SOCCER

Fantasy Premier League: Captain Picks for Matchweek 16

Harry Kane has an outstanding matchup this week as Spurs host Hull City. Is that enough to make him this week's top captain pick?

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.

As usual, an acceptable game for our captain is either scoring or assisting on a goal -- preferably scoring. Last week was a bit of an average week. Mané turned out fine, assisting two goals, while Alexis Sanchez had one assist for Arsenal. Defoe, though, was held off the scoresheet, in what was a great matchup against Swansea.

Who should you be looking to captain this week?

Diego Costa

Chelsea travel to the Stadium of Light to take on Sunderland in a midweek clash. Given that Swansea just bagged three goals on Sunderland, you shouldn't need any extra convincing that Diego Costa is a good play this week. While it's possible Hazard outscores Costa, Hazard is also a much riskier player.

Last weekend against West Brom, Diego had a fine game, scoring one goal on one shot, along with a key pass. This is a continuation of his excellent goal-scoring record this season as Costa has scored 12 goals in 15 games, along with five assists. As you'd expect, he has very strong odds to score (-137) in a game Chelsea should control. He's only failed to record a goal or assist in two games this season, both games that Chelsea failed to score.

Chelsea is in the middle of a great run, having won nine games in a row. During this run, their average team rating on WhoScored.com climbed to 7.11, the best in the league. Sunderland, on the other hand, share (with Hull City) the league's worst average rating at 6.6. Sunderland spend the third-most time in their own third this season (30%), and they have the third-worst possession clip (41.5%). They also allow the third-most shots per game (18.9).

Chelsea takes 15.3 shots per game, sixth-most in the league. Those shots are largely in high-danger areas as 63% of them are coming within the 18-yard box, which is the second-best mark in the league. Chelsea has the best road odds on the slate (-300).

Diego is by far the most owned player on the FPL website, currently owned by 52.3% of teams. The next closest player is Hazard at 38.6%. Costa has been added by another 55,000 teams this week. Given the short period between gameweeks, the player adds are expected to be lower than usual. Costa will be the most popular for good reason.

Harry Kane

Tottenham welcome Hull City to White Hart Lane on Wednesday in what should be a lopsided affair. While Spurs looked somewhat toothless against Manchester United on Sunday, I wouldn't expect a similar performance against Hull. Since his return from injury, Kane has been in very good form, having scored five goals in five games. He hasn't recorded an assist since August, but he is definitely the focal point of Spurs attack.

Like the rest of the Tottenham attackers, Kane didn't have a great showing against United. He had one shot (off target), and one key pass. WhoScored.com gave him the worst rating -- a paltry 6.07 -- of any player who saw over 10 minutes of playing time. The oddsmakers aren't worried that this will continue into this match as they are giving Kane great odds to score (-187).

Make no mistake, Tottenham haven't been in great form lately. Selecting Kane is purely due to the poor form of Hull. As we said earlier, Hull is tied with Sunderland for the worst average team rating on WhoScored. Hull are on a four game winless streak, and they haven't kept a clean sheet all season. They allow the second-most shots per game (19.3) while Tottenham take the second-most shots per game (17.4).

Hull also have the fifth-worst possession rate (46.6%). Tottenham spend the fourth largest percentage in their opposition's third (31%) while Hull leads the league in time in their own third (34%). Tottenham having ridiculous odds to win (-450), and that should not be a surprise given those metrics.

Kane's ownership is starting to creep up as he's now the sixth-most owned forward at 19.5%. Like Costa, he hasn't seen a drastic number of adds this week, with only 65,000 managers adding him. Kane and Costa are going to be the two most captained players this week. It's up to you to choose between the consistent scorer playing on the road against a bad team (Costa) and the streaky player at home against a bad team (Kane). It would not be a surprise if both of them scored multiple goals on Wednesday.

For those of you with neither in your lineup, the following guys make up the next tier of captain choices: Alexis Sanchez, Eden Hazard, Sadio Mané, Divock Origi and Kevin De Bruyne. You probably shouldn't consider any of those guys over Costa or Kane, but I could see a lot of them getting a goal or assist during the midweek slate.