In this article, we will look at the best captain picks for Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 22 of the 2024/25 season.
If you are familiar with our captaincy decision-making process, we always pick a reliable player as our captain that has an easy fixture. We developed our captaincy index – a score that helps us to find the best captain picks for any gameweek.
So, if you are not sure who to captain in Gameweek 22, check our calculations for inspiration.
FPL Captain picks for Gameweek 22 – will be updated soon
We picked a range of players and calculated the captaincy index for them. You can check it in the table below. Players are sorted by the highest score in the captaincy index. The best captaincy picks in GW22 are at the top.
*GW21 data added
Note: We always multiply the captaincy index by player’s availability in FPL, so Palmer is not among top options mainly because he is flagged with 75% availability in FPL.
Top 10 captaincy options (heatmap)
Full table
| Player | Captaincy Index | num_matches | 0.75*xGI | Reliability | Form/25 | 1/FDR | position/10 | home_match/10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M.Salah | 2.01 | 1 | 0.81 | 0.46 | 0.44 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Haaland | 1.74 | 1 | 0.62 | 0.48 | 0.2 | 0.44 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Isak | 1.67 | 1 | 0.66 | 0.17 | 0.44 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Foden | 1.6 | 1 | 0.47 | 0.27 | 0.32 | 0.44 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Son | 1.41 | 1 | 0.43 | 0.38 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| De Bruyne | 1.4 | 1 | 0.49 | 0.24 | 0.13 | 0.44 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Gordon | 1.38 | 1 | 0.46 | 0.12 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Ødegaard | 1.35 | 1 | 0.38 | 0.29 | 0.13 | 0.35 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| B.Fernandes | 1.31 | 1 | 0.42 | 0.25 | 0.09 | 0.35 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Savinho | 1.3 | 1 | 0.47 | 0.0 | 0.29 | 0.44 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Gibbs-White | 1.27 | 1 | 0.29 | 0.06 | 0.22 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Maddison | 1.27 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.07 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| N.Jackson | 1.27 | 1 | 0.49 | 0.19 | 0.09 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Martinelli | 1.26 | 1 | 0.35 | 0.19 | 0.17 | 0.35 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Mbeumo | 1.23 | 1 | 0.41 | 0.16 | 0.26 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Watkins | 1.23 | 1 | 0.55 | 0.29 | 0.19 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Elanga | 1.23 | 1 | 0.22 | 0.0 | 0.31 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Wood | 1.21 | 1 | 0.31 | 0.04 | 0.26 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Trossard | 1.2 | 1 | 0.28 | 0.2 | 0.17 | 0.35 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Solanke | 1.2 | 1 | 0.4 | 0.22 | 0.18 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Kudus | 1.19 | 1 | 0.29 | 0.17 | 0.14 | 0.39 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Aina | 1.17 | 1 | 0.07 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Palmer | 1.17 | 1 | 0.64 | 0.04 | 0.28 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Amad | 1.17 | 1 | 0.34 | 0.0 | 0.28 | 0.35 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| N.Williams | 1.14 | 1 | 0.09 | 0.0 | 0.25 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
If you are more into the manual process of picking the best captain in FPL, check our article: How to pick a captain in FPL?
Best Gameweek 22 Captain
According to our captaincy index, Salah is the best captain in FPL Gameweek 22 with a captaincy index score of 2.01.
Haaland (captaincy index score 1.74) is the number 2 captaincy pick and Isak (1.67) is number 3.
For Gameweek 22, Mohamed Salah emerges as the top captaincy candidate with the highest Captaincy Index (2.01). Despite having tough fixture against Brentford (Vaastav’s teams data we use have Brentford (A) as one of the toughest fixtures) and lacking a home match, his Expected Involvement per 90 (1.08) and strong Form (11.0) keep him as the standout option.
Erling Haaland ranks second with a Captaincy Index of 1.74. He has the easiest Fixture Difficulty among the top 5 captain options (2.27) against Ipswich, making him a great pick. However, his Expected Involvement (0.83) and Form (5.0) are lower compared to Salah, which slightly reduces his overall potential.
Alexander Isak follows closely with a Captaincy Index of 1.67. His Expected Involvement per 90 (0.88) is strong, matching Haaland’s overall offensive contributions, and his Form (11.0) is equal to Salah’s. The home match against Bournemouth gives him an edge, but his higher Fixture Difficulty (3.33) compared to Haaland makes him the third-best option.
Phil Foden has a Captaincy Index of 1.60. His Expected Involvement per 90 (0.63) is lower than the top three, but the fixture is good, and his Form (8.0) is solid mainly due to his GW21 haul. He is a decent differential option.
Son Heung-min rounds out the group with a Captaincy Index of 1.41. While he benefits from relatively easy Fixture Difficulty (2.50) against Everton, his Expected Involvement (0.57) and Form (2.6) are the weakest among the five.
History of our captaincy picks
| Gameweek | N1 Captain | Points | N2 Captain | Points | N3 Captain | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GW1 | Salah | 14 | Saka | 12 | Son | 2 |
| GW2 | Salah | 10 | Haaland | 17 | Jota | 6 |
| GW3 | Haaland | 17 | Salah | 17 | Saka | 6 |
| GW4 | Salah | 2 | Haaland | 13 | Díaz | 3 |
| GW5 | Salah | 6 | Haaland | 9 | Son | 10 |
| GW6 | Salah | 6 | Haaland | 2 | Saka | 3 |
| GW7 | Haaland | 2 | Saka | 16 | Palmer | 6 |
| GW8 | Haaland | 2 | Salah | 12 | Son | 8 |
| GW9 | Haaland | 6 | Mbeumo | 15 | Watkins | 2 |
| GW10 | Salah | 9 | Haaland | 2 | Bowen | 2 |
| GW11 | Salah | 14 | Son | 2 | Solanke | 2 |
| GW12 | Salah | 13 | Haaland | 2 | Fernandes | 2 |
| GW13 | Salah | 13 | Fernandes | 9 | Saka | 18 |
| GW14 | Salah | 18 | Saka | 3 | Haaland | 5 |
| GW15 | Salah | postponed game | Haaland | 7 | Son | 7 |
| GW16 | Salah | 5 | Saka | 3 | Palmer | 2 |
| GW17 | Salah | 21 | Saka | 1 | Palmer | 3 |
| GW18 | Salah | 9 | Haaland | 2 | De Bruyne | 1 |
| GW19 | Salah | 16 | Haaland | 8 | Son | 0 |
| GW20 | Salah | 7 | Haaland | 13 | Watkins | 2 |
| GW21 | Salah | 2 | Isak | 16 | Haaland | 2 |
| GW22 | Salah | Haaland | Isak |
History of our captaincy picks from the 2023/24 season
| Gameweek | N1 Captain | Points | N2 Captain | Points | N3 Captain | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GW1 | Haaland | 13 | Fernandes | 3 | Rashford | 3 |
| GW2 | Haaland | 2 | Salah | 5 | Saka | 3 |
| GW3 | Haaland | 4 | Mbeumo | 2 | Mitoma | 1 |
| GW4 | Haaland | 20 | Salah | 8 | Mbeumo | 8 |
| GW5 | Haaland | 6 | Salah | 10 | Son | 2 |
| GW6 | Haaland | 6 | Salah | 10 | Fernandes | 10 |
| GW7 | Haaland | 2 | Son | 7 | Salah | 1 |
| GW8 | Son | 3 | Watkins | 5 | Salah | 15 |
| GW9 | Salah | 16 | Son | 14 | Haaland | 8 |
| GW10 | Salah | 8 | Watkins | 2 | Son | 10 |
| GW11 | Haaland | 1 | Salah | 2 | Son | 2 |
| GW12 | Salah | 16 | Son | 2 | Haaland | 16 |
| GW13 | Haaland | 7 | Son | 2 | Salah | 5 |
| GW14 | Salah | 5 | Haaland | 7 | Saka | 8 |
| GW15 | Salah | 3 | Haaland | 2 | Son | 2 |
| GW16 | Haaland (did not play) | 0 | Salah | 13 | Fernandes | 1 |
| GW17 | Haaland (injury doubt) | 0 | Salah | 3 | Son | 2 |
| GW18 | Son | 7 | Watkins | 2 | Salah | 7 |
| GW19 | Salah | 3 | Haaland (injury doubt) | did not play | Saka | 2 |
| GW20 | Son | 9 | Salah | 16 | Foden | 12 |
| GW21 | Saka | 3 | Palmer | 10 | Sterling | 6 |
| GW22 | De Bruyne | 7 | Jota | 8 | Bowen | 2 |
| GW23 | Rashford | 3 | Fernandes | 6 | Sterling | 2 |
| GW24 | Haaland | 13 | Jota | 7 | Foden | 3 |
| GW25 | Haaland | 10 | Jota | 4 | Foden | 5 |
| GW26 | Haaland | 5 | Saka | 10 | Watkins | 9 |
| GW27 | Haaland | 6 | Saka | 7 | Son | 7 |
| GW28 | Solanke | 8 | Bowen | 2 | Odegaard | 2 |
| GW29 | Son | 2 | Bowen | 2 | Watkins | 2 |
| GW30 | Son | 10 | Salah | 7 | Fernandes | 2 |
| GW31 | Salah | 1 | Haaland | 0 | Son | 2 |
| GW32 | Son | 5 | Palmer | 5 | Haaland | 2 |
| GW33 | Haaland | 10 | Salah | 2 | Foden | 0 |
| GW34 | Salah | 3 | Saka | 9 | Eze | 14 |
| GW35 | Palmer | 8 | Son | 9 | Fernandes | 4 |
| GW36 | Haaland | 17 | De Bruyne | 2 | Foden | 5 |
| GW37 | Haaland | 15 | Son | 4 | Isak | 4 |
| GW38 | Haaland | 2 | Son | 7 | Foden | 15 |
Captaincy index explained
Fantasy Football Report’s Captaincy Index is a sum of six numbers. When looking at each individually, they cannot give us the full picture of whether a player is a good captaincy option or not. But when we combine them, we will get a better picture of the player’s captaincy potential.
Variables in Captaincy Index
- xGI per 90 – Expected Goals per 90 + Expected Assists per 90 so far in the season according to Official FPL website
- Reliability Index – this is a number that measures how reliable a player was in delivering stable output in his 3 previous Premier League seasons. It is calculated as (Average Amount of Total Points over the last three seasons – 76)/350
- Form – this is the form number from Official FPL stats
- Opposition FDR – Defensive Fixture Difficulty Ranking of opposition in current gameweek (*if double gameweek, the average FDR for both matches) from Vaastav’s GitHub data
- Positional advantage – Boolean variable. If a player is midfielder, the number is 1. If forward, it is 0. If defender, it is 2. The idea behind this variable is that mids are usually scoring bigger hauls than forwards, as they earn more points for goals and clean sheets. We want our system to get a slight advantage to midfielders over forwards.
- Is Home – Boolean variable. If a player plays at home in the current gameweek, the number is 1. If not, it is 0. We want to our system to get slight advatage to players playing at home. (*if double gameweek, the sum for both matches)
Weights of variables
Each variable has its own weight according to its importance in our overall metric. Those weights are:
- Weight of Expected Involvements = 3/4
- Weight of Reliability = 1
- Weight of Form = 1/25
- Weight of opposition FDR = 1/(FDR*FDR) (*if double gameweek FDR = 2/(FDR*FDR))
- Weight of Is Midfielder = 1/10
- Weight of Is Home = 1/10 (*if double gameweek = IsHome1/10 + IsHome2/10))
- Chance of playing this round – final captaincy index is multiplied by the player’s availability based on the FPL website (100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, 0%)
The formula for captaincy index calculation
Then, the captaincy index is calculated as sum of variables multiplied by their weights:
Captaincy Index = (0.75*Expected Involvements + Reliability Index + 1/25 * Form + 1/FDR + 1/10 * Positional Advantage + 1/10 * Is Home)*(Chance of playing this round)
