With yet another double gameweek in 22, Erling Haaland, for once, isn’t the best captain.
With Man Utd playing favourable fixtures at home – Crystal Palace (H) and Leeds (H) – the best captain is naturally one of their players.
Let’s discuss who is the best captain for FPL DGW22.
MARCUS RASHFORD
- Fixtures: Crystal Palace (H), Leeds (H)
- Anytime goal: 67%
- Anytime return: 84%
Rashford (£7.2m), is in fantastic form and is an absolute essential for DGW22.
Rashford’s 9 league goals this season have come from an expected goals (xG) tally of 9.22.
This equates to the second-highest out of all midfielders, just behind Rodrigo’s 10 goals.
He has registered hauls of 10 FPL points or more on 4 different occasions this season and 7 of his 9 goals have come at Old Trafford – which bodes well for DGW22.
Since returning from the World Cup you can see the confidence oozing from Rashford who has netted 10 times in all competitions.
He ranks 2nd for goals since the GW17 restart, scoring 5 goals in 6 games just behind the league’s top scorer Erling Haaland.
In the last 6 games, Rashford has scored 48 points (4th best) and he doesn’t look like slowing down anytime soon.
He tops the list in the Fantasy Football Pundit predicted points model with a projection of 13.4 points over the 2 fixtures.
Consequently, Rashford is the best FPL GW22 captain.
BRUNO FERNANDES
- Fixtures: Crystal Palace (H), Leeds (H)
- Anytime goal: 55%
- Anytime return: 82%
Bruno Fernandes (£9.9m), ranks second for predicted points (12.6) and could be a great differential captain this week.
At just 9% ownership, Fernandes has 4 goals and 5 assists at the halfway point of the season.
However, it’s worth noting that since GW16 he has scored 45 FPL points in 7 games. Averaging 6.4 points per game, indicating he is in a rich vain of form.
Fernandes’ minutes are nailed. He has played 90 minutes in every fixture since the restart which is vital when considering captaining a player.
Man Utd play Saturday and Wednesday which is more than enough time for Fernandes to recover.
The Portugese midfielder has the third highest xA in the league (7.2) and the 5th highest xGI amongst midfielders (10.7).
Post restart only Leicester have a worse xG conceded than both Leeds (19th) and Crystal Palace (18th).
In short, a triple-up on Utd assets is imperative.
RODRIGO MORENO
- Fixtures: Nottingham Forest (a), Man Utd (a)
- Anytime goal: 44%
- Anytime return: 58%
Update: There are rumours Rodrigo has picked an injury. As a result, we have him at 50% to start in our Premier League predicted lineups.
Another player and a differential to consider for captaincy this week is Rodrigo Moreno.
Rodrigo (£6.4m), is the highest-scoring Midfielder in the game (10). However, he has been primarily playing as a striker.
The Spanish Midfielder has scored 92 points this campaign and has accumulated a seasonal xGI of 8.98.
Furthermore, his xGi per 90 is impressive at 0.61, just behind that of Rashford.
Statistically, Rodrigo ranks 1st for shots, shots inside the box, and 2nd for shots on target for midfielders £6.5m and under, providing great value.
Rodrigo ranks 6th for projected points in DGW22 with a total of 8.1 points.
Rodrigo could be a differential captaincy option this week.
It is worth noting that there are question marks around his xMins over the next 2 fixtures, though.
The likes of Patrick Bamford and Georginio Rutter will likely get minutes in DGW22. Whether that will be at the expense of Rodrigo remains to be seen.
He has been subbed off in 7 of his last 9 starts in the league.
ERLING HAALAND
- Fixture: Tottenham (a)
- Anytime goal: 51%
- Anytime return: 60%
Erling Haaland (£12.2m) only has a single fixture in GW22 against Tottenham but will still be captained by some.
The Norwegian scored yet another hat trick in GW21 resulting in 17 points.
He has already beaten last year’s golden boot record of 23 and is scoring at a rate that the Premier League has never seen.
Haaland’s underlying numbers are incredible and he sits comfortably at the top of the xG data with 18.9 and has racked up an xGI per 90 at 1.29 (2nd).
The striker will be well rested come for Tottenham and in a must-win game for Man City, he will be looking to further extend his goal tally.
To conclude, we strongly recommend captaining a double gameweek player.
Rashford is the best captain choice for DGW22. However, given Fernandes’ far lower ownership, captaining him as a differential could be a risk worth taking.