him! I think it's fairly safe to say that of those who own him, very few of them will be throwing the armband on him.
If he can pick up where he left off from last Gameweek scoring 1 and assisting 1, then Barnes could be in for another productive FPL week. A tough away fixture for Leicester against Manchester City is far from the perfect fixture for the young Englishman to score well in, however, I do believe City can be got at defensively. He has the underlying stats too, as mentioned earlier, Barnes has taken 10 shots in the box so far this season, the joint highest alongside Mo Salah and Richarlison.
Wilf Zaha (Fixture: Everton, Home)
Although the Crystal Palace talisman is currently selected by 16.5% of FPL managers at the time of writing, he will still be a huge captain differential, with those that do have him likely to captain one of the premium assets like Salah, Werner, De Bruyne etc.
The Ivorian will be full of confidence following a fantastic display at Old Trafford. If he can keep that attacking momentum going, then Zaha could score well again at home to Everton, especially given the fact he may now be Palace's penalty taker following his successful spot kick in Gameweek 2.
Making a player from a Crystal Palace your captain is not something that a boring player like myself would ever do, but if you like taking risks then Wilf Zaha could be your man.
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!
