If you’re like us, the International break is not enjoyable as you spend most of the time second guessing yourself about your FPL side and the captain. It’s never been harder to work out who should wear the armband for your Fantasy Premier League team, so our Fantasy Premier League FPL Captain Picks GW9 are here to help.
This week and every week we have our own in-house way of choosing the best of the best to wear the armband for your Fantasy Premier League side.
Those double points prove vital to a top 10K finish, and so you should be armed with as much information as possible.
Mo Salah is out in front again, but it is much closer than last GW. Some old FPL Captain friends return to the top ten this week too.
Along with the Captain’s Table is a load of key stats for your Fantasy team.
For now, help yourself to a seat at the Fantasy Premier League FPL Captain Picks GW9 Captain’s Table.
FPL Captain Picks GW9 Captain’s Table
Here are the FPL Captain Picks GW9 results. A full explanation of the stats and calculations are provided at the end.
We show only the top ten, the entire data is determined by our selection of the top 30 or so potential captain choices.
Stats are based up to GW8 except for scoring records v opposition. Where there is no opposition history we have taken this season’s stats.
FPL Captain Picks GW9 Analysis
Mo Salah is at the head of the Captain’s Table once more, and if you have him, you captain him. Unless you like to take a risk. But what a risk it is given current form, and he followed it up in Europe midweek. One question is the fixture. Liverpool have had the upper hand recently, especially at home. They are undefeated at home to Man Utd in the last six, but three of those have been 0-0 draws. But Liverpool have scored 2+ goals in the games they have won. History v Form? Take the form we say. You know you’ll enjoy the game more.
But for those Mo-less few or those you like to be different here is the best of the rest.
Before we leave the Liverpool-Man Utd blockbuster there’s some players to talk about. Sadio Mane is in decent form, but his one goal, one assist return in 12 matches v Man Utd isn’t screaming out to take him over Mo Salah.
Forgotten FPL man Bruno Fernandes is in our Captain’s Table this week, and he has a few return in three matches v Liverpool. But Man Utd are yet to be tested against the big six opposition, and it’s not as if the team are in sparkling form. For your information however, here is the breakdown of Bruno’s stats so far this season.
BRUNO’S STATS – 1-3 SHOTS/SHOTS ON TARGET — 4-6 TOUCHES PEN AREA/SIX YARD BOX — 7-9 BIG CHANCES/CHANCES/KEY PASSES
Cristiano Ronaldo is on the nose of our Captain’s Table, but you just know he could punish for having sold him. Which many have. We have included Ronaldo’s stats for the season in our In-Depth section towards the end.
Manchester City playing Brighton this weekend, which in seasons past would leave FPL players rubbing their hands, however this is a much different, better Brighton this season. They have conceded only five goals this season, and are fifth for touches (Man City are a clear first of course), so the point being Man City may not get things their own way. In saying that Kevin de Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus and Phil Foden are our best picks for the Citizens based on stats and likelihood to play. Phil Foden in particular looks ready to explode. If he plays.
Jamie Vardy is second in our Captain’s Table again, after sneaking into second last week, and he just keeps on scoring. Leicester looked good v Man Utd, but Brentford have been a tough cookie to crack this season. They have especially pushed the bigger teams too. But while Jamie Vardy is on a streak, you keep it rolling. Although Iheanacho is looming as one to watch now they have worked out the team is better with him starting.
That leaves Romelu Lukaku who will attract a few eyes this weekend based on their fixture. They play Norwich who are looking like they are already going down, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now. But both Chelsea and Lukaku seem to go better against the weaker teams (have a look at Lukaku’s stats below), so you are taking on a bit of faith given Chelsea haven’t been great lately.
Spurs duo Son and Kane, which sounds like a UK detective duo, have great scoring records against West Ham, and Spurs looked OK against Newcastle last weekend. Who knew, they are up to fifth despite looking busted arse not long ago. Kane seems to be getting better every week and is one to consider this week. Although it is a better West Ham side than most years.
Raul Jiminez is a real left field choice. They play Leeds who haven’t looked great this season. And Wolves are getting better each week, and showed some real backbone last weekend with their comeback. Maybe not a captain, but worth thinking about.
TOP TEN CAPTAIN PICKS STATS
For your consideration are the below key stats from last season’s FPL for the Top Ten players from our Captain’s Table. Well eleven this time as TAA may be out.
FPL Captain Picks GW9 Final Say
HELLO – Mo Salah – A must if you have him. As for the other 35%…..
CALL ME MAYBE – Son or Kane – Is this where they turn their season around. Both have good scoring records v West Ham. Romelu Lukaku and Chelsea are playing Norwich and Chelsea and Lukaku o like playing against the bottom six sides.
GOODBYE – Man Utd – One goal in six matches at Liverpool. Pass.
READ MORE
Our Premier League Predictions for Week 9
FPL Captain Picks GW9 – Other Stats
2021-22 SEASON STATS SO FAR
Before one ventures into the new gameweek, how about a review of who is doing the best at the moment across a wide range of key stats.
We’ve hand picked the best of them from this season so far and last weekend’s action.
FPL 21-22 – CHANCES CREATED
FPL 21-22 – TOUCHES
FPL 21-22 – SHOTS
FPL 21-22 – KEY PASSES
FPL 21-22 – EXPECTED GOALS
FPL GW8 – Ownership Changes
Who is on the nose? Who is the most popular picks this week?
Well here is the top and bottom 10 ownership changed from prior to last weekend until today.
We have it by position too.
FPL 21-22 – Bonus Points
We do run through the Bonus Points for the 2021-22 season in greater detail here.
But here’s the total Bonus Points awarded so far.
FPL 21-22 – Clean Sheets
Clean Sheets are a vital part of a big points haul for the defense, and we have an entire article dedicated to Clean Sheets for the 2021-22 Season.
But a few quick stats are below.
FPL 21-22 – Fixture Difficulty – Next Three Games
We have our own in-house Fixture Difficulty system, from 0 for the easiest to 10 for the hardest. It takes it current form, table position, home and away bias, H2H records for various timeframes and more.
Here is the next three games Difficulty Rating, and the full 2021-22 Season articles is available here.
FPL STATS IN DEPTH – MO SALAH
Every week we will bring you a little more depth to a certain player or team.
Who better to start with than Mo Salah.
Owned by well over half of the FPL players and in sparkling form, it could be his best season ever.
So we have broken down the shots, touches and chances by GW and via opposition type for your statistical pleasure.
And this week we provide the same for three other premium selections, all with their problems of FPL point scoring this season.
FPL STATS IN DEPTH – HARRY KANE
FPL STATS IN DEPTH – ROMELU LUKAKU
FPL STATS IN DEPTH – CRISTIANO RONALDO
CAPTAIN’S TABLE DATA EXPLAINED
If you’re after an explanation on the Captain’s Table data help yourself to the below.
Goals and Assists v Opposition are compiled and compared to the best return per game for each player against this week’s opposition. The top return is awarded 20 points and points are reduced on a sliding scale from there. For players who haven’t played against this week’s opposition we have used goals + assists per game from this season. They are coloured in gold text.
Form taken straight from the Official FPL website. The top return is awarded 30 points and points are reduced on a sliding scale from there.
FPL points per Minute is a measurement taking the overall FPL points scored by the minutes on the field. This is so injured players or mid season signings are disadvantaged. The top return is awarded 20 points and points are reduced on a sliding scale from there.
Key Stats per Game is our own in house combination of key FPL stats for each players, which is then compared to the top results and goes down on a sliding scale. The fields include Goals per Game, Shots per Game Assists per Game, Key Passesper Game, Shots On Target per Game, and Chances per Game. Top Player get a maximum of 10 points and awarded on a sliding scale from there.
Bonus Points we tally up the Bonus Points throughout the 2021-22 season. Top Player get a maximum of 10 points and awarded on a sliding scale from there.
Match Rater – in addition to our Captain’s Table we have also devised our own Premier League Fixture Difficulty which we have included for a max 10 points. Because we think that game itself should be rated as well.
Multiplier – we have taken each player’s record against big six clubs and Home/Away goalscoring trends and applied a multiplier based on positive or negative trend.
Total all the scores are combined for an overall total. Maximum is 100.
FULL CAPTAIN’S TABLE
