DREAM TEAM managers will need to select a captain for Gameweek 34 before today’s 6:30pm deadline.
Ahead of Gameweek 33, we singled out Bruno Fernandes (£6.8m) and Cole Palmer (£4.9m) as the two leading candidates and those who opted for the former were handsomely rewarded.
Manchester United’s skipper banked 27 points to finish as the Gameweek’s top performer and take his overall total for the season past the 400-point mark.
The Portuguese midfielder mustered just five points against Bournemouth but took Athletic Bilbao for a whopping 22 points in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals.
This emphatic performance surely makes Fernandes the frontrunner for captaincy again this coming Gameweek, when the Red Devils will face Brentford at the Gtech Stadium before the second leg of their European semi at Old Trafford.
As for Palmer, he notched nine points across his two outings against Everton and Djurgarden.
As expected, Chelsea cashed in against their Conference League opponents but it was Nicolas Jackson (£2.7m) and Noni Madueke (£2m) who posted massive double-digit scores, not the 50%-owned England international.
The Blues will host Djurgarden next Thursday but there’s the small matter of a Premier League game against Liverpool to negotiate first.
There may be a worthy captain lurking in Chelsea’s ranks but it’s difficult to justify selecting any Stamford Bridge over Fernandes after last night.
Elsewhere, Tottenham’s double header against West Ham and Bodo/Glimt looks appealing.
The Hammers are one of few very teams below Spurs in the league table and while the Norwegian outfit have impressed in the Europa League this season, they were comprehensively outplayed in North London last night, which bodes ill for the second leg.
We have included Dominic Solanke (£3.5m) in our this week and his goal last night has only strengthened his case.
We had planned on listing him as a captaincy option as well but there may be a spanner in the works.
The ex-Bournemouth striker hobbled off in the 75th minute against Bodo/Glimt and is therefore a minor doubt for Gameweek 34 – an annoying twist.
Thankfully, Ange Postecoglou played down Solanke’s injury and suggested the substitution was precautionary but this inconvenience is probably enough to remove the 27-year-old from the captaincy conversation.
The same goes for James Maddison (£4m), who was also forced off midway through the second half.
Arsenal are the fourth and final team set to pull double duty in Gameweek 34.
Instinctively, this puts Bukayo Saka (£6.1m) in the spotlight as the England winger averages a mighty 8.1 points-per-game this season – the same rate as Fernandes.
However, his workload has been managed since his return from hamstring surgery – he played just 30 minutes against Crystal Palace in his last league outing – and with the Gunners 1-0 down on aggregate to PSG in the Champions League semi-finals it wouldn’t be a surprise if his involvement was limited against Bournemouth this weekend.
Away from double headers, Mohamed Salah (£7m) is due to take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge having ended his mini goal drought in Gameweek 33.
Liverpool’s main man needs another 18 points to reach 500 for the season!
It’s only our humble opinion but we suspect the majority of the top managers will stick the armband on Fernandes before the 6:30pm deadline.
Good luck, gaffers!
