We assess GW30 Captaincy options after a week of mixed fortunes in Europe

Tottenham Hotspur came up short again when it mattered most, crashing out of the Champions League on Tuesday evening. Spurs only had themsleves to blame though after having more than enough chances over the 2 legs to go through comfortably.

However, they squandered them and must now pick themselves up ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Bournemouth, so anybody who opts to give Harry Kane the GW30 armband will be hoping that they react positively.

Manchester City also suffered a shock loss in Europe, going down 2-1 to Basel at the Etihad. Pep Guardiola did have the luxury of fielding a second string XI in this one though due to their 1st leg advantage and the City boss is expected to recall Sergio Agüero at Gabriel Jesus’ expense, despite the latter getting on the score-sheet against the Swiss side.

City travel to the Potteries for the Monday Night Football to face a Stoke City side that still finds itself sitting in the bottom 3 despite a more solid defensive look under new manager Paul Lambert.

Saturday’s heavyweight clash between Manchester United and Liverpool may persuade a few fantasy football managers to pass over Mo Salah for the captaincy this weekend and it will be fascinating to see how José Mourinho goes about containing the Egyptian international.

Chelsea are 5 points off the Champions League spots now after losing back to back games to the 2 Manchester clubs. A home game against Crystal Palace looks reasonable on paper and may tempt a few to throw the armband to Eden Hazard but the Eagles showed plenty of fight before going down 3-2 to United on Monday and the Blues also have the small matter of that Champions League 2nd leg with Barcelona as an added distraction.

This all brings us nicely on to Arsenal and our top-rated captaincy option for GW30 – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

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The Gabon international was not eligible for Thursday’s Europa League clash with AC Milan due to the fact that his former club Borussia Dortmund were also involved in the competition, after finishing 3rd in their Champions League group.

Arsenal find themselves 13 points off the automatic Champions League spots but after getting that much-needed win in Italy, it now appears that Europa League success is their best route to the ‘promised land’ so it will be interesting to see how the remainder of their Premier League campaign pans out.

Aubameyang should get a recall against Watford on Sunday but a missed penalty (against Manchester City) is not the sort of thing you want to see on his CV, early in his Arsenal career.

The Gunners, who are the second highest scorers in the league at home this season, are one of a cluster of sides that will be without a fixture in GW31 as well, so that is something else Fantasy Premier League managers will need to factor in.

Fantasy football managers experience those highs and lows on a weekly basis – who will you hand that coveted GW30 armband to?