Fantasy Premier League has one constant these days: Erling Haaland is the best captain pick in FPL and you’re a fool if you don’t put the armband on him every week. 

But once in a blue moon, a gameweek pops up where the Manchester City striker is not necessarily the best pick of the bunch. GW5 is one of those rare times when we have an actual decision to make on captaincy.

We’ve gone through some of the best alternatives to Haaland here, looking at recent performances, underlying statistics and this week’s fixtures to see who could outdo last season’s Golden Boot winner.

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Fantasy Premier League: The four best captains for FPL GW5

Son Heung-min vs Sheff Utd home

Fresh off the back of his hat-trick against Burnley, Son Heung-min (£9.1m) comes up against another promoted side in GW5.

The Tottenham wide attacker played centrally against the Clarets and wreaked havoc on Vincent Kompany’s men. He took five shots, two of which were big chances, and created one chance in a brilliant performance.

Sheffield United have conceded fewer goals than their Lancashire counterparts after four games, but their underlying defensive numbers are worse. Their non-penalty expected goals conceded (NPxGC) of 8.2 is the fifth-worst in the Premier League, so there’s no reason Son couldn’t make hay for a second week in a row.

At the time of writing, the South Korean is only owned by 11 percent of FPL managers and for many the only way to transfer him in is by selling an Arsenal or Manchester United asset. Therefore, James Maddison (£7.8m) may be an alternative shout, although his ceiling is certainly much lower.

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Mohamed Salah vs Wolves away

We have not yet seen Mo Salah (£12.5m) explode into life just yet this season. Instead he’s been tipping along nicely, getting a return in each of his games.

It doesn’t scream captain material, does it? But then again the Liverpool wide forward always has it in him to grab a huge haul out of nowhere.

Only Haaland has more expected goal involvements (xGI) than the 31-year-old, who is due a few goals at this stage. Only two teams in the Premier League have conceded more big chances than Wolves.

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Bukayo Saka vs Everton away

Like Salah, Bukayo Saka hasn’t really taken off yet. But he remains the biggest attacking threat for Arsenal, who face a leaky Everton side in GW5.

The 22-year-old has scored twice and had three big chances after three gameweeks. Ideally, he would be putting up better numbers for us to nail him down as a captain this weekend.

Saka is, however, still getting chances in good positions and creating for others. 10 of his 12 shots have come inside the box, while he has created 14 chances for his teammates – only one player (Brighton’s Pascal Groβ, with 16) has made more key passes.

The Toffees are conceding two goals a game and have given up 12 big chances in just four matches.

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Erling Haaland vs West Ham away

After all is said and done, you can’t ignore the big man. Haaland (£14m) is to FPL what Thanos is to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: inevitable.

Man City face a tough encounter in GW5 as they travel to West Ham, but the Norwegian brute is liable to haul against any team in the land. He is truly fixture proof.

You don’t need the proof to back up his brilliance, but here it is anyway; no player in the Premier League has more shots in the box (20), shots on target (10), big chances (7), expected goals (4.34 xG), or expected goal involvements (5.5 xGI). Oh, or goals, of which he has six already.

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The post Fantasy Premier League: Four of the best captains for FPL GW5 first appeared on The Football Faithful.