Is Zlatan Ibrahimović set to unleash his ‘box of tricks’ and reward managers who hand him the GW23 armband?

Zlatan Ibrahimović was given a well-earned breather on Sunday, allowing Anthony Martial to spearhead the Manchester United attack in a routine 4-0 FA Cup win over Wigan Athletic. The young French striker didn’t disappoint, picking up two assists in the process, but the best he could hope for on Wednesday was surely one of the wide attacking roles, with Ibrahimović expected to be restored to the starting line-up.

The big Swede was the clear top-ranked captaincy option, based on his predicted share of goals and assists and those all-important GW23 team goal projections.

GW23 ‘Captometer’ Ratings

Editor’s note: This article was originally published during the 2016/17 Fantasy Premier League season. The original GW23 Captometer table is no longer available following a later website migration. The accompanying analysis has been retained as part of the Fantasy Sports Portal archive and provides an example of how our original captaincy model was applied on a gameweek-by-gameweek basis.

Ibra’s stats spoke for themselves but perhaps even more telling was the likely absence of the Tigers’ veteran defender Curtis Davies. The 31-year-old had registered more blocks and interceptions than any other Premier League player that season and was the only Hull player to have recorded an average WhoScored rating above 7, following Robert Snodgrass’ departure from the club.

Other forwards to figure prominently in Gameweek 23 included the brilliant Alexis Sánchez, Harry Kane and Sergio Agüero.

Sánchez could be restored to the number 9 position if Theo Walcott got the nod over Olivier Giroud. Walcott had scored a hat-trick in Arsenal’s 5-0 demolition of Southampton in the FA Cup and, if that proved to be the case, it would certainly increase the Chilean forward’s appeal.

Kane and Agüero were both reported to be carrying knocks as well. The Spurs striker was expected to start at Sunderland but Agüero was rated at only 50-50 for the trip to West Ham United. He potentially offered a better option at the weekend when Manchester City entertained Swansea City and their porous defence.

Would Ibra conjure up some magic and deliver the goods for his captaincy ‘backers’ on Wednesday?