The Gameweek 23 captain poll is up and running and you can cast your vote either via the sidebar or at the foot of this article.
Fresh off the back of their 6-1 victory over Aston Villa, Manchester City’s players will likely be popular picks for the armband when Crystal Palace visit the Etihad this weekend.
At the time of writing, four of the leading ten candidates in our poll are on City’s books: Kevin De Bruyne (£10.7m), Sergio Aguero (£11.8m), Raheem Sterling (£11.8m) and Riyad Mahrez (£8.4m).
Crystal Palace will likely provide sterner opposition than Aston Villa on Saturday and the Eagles, despite all of their injuries in defence, haven’t conceded more than one goal in a league match since November.
That said, Pep Guardiola’s troops have scored at least two goals in 19 of their 22 Premier League games this season and defeated Palace 2-0 in the reverse fixture, racking up 21 shots (including seven big chances) in the process.
De Bruyne averages 7.7 points per match at home this season, although ‘only’ 5.1 points per game in his last seven run-outs at the Etihad.
Sterling, remarkably, has registered just three attacking returns on home soil in 2019/20.
Like Manchester City, Liverpool have scored on 29 occasions in their 11 home fixtures this season.
The Reds are this weekend up against Manchester United, who have an unbeaten record against the top four this season and who are the only club to take points off Jurgen Klopp’s league leaders.
Marcus Rashford (£9.2m) has five goals in his four meetings with the sides currently in the UEFA Champions League spots, while Anthony Martial (£7.9m) has two goals in as many starts against these clubs.
Liverpool are formidable on their own turf, however, with Mohamed Salah (£12.3m) and Sadio Mane (£12.4m) registering ten and 12 attacking returns at Anfield respectively.
At the back, Klopp’s troops are on a run of six straight clean sheets and face a Manchester United side that are scoring at a modest rate of 1.09 goals per game on their travels in 2019/20.
Jamie Vardy (£10.0m) currently sits second in our captain poll and will no doubt be handed the armband by legions of FPL managers again this week, particularly as Leicester City face a Burnley side that have conceded more goals than any Premier League team bar Aston Villa over the last nine Gameweeks.
Vardy has scored in his last five league appearances on the road, averaging 12 points per match in that time.
Among the differentials, Ismaila Sarr (£6.2m) is attracting a fair bit of support.
Watford are this weekend facing Tottenham Hotspur, who have kept only one clean sheet in the ten league matches that Jose Mourinho has taken charge of.
Sarr, meanwhile, has registered five attacking returns in as many Gameweeks, with only De Bruyne and Mahrez able to beat that total among FPL midfielders.
One or both of Lucas Moura (£7.1m) or Son Heung-min (£9.8m) may well be lining up ‘out of position’ for the Lilywhites in that fixture, deputising for Harry Kane (£10.9m) in attack, but Watford have really tightened up of late and kept clean sheets in four of their last seven matches.
Neal Maupay (£5.8m) and Brighton and Hove Albion are next up to have a pop at Villa’s leaky defence, while Chelsea’s fine away record – 25 goals scored in 11 matches on the road – may see Tammy Abraham (£7.8m) pick up a captaincy nomination or two.
Abraham has attacking returns in each of the last three Gameweeks and has scored eight goals in 11 starts on his travels this season, assisting a further three.
These are the reverse fixtures of the matches contested in Gameweek 9, when goals were in fairly short supply: not one team scored more than twice in that set of games.
For those who like their omens, Raul Jimenez (£7.5m) and the in-form Danny Ings (£6.8m) both scored when Wolves and Southampton last met back in October.
There is further encouragement for Ings this Saturday: no side has kept fewer clean sheets than Wolves (one) over the last 14 Gameweeks.
Vardy, Rashford and Jack Grealish (£6.5m) were also on target against this weekend’s opponents back in Gameweek 9, with the Aston Villa man registering one of his two double-digit hauls of 2019/20.
David and Joe will be bringing you their captaincy video this Tuesday lunchtime, while the Captain Sensible article will be out in its usual slot on Friday morning for a more in-depth look at the runners and riders for the armband in Gameweek 23.
4 years, 10 months agoStart 2 out of 3 this week:
Aurier (wat)
Lundstram (ars)
Stephens (WOL)