Best captain for FPL Gameweek 1

We take a look at some of the top candidates and pick out the best captain for FPL Gameweek 1. Using the Fantasy Football Scout members area we can access its underlying stats and fixture ticker to come to a conclusion.

The player you select as your captain will earn you double points in any given round. Captaincy is one of the biggest contributors to your overall score and rank. Because of this, finding out the best captain for FPL Gameweek 1 could be key.

Gameweek 1 fixtures

Below we can see the fixture ticker – it has ordered the matches in difficulty order. According to the ticker the teams at the top have the easiest fixtures and the teams at the bottom have the toughest fixtures.

The fixture ticker can be very useful when trying to pick out a captain but other factors should also be considered.

Bukayo Saka

Arsenal sit second on the fixture difficulty ticker for Gameweek 1 – they face Nottingham Forest. The Arsenal frontline was one of the best last campaign – ranking second best for goals (88), second for goals scored in the box (75), and third best for shots in the box (414).

Nottingham Forest could well be one of the best teams to target in Gameweek 1. Last season, although resilient at times, they still conceded some very poor defensive data. In fact, in the 22/23 campaign amongst all teams they ranked joint fourth worst for goals conceded (68), third worst for shots in the box conceded (386) and third worst for big chances conceded (92).

One player who has bags of potential for Gameweek 1 is Bukayo Saka (£8.5m). Saka racked up 14 goals and 11 assists last season. This totalled to a huge 202 points and made him the sixth highest scoring player in FPL. Another promising stat is that Saka also ranked third best amongst midfielders for shots in the box last season.

Erling Haaland

Manchester City sit at fifth place on the ticker. The 22/23 English champions completed the treble last season, reflecting their quality. In terms of offensive stats they were one of the best in the league last season. They ranked first for goals scored (94), first for goals scored in the box (79) and first for big chances total (132).

Gameweek 1 sees Manchester City take on newly promoted side Burnley. Although impressive in their fight for promotion Burnley are untested in the Premier League since new manager Vincent Kompany implemented more attack-minded tactics.

The standout attacking option from Manchester City is striker Erling Haaland (£14m). The Norwegian accumulated a massive 36 goals and eight assists last campaign. This total helped him to reach 272 points making him the highest scoring player in the game. Not just that but Haaland also takes his sides penalties and is the focal point to the relentless Manchester City frontline.

Marcus Rashford

Manchester United rank fourth on the ticker for Gameweek 1 with a match against Wolves. The Reds were impressive last season – finishing third and claiming Champions League football. When compared to every other side in the division they ranked joint seventh for goals (58), joint fourth for attempts on goal (593) and third best for shots on target (209).

Wolves were battling relegation last campaign until new manager Julen Lopetegui took over and secured them a 13th place finish. With him now gone and little business in the transfer window defensively many are questioning if they have the quality to stay up.

Midfielder Marcus Rashford became talismanic for Manchester last season – he scored 17 goals and created five assists. This tally led to a whopping 205 points in FPL making him the fifth highest scoring player in the game. Rashford also maintained some great attacking data – amongst midfielders he ranked second for attempts on goal (108), second for shots in the box (78) and first for big chances total (35).

Conclusion

Manchester United and Marcus Rashford maintained some great offensive data last season but fell short when compared to the other two options – Wolves have also defended well over the years and so the fixture may not be as attractive as the others for captaincy.

Bukayo Saka is also a very good candidate for captaincy. Arsenal produced great attacking stats last campaign and also have a very good fixture. However, Both Saka’ and Arsenal’ 22/23 data was just short of Manchester City and Erling Haaland.

The best captain for FPL Gameweek 1 is Erling Haaland. Manchester City’ attacking data was one of the best last season and Haaland was a huge contributor towards that. The fact he leads the frontline, takes penalties and faces a newly promoted team in the first round makes it very difficult to consider anyone else.