Abdul Rehman (FPL Salah) continues with his SportsCasting weekly Fantasy Football advice to provide you with another round of FPL tips for Gameweek 21 and beyond.
Every week, FPL Salah will be providing you with insight and advice to gear you up, continuing with his Fantasy Premier League fancies for this weekend’s next set of fixtures.
This is his 18th season playing FPL, and he’s finished in the top 1,000 four times, with 14 finishes in the top 50,000. He also writes weekly FPL articles for The Athletic and Fantasy Football Hub.
This week, FPL Salah will be presenting his Fantasy Premier League tips that include his top three captaincy options for Gameweek 21. This is a week in which the captaincy will be fairly split with a few premiums having good fixtures.
FPL Gameweek 21 Tips: Top Three Captaincy Selections
Bruno Fernandes (£8.3m) – Manchester United
Fixture: Southampton (H)
Bruno Fernandes has been putting up good stats all season, and it’s now showing in his returns too. He has four goals and seven assists with an expected goals (xG) of 6.2 and an expected assists (xA) of 3.6.
Manchester United have probably their best fixture of the season as they welcome Southampton to Old Trafford in Gameweek 21. The Saints have conceded the second most goals (44) and have the worst xGC (45.8) in the league. United likely won’t get a better fixture all season, and this makes Bruno one of the top captaincy contenders this week.
Bruno is one of the most reliable options in the game – he will play 90 minutes most weeks, is on penalties and set-pieces and has a high goal and assist threat.
He is at 43% (fifth) to score at anytime this week, and United are actually the favourites to score 2.5+ goals (52%) also.
Ranking: 9.5/10
Cole Palmer (£11.4m) – Chelsea
Fixture: Bournemouth (H)
Cole Palmer has 13 goals and seven assists and is the second highest-scoring player in the game. There is no doubting that he is one of the best options in FPL, and Chelsea are among the best attacking sides in the league.
Enzo Maresca’s side play Bournemouth in Gameweek 21, who are doing really well this season and have the underlying numbers to back it up. They have conceded the fourth least goals (23) and have an xGC of 24.2 (fifth best).
However, Chelsea have been one of the best teams in the final third, scoring 39 goals (third) with an xG of 39.34 (second). Therefore they will be heavy favourites to win this and should score a few.
Palmer is always going to be a good captain shout due to being the talisman for his team, nailed to start, and being on penalties. He also has both goals and assists in abundance, so despite the tricky fixture, he should be well in consideration for the armband. He is also at 43% to score at anytime in Gameweek 21.
Ranking: 9.4/10
Alexander Isak (£9.3m) – Newcastle United
Fixture: Wolves (H)
Alexander Isak has a very impressive nine goals in the last seven games and 13 goals and four assists over the season. He is the most in-form player in the league, and his ownership has skyrocketed over the last few months, and rightly so.
Newcastle United have one of the kindest fixtures of the week as they host Wolves in Gameweek 21. Vitor Pereira’s side have conceded the most goals (45) so far and have the sixth worst xGC (31.8) in the league.
Isak won’t get many better games all season to add to his attacking returns tally, and on paper this should be a very long night for the West Midlands side.
Newcastle are the second favourites to score 2.5+ goals (50%), and with the form they are in, it’s hard to see them not scoring at least two, and Isak will surely be involved.
The Swede is unsurprisingly the favourite to score at anytime this week (59%), and with him being his team’s talisman, nailed to start and on penalties, it’s hard to disagree.
Ranking: 9.3/10
Conclusion
I really think there is very little to separate my top three captain picks for Gameweek 21.
With Newcastle, they play another league game only three days later against Bournemouth, so I do think if they are winning the Wolves games comfortably, Isak is prone to getting subbed early in order to protect him.
Although Manchester United also have the same schedule, Bruno is very seldom taken off early, and I think he plays 90 minutes in both games. Also, with them playing the worst side in the league, the Portuguese edges it for me for the number one spot.
Chelsea actually have the kindest schedule out of the three, as their Gameweek 22 fixture is a full six days after Bournemouth.
Therefore I don’t think there is any chance of an early sub for Palmer based on fixture congestion.
Although he is the best FPL option out of the three, he also has the toughest fixture. The fact that he has a high assist threat and gets an extra point for a goal over a forward is why I have him slightly ahead of Isak in second place.
