Best Captain for Gameweek 9 - Fantasy Football Community

The new round of Fantasy Premier League is approaching with haste. So, here, in this article we take a look at the best captain for Gameweek 9.

After a third consecutive Premier League blank, targeting Erling Haaland (£15.4m) and his plum Southampton fixture for the Triple Captain chip has lost a certain appeal ahead of Fantasy Premier League’s (FPL) Gameweek 9.

In this edition of Captain Sensible, we examine if using the chip on the Norwegian is still a valid play. If you don’t own Haaland, we also consider a range of differential options from Brentford, Chelsea, Aston Villa and elsewhere.

First, we will assess the fallout of the captain poll. We will then analyse the best options, Rate My Team’s (RMT) points projections and the Premier Fantasy Tools ratings ahead of Friday’s 18:30 BST deadline.

THE CAPTAIN POLL

The barren spell continues for Erling Haaland on the domestic front with the Norwegian, who started the season at breakneck speed with 10 goals in five games. He is now goalless in his last three Premier League outings.

In Manchester City’s 2-1 dramatic injury-time win at Wolves, the Norwegian failed to even muster a single shot.

But before his hugely favourable fixture against Southampton, Haaland understandably dominates the captain poll. City’s marksman is backed by just under two-thirds of our users.

Meanwhile, Bryan Mbeumo (£7.6m) makes a rare appearance at the top of the captaincy conversation.

The Cameroon international has assumed the role of talisman for Brentford after Ivan Toney’s departure. He has started the season in red-hot form, with six goals across the opening eight Gameweeks making a mockery of his price-tag.

Mbeumo is supported by 6.3% of our users – some 60% behind Haaland – users to set the heather ablaze when Ipswich Town visit the GTECH Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Cole Palmer (£10.9m), Chris Wood (£6.3m) and Mohamed Salah (£10.9m) complete the top five.

THE PLAYER STATISTICS – LAST SIX MATCHES

Focusing on the poll favourite, Haaland dominates the shot volumes.

The Norwegian sits at the summit for goal attempts (26) and non-penalty xG (4.44), bettering Plamer for both metrics. The ice-cold England internationals posts totals of 21 shots and 3.21 non-penalty xG, respectively.

Haaland tally of 23 shots in the box, meanwhile, leads Ollie Watkins (£9.1m) and Salah (both 16). The City marksman also leads Liverpool’s Egyptian for shots on target (17 to 10).

In terms of big chances, Watkins has the edge over Palmer for big chances (10 to seven).

Palmer, however, demonstrates the best creative numbers in this assessment. Seven big chances created, 18 key passes and an expected assists (xA) tally of 1.52 from the Chelsea man are all leading totals in this assessment.

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