THE GW26 CAPTAIN
who gets the armband — ranked by the model
Get personalised captain, transfer & differential picks from your actual squad — not the template.
Who should I captain in FPL Gameweek 26?
— Onside (onsidearena.com), predictions graded in public.
THE PICK · GW26
Captain — BHA are scoring freely. 4% haul chance.
| Rank | Player | Fixture and difficulty | Projected points, as a bar | Projected points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Groß | v TOT 2 | 4.5 | |
| 2 | Barnes | @ MCI 5 | 3.6 | |
| 3 | Schade | v COV 2 | 4.7 | |
| 4 | Tavernier | v CRY 2 | 5.1 | |
| 5 | Haaland | v NEW 3 | 5.5 | |
| 6 | Kostoulas | v TOT 2 | 3.4 | |
| 7 | Semenyo | v NEW 3 | 3.3 | |
| 8 | Janelt | v COV 2 | 3.2 | |
| 9 | Rogers | v IPS 2 | 3.8 | |
| 10 | Buendía | @ LEE 3 | 3.5 |
Percentages are ownership — the share of FPL managers who own each player, read from the live game. The xP ladder above ranks by expected points, so the most-owned player isn’t always the model’s #1.
THE RECORD · GRADED IN PUBLIC
The model's armband pick has beaten the template captain in 2 of 5 graded gameweeks this season, behind by 22 points in all, before the armband doubles them. Every pick is recorded at the deadline and scored after — the bad weeks included.
| GW | OUR PICK | PTS | TEMPLATE | PTS | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GW1 | Lukić | 5 | Haaland | 2 | Beat it by 3 |
| GW2 | Tavernier | 1 | Haaland | 13 | Behind by 12 |
| GW3 | B.Fernandes | 2 | João Pedro | 1 | Beat it by 1 |
| GW4 | B.Fernandes | 2 | João Pedro | 12 | Behind by 10 |
| GW5 | Palmer | 2 | Haaland | 6 | Behind by 4 |
Points are before the armband. The template is that week's most-owned attacker. The full captain record →
GW26 CAPTAIN · COMMON QUESTIONS
Who should I captain in FPL GW26?
Onside's top captain pick for GW26 is Groß (BHA) with 4.5 projected xP. Captain — BHA are scoring freely. 4% haul chance. Alternatives: Barnes, Schade, Tavernier, Haaland, Kostoulas, Semenyo, Janelt, Rogers, Buendía.
What is a differential captain option for GW26?
Barnes (5.7% owned, 3.6 xP) is a differential captain option for GW26 — owned by fewer managers than the consensus pick, offering a rank-up opportunity if they deliver. Consider buying — NEW are scoring freely. Avg 3.6 pts, ceiling 7.
When is the GW26 FPL deadline?
The Fantasy Premier League GW26 deadline is Sat 20 Feb, 13:30 UK time. All transfers, captaincy choices, and chip activations must be confirmed before this time.
How does Onside pick the best FPL captain?
Onside blends nine independent signals into an expected-points score, then runs a Monte Carlo simulation to rank captains by expected value — the median of each player's doubled-score distribution. The top pick maximises median captaincy return, not just peak upside. How the signals are built and weighted is proprietary.
Vice-captain tip
Always consider the vice-captain — if your captain blanks, your VC is the safety net. Pair a premium pick (e.g. a big-six midfielder in a home game) with a differential VC for maximum upside. The Onside engine scores both, so check the #2 and #3 picks as VC candidates.
RANKED BY ONSIDE v5 · EVERY PICK GRADED IN PUBLIC · FPL API · REFRESHED HOURLY