FPL Captain Call Gameweek 8: Who’s the best pick?

This week is an exciting week for us and should be for you too. It’s a great week to not captain Haaland and open the floor to all other contestants. Firstly, let’s review Gameweek 7 to see what useful information we can gather. 

Ollie Watkins was the star of Gameweek 7 with an amazing 23 points as Aston Villa destroyed Brighton 6-1. This highlighted Brighton’s defensive fragilities as they are yet to keep a clean sheet in all competitions this season. 

Tottenham continued their impressive run, albeit with assistance from the referee, scoring two goals against Liverpool and Son again being amongst the goalscorers while playing in the striker position. 

Gameweek 8 gives us multiple captaincy options without a clear standout which is why Captain Call is a must-read this week! 

Whether you’re looking for a safe pick to get the season off to a good start or are looking for a differential as you reach for the number one rank, we have you sorted in the below analysis. 

Tottenham face the whipping boys of the current season, Luton Town. 

Luton havn’t kept a clean sheet in all competitions this season and saw starting defender Amari’i Bell leave the field with injury in their mid-week fixture. Although Luton Town’s expected goals against at home have been respectable so far; facing Wolves, Burnley and a counter-attacking West Ham have been a factor in this. 

Son has been facing injury troubles in recent times and was substituted from the weekend fixture in the 70th minute. However, with Manor Solomon and Brennan Johnson on the sidelines, we expect the Spurs captain to start and play the majority of the match, playing off the shoulder of the Luton defensive line. 

Son has been given an impressive 51% chance to score and is our top captaincy choice for the week. 

It took Liverpool receiving two red cards and a wrongly disallowed goal (thanks VAR) to cause Salah to blank for the the first time. Prior to this, Salah averaged seven points per match and returned in every fixture. 

This week Liverpool face Brighton who are fresh off a 6-1 loss away to Aston Villa which will serve as a wake-up call to De Zerbi’s men as their record for the season now reads as five wins and two losses.

Brighton have conceded in every fixture this season but five of these fixtures only saw them concede one goal.

Liverpool have had lower expected goal numbers away from home as you would expect but Brighton’s play style will offer them plenty of space to work in. 

Salah has been assigned a 48% chance to score by the bookies and is also likely to provide assists for his teammates as he has so far this season. 

Maddison has similar reasoning to Son due to the fixture. Maddison is also a slight injury doubt but currently looks likely to feature, especially with the other injuries Tottenham are currently nursing. 

Maddison has two goals and four assist across seven fixtures which is a great return for the season so far. He averages three shots and three key passes per match and should enjoy running the midfield in Tottenham’s high intensity system. 

Maddison and Son partly rely on each other for their attacking returns so looking out for late news could affect late captaincy decisions. 

The Spurs midfielder has been assigned a 38% of scoring and also has a great chance to assist. 

It may seem odd that a player who scored a hattrick last gameweek is listed as a differential, but here we are. 

Watkins impressed last week at home with his three goal, two assist performance against a wayward Brighton. Watkins only had one goal before this fixture so this came as a surprise to all! 

The issue this week is that Aston Villa now travel to Wolves who successfully defeated reigning champions Manchester City on their home turf. Watkins could also be without his strike partner and creative force Moussa Diaby due to injury. 

The reason for this differential play is that Wolves had conceded three or more goals in their previous home matches before the Manchester City fixture and Aston Villa have other creative outlets, including newly recovered midfielder Jacob Ramsey. Diaby May also feature but is currently a doubt for the weekend. 

Watkins has been given a 39% chance of scoring by the bookies and is a solid differential captaincy option.

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.