Ah, the captaincy debate. It’s always tricky, but getting it right this season has proven to be especially tough. At FantasyBet, we’ve realised that if we’re going to get to the bottom of who to captain in FPL Gameweek 6, we need to put our best minds on the case.

Enter Clarke Hutchison. This is the man who tipped Erling Haland ahead of our Fantasy Champions League game. He’s basically some sort of FPL shaman, only Scottish and an Arsenal supporter.

Sergio Aguero £12.1m

Man City vs Watford

Pep Guardiola naming Aguero on the bench for City’s Champions League opener versus Shakhtar was big news amongst the FPL Community. The fact the Argentinian was unused midweek only stirred the excitement.

Since stepping foot in England, Aguero’s output has been ridiculously consistent. He has scored a Premier League goal every 103 minutes since the start of the 2013/14 season, as well as contributing with 46 assists.

Despite playing just 356 minutes this season, Aguero is the second-highest points scorer in the game.

The only concern for his long-term appeal is his consistency for minutes. In fact, he has never managed 3000 minutes in a season. But that doesn’t really matter for this week’s captaincy, because he’s almost guaranteed that precious time on the field against a favourable opponent.

Quique Sanchez Flores is patching up Watford faster than the patches appeared under his arms versus Arsenal, but I think Man City will be too much for them. The fact they suffered their first loss of the season last week is, in my opinion, just more impetus to make sure they don’t slip up against Watford.

Raheem Sterling £12.3m

Man City vs Watford

The muffled talk on selling Sterling has already began to unfold, with over 123,000 managers having already sold the Englishman at the time of writing. Yes he has back-to-back blanks, but personally I think this is a very rash decision.

Let’s not forget Sterling has five goals in five games, the most shots in open play, the most shots from inside the box, the most touches inside the opposition’s box and the highest expected FPL points (provided by FantasyFootballFix). He’s also unlucky not to have grabbed an assist, having created three big chances.

All of this after five gameweeks makes Sterling look like a nailed on season-keeper. And yet, those two blanks have clearly hit managers hard. Forget selling: captaining is a better option when you consider the youngster’s history in this fixture.

Since September 2017, Sterling has played against Watford three times in the Premier League and once in the FA Cup final. In this period, he has never failed to deliver, registering seven goals and an assist. His two 2019 outings both provided three attacking returns – a hat trick on March 9th backed up with two goals and an assist on May 18th.

Pierre Aubameyang £11.0m

Arsenal vs Aston Villa

Aubameyang just can’t stop scoring at the moment. Arsenal are playing some horrendous football at times and were once again frustrated by a smaller club last gameweek, but the Gabonese forward still had his say with a quick-fire first half brace.

The first was a clinical finish on the turn and the second was a routine tap-in. His stature and athleticism allow him to chip in with a variety of goals and, after five gameweeks, Aubameyang ranks second for open play attempts and third for expected goals excluding penalties.

The worry in captaining Aubameyang is not his individual form. Indeed, he is performing on par or even above some of the players competing for captaincy. Instead, the concern is Arsenal’s form. If he was leading the line for Liverpool or Man City, I’d have no qualms in giving him the armband.

Man City and Liverpool are a level above Arsenal

Man City Liverpool Arsenal Open Play Goals 15 10 7 Final 3rd Passes 833 744 517 Shots In Box 75 64 37 Total xG 12 10 6

It’s a similar conclusion to previous weeks. If you have confidence in Arsenal scoring early on, then you can expect the game to open up and, in turn, more chances presented to Aubameyang. On the other hand, if Arsenal struggle to get off the mark in the first half, strap yourself in for a nail-biting second.

Heung Min Son £9.6m

Leicester vs Tottenham

Off the back of his 16-point haul versus Crystal Palace, the top FPL scorer in Gameweek 5 will be brimming with confidence ahead of his side’s trip to Leicester. He was handed a rest by Mauricio Pochettino in midweek, playing just 20 minutes as his side were left frustrated in Athens.

Many readers will be intrigued as to why I rate Son above Kane this gameweek. In all honesty, it’s fairly simple. If you watched Spurs in their last Premier League fixture, Kane was dropping worryingly deep and Son occupied a central role for the most part. He managed four times as many successful passes and penalty area touches than his English teammate, despite the fact that Kane is classified as a forward.

Son comfortably outperformed Kane in Gameweek 5

Son Kane Touches In Box 8 3 Shots 5 1 Shots In Box 4 0 Final 3rd Passes 12 2 xG 0.42 0.03 xA 0.03 0.45

As a result, Son was the one making those defence-splitting runs behind Palace’s back four. Kane, whilst performing well, often linked the play long before the decisive touch. Not surprisingly, Son had the more threatening statistics, whilst Kane only bettered him in xA.

Son has recorded a career-best minutes to goal involvement ratio in this fixture. He has notched a goal or assist every 63 minutes and also welcomed Brendan Rodgers to the mantle as he broke away from The Foxes’ backline in stoppage time to convert in Gameweek 26 of last season.

Mohamed Salah £12.5m

Chelsea vs Liverpool

Salah was involved heavily as Liverpool were defeated by Napoli on Tuesday. The result could have gone either way, but Liverpool’s attack, no matter how hard they tried, failed to convert numerous chances. Salah attempted the most shots (5) of any player, although only one was on target.

More chances are guaranteed versus Chelsea in Gameweek 6. In midweek, Salah side-stepped one of the best centre-backs in the world into a faceplant, so I worry for Kurt Zouma’s health on Sunday afternoon.

Chelsea’s previous results promote a high-scoring encounter

Man United 4-0 Chelsea Chelsea 1-1 Leicester Norwich 2-3 Chelsea Chelsea 2-2 Sheffield United Wolves 2-5 Chelsea

Chelsea have conceded the second-most goals (11) in the Premier League this season and have conceded an average of 10 shots per game at Stamford Bridge. They have failed to keep a clean sheet all season and there have been an average of 4.4 goals per game in matches involving them. Suffice to say, it doesn’t bode well for a clean sheet against Liverpool.

Salah, who has only blanked on one occasion this season, will play in a match with a high expectancy of goals in Gameweek 6. It all points in favour of the inverted winger.

If Liverpool’s midweek defeat wasn’t enough of a motivation, this fixture against his old club should be. Plus, in Tammy Abraham, he’ll face one of the league’s current league top-scorers. We all know how competitive Salah can get!