Erling Haaland will once again be the most popular captain pick for FPL GW9 but he does face competition.
Although he hasn’t been in the form FPL managers expect, Mohamed Salah cannot be ignored at home.
For the first in a while, he is actually becoming somewhat of a differential which may sway some managers into giving him the armband.
We discuss all the best captain picks below. However, for the full list, visit our best FPL Captains page.
Erling Haaland/Kevin De Bruyne
- Fixture: Manchester United (H)
- Anytime goal: 62% / 32%
- Anytime return: 70% / 59%
- Predicted points: 6.9 / 6.0
We start with the pairing who have been the most dominant, and the most deserving in the first names within an FPL captaincy article.
Erling Haaland has 23 more fantasy points than any other player in the game.
This is mainly due to scoring a hat-trick in each of his last two home games. While he is unlikely to make it a hat-trick of hat-tricks against Man Utd, you wouldn’t back against him.
His dominance in fantasy is reflected by his captaincy amongst the elite managers.
In each of the top 10k, 1k and top 100 managers, he has a captaincy percentage between 79-85%. The next player closest to him is Harry Kane with an average of 10% of managers captaining him.
Of course, there’s the Belgian wizard as an alternative. Although his overall record against his crosstown rivals may not stand out, his recent returns highlight his quality.
He registered a brace, alongside an assist in the corresponding meeting last season. This ended as a 4-1 win to Man City.
De Bruyne to has the most assists thus far with 6, which is two more than Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka.
Mohamed Salah
- Fixture: Brighton (H)
- Anytime goal: 47%
- Anytime return: 60%
- Predicted points: 6.5
Second, in line, is the Fantasy Premier League GOAT Mohamed Salah. Although he may have not set the world on fire so far this season, the stats show he’s in line for a much due haul.
Salah is the second-highest projected points scorer for the coming gameweek, with a predicted points total of 6.5.
Because of this he seems hard to ignore, despite not scoring a goal since GW3.
In his 10 league meetings against Brighton, he has scored 6 goals and provided 5 assists.
From a captaincy front, he is a differential, with his ownership halving since the season began. His ownership is now just 35%.
Interestingly, he is the second most transferred out player with 190,000 transfer outs.
Harry Kane
- Fixture: Arsenal (a)
- Anytime goal: 35%
- Anytime return: 45%
- Predicted points: 4.2
If you fancy the early kick-off, look no further than Tottenham’s all-time highest goalscorer.
To cement his case, it’d be best to go through his superb recent record against his upcoming opponents, Arsenal.
In his 15 league appearances, he has scored 13 goals, alongside an assist. The only team he performs better against is Leicester, as shown last time out.
In addition, he ranks second for xG, with an xG of 5.35, and third for xA with 4.17. His xG and xA stats, show how well-rounded he is now, as a player.
Heung Min Son is also in great recent form. Although there are certainly better captain picks (the same can be said for Kane) some managers may be tempted by the form factor alone.
Ivan Toney
- Fixture: Bournemouth (A)
- Anytime goal: 39%
- Anytime return: 49%
- Predicted points: 4.5
Fourth in line, is a differential in Brentford’s talisman, Ivan Toney.
Toney has gone from strength to strength in recent times, having received his first England call-up within the international break.
Also, he ranks inside the top 10 players, for most points scored within the last 6 gameweeks, with 30. His hat-trick against Leeds last time out is a strong contributing factor to this.
Furthermore, he is on free kicks, alongside having penalties. This only enhances his chances of adding more returns over the course of the season.
His opponents, Bournemouth, do have the fourth worst xG conceded with 12.4. However, they have conceded 19 goals. Only Leicester has shipped more, with 22.
James Maddison
- Fixture: Nottingham Forest (H)
- Anytime goal: 29%
- Anytime return: 43%
- Predicted points: 4.7
Finally, one of the very few shining Foxes so far this season, in Maddison.
The attacking midfielder has scored three goals this campaign, alongside an assist.
With this, he has returned in all bar one of Leicester’s games, in which the Foxes have scored in.
The former Premier League champions are likely to have chances come their way against Forest.
The newly-promoted side has the third lowest percentage for clean sheet odds this coming gameweek, with 17%.
This is evidenced by the fact they have conceded 14 in their last four matches.
Although 8 of these came against Man City and Tottenham, the other 6 came against fellow newly promoted sides Bournemouth and Fulham.