Welcome to a new series for the 2024/25 season, provided by Siva & Sam, the twisted minds behind the weekly FPL Banger Podcast. After our successful Salah captaincy last week, it’s time to cook again.
FPL Banger’s Gameweek 13 Tips
Read on as FPL Banger pinpoints their top Gameweek 13 FPL tips, including their best captaincy selection and four top picks that could improve your sides heading into the weekend’s Premier League action.
BEST CAPTAIN
Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) – Fixture: Manchester City (H)
Six games in a row without a win. 2-1 defeat to Brighton. 4-0 loss to Spurs.
Any semblance of control and solidity has vanished from Pep Guardiola’s side in recent weeks, and instead what you get is a special kind of panic and total lack of control which led to City conceding 3 goals in the last 15 minutes against Feyenoord. And the stats reflect City’s collapse.
Since Rodri’s injury against Arsenal in September, Manchester City have faced the most big chances in the Premier League (30 in 7 games). Last season, City only conceded 60 big chances in 38 games. This season, they’ve already conceded 37 big chances in 12 games. If they keep this up, the Cityzens will concede 117 big chances before the season ends.
All this adds up to great opportunity for Mohamed Salah, who has only blanked twice all season and should, by GW13, be the most owned player in FPL. At home, Anfield, Salah in form, Liverpool having just beaten their nemesis Real Madrid, about to face City knowing a win here would be massive in the title race. Salah (c) for me.
TOP PICKS
Andre Onana (£5.1m) – Fixture: Everton (H)
Everything seemed to line up perfectly for Everton in GW12. At home against a Brentford side who hadn’t kept a clean sheet all season, with Christian Norgaard sent off on 41 minutes. But Sean Dyche’s team could not find a breakthrough, and instead Mark Flekken walked away from Goodison Park with a 9 point haul.
I’m expecting similar things for Andre Onana this week. Ruben Amorim may have been upstaged by Ed Sheeran crashing his post match presser last week, but I’m in love with the shape of United’s new 343 setup.
Thinking out loud, you can’t expect United to be perfect as Amorim is still figuring out his A Team, but even with my eyes closed I would predict a United clean sheet here.
Jurrien Timber (£5.5m) – Fixture: West Ham (A)
An injury ruined his debut season at Arsenal but Jurrien Timber has bounced back in the best way possible, with his midweek performance against Sporting being his best in an Arsenal shirt so far. He created the most chances (3) of any Arsenal player and completed the most take-ons, and even assisted Gabriel Martinelli’s goal with a fine pass.
Some might be concerned about Timber’s minutes but the injury to Ben White coupled with Timber’s versatility and ability to play any position across the backline means that he should start most games going forward. 2.1% ownership for the cheapest route into the Arsenal defence feels too low – and it won’t stay like that for long.
Brennan Johnson (£6.7m) – Fixture: Fulham (H)
What kind of team loses at home to Ipswich and then goes on to defeat Man City 4-0 away? Spurs stopped making any kind of sense a long time ago but one player has remained consistent in recent weeks.
Brennan Johnson might have been benched against City as Spurs looked to solidify their midfield, but he made his minutes count and scored off the bench, saving my FPL gameweek in the process. And he’s been doing that all season, with 8 goals in his last 13 in both the league and in Europe.
Next up for Spurs is a Fulham side that just conceded 4 to Wolves. Let’s go Brennan.
Chris Wood (£6.6m) – Fixture: Ipswich (H)
Chris Wood non-owners had their first win in weeks when the Kiwi Lewandowski was benched last week, after his long travels during the international break for New Zealand.
No such luck this week though. The Hobbiton Haaland has had a full week of rest and is ready to dunk on Ipswich in the same way he dunks on Vanuatu and Malaysia. I wood hate to be without the Auckland Aguero this week.
Thanks for reading the article in this new series for Sportscasting. Be sure to follow @FPL_Banger for more FPL tips and hints including their weekly podcast and team reveals.
