The prodigal Norwegian son returned in typical fashion with a 24-point captain return and all is well again in the world. The tricky path forward with Haaland is that the Champions League is now reaching the pointy end of the competition and Pep Guardiola has made it clear that he is desperate to win a Champions League trophy with Manchester City.
Arsenal faltered against Liverpool in their title charge, only managing a draw and allowing Manchester City to take slight favouritism for the title. Both teams will now be throwing the kitchen sink at the remaining fixtures to earn the three points every single match.
The top teams all have quite good fixtures this week and there are potentially 5+ captaincy options that you could make a case for.
Whether you’re looking for a safe pick or a high-risk/high-reward option, we’ve analysed all the fixtures to help you make the best decision for your team.
Top Pick
Erling Haaland, Manchester City
As mentioned earlier in the article, Haaland returned in style with two goals away at Southampton. He has followed this performance up with a goal and assist in the champions league against Bayern Munich, one of the world’s top teams currently.
City host Leicester this week who have made the uninspiring decision to hire former Aston Villa and Norwich manager Dean Smith. Smith has never been known for defensive prowess and has struggled in recent years in the prem. City have scored 47 goals in 14 home games this season which is a bonkers stat.
Jack Grealish continues to operate at a world-class level on the left wing and is bound to deliver Haaland assists and draw defenders against his former manager.
The bookies have given Haaland the easily best odds of scoring with a 71 % probability and is too good to pass up as our gameweek 31 captain.
Top contenders
Harry Kane, Tottenham
Throughout Tottenham’s tumultuous season, Kane has continued to deliver points to his believers.
Kane has five goals in his last four fixtures and has 23 goals and 6 assists for the season. These are huge returns at this point of the season but are being overshadowed to an extent by Haaland’s record-breaking season.
Kane and Tottenham have the pleasure of possibly the easiest fixture in the league at the moment, Bournemouth at home. Bournemouth have conceded 38 goals in 15 away matches and have conceded 3+ goals on six occasions. Two of these large losses came in their past three away fixture which shows their recent form is very poor.
Tottenham average over two goals per home game and have shown some new life under caretaker manager Christian Stellini.
Kane has been given a 55 % chance of scoring and also has the playmaking ability to record an assist on any given week.
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool
Salah’s form has turned enough in recent times to be back in the conversation of captaincy.
The bigger factor this week is the poor defensive performances of Leeds in the past few weeks.
Leeds have conceded 10 goals in their past three fixtures (7.6 expected goals against). They have two clean sheets in their past fourteen fixtures and are missing some key signings in defence and midfield that gave them some form of solidity earlier in the season.
Liverpool have had their attacking options return in recent weeks, allowing them to record 3.9 expected goals against Arsenal last gameweek who are a top two defence in the league this season.
Salah has been assigned a 49 % of scoring and looks likely to be involved in the points once again this week.
Daring differential
Gabriel Martinelli , Arsenal
Gabriel Martinelli has been one of the form players of the competition over the last month or two.
The Brazilian young gun has seven goals and two assists over the last eight gameweeks and has played very direct on goal from the left side of Arsenal’s potent attacking quartet.
Arsenal travel to West Ham in a must-win fixture if they are to stay neck and neck in the title race.
West Ham have made a habit of capitulating in recent weeks, conceding five goals to Newcastle and four goals to Brighton. This trend could continue this gameweek.
Martinelli has a 34 % chance of scoring according to the bookies this gameweek.
Nick, also known as StatsmanFPL, is a qualified data analyst with a love for FPL. He analyses the data so you don’t have to. Make sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram.