This article is a data update of an article we did in mid January comparing Kane and Salah – we’re just publishing this as a quick revisit as this week Kane has Huddersfield and Salah has Newcastle (both at home) bringing this question to the fore once more.

Kane

Sir Harold has registered 24 goals and one assist so far this season, and 173 points overall.

Kane’s record reads 6.4 points per game (ppg) over the 27 games he’s played in (he was absent for the United match in Gameweek 10)

(ppg) over the games he’s played in (he was absent for the United match in Gameweek 10) Unfortunately, he’s recorded 13 blanks this season so far; a 48% blank rate (including the cameo in DGW22 v Swansea)

this season so far; a (including the cameo in DGW22 v Swansea) Conversely, this means he’s contributed more than appearance points in 52% of his games, scoring an average of 10.9 each time

of his games, scoring an average of each time He’s returned two figure scores in 30% of his matches

Whenever he scores a two figure return, you’re expecting 14.3 from him

Salah

We actually gave Salah a fairly glowing endorsement when signing for Liverpool in the summer, but he’s still classifiable as a revelation by all accounts. He’s bagged a frankly ridiculous 23 goals and supplied 10 assists so far this season and is the leading FPL points scorer on 227 points.

Salah has a superior record to Kane in terms of ppg, with the Egyptian recording 8.4 points per game versus the Spurs forward’s 6.4, whilst playing the same number of games (27)

versus the Spurs forward’s 6.4, whilst playing the same number of games (27) He’s only blanked in 6 games, meaning a 22% blank rate

games, meaning a This means he’s contributed more than appearance points in 78% of his games (excluding clean sheets)

(excluding clean sheets) He’s returned two figures in 48% of his games – crazy

of his games – crazy When he scores two figures, he averages out at 12.3 – not as good as Kane, but you’d never say no to it!

Data

Verdict

Kane still has the higher ceiling whereas Salah still has the higher floor.

However, recent performances since the last update have served to reinforce the point that Salah delivers far more consistently than Kane does.

As we said on the last article, this positions Kane as the ‘sword’ pick versus Salah as the ‘shield’ pick: if you’re looking to climb in your mini-leagues and overall, pick Kane for this week and hope for a big explosion; if you’re looking to consolidate, stick it on Salah and wait for the inevitable points to roll in.

It’s the difference between the hope of an explosion with Kane versus the near guarantee of delivery with Salah that’s the key thing for FPL managers to weigh up this week. Of course, there are other factors at play (e.g. Liverpool being through in the Champions League v Spurs’ game on a knife edge; defence of Huddersfield and Newcastle) that you may wish to consider.

Good luck!

Data from FPL. Pictures courtesy of @TacticsFC, a curated football (including FPL) podcast platform. Visit them here.