With just 8 gameweeks left of the season captaincy is becoming more and more crucial.
GW31 brings favourable fixtures for Man City, Spurs and Liverpool.
Let’s discuss who is the best captain for GW31.
Erling Haaland
- Fixture: Leicester (H)
- Anytime goal: 68%
Erling Haaland (£12.2m) is back and continues to take the Premier League by storm.
A brace against Southampton took the Norwegian to 30 goals and 6 assists in just 26 games. He sits clear at the top of the xG data (25.1) and has an xA of 4.4.
Man City have scored a remarkable 75 goals this season (1st) with an xG of 66.7 (1st). Haaland has contributed to an astonishing 40% of these goals and has a % chance of scoring anytime this gameweek.
City are the most likely team to score more than 2.5 goals in GW31 which only furthers the appeal of the striker.
This, along with Leicester sitting 19th in the league, and City putting 6 past Leicester in this fixture last season makes Haaland the default captain pick for FPL GW31.
He tops the list in the Fantasy Football Pundit predicted points model.
Harry Kane
- Fixture: Bournemouth (H)
- Anytime goal: 58%
Harry Kane (£11.7m) has been immense this season.
He has now registered 23 goals and 6 assists with an xG of 19.1 (3rd) and an xA of 5.2 (3rd) among forwards.
The Englishman is the 2nd highest scorer in the entire game just 17 points behind Erling Haaland.
Spurs have managed 55 goals this season (3rd) with an xG of 47.9. Kane has scored 42% of all Spurs’ goals and has been involved in 53% of these.
He is the team’s talisman, has goals, assists potential, and will always be involved. This along with penalty duty for the striker bodes well as a captain option this week.
On paper Spurs’ fixture against the Cherries is the best this gameweek. Bournemouth have conceded the most goals in the league (57) and rank 18th for xGC (51.8).
With Spurs ranking 2nd to score over 2.5 goals and Kane 2nd for predicted points, he is the second best captain choice.
Mohamed Salah
- Fixture: Leeds (a)
- Anytime goal: 48%
Salah (£12.8m) has 13 goals and 8 assists this season. While he’s had better seasons, he still tops the xG data for midfielders (16.6).
The Egyptian ranks 5th in the player form table (44), averaging 7.3 points per game.
Liverpool travel to Leeds in GW31 who have conceded 54 goals this season (19th), along with the 2nd worst xGC (53.3).
Liverpool’s output isn’t as impressive as previous seasons but they still sit 2nd for xG (59.9) having scored 50 goals this season.
Salah is still racking up points and is ranked 4th among midfielders. Against Arsenal, he had 10 shots with an xG of 2.15 showing he gets into dangerous positions within the box.
To not captain Haaland will be a big risk for GW31. However, should he somehow blank, and either Kane or Salah perform, this would do wonders for your overall rank.