Welcome to the AM’s Players To Watch for Gameweek 13. As long-time readers of my columns will know, my advice in seasons gone by had revolved around games that would allow you to make unlimited transfers each gameweek, selecting an entirely new 11 players if you so wished. Unfortunately Yahoo Fantasy Premier League is a glorious but distant memory, while Togga, sadly, was not able to return for this campaign which put an end to the Perfect XI column I’d been penning for the past two years.
This season I’ll be a bit more general in my advice. Whether you’re playing Official FPL, FPL or Fantrax Draft, Fantrax Salary Cap, Sky Sports, The Sun, The Telegraph or any number of other the fantasy games available to fans each season, I’ll be offering my top five picks for the week ahead, mixing “must-haves” with hunch picks and players flying under the radar. Hopefully this will offer something for everyone, whether you’re considering captain options, looking to make a transfers or pick up a free agent in draft.
On to Gameweek 13 ...
Saturday 24 November
Brighton v Leicester
Everton v Cardiff
Fulham v Southampton
Man Utd v Crystal Palace
Watford v Liverpool
West Ham v Man City
Spurs v Chelsea
Sunday 25 November
Bournemouth v Arsenal
Wolves v Huddersfield
Monday 26 November
Burnley v Newcastle
Everton at home to Cardiff and Manchester City away at West Ham look to be the pick of bunch this week, with Wolves hosting Huddersfield and Liverpool away at Watford also worth investing in. Manchester United will be heavy favourites at home to Crystal Palace, while Fulham will be looking for the “new-manager-bounce” as they host Southampton. With that in mind, here are the players ....
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Richarlison (MF - Everton v Cardiff) - With Cenk Tosun misfiring Marco Silva decided to solve his striking problems by moving Richarlison in to the number 9 role, and it has certainly paid off. The £50 million summer signing has six Premier League goals to his name already despite missing the best part of four matches through injury / suspension and his work-rate and link up play has been a joy to behold. Cardiff are the visitors to Goodison this weekend in a clash the Toffees should dominate, with Richarlison causing the bulk of the problems for the Bluebirds’ defence.
Raúl Jiménez (FW - Wolves v Huddersfield) - I started this Gameweek’s preparations with two free transfers in FPL; one was used during the international break to replace the injured Benjamin Mendy. The second will almost certainly be used to replace the injured Danny Ings with Raúl Jiménez. Jiménez has scored three Premier League goals this season and all of them have come at Molineux, which bodes well for this Sunday’s home clash with David Wagner‘s Huddersfield.
Raheem Sterling (MF - Manchester City @ West Ham) - No player has progressed more under Pep Guardiola than Raheem Sterling. Still only 23-years old, the attacker is having another sensational season for Manchester City with six goals and five assists in the Premier League already, picking up maximum FPL bonus points on three occasions. His partnership with Sergio Agüero has been particularly impressive and has helped soften the impact felt by Kevin De Bruyne‘s injuries and the poor form of Gabriel Jesus. Sterling’s pace is sure to trouble West Ham on Saturday and it would be a surprise if he didn’t add to his goal tally.
Lucas Digne (DF - Everton v Cardiff) - Wolves wing-back Matt Doherty very nearly nabbed the defensive spot this week but in the end I just couldn’t resist Lucas Digne at home to goal-shy Cardiff. The ex-Barcelona man has secured the left-back position over Everton legend Leighton Baines thanks to a series of fine performance since arriving from Spain in the summer, and has even managed to wrestle the majority of set pieces from Gylfi Sigurdsson. Digne has just the solitary assist so far but he’s creating chances, taking shots and has an excellent chance of a clean sheet this weekend. He’s also extremely cheap in Official FPL and so there doesn’t appear to be a downside.
Anthony Martial (MF - Manchester United v Crystal Palace) - Anthony Martial started the season on the outskirts of José Mourinho‘s squad which makes this turnaround over the past couple of months even more remarkable. The French international has been United’s most valuable player since Gameweek 8, bagging six goals in just five appearances and helping to drag his teammates back in to the race for a Champions League spot. It should be noted that Martial withdrew from the France squad during the international break with an injury but it is not thought to be serious and we expect the 22-year old to start at home to struggling Crystal Palace.
Captain Choice: Sergio Agüero (FW - Manchester City @ West Ham) - While the likes of Richarlison and Stirling - even Mohamed Salah - are tempting captain choices I’m sticking with Sergio Agüero for Gameweek 13. One of these days the Argentine striker will turn from selfless provider (six assists already this season) to the greedy finisher we know and love. I’m hopeful it’ll be this weekend against an inconsistent Hammers side.
Honourable Mentions: Rui Patrício, Andrew Robertson, Matt Doherty, André Schürrle, Mohamed Salah, Alexandre Lacazette, Aleksandar Mitrovic
That’s it for Gameweek 13. Check out the Rotoworld Features page to access a host of fantastic content to get you ready for the new season. If you have any questions about a specific player or your own fantasy team then feel free to post them in the comments below or hit me on Twitter (@nikarg) and I will get back to you.
Thanks for reading - good luck to all managers this weekend.
