Salah vs Kane - Who is the best FPL captain for Gameweek 9
Who is the best FPL captain for Gameweek nine? 4-time top 1k and 5-time top 5k finisher Abdul Rehman uses stats, fixtures and the eye test to find the best Fantasy Premier League captain and differential captain for the upcoming Gameweek.
Best Captain for Gameweek 9
Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) – Liverpool
Fixture: Manchester United (A)
Mohamed Salah continued his scintillating form with a goal and assist against Watford last week. We have simply run out of words to describe how good he has been this season. He has five double-digit hauls in his first eight games and has only blanked in one game so far, and comes into Sunday's game with seven goals and four assists to his name.
Unsurprisingly, he is the highest scoring player in the game (83 points), a whopping 27 points ahead of second-placed Jamie Vardy. His stats have been incredible too. Salah has registered 27 shots in the box (1st), 19 shots on target (1st), five clear-cut chances scored (1st) and an xG of 6.14 (1st). He has also created six clear-cut goalscoring chances (1st) with an xA of 3.78 (1st). Quite frankly, no one is on his level right now and he is essential to our FPL teams.
Liverpool face Manchester United away in Gameweek nine. Although this isn’t the easiest of fixtures for the Reds, Salah and Liverpool are just too good right now. Jurgen Klopp’s men top the table for attacking metrics also. They have had the most shots in the box (116), shots on target (61), clear-cut chances created (27), xG (21.8) and goals scored (22). Conversely, fierce rivals United have been really poor at the back and have only kept one clean sheet while conceding 10 goals (14th) and an xGC of 11.3 (11th).
Despite an away game at Old Trafford, Salah is still the second favourite midfielder to score at anytime according to the bookmakers at 42%.
Best Differential Captain for Gameweek 9
Harry Kane (£12.1m) – Tottenham Hotspur
Fixture: West Ham (A)
Harry Kane finally got off the mark this season with a goal and assist last weekend against Newcastle United and he has improved his stats vastly in the last two games. Kane was also unfortunate to not have notched a goal against Aston Villa in Gameweek seven also.
In the last two games, he has an xG of 1.40 (2nd) and an xA of 1.04 (2nd). He and Spurs seemed to have turned a corner, the north London side having scored five goals in their last two games (3rd). Spurs come up against London rivals West Ham in Gameweek nine who have been pretty good defensively, the Hammers having conceded 10 goals with an xGC of 10 (7th).
However, Tottenham look much improved and more importantly so does Harry Kane. We saw the numbers he produced last season with 23 goals and 14 assists. There is no reason to believe he can’t achieve similar numbers again.
When Kane is firing, he is capable of hauls against any opposition and has both goals and assists in his locker. He was the talisman for Spurs last season with a goal involvement of 56%, and few expect that to change.
His partnership with Son Heung-Min (£10.1m) is also vital to Tottenham’s success and now both are firing. The England forward is also on penalties and as such, he looks a great differential this week as he is currently owned by only 5.2% of managers.
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