With the Gameweek 10 deadline of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) fast approaching, it’s time to have a good think about who to captain.

In Gameweek 9, Erling Haaland (£15.8m) blanked for the first time since Gameweek 1 to disappoint the many millions of FPL managers who backed him with the armband.

Those who chanced a differential were rewarded with Chelsea duo Cole Palmer (£9.8m) and Morgan Rogers (£8.1m) scoring, and Nicolas Jackson (£7.0m) and Evanilson (£6.4m) continuing their good form.

This time around, the decision feels similar to last week: a potentially tricky fixture for Manchester City, but a lack of reliable, stand-out alternatives.

Chelsea, Bournemouth and Liverpool face struggling Sunderland, Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace respectively, albeit all away from home. Arsenal’s home fixture against Hull City is tempting on paper, but the Gunners lack an offensive talisman.

So, the question is: is it worth looking beyond Haaland and Man City’s away fixture in Nottingham for the captaincy in FPL Gameweek 10? That’s what we’re considering in this week’s ‘Captain Sensible’ article.

First, we will assess the on-site captaincy poll, analyse myriad player and team statistics, consult the Rate My Team (RMT) points projections, and settle on a top three for the armband, ahead of Friday’s 6.30pm GMT deadline.

Captaincy Poll

Benefitting from a ‘Blue Wave’, Haaland is sitting pretty at the top of the Fantasy Football Scout captaincy poll, boasting a commanding lead with over 40% support from site users. The Norwegian has scored nine goals in the last seven Gameweeks and netted the winner against RB Leipzig on Wednesday.

Isak is in a distant second, albeit picking up a late surge of support that has seen him past the 10% mark. The Swede came off the bench and found the net in the Champions League this week.

There’s a near enough tie in third place with Gabriel Magalhaes (£8.0m) and Riccardo Calafiori (£5.9m) on just under 8% of the vote. Gabriel is just nine points off the top of the defenders’ points standings following three consecutive clean sheets, while encouragingly, Calafiori was rested in midweek.

Everton’s Thierno Barry (£5.6m) is the only player to garner more than 5% support. The striker scored and claimed maximum bonus points on Monday Night Football at St James’ Park.

Player Stats – Last Six Gameweeks