Who are the best captain options for FPL Gameweek 36+?

Fantasy Premier League managers have been invited to take risks with left-field captaincy choices in Gameweek 36+.

That’s according to the latest figures from our recent poll, which features no clear standout candidate.

In Gameweeks like this, the risks attached to going with your gut rather than the crowd are much lower than usual. So now is the time to be as pragmatic as possible with your decision.

To help you make this tough choice, the Captain Sensible article is back once again, here to analyse the form of the individual options on offer and compare them against the defences they are about to face.

As this uses data from the Fantasy Football Scout Members Area, only those with a valid subscription can access it in full.

Captain Poll

Christian Pulisic (£7.3m) is the current leader of the Gameweek 36+ captain poll, although it has been a close-run thing since we published the options on our site.

It was not until late on Monday evening and into the early hours of Tuesday morning that the Chelsea man climbed to the top of the pile and even now, he has the support of just 18.8%.

The American and his Chelsea colleagues have the most favourable fixture of the Gameweek as they host Norwich on Tuesday evening.

Pulisic may have blanked last time out but, since Project Restart began, he has produced an attacking return in all but one match while Norwich have conceded 15 goals in that time, more than any other side.

However, that is not enough to hand Pulisic any kind of large majority, Raheem Sterling (£11.8m) sitting just a few percentage points below him in the poll.

The Manchester City man currently sits on 16.6% support, although he led the standings until late last night.

It has been an explosive few rounds of action for Sterling who recorded double-figure hauls in three outings since Gameweek 32+. Crucially, he has been in devastating form at the Etihad Stadium, averaging 12 points per appearance there since the Premier League returned.

Norwich are the only side to concede more goals than Bournemouth (13) in that time, which is probably why Kevin De Bruyne (£10.8m) also finds himself in the captaincy conversation, backed by 13.9% of the voters.

These managers will be hoping for an upturn in the Belgian’s fortunes after a recent distancing from Manchester City’s attacking exploits. De Bruyne has managed just one assist in connection with the former champions’ last nine league goals.

Willian (£7.4m) will also play a part in the Gameweek 36+ debate with his 10.9% support from the captain poll. Obviously, he also gets to face that obliging Norwich defence on Tuesday night and has outscored Pulisic since the restart by 48 points to 39.

Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) rather let down his horde of backers in Gameweek 35+ with just an assist against Southampton but the Manchester United man has a decent record on the road ahead of a trip to Crystal Palace.

The Portuguese international has produced attacking returns in every away match since the Premier League restart, averaging 12.7 points across the three he has played in that time so far.

Even though only Norwich have conceded more goals than Palace since Gameweek 30+ too, only 9% are looking to captain Fernandes in Gameweek 36+.

Gabriel Jesus (£9.8m) and Phil Foden (£5.5m) are the differential captain options for those backing Manchester City, boasting 5.9% and 2.9% of the vote respectively. 

The Brazilian has four attacking returns in the last two matches, while Foden has delivered in all but one home appearance made since Project Restart began.

With Norwich scoring just once in that time, Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.1m) has been considered by 2.7% while Olivier Giroud (£6.7m) netting four goals in his last five outings is enough to earn the support of 2.5% in the captain poll.

Mohamed Salah (£12.6m), David Silva (£7.3m), Danny Ings (£7.5m), Anthony Martial (£8.4m) and Michail Antonio (£7.0m) are the only other options chosen by more than 1%.

Player statistics – Last four matches