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 31 Captains:
Diogo Jota (Fixture: Aston Villa, Home)
Let's talk about Diogo Jota as a serious captain contender. The £6.9m Liverpool midfielder is currently sitting at less than 13% ownership at the time of writing � he is a huge differential, especially if you captain him!
The Portuguese man goals per game ratio is insanely good, backing this up with a brace off the bench away at Arsenal last Gameweek. He's also doing well in the Champions League this season and scoring goals for Portugal too. He's playing so well at the minute and Liverpool now have a great chance to get into the top 4, potentially forcing Klopp to start him over or as well as Firmino in the Premier League more often. Furthermore, Mane isn't on great form either so maybe he will miss out for Jota occasionally too.
If you prefer to captain a premium asset (one who's on penalties too) then Mo Salah could be your man…
Mo Salah (Fixture: Aston Villa, Home)
Liverpool have struggled this season, but this hasn't stopped Salah from being in the mix for the golden boot race with 18 goals, just one goal behind ace marksman Harry Kane. Furthermore, his season-long form is still strong, with goals in Europe too.
He's been consistently performing well in all the key attacking metrics and I have no doubt this will continue this Gameweek against an Aston Villa side who are not as resolute defensively as they were earlier on in the season. Furthermore, as Mo is on penalties, that is another route to points for the Egyptian King too.
With Dean Smith's men visiting Anfield in Gameweek 31, could we see Mo return with a bang and get his first double digit return since Gameweek 21 vs West Ham? Those who captain him will certainly hope so.
Harry Kane (Fixture: Man United, Home)
Harry 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 season was defined recently vs Crystal Palace where he got 2 goals and 2 assists.
His passing ability has always been exceptional, but tactically he was more the man to get on the end of passes, now he's creating chances for his teammates too. The stats show how much better he's become creatively and he now has the most FPL assists of any player which is outstanding.
Spurs should benefit as a team offensively with Son returning from injury, therefore I see Kane's assist potential as increasing with Sonny on the pitch to finish off the chances he creates. Son has also been creating for Harry Kane in the weeks before his injury so I see his goal threat increasing too.
As we know, Kane is on penalties too and rarely misses, so there's another route to points for England's number 9.
However, Kane has a tough fixture this week at home to Bruno Fernandes' Manchester united…
Bruno Fernandes (Fixture: Spurs, Away)
Bruno is the top point scorer in FPL this season and is a very reliable option, week in week out. In the underlying statistics it's not surprising as he's near the top for shots and for chances created, he's a genuine double threat.
Spurs at home isn't as good as a fixture as Aston Villa home (for Jota and Salah) but Bruno can deliver goals and/or assists in any fixture so there's every chance Mr Reliable can do the business. In fact, many people sold him in Gameweek 27 where he faced Man City at the Etihad, where he popped up with a penalty.
Furthermore, Bruno Fernandes is central to everything Man United do, and, importantly he takes penalties which as we all know, United win a lot of them!
Man United play in the Europa League before visiting the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium so it's worth keeping an eye on that one to see how it pans out and making sure Bruno doesn't pick up a knock.
‘Outside of the Box' captain:
Sergio Aguero / Raheem Sterling (Fixture: Leeds, Home)
My differential captain picks in Gameweek 31 is one of the Manchester City boys who haven't played much football in the Champions League. Will either of these two definitely start? With Pep, it's hard to guarantee anything but they both have a strong chance with Pep likely to rest other forward thinking players for the second leg against Dortmund.
Both are currently sitting at under 6% ownership at the time of writing � they will be huge captain differentials, with your mini-league rivals likely to captain one of the premium assets like Salah for example.
Aguero and Sterling both have the potential to be explosive, and with City facing a Leeds side which can ship a lot of goals due to their style of play, I wouldn't be surprised to see them score double-digits this Gameweek.
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!
