This article is part of our The Armband series.
One of the most consistent fantasy players in the past couple months has been Liverpool's Sadio Mane. Due to injuries, he has taken a bigger role up front for the Reds and had five goals and five assists in the nine matches prior to Gameweek 18, only failing to hit the score sheet a few times. But the cruel game of Fantasy Premier League reared its head when Mane failed to do much in Liverpool's 4-1 win against Stoke City on Tuesday. Despite the home side's four goals, Mane didn't get a shot on net, while Roberto Firmino and Adam Lallana led the way.
Maybe the only good news of the Boxing Day matches came from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored for the eighth time in his last seven starts and also picked up his first two assists of the season. Unfortunately, all of the other top options failed to mirror that production. Alexis Sanchez got nothing as Olivier Giroud finally started up front, while Kevin De Bruyne surprisingly didn't assist on any of Man City's three goals. The players that came through were Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, Yaya Toure, Raheem Sterling and Troy Deeney finally found the back of the net.
The question for the next couple gameweeks becomes which players will see the field. Sure, it's hard to see Ibrahimovic being rested with his form, but it wouldn't be that surprising if he were to come off the bench in a favorable home matchup against Middlesbrough. There are always a few players during this time who get rested due to the number of matches, making this one of the hardest times of the campaign to select a captain.
But with that being hard to project, it's still logical to focus on the best matchups. The first one on Friday happens to be a favorable one for everyone's favorite, Lukaku. The Belgian tallied at Leicester but hasn't scored in back-to-back matches since the middle of October. If you want to captain Lukaku, do so at your own peril. As a positive, nine of Lukaku's 10 goals have come against sides placed 10th or below in the table.
Saturday presents matchups such as Hazard and the return of Diego Costa against Stoke. The aforementioned Ibra is also a top option against Boro.
Liverpool hosting Manchester City is the match of the week, but it's hard to trust either side for a captain. In addition to Liverpool's production coming from multiple places, City have come around recently, allowing one goal in their last three matches. But on the other end of that, whether considering Toure, De Bruyne, or the return of Sergio Aguero, the Reds have also allowed one goal in their last three and just seven goals all season at Anfield. Both sides are playing well, making this a hard one to predict for fantasy prospects.
The fixture that most fantasy bosses will focus on is Arsenal hosting Crystal Palace on Sunday. The Gunners haven't been great, but part of that has been due to level of competition. Now with a home match against a bottom-tier club, all signs point to goals as Palace have allowed 20 in nine road matches this season. However, Giroud could be given another start, limiting Sanchez's value once again. But if the Gunners can net at least three, that means Giroud, Sanchez or Mesut Ozil should make the score sheet. Or, that's the hope.
For the contrarians, Andre Gray will try and build on just his second goal of the season when Burnley host Sunderland. The thought is that the Sunderland defense will struggle even more with Vito Mannone in net for injured Jordan Pickford. Of course, it'd be easier to trust Chelsea defenders such as Cesar Azpilicueta or Marcos Alonso than Gray, but you have to be bold once in awhile.
Gylfi Sigurdsson is back in consideration even after a recent flub. Maybe the dismissal of Bob Bradley will give some hope to Swansea, or maybe not. Sigurdsson still got two shots on target last match and created three chances. Home against Middlesbrough should provide him with a few more chances at minimum.
Otherwise, that's about it for captain options unless you want to stretch for Islam Slimani against West Ham or roll with Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen, who again came through at Southampton on Wednesday.
