Premier League captains 2021/22: From Liverpool's committee to the ever-presents
- Andy Schooler
- 14 April 2022
Who are the three ever-present skippers in this season's Premier League? And which club has had the most captains? We take a look...
Captain, leader, legend reads a banner still regularly seen at Stamford Bridge.
It is, of course, about John Terry, the former Chelsea skipper.
He was a near ever-present for years - first name on the teamsheet, armband always on.
But Terry's breed is a dying one with captaincy being diluted at some Premier League clubs.
Here's a look at the approaches clubs have taken with the armband in the 2021/22 season.
The ever-present captains
Only three players have captained their side in every Premier League game this season - Hugo Lloris at Spurs, Kasper Schmeichel at Leicester and Conor Coady at Wolves.
As you can see, two are goalkeepers and they've played every minute with the armband on. Coady has missed only 12 minutes.
The sacked captain
Given how his relationship with Mikel Arteta disintegrated, it's easy to forget that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang began the season as Arsenal captain.
But after returning late from a trip abroad he was stripped of the captaincy and dropped altogether. Less than two months later, he was out of the door and heading to Barcelona.
Alexandre Lacazette is the new skipper, although he's struggling for goals just as Aubameyang did with the armband on. It can be a heavy piece of material…
The off-field captain
Now in his final season at West Ham, there is plenty of John Terry about Mark Noble - one-club man, organiser, passionate.
With retirement drawing near, he's played little this season but such is his influence at the club that David Moyes has kept him as club captain.
Declan Rice may have worn the armband but you can bet your bottom dollar Noble has been the one making the dressing-room speeches.
The captaincy merry-go-round
Crystal Palace are the only club at which no player has worn the armband at least 10 times this season.
Luka Milivojevic nominally holds the role - or at least did coming into the new campaign. However, he's struggled to hold down a place in the XI, much of that due to injury, and so James McArthur and Joel Ward - the most-regular skipper - have often stood in. Even Wilfried Zaha got the nod once.
But a new captaincy era may just have begun at Palace. With his form having won him a first England cap recently, Marc Guehi is potentially on his way to big things - he is the man currently in possession of the Eagles' armband.
The committee of captains
Things are done differently at Liverpool - and you can understand why.
Jordan Henderson wears the armband whenever he's on the pitch but in a side which has spent the season chasing the quadruple, it's been impossible for him to play all the time.
Rotation is a common policy with the teams towards the top of the Premier League these days - and that works with the captains too.
Given this, Jurgen Klopp has long nominated a 'captains' committee' - a pool of players capable of leading the side. As well as Henderson, Virgil van Dijk, James Milner, Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson are all members.
Captains, leaders, legends, if you will.
Well, they do love a banner on the Kop too, you know.
Who wants to be captain?
Liverpool may have six potential captains but several are simply on stand-by.
Not at Newcastle.
This is the club to have had more captains than any other Premier League side this season - no fewer than six have started a game by contesting the coin toss.
Jamaal Lascelles has been the go-to man for years when it comes to the black-and-white armband but he's lost his place in the starting XI of late and so others have had their chance - and it's almost looked as if it's first come, first served.
Jonjo Shelvey, Federico Fernandez, Fabian Schar, Callum Wilson and new-boy Kieran Trippier have all had a go.
With signings expected in numbers in the summer, the choice for Eddie Howe is about to become even bigger…
Captains' committee? How about captains' squad?
