Gameweek 13 review:
The gameweek witnessed an overall all-around performance from all the thirds of the teams. Only a few teams could profit from a clean sheet. The goalless draw between Aston Villa and Burnley meant that FPL favorites Emiliano Martinez and Nick Pope continued their excellent run of form and are turning to must-haves in every team. Some defenders came up with powerful attacking returns, With 5 goal contributions and 5 clean sheets, Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell is strong holding his position as a premium defender. On the other hand, Vladimir Coufal from West Ham and the ever-versatile Stuart Dallas from Leeds United are producing stellar performances one GW after the other, cementing their positions as budget defenders.
In the roster of attackers, in-form Mohamed Salah and Heung-min Son extended their run of form, securing a goal apiece in the match where they faced each other. They both climb up the ladder, securing the top 2 positions in FPL midfielder returns. But on the dark side, the gameweek witnessed one of the lowest average scores ever of 42 points, with favorites Kevin De Bruyne, Bruno Fernandes, Harry Kane, Jack Grealish, and Jamie Vardy all blanking. KDB, Fernandes, and Kane were also among the highest captain picks, thus making this week a disaster. Nevertheless, it's football- where anything can happen and it is important to brush off the hurdles and move on to build a better team.
Player selection for GW14:
Before making any transfers and setting your team, it is important to now note that the FA has modified some fixtures in the EPL. This means that GW18 will be a blank gameweek and GW19 will be a double gameweek. Therefore it is important to consider this fact, plan your team accordingly and save the chips for the second half of the season.
In goal, it is important to pick a player who has a continuous line of fixtures that are also easy at the same time. Considering these criteria, our first suggestion would be to go with Emiliano Martinez from Aston Villa. He faces West Brom next week, a side that is hoped to rejuvenate through its new manager, Sam Allardyce. Nick Pope from Burnley would be our second choice. He faces Fulham, Sheffield United, and Leeds United in their home. So the chances that he returns with a clean sheet are very high on the charts.
In defence, the plan is to opt for 2 premium defenders and 3 budget defenders with any two players not needing to play a match in GW18. Therefore our choice for premium defenders would be Ben Chilwell from Chelsea and Ruben Dias from Man City. Chilwell has a chance to get an attacking return against West Ham and Arsenal, who currently have a leaky defence. On the other hand, Dias faces Brighton, Newcastle, and Southampton, who might be easier fixtures to keep a clean sheet against. In the budget defenders section, our choice is to go with Tyrone Mings, Stuart Dallas, and Romain Saiss. Keeping aside the criteria there are other players, who can potentially deliver in the next round alone, like Kyle Walker-Peters from Southampton, Charlie Taylor from Burnley, and Vladimir Coufal from West Ham.
In midfield, it is safe to go with 3 premium mids and 2 budget mids. As obviously the premium mids are going to be Salah, KDB, and Fernandes. Salah faces a tough away fixture against Crystal Palace and Liverpool’s away form hasn’t been that good. However, they would look to change that with the Thiago looking fit to play that match. KDB and Fernandes face tricky fixtures against Southampton and Leeds. So our suggestion would once again be to not expect huge returns from both of them. Son remains the only other premium mid who could be watched out for as the City mids Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling face the risk of rotation during Christmas. As for the budget mids, our first choices are going to be Jack Grealish and Wilfried Zaha. There are other options too like Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto from Wolves, Marcus Rashford from Manchester United, and Jarrod Bowen from West Ham United.
In the forwards, we are going to go with one premium forward and two budget ones. We also want to make sure that the premium forwards wouldn’t have a break in GW18. Therefore we had to go with Harry Kane. Our immediate alternative would be Southampton’s Danny Ings who like Walker-Peters, has decent fixtures lined up. For the budget forwards, it going to be none other than Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Patrick Bamford. The duo ranks the highest in the points per million table and are proving themselves to be the perfect candidates for any team. Therefore, it’s hard to ignore them. Other budget alternatives would be Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa, Rodrigo from Leeds, and Che Adams from Southampton.
Captain choices:
The most obvious captain pick would be Mo Salah. The Egyptian has been phenomenal recently and he can be believed to once again turn up for his team. De Bruyne is another viable option for captaincy along with Jamie Vardy if he is included in your team. Leicester has had a superb away performance so far and we believe they can threaten Spurs with their attack.
Ones to watch out for:
Callum Wilson- Good budget forward, faces Fulham next week.
Tammy Abraham- 5 goal contributions in 6 league starts, faces West Ham next week
Pascal Groß- 4 goal contributions in 6 league starts, faces Sheffield United next week
Aaron Creswell- 4 goal contributions and 4 clean sheets in 13 league starts, faces Chelsea next week
