Fantasy Premier League tips: Who are the best captaincy options for ...

A reduced Premier League schedule this weekend will be tough for Fantasy Premier League managers to navigate and also brings a challenging captaincy decision.

Premium picks Erling Haaland (£14.4m), Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£10.5m) don’t have a fixture. So, with form man Bukayo Saka (£9.2m) also off the table, who are the best contenders for the armband in the Blank Gameweek 29?

It’s likely the overwhelming captaincy favourite for Blank Gameweek 29 will be Tottenham Hotspur skipper Son Heung-min (£9.9m).

He has both the form and the fixture: he’s produced two goals and three assists in four games since returning from the Asian Cup, making him the No 1 form player over the past 30 days to have a match this gameweek.

Of the four fixtures taking place this weekend — the rest are postponed because of a clash with the FA Cup quarter-finals — Spurs’ trip to Fulham offers the biggest mismatch as Ange Postecoglou’s side are 18 points and seven places above their hosts in the Premier League table.

The absence of fellow attacker Richarlison through injury has seen Son become an even more central figure for Spurs, playing out of position as a striker, and he is also on penalties.

When these sides last met in Gameweek 9, Spurs won 2-0, with Son having a hand in both goals: a goal and an assist saw him pick up maximum bonus points for a 14-point haul.

Spurs come into this fixture with three wins from four, scoring 10 goals in those games. Crucially, they also have a free midweek to prepare for it given their lack of involvement in Europe this season.

Fantasy managers looking for an alternative to Son should look no further than Ollie Watkins (£9.0m), who is the top points scorer in FPL this season.

Watkins has delivered a remarkable 31 goal involvements for Aston Villa from Premier League 28 appearances: 16 goals and 15 assists. Only Haaland (18) has more goals than that in the top flight but Watkins has created more big chances — nine — than any other forward in the game and is second to Haaland for both shots and shots on target.

There’s little to separate Villa and Sunday’s opponents West Ham on recent form, but it was Villa who came out on top in October’s reverse fixture with a comfortable 4-1 home win.

Watkins provided a goal and an assist in that game for an 11-point haul, which could bode well for his output in this return engagement. He also scored away to West Ham last season.

However, we do need to be mindful that both clubs face last-16 second-leg ties in Europe tomorrow (Thursday), which could impact their FPL appeal.

That West Ham vs Aston Villa fixture does offer an alternative captain pick in the shape of the home side’s Jarrod Bowen (£8.0m), who has been largely responsible for their attacking output this season.

West Ham have taken seven points from their last three games while scoring nine goals, with Bowen having a hand in almost half of those (three goals, one assist).

Bowen has now scored 14 Premier League goals this season — only Liverpool’s Salah (15) has more among FPL midfielders — and he generally plays the whole 90 minutes (he has been substituted twice, after 87 and 89 minutes, all season in 27 top-flight appearances) despite a demanding midweek-weekend schedule courtesy of their run to the knockout phase of the Europa League.

Another worthy captaincy contender is Brentford’s Ivan Toney (£8.1m), who has four goals and one assist since returning from the ban that kept him out this season until the middle of January. Toney has no attacking returns in his past four appearances but his underlying numbers remain promising, with seven shots (three on target) in that time.

Brentford won 3-0 without Toney in October’s reverse of their Saturday fixture away to Burnley, who are still searching for their first clean sheet of 2024 and have conceded 12 goals in the past four gameweeks.

The core of key players for Blank Gameweek 29 is obvious, with ‘the template’ for a Free Hit team rapidly emerging, particularly the attacking picks.

An alternative to gain an edge on your rivals in this challenging week is to consider a differential captain, with some key candidates to consider.

Tottenham playmaker James Maddison (£8.0m) has been in rich form since returning in late January following three months out because of an ankle injury, with a goal and three assists in his six games during that period. Maddison has been dominating set pieces in that time, taking 19 corners and making 11 key passes, including two big chances created. He also scored in that reverse fixture with Fulham.

I prefer backing Maddison to his team-mate Dejan Kulusevski (£6.8m), who has one goal and one assist in the past four gameweeks.

If you back West Ham to succeed against Villa, alternatives to Bowen could be Lucas Paqueta (£6.0m) or Mohammed Kudus (£6.8m). Paqueta scored against Burnley in their previous match and has had eight shots on goal in the three gameweeks since returning from almost two months out with a calf injury. Kudus is an interesting option, given that he has two assists in the same period. He’s also had 15 shots on goal in the past four gameweeks — as many as team-mates Paqueta and Bowen combined.

Another potential option is Brentford forward Yoane Wissa (£5.6m), who has scored in three consecutive games but remains under the radar. He has been more productive than team-mate and club talisman Toney in recent games, and scored in that reverse fixture against Burnley.

For those managers using their Free Hit chip for Gameweek 29, having a full playing squad will give you a significant advantage over the rest of the field, who may have already played their wildcard. It may be wiser to go with one of the more obvious picks but use some of the selections here to guide the differential options at the fringes of your Free Hit squad.

(Top photos: Getty Images)