Fantasy Premier League: With no obvious choice, how do you pick a captain for Gameweek 17?

Once again there are no standout options for captaincy this week.

Which means another tricky decision, but also an opportunity to capitalise if you can get it right.

Here we will look at the best targets for Gameweek 17, based on player stats and their fixtures.

We will also get into some of the best practice when it comes to making your decision.

But first, here are the top options…

Alexander Isak (£8.7m), Newcastle United

Fixture: Ipswich (A)

Isak is the joint-ninth top scorer in the Premier League this season with seven goals. He has been in a great run of form, with three goals and two assists in the past three matches, against Liverpool (H), Brentford (A) and Leicester (H).

Newcastle have been inconsistent this season but have scored nine goals in their past three games and have a good fixture this week when they take on Ipswich.

Only five teams have conceded more goals (28) than Kieran McKenna’s side, and they have the third-worst xGC (expected goals conceded: 32.7) in the division. They are one of the worst defences in the league and Newcastle will be strong favourites.

Isak is Newcastle’s talisman, so he is nailed on to start and will be the first-choice penalty taker too now that team-mate Callum Wilson (£6.9m) is injured again.

He is also the second favourite to score at any time (48 per cent) according to the bookmakers.

Cole Palmer (£11.2m), Chelsea

Fixture: Everton (A)

Cole Palmer has 11 goals and seven assists so far and has registered an xG (expected goals) of 9.8 and an xA (expected assists) of 4.1.

He is pulling the strings at Chelsea, so is always going to be involved in a large share of their goals.

Chelsea play Everton this week. The Toffees are struggling this season and sit 16th in the league. But despite their lowly position, their defence hasn’t been too bad. They share the seventh-best defensive record (having conceded 21, the same as Bournemouth, Newcastle and Crystal Palace) and have an xGC of 20.1 (fifth best).

On the other hand, Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea have been the best attacking side in the division. They have scored the most goals (37) and also boast the best xG (34.2).

The London side have to be considered as title contenders now and I see a Chelsea win here with at least a few goals, Palmer being the likeliest to either score or assist them. He is at 38 per cent to score at anytime.

Mohamed Salah (£13.4m), Liverpool

Fixture: Spurs (A)

On paper, Liverpool have a tough game but Tottenham is a good fixture for the opposition attackers.

I think there is potential for this fixture to be the highest scoring of the gameweek. Both teams have good attacks and Spurs don’t sit back against any side, which usually means they give up a lot of chances.

Liverpool have been one of the best teams in the final third, scoring 31 goals (fourth most) with an xG of 30.6 (third best).

This is shaping up to be Mohamed Salah’s best-ever season. He already has 13 goals and nine assists with an xG of 10.48 and an xA of 3.29. It follows that he also has the most FPL points (156), with 10 double-digit hauls.

He has been involved (goal or assist) in 71 per cent of Liverpool’s league goals, which is by far the highest in the league.

He has been their talisman for eight seasons running, but just seems to be even more integral this campaign.

He is nailed on to start.

He is on penalties.

He is likely to get a lot of chances.

And the Egyptian is at 46 per cent to score at anytime in Gameweek 17 despite being away from home.

Alternative captains

The lack of an obvious first-choice candidate might be an opportunity to take a gamble.

Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) at home to Bournemouth is a good option also. He has played as part of a front three and as one of the two No 10s under Manchester United’s new manager Ruben Amorim, enjoying a bit more freedom and chalking up two goals in his last two.

The Portuguese has goals and assists, takes a lot of set pieces and is the first-choice penalty taker. A great differential this week outside the usual suspects.

Bukayo Saka (£10.6m) will be a huge differential for the captaincy this week given he has now blanked in the last three games. However, he is still very much one of the best options in the game and although Crystal Palace (A) might not be the easiest of fixtures, Arsenal have the firepower to put a few past Oliver Glasner’s side.

He is Arsenal’s main man, is nailed on to start, is on set pieces and penalties, and I can see his captaincy ownership being really low this week.

How to choose

When the captaincy is close in weeks like this I always like to firstly look at the best fixture when I have whittled my options down to two or three.

We have seen over and over again that fixtures do matter and is probably the most important factor when looking at captaincy.

Then I look at the individual’s underlying numbers and sometimes this will suggest a player over one who has a better fixture. For example, if Bruno plays Southampton (H) and Salah is playing Everton (H), you would still go Salah despite Sean Dyche’s team having a far superior defence than Southampton. That’s because the Egyptian’s xG is more than double Bruno’s — he is clearly the better FPL option.

We also have to take into consideration midfielders versus forwards. The former get an extra point for a goal and a clean sheet, so generally need fewer attacking returns to get the same number of points. I always favour the midfielder if it’s a close call with a forward.

A deciding factor between two players would be whether they are on set pieces or penalties, and then their anytime goalscorer odds. I would never base my decision solely on these factors but only use them in a close tiebreaker.

It’s handy to see all the facts in table format to help make your decision. (Note: xI is expected goal involvement: xA + xG.)

Looking at the table, Salah has the highest xG, plays the second worst defence, has the second highest anytime scorer odds and is on penalties.

Therefore, for me, the best captaincy option this week is the Liverpool star.

(Top photo: Isak by George Wood via Getty Images)