Caveat : Going forward, the Captaincy picks will be in the below format -

• Number one pick predicted as per the Fix Algorithm
• Differential pick (Under 25% ownership)
• Out there pick (Under 15% ownership)

Sergio Agüero (FUL)

The gameweek after international break is often tricky for South American players. They play in the early hours of Wednesday morning (U.K. time) and do not report back to their clubs for training until Friday. No such problem here – Agüero was left out of the Argentina squad and has been putting his feet up over the international break, ready to be unleashed vs. Fulham. The Argentinian did not get on the scoresheet in gameweek four with none of his four shots finding the target, but the Cottagers are expected to be far less resilient defensively than Newcastle. No side has conceded more shots in the box (SiB) than Fulham (47) and only Burnley (30) and West Ham (29) have conceded more shots on target (SoT) than Fulham’s 28. Given Man. City’s attacking stats with a league high 36 SoT and 4.2 minutes per chance created, the opportunity to captain a fully rested Agüero looks too good to pass up. Our Fix Algorithm currently predicts a ginormous point score of 9.8 for the Argentinian, one of the highest this season so far.

Eden Hazard (CAR)

Hazard carried his club form into the international break scoring twice for Belgium. The diminutive playmaker was at the center of all of Chelsea’s attacks vs. Bournemouth creating five chances, which was more than any player in gameweek four, scoring with his only SoT. Chelsea are looking like a team revitalised under their new manager Sarri. The Blues have created a chance every five minutes which is second only to Man. City and have fired 42 SiB, the fourth best in the league behind Tottenham (43), Liverpool (45) and Man. City (53). Their opponents Cardiff have found it difficult to adjust to life in the top flight, picking up just two points from their four games. The Bluebirds have adopted a defence-first approach conceding only 34 SiB, the same number as Tottenham. They have only conceded seven ‘big chances’ which is the ninth best in the league and fewer than Chelsea and Man. United, indicating their limited ambitions. So, it would seem the Stamford Bridge encounter will be a case of relentless attacks from the Blues. Our Fix Algorithm predicts Chelsea to score 2.63 goals this weekend, and a point score of 6.7 for Hazard.

David Silva (FUL)

With the injury to De Bruyne the onus is now on D. Silva to step up as Man. City’s chief creator. Having retired from international duty the Spaniard is also well rested over the international break, which bodes well for his minutes vs Fulham. As the heatmap shows, D. Silva was very unlucky not to net any Fantasy Premier League (FPL) returns vs. Newcastle with five goal attempts, more than any other player on the pitch, and four chances created. The Spaniard has created a chance every 19 minutes this season which is better than any other player in the league to have played at least 100 minutes. Fulham conceded only 0.71 goals per game at home last season, but this number jumped to 1.20 on their travels. Both teams have scored in 55% of their matches so far, indicating that goals should be on the cards in this one. If we keep in mind that Man.City have averaged 3.21 goals per home game last year with 50% of their total games averaging 3.5 goals or more this further supports the claim. Our Fix Algorithm predicts the Spaniard to profit with a point score of 4.8.