Captaincy quandary

The game's most popular players Wayne Rooney and Luis Suarez, who are in 39 and 35 per cent of sides, will have few better opportunities to end their goal droughts as Wolves and QPR visit Manchester United and Liverpool respectively on Saturday.

Robin van Persie may still trail the duo significantly in the popularity contest, but he has been transferred into more teams than the other two for a fifth successive gameweek, which is a clear indication of his demand among managers regularly making moves in the transfer market.

The Dutchman's form hardly needs stating given he is now only two points short of his points total of 141 from the whole of last season, 35 points clear at the top of the charts this term.

While Van Persie has been pulling clear at the top, early frontrunner Rooney and pre-season favourite Suarez have failed to score in eight and seven games respectively.

If Sky Bet's odds are any indication then they should both end those droughts at odds-on to score with Sky Bet, while Rooney is the favourite to top score in the Fantasy Specials.

Bargain buys

Obviously the budget does not allow all three in your team, given their hefty transfer fees, so cheaper options need looking at.

Having taken his tally to nine with four goals last week, Yakubu is a tempting target at £5.7m with fellow strugglers Sunderland, West Brom and Bolton up next for Blackburn.

At just £0.3 more, you can get Newcaslte's Demba Ba, who has scored the same amount this season and visits a Norwich side yet to keep a clean sheet on their top-flight return.

Emmanual Adebayor, with two goals fewer to his name this term, also catches the eye at £6.2m as Tottenham travel to Stoke looking to make it seven straight wins.

But it is Adebayor's team-mate Gareth Bale who is really in red-hot form ahead of this weekend, playing a pivotal role in Spurs' fine run with four goals and five assist is his last five games.

The Welsh winger also notched a brace as Spurs won 2-1 in the corresponding fixture last season, while Jermain Defoe has scored three in four, but his battle for a place with Rafael van der Vaart makes him somewhat of a gamble at this stage.

David Silva remains the must-have midfielder with a ninth assist of the season last week taking his tally to 88 points, 12 more than Bale.

At the back, Manchester United's Phil Jones pulled further clear as the top-scoring defender last weekend, with a first professional goal and a fourth clean sheet in five seeing his tally rise to 72.

Injury concerns

However, United's prospects of maintaining such stringent form have been dealt a huge blow with the news that Nemanja Vidic will be missing for the remainder of the season.

There are a few other injury victims to be aware of ahead of this weekend's fixtures with Newcastle's Steven Taylor also sidelined for the rest of the campaign, while his defensive partner Fabio Coloccini is set to miss the trip to Carrow Road as well.

Aston Villa loanee Jermaine Jenas is also unlikely to feature again this season, while the Villans have also been hit with a month-long sideline spell for goalkeeper Shay Given.

Liverpool's Lucas and Arsenal's Andre Santos are also out for significant periods, while Luis Suarez's FA charge is worth keeping an eye on for those with the Uruguay star in their sides.