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 9 Captains:
Jack Grealish (Fixture: Brighton, Home)
It could seem like a crazy shout, but Jack Grealish has been sensational so far this season for Aston Villa. Furthermore, he is now impressing on an international stage, starting matches for England and being the best player on the pitch.
With Brighton at home next for Aston Villa we could see Grealish build upon his 4 goals so far this season. He's created the second highest amount of big chances this season with 6, and that has translated to assists with 6 which is also second highest in the league.
With a favourable fixture at home to Brighton, Jack could fancy his chances to fill his boots.
Bruno Fernandes (Fixture: West Brom, Home)
With fears of an injury in the international break looking to be unfounded rumours, Bruno Fernandes is a fantastic option at home to West Brom. He had a mammoth haul away to Everton in Gameweek 8, scoring 2 and grabbing an assist.
He's central to everything Man United do, and, importantly he takes penalties and 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 him and therefore you can't squeeze Bruno in, but, you may have his teammate, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Marcus Rashford. The England international could also be in the points this Gameweek as Man United are facing a terrible defence in the form of West Bromwich Albion.
Harry Kane (Fixture: Man City, Home)
Although Kane has a tough fixture on paper, there's always a chance to score goals vs Man City. Regarding Kane's goal threat stats, the eight Gameweeks of Premier League data shows us that According to Fantasy Football Hub's stats section he has taken the most shots so far this season with 38, has the joint most shots on target with 15 and has the third highest expected goals with 6.02 (only Vardy and Salah have a higher score than this).
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 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 4.64, the most big chances created with 8 and the most assists with 8.
If you don't have Kane in your FPL team then maybe you fancy putting the armband on his teammate, the South Korean international Son, however I still prefer Kane in terms of captaincy over Son.
‘Outside of the Box' captains:
Jamie Vardy (Fixture: Liverpool, Away)
Top Stat: despite playing less minutes than the players like Calvert-Lewin, Kane and Salah he is top for all players in terms of expected goals 7.32.
Although the Leicester talisman is currently selected by around 22% of FPL managers at the time of writing, he will still be a huge captain differential, with your mini-league rivals likely to captain one of the premium assets � who aren't facing an away trip to Anfield!
However, the Liverpool defence as we all know is in tatters, with Virgil Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold all out. Furthermore, even when they were fit, ever since Liverpool clinched the league title last season their clean sheets and defensive numbers fell off a cliff. I can see Vardy exposing an inexperienced back 4, especially if they persist with their high line.
The Leicester number 9 will be full of confidence following three goals and two assists in the last 3 Gameweeks. If he can continue this form, then Jamie Vardy could score well away to Liverpool.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Fixture: Fulham, Away)
One of my outside the box captain picks in Gameweek 9 is the £7.8m Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Obviously he's highly owned in FPL, however, the focus for captaincy is elsewhere with Man United assets and other premiums the main options this week.
The England number 9 has only blanked once this season, and with Richarlison back for Everton, their attacking output should increase � especially with the likes of Digne and Rodriguez supplying crosses, Calvert-Lewin could have a field day at Craven Cottage.
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!
