With Gameweek 13 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) nearing, our pundits are starting to finalise their teams before Saturday’s deadline.
FPL General, who has three top 500 finishes to his name, is fully committed to going without Mohamed Salah (£14.2m) and Erling Haaland (£14.9m) this season. Here, he reveals his Gameweek 13 team plans.
General no Salah Haaland
Gameweek 12 Review
When Erling Haaland (£14.9m) blanks, it usually results in a green arrow. If only it would happen a little more often! The last two Gameweeks have been great, rising more than one million places in rank, but it could all be reversed this weekend with the Norwegian goal machine playing at home to Leeds United and lots of Triple Captain chips being activated for it.
The first hit of the season was taken last week to bring in Bryan Mbeumo (£8.6m) and Igor Thiago (£6.5m) to replace Mohammed Kudus (£6.5m) and Viktor Gyokeres (£8.8m). We were so close to a Thiago 13-pointer versus Brighton. He could end up being my captain for Gameweek 13 at home to Burnley. Manchester United failing to score against 10-man Everton was a painful watch as a new Mbeumo owner.
I was hopeful that Antoine Semenyo (£7.9m) would start following his injury layoff but in the end, I lucked into Joachim Andersen’s (£4.5m) 10-pointer off the bench.
The five blanks in a row for Ismaila Sarr (£6.7m) have me tempted to jump off him earlier than planned. There are a lot of attractive alternatives putting their hands up for inclusion. Jean-Philippe Mateta (£8.1m) hasn’t been producing enough recently, either, with three blanks in four. The 59th-minute substitution is concerning.
With Haaland blanking, I could’ve done with Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) going big. Getting solid captaincy returns has been the biggest challenge this season. At least he got DefCon! Sakalele is the best nickname I’ve heard for a while…
Gameweek 13 Bus Team
There’s one free transfer available and £0.7m in the bank. The Free Hit was played a couple of weeks ago. The only chip I’ve got left for the first half of the campaign is the Triple Captain.
At the beginning of the week, I talked myself into buying Phil Foden (£8.0m) and giving him the armband, possibly even a big gamble on the Triple Captain. Now, I’m not so sure. Having no Manchester City assets for this good run of upcoming fixtures doesn’t seem like the best idea. I’m expecting Pep Guardiola’s side to beat Leeds comfortably, which is where the Foden temptation comes in. However, the fact that Foden has registered just two attacking returns all season doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Haaland hoovers up everything in their attack! If Foden is to come in, Semenyo would be the player to make way.
I’ve already got a good captain option in Thiago with a great fixture but I still find it difficult to captain a Brentford player, regardless of how good the fixture is. I think I’d rather punt on Foden…
Rolling the transfer for midweek is an option too. As is Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.4m) to Jurrien Timber (£6.3m) but Chelsea away isn’t the best timing for that transfer.
Another route is Sarr out for Kevin Schade (£7.0m), Yankuba Minteh (£6.2m) or Morgan Rogers (£6.9m).
I’m really undecided on the decisions this week. It’s a later deadline on Saturday, at least, which gives me more time to overthink it!
It’s going to be a damage limitation week with all the chips active. The potential swings could make for absolute carnage in the FPL community over the weekend. Strap yourselves in!
Best of luck for the Gameweek folks and have a great weekend.
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