For me, I think this week is a toss up between Haaland and Salah depending on who you own but I have included a few others for anyone looking to go a bit rogue.
Erling Haaland
He is selected by (as of time of writing) 53.5% of teams and I would imagine nearly every single person owning him will be putting the armband on him this weekend. No worry of rotation with Champions League games, no issue with resting due to international tournaments over the summer and home to a newly promoted team, pave the way for Haaland to strike big. For the 46.5% of managers who do not own Haaland, it will be a nervy couple of hours from 3pm tomorrow. I have seen a lot of talk about using the triple captain chip, I can understand this with the reduction in likely double gameweeks, with only being two predicted. There is also the mystery chip to be revealed which could be perfect for a double gameweek. For the record, I am going to captain Haaland this week but will not be using my triple captain chip. I take my hat off to the people who are using it, its very bold and the sort of move that you will look back on come May if you win your mini league (if it comes off).
Mo Salah
I would imagine the Haaland vs Salah debate is going to dominate the captaincy articles this year. Liverpool’s first Premier League game at home for Arne Slot and he is going to want to deliver. Salah has scored five goals in five appearances against Brentford and I would be shocked if he didn’t add to that. However, if Salah does not return and Haaland does it could be a big swing week for those managers who opted for Salah over Haaland.
Alexander Isak
He was my captain last week against Southampton and the red card was a bit of a killer to his potential returns. Following the red card, a return in the form of an assist was good considering the circumstances. I think he can go one better this week and bag himself a goal. However, do I see him outscoring Haaland/Salah unfortunately not. Never too keen on away games either.
Josko Gvardiol
I have only ever captained a defender once and that was TAA several years ago, funnily enough it did pay off with a clean sheet and an assist. However, I have seen people get burnt many a time now and it would be typical for Man City be 5/6 nil up and let a consolation goal in at the end. However, on the flip side, City will expect to keep a clean sheet here and Gvardiol will have much more freedom to push forward compared to the Chelsea game. It could be a stroke of genius.
Rodrigo Muniz
I haven’t seen his name pop up anywhere as a potential captain this week, Fulham play a really poor Leicester team at home and they look to have built a really handy starting 11 this season. I think Leicester were very lucky that Tottenham were so wasteful but on another day it could have been a hammering. Muniz will get many chances and I would expect him to take one.
To conclude this piece, I think the standout captain is Erling Haaland followed by Mo Salah. However, if you do decide to go with a differential captain, like with anything FPL related, it can either be genius or idiotic, rarely an in-between on these bold moves.
