Captaincy options for Gameweek 15: Bukayo Saka v Mohamed Salah set to divide gaffers

IT’S a later deadline than usual for Gameweek 15 with Dream Team managers having until 1:30pm to decide their approach.

And gaffers may need those extra hours to select a captain as it’s a close debate this time around with strong cases to be made for both Mohamed Salah (£7.6m) and Bukayo Saka (£6.7m).

Both Liverpool and Arsenal have an additional midweek fixture in the form of a Carabao Cup quarter-final, though it’s not all that easy to predict to what extent their respective star players will be involved.

Salah has played just 50 minutes in the competition so far while Saka fulfilled 99 minutes across the Gunners’ two previous fixtures.

However, with a place in the semi-finals at stake, it may be that Arne Slot and Mikel Arteta decide to start their big guns against Southampton and Crystal Palace respectively.

Before then, Salah has a home league game against Fulham at the same time Saka welcomes Everton to the Emirates on Saturday.

Marco Silva’s side are well organised and have lost just four of their 15 league games this campaign but a trip to Anfield is as daunting a prospect the Premier League offers right now – the Cottagers are also missing some first-choice defenders.

The Reds’ Egyptian superstar is Dream Team’s outright top performer having registered 16 goals and 12 assists in 22 games this season.

Even if Fulham prove to be stubborn opposition, as they were against Arsenal last time out, Salah could feast against Saints if given enough minutes on Wednesday night.

However, Saka is coming off the back of an emphatic 29-point haul in Gameweek 14.

Dream Team bosses who captained the England winger as a reaction to the Merseyside derby being postponed were handsomely rewarded and the temptation to keep the armband on him ahead of two home games against bottom-half opposition is very strong indeed.

Salah v Saka is set to divide gaffers this Gameweek – both are entirely justified captains.

We would probably edge it to the Arsenal man as he has the luxury of two home fixtures and has played more minutes in the Carabao Cup to date but it’s always scary going against Salah.

Erling Haaland (£8.5m) has just one fixture in Gameweek 15, Sunday’s Manchester derby, and with Pep Guardiola’s side having won just one of their last ten games in all competitions, the Norwegian poacher is nowhere near Salah and Saka in terms of the captaincy conversation at this point in time.

Elsewhere, Alexander Isak (£5.2m) is a tempting alternative.

Newcastle’s No14 has scored six goals in his last eight games in a run that has yielded 68 points.

The Magpies have a rare double Gameweek and a favourable one at that with Leicester and Brentford due at St James’ Park in the coming days – the Bees are far weaker away from home.

Without European commitments to worry about, Eddie Howe is able to field a relatively strong side in the Carabao Cup in pursuit of a trophy and so Isak should get plenty of minutes in midweek – he scored against Chelsea in the last round of the competition.

Cole Palmer (£6m) won’t be involved against Shamrock Rovers on Thursday night but he deserves a mention in the captaincy debate because he boasts an incredible average of 11.1 points-per-game this season.

Chelsea’s talisman took 25 points off Tottenham last weekend and will be unleashed upon Brentford on Sunday night.