SOCCER

Fantasy Premier League: Captain Picks for Matchweek 6

Is Sergio Agüero a must-captain now that he has returned from suspension?

If you are going to win your leagues on the Premier League's official fantasy website, it's imperative to pick the right captain. That's why we'll be detailing the top captain choices for your teams each and every matchweek.

You'll construct a roster of 15 players with a £100 million salary -- two keepers, five defenders, five midfielders and three forwards -- and choose a starting XI each week.

A key part of the process is selecting your captain and vice captain. Your captain will have his points doubled for the week, and your vice captain's points will double in case your captain doesn't play.

Last week, all of our captain picks either scored or assist a goal -- Romelu Lukaku even did both! This week has two exciting games: Leicester at Manchester United and Chelsea at Arsenal. It's also a big week, as our captain favorite returns from his three-match suspension.

Sergio Agüero

It's been almost a month since Agüero elbowed Winston Reid in the head and earned himself a three match ban. As this ban only applied to English matches, he was able to get a Champions League match in against Borussia Mönchengladbach, and boy what a match that was.

Agüero scored a hat trick in 77 minutes and just completely dominated the match. Six shots, five on target, and three key passes earned him a scorching 9.63 rating on WhoScored.com. He'll have had about a week and a half of rest between that game and Saturday's match at Swansea.

There aren't many better teams for Agüero to face for his first match back. Swansea give up the third-highest percent of shots within their 18 yard box (66%). They also allow the fifth-most shots per game at 16.4. Man City are firing on all cylinders right now, leading the league in possession at 61%, which is ridiculous. The second-best possession team, Chelsea, only manage 56.9%. City also average 17.6 shots per game, which is the third-most in the Premier League.

Agüero is the most transferred-in forward this week, seeing over 282,000 owners bring him into their squads. This brings his ownership back up to 28.6%, which is still substantially less than what he was prior to the suspension. Given the cost of Agüero, it's safe to assume that most owners who have him in their squad will be captaining him, especially with this juicy matchup.

The oddsmakers agree, as Agüero is one of the most likely players to score (-187), and this game has the second-best odds for over 2.5 goals (-175), according to bet365. Agüero is the clear choice this week. The only reason not to captain him is because you can't get him into your squad this week.

Romelu Lukaku

If you pick your captains based on recent form, it's hard to look past Lukaku. With back-to-back games of over 10 fantasy points, he's in great form these days. The main concern with Lukaku is that he left last Saturday's game after 65 minutes due to a toe injury. He didn't make the bench for Everton's midweek EFL Cup game, where they fielded a relatively strong side against Norwich. All signs are pointing to Lukaku playing this weekend, but that is one thing to keep in mind if you go with Lukaku as your captain this week.

Make no mistake -- this is a great matchup for Everton. Bournemouth have not been very good this season and will probably find themselves in a relegation battle this spring. They allow 16.6 shots per game, the fourth-highest, and spend the fourth-most time in their own third (30%). They also allow the third-highest percentage of shots in their six-yard box (10%). It should come as no surprise that they have the third-lowest average team rating on WhoScored.com at 6.58. They are coming off a lost to Preston, a Championship team, in the EFL Cup. So you can be sure that, if Lukaku is healthy, he's going to play this game and will test Bournemouth early and often.

Lukaku is another heavily transferred-in player this week, seeing 146,000 owners add him. His ownership percentage is only 18.5, but he continues to go up. He doesn't have amazing odds to score (+125), but part of the reason for those odds are due to the injury risk.

This game is favored (-111) to go over 2.5 goals as well. As I said above, Lukaku is a great choice for captain, assuming you don't have Agüero available in your lineup, but keep an eye on the news leading up to the weekend, and make sure to pick a reliable vice-captain if he doesn't start.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Zlatan only managed an assist last week, which was definitely a disappointment in such a promising fixture against Watford. That being said, he still had five shots, one on target, and won four aerial duels. WhoScored.com rated him the best of United's front four (6.76). Ibrahimovic was a sub during their midweek EFL Cup match against Northampton, where he came on after 55 minutes, but didn't make much of an attacking impact with one shot on target.

Things get harder for Zlatan this week, as United will be welcoming Leicester to Old Trafford. The defending champs don't look as threatening as they did last season, but they still are far from a pushover. They allow the lowest percentage of shots inside the 18-yard box (47%) and spend the least amount of time in their own third (23%). Zlatan is going to need to be more clinical, and United will have to put together a much better performance than we saw last weekend.

Zlatan has even odds to score, and the game is favored to hit the over of 2.5 goals (-117). However, he has been transferred out by 147,000 managers this week, which is a startling number for a player who has scored or assisted in four of his five matches. I think the biggest reason for this is Agüero returning this week, and Zlatan is the closest player in price to him.

Another reason could be the form of cheaper strikers who are in form, such as Lukaku, Costa, or Vardy. Regardless, Zlatan is still owned by 59.9% of managers, so he's still going to be a popular captain choice among managers this week and one for us to keep in mind.