FPL GW21 captain picks: Haaland, Rashford, Odegaard, the best gameweek 21 captain

Who is the best GW21 captain? In gameweek 20, we saw a lot of really interesting things happen in the FPL world and one thing that has probably shocked most people is Erling Haaland’s recent goal drought.

The Man City forward who has been everyone’s set and forget captain, looks to have dipped in form and while that’s normal, it is still strange to some.

With Haaland’s dip in form, the question now is, is he worth captaining in GW21? Are there better captain picks in gameweek 21? Well, we’re about to find out. This is raensports, FPL GW21 captain picks article.

GW21 captain poll: FPL managers gameweek captain pick

Before we get into our GW21 captain picks, here’s a really helpful result from a poll conducted by ALLABOUTFPL. This poll would help you to know the players FPL managers are looking to make their gameweek 21 FPL captain.

This is how FPL managers voted in the GW21 captain poll:

1. Odegaard– 47%(470 votes)
2. Haaland– 16%(160 votes)
3. Kane– 11.7%(117 votes)
4. Toney– 11%(110 votes)
5. Kevin De Brunye– 7.2%(72 votes)

From the GW21 captain poll, we can clearly see that Odegaard is the man that 47% of FPL managers are looking to captain in gameweek 21.

Haaland finds himself in second place, with 16% looking to captain him and in third, we have Harry Kane with 11.7% of managers captaining him.

Based on the GW21 captain picks poll, the man in red hot form(Odegaard) is the one that most FPL managers are looking to captain.

They’re willing to overlook his tough fixture against Man United, which is really bold considering the fact that Haaland faces Wolves in gameweek 21 as well.

What about the experts, what do they think? who are they looking to captain? Well, let’s see what they have to say.

GW21 captain picks: FPL experts pick their gameweek 21 captain

The official FPL twitter account in a thread shared the experts thoughts on this gameweek’s captain dilemma, this tweet was made because of Erling Haaland’s recent two game goal drought.

Here’s what the FPL experts had to say regarding their GW21 captain:

Sam Bonfield | (@FPLFamily):

I didn’t captain Haaland in Gameweek 20, deciding instead to give the armband to Rashford. While I still think Haaland should be considered for the captaincy on a weekly basis, I don’t think it is as cut and dry as it once was

@OfficialFPL

Pranil Sheth | (@lateriser12 ):

still think Haaland is the best captaincy option especially in Gameweek 21 where Liverpool play Chelsea and Arsenal play Man Utd. Man City need the points and they can’t afford to rest their main players at the moment.

@OfficialFPL

Holly Shand | (@HollyShand):

I can’t see myself deviating from Haaland any time soon. Despite a dip in his underlying numbers and Man City’s form, he still looks the best option. Hopefully this is just a blip and things improve.

@OfficialFPL

Gianni Buttice | (@GianniButtice):

Man City are pretty reliable at home, where Haaland has potential to produce big hauls, so I still think most will look to captain him against Wolves this weekend 

@OfficialFPL

Pras | (@Pras_fpl):

In a single Gameweek when Haaland is likely to start, he is still the captain choice regardless of Man City’s form. However, with doubles coming, various other options will emerge. That could be Saka, Rashford, Salah, Kane or even Trippier.

@OfficialFPL

From the twitter thread, we can see that majority of the FPL experts, are still backing Erling Haaland to perform this gameweek.

Sam Bonfield also makes a pretty good point by pointing out that Haaland isn’t one that we should be captaining every single gameweek. There’d be times when we’d have to look elsewhere.

Five of the best gameweek 21 captain picks

Now that we’ve heard from FPL managers and experts, we think it is now time for us to share our thoughts on who we think you should be looking to captain this gameweek.

We have a list of five players, and we think that these five players would perform well in GW21 and that they’d be worth the captain’s armband as well.

5. Marcus Rashford

The fifth player on our list of GW21 captains is Marcus Rashford. Marcus Rashford has been in really good form in recent weeks and because of his impressive form and performances, we think he’s one worth considering this gameweek.

The thing though that has him placed in fifth place, is the fact that he plays against Arsenal, a team that has a pretty good defense. While he might score or get an assist, we don’t think he’d pick up the most points this gameweek.

Man United don’t score that many goals as a team and so that also puts us off. Here’s how Marcus Rashford has performed in his last five FPL gameweeks:

Marcus Rashford’s FPL stats: last five gameweeks

Gameweek	Opposition	Minutes Played	Goal Scored	Assists	Points
17	NFO (H) 3 – 0	85	1	1	14
18	WOL (A) 0 – 1	45	1	0	5
19	BOU (H) 3 – 0	90	1	0	8
20	MCI (H) 2 – 1	90	1	0	10
20	CRY (A) 1 – 1	90	0	0	2
Totals		400	4	1	39

39 points in his last five FPL gameweeks, alongside four goals, is a pretty good return. He’s a decent option and if you want to go for him, then you can.

4. Ivan Toney

In fourth place, we have Ivan Toney. He also is a player that is in pretty good form and also has a pretty easy game in GW21- Brentford face Leeds this gameweek and that in itself is what makes Toney a pretty decent captain pick.

In a gameweek were Liverpool face Chelsea and Arsenal play Man United, we’d have to look elsewhere, and if you’re looking elsewhere, look no further than Ivan Toney.

He has been Brentford’s main man and since the restart, he has picked up so many FPL points – we expect him to carry on with his recent performances against Leeds in GW21.

In fact, he’s a player that we’ve got in most of our GW21 teams, he’s also one who has a really good chance of scoring a goal this gameweek and if you take a look at the players predicted to pick up the most points in GW21, he’s right up there.

Ivan Toney’s FPL stats: last five gameweeks

Gameweek	Opposition	Minutes Played	Goal Scored	Assists	Points
16	MCI (A) 1 – 2	90	2	0	13
17	TOT (H) 2 – 2	90	1	0	5
18	WHU (A) 0 – 2	90	1	1	12
19	LIV (H) 3 – 1	0	0	0	0
20	BOU (H) 2 – 0	81	1	0	9
Totals		351	5	1	39

He’s got similar stats with that of Marcus Rashford – 39points, five goals and one assist. He’s a man in good form and the player with one of the easiest fixtures this gameweek.

3. Kieran Trippier

In third place on our GW21 captain picks list, we’ve got no other person than Kieran Trippier.

Trippier is almost like the safest captain pick on this list and that’s because of how consistent this man and Newcastle have been in terms of keeping clean sheets.

You can almost always count on Trippier to get clean sheet points and also get bonus points. He’s a player that we captain when we’re torn between two options and are confused on who to go for.

This gameweek, looks like it’s one of them gameweeks where FPL managers would be trying something different – if you want a differential captain, then Trippier is the best option out there.

Newcastle face Crystal Palace and that’s not a fixture that we’d worry too much about and that’s because Crystal Palace don’t score that many goals.

In fact, if you take a look at this week’s clean sheet odds, you’d see that Newcastle are ranked third and they have a 32.26% chance of keeping a clean sheet.

Trippier is a defender who is nailed on, has good fixtures, on form, a bonus point magnet and also on set-pieces – he is a solid GW21 captain pick.

Kieran Trippier’s FPL stats: last five gameweeks

Gameweek	Opposition	Minutes Played	Goal Scored	Assists	cleansheets	Points
16	CHE (H) 1 – 0	90	0	0	1	7
17	LEI (A) 0 – 3	90	0	1	1	12
18	LEE (H) 0 – 0	90	0	0	1	8
19	ARS (A) 0 – 0	90	0	0	1	8
20	FUL (H) 1 – 0	90	0	0	1	9
Totals		450	0	1	5	44

2. Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland finds himself in second place on our gameweek 21 captain picks list. He’s here only because of his drop in form and a drop in his underlying numbers.

In his last two games, he’s had a total of five shots, and an xG of 0.69, which is below Erling Haaland’s standard. We also know that this is not entirely Erling Haaland’s fault, but it’s the entire City team that has been underperforming.

In their last two games, before the match against Spurs, they’ve taken only two shots on target which isn’t good enough and because of these reasons, we think it’d be better to look elsewhere this gameweek in terms of FPL captains.

If you don’t have the player we’d be recommending as the main captain for GW21, then you should definitely go for Erling Haaland. If Man City are going to bounce back, you’d expect them to do so at home against Wolves.

Erling Haaland’s FPL stats: last five gameweeks

Gameweek	Opposition	Minutes Played	Goal Scored	Assists	Points
17	LEE (A) 1 – 3	90	2	0	13
18	EVE (H) 1 – 1	90	1	0	6
19	CHE (A) 0 – 1	90	0	0	2
20	MUN (A) 2 – 1	90	0	0	2
20	TOT (H)	–	–	–	–
Totals		360	3	0	23

1. Martin Odegaard

We’d be agreeing with FPL managers who took part in the GW21 captain picks poll, and we’d be saying that Martin Odegaard is the man to captain this gameweek.

Odegaard’s form has been insane of late. He has started scoring goals and assisting as well. He’s also playing in a team that attacks for fun and can score goals against anyone.

We know that this gameweek, Arsenal face Man United and because of how confident we are in Arsenal and Odegaard, we’re more than willing to hand over the captains armband to him. His stats in his last five FPL appearances are bonkers as well:

Martin Odegaard’s FPL stats: last five gameweeks

Gameweek	Opposition	Minutes Played	Goal Scored	Assists	Points
16	WOL (A) 0 – 2	90	2	0	16
17	WHU (H) 3 – 1	90	0	2	11
18	BHA (A) 2 – 4	86	1	1	13
19	NEW (H) 0 – 0	90	0	0	2
20	TOT (A) 0 – 2	90	1	0	9
Totals		446	4	3	51

In his last five games, Odegaard has produced three double-digit hauls, and has racked up 51 points, which is the most amongst the players on our GW21 captain picks list.

When a player is in such good form, it is really hard to overlook him and with the way this season has been going, we’ve since learnt that it’s not bad to jump on the in-form players train. Odegaard is that man right now, and so we’d be captaining him.

The most in-form players

If you’re one who is looking to captain the most in-form players, then this part is for you. Here is a list of some of the most in-form players in FPL: