GW35 Thought Process: Can Brighton do it again?

Captaincy, Brighton vs Newcastle, Cole Palmer and some more

⭐ Today, we’ll discuss captaincy, Brighton’s match-up against Newcastle, benching decisions for GW32 wildcarders, Cole Palmer, and my Free Hit 34, which worked quite nicely.

There’s also a Wildcard 35 draft.

Let’s do this.

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It feels as if there hasn’t been a proper captaincy decision in ages.

This week, there’s at least some competition.

It’s Erling Haaland vs Bruno Fernandes vs Dominic Calvert-Lewin vs Igor Thiago, with an opportunity to review some recent data.

For many of us, the Portuguese has been something of a perma-captain since Gameweek 24, unless it was a special occasion, such as the weeks when chips were popular.

This time, he’s once again one of the best picks, facing Liverpool at home in a battle for third place. Liverpool’s defence is probably better than most make out – it's a firm part of the City, United, Palace and Brighton group that’s trailing only Arsenal.

They are not terrible. It’s one of those overblown narratives.

But wait, there’s another one:

Some people think that Bruno will be a worse option because, in his pursuit of breaking the Premier League assists record, he’s not going to shoot anymore. Plus, if he’s gonna take a penalty, he will pass the ball.

Look, I’m pretty confident he will simply make the best decision in any given moment, whether it’s a shot or a pass. As for the second claim – don’t make me comment on that.

I would attach zero importance to that.

Bruno will still be involved in pretty much everything that happens in the final third. The floor is nice. At the same time, it’s not such a great match-up that you can’t look away from the captaincy, should there be another option with better haul potential…

And there’s one with Erling Haaland.

Since Christmas:

• Only six other sides conceded more goals than Everton

• Only four allowed more expected goals

• The Toffees have a clear positional weakness in the central areas inside the box and in zone 14, as they often struggle to handle passes into those areas

• Additionally, they conceded the most goals from quick transitions in the Premier League (tied with Burnley)

• Jarrad Branthwaite is out

This creates nice conditions for Haaland to return.

He’s my #1 captaincy choice this week.

In a nutshell, his movement in the box is still one of the best in the world (source: Scout Lab)

❗ Yes, he’s looking much better in the August–December sample than in the January+ one. But that’s simply because his first halves of the season are outrageous. The most recent 15 games look worse, no disputing that. However, his performances are still amazing – you’ve just been comparing two Haalands, not Haaland vs other strikers.

If you, for some reason, need a differential captain, I’d go with Rayan Cherki, Igor Thiago, or Dominic Calvert-Lewin, depending on your preference.

It’s fairly close between them. But yeah, likely in that order.

Still, most of the time, I’d just slap it on Haaland.