FPL GW13

Free hit week upon us

If you have your Free Hit left, this week is likely the best option left for this first half of the season. There is still merit to wait, more for some teams than others, and if you like to bet on crazy stuff happening such as weather cancellations or royal funerals, it is also fine to save it.

managerBotten suggested FH (101 Team value)

I do like this team a lot, especially the defensive setup with two double ups. Also, I really like the Brentford CBs who have both DEFCON and offensive threat while playing against the worst team for xG in the league. Cash is explosive and the only option in Villa defense, and stacking with Emi is great.

To get the easy part out of the way, Haaland and Thiago is the forward setup for this GW if you're on Free Hit if you ask me. Not the place I would make any risky bets.

Midfield is the hard part, and the suggested team has both Foden and Salah in. While I don't like Foden in general, he has a good setup this GW compared to alternatives.

Gakpo is an option but is also risky for minutes. Kudus and Doku are not the routes I would choose here.

Instead I would look at Bruno even in a somewhat hard fixture he has so many routes to points. Sarr is a great option too as Uniteds defensive record away is very poor.

Lastly, I would decide with a defender instead of a 5th mid. Virgil has to get into the team this week if you ask me. Not only does West Ham concede a high amount of set piece xG (top 3 in the league), they are also the team that allows the most DEFCON to CBs out of the poor teams in the league. If there is a 17 pointer GW for a defender goal, Virgil in this fixture comes very close to being the one.

I really dislike Rogers, his stats are awful this season.

In short, I would pick the same team and change:

Gakpo, Kudus and Doku

to

Bruno, Sarr, Virgil

I played my Free Hit chip in GW6, which means no early Christmas treat for me.

Team selection

My dilemma this week is whether to finally make the Salah to Haaland move or wait until GW15.

I have decided to wait until GW15 for a few reasons:

• I will be very fragile to injuries and a Munoz yellow if I make the move now

• A Haaland injury will destroy me if I make the move now and send me to heaven if I waited

• WHU has extreme defensive weaknesses in their left side (data backed), which is good for Salah (Leeds is neutral against strikers)

• Salah replacements this week are not as great as in GW15 where Minteh is a perfect move

• Salah will cover some (but not all) of the predicted points next GW with a much better fixture than Haaland

I'll admit this may be a mistake to wait, but at least the plan to correct it is in place and there won't be too many butterfly effects.

I will instead sell Gudmundsson for Sepp van den Berg, who has incredible underlying stats, DEFCON potential and an amazing fixture. He fits in well with rotation too, where he will be in the team in GW16+17.

Some benching dilemmas here with Enzo, Saliba, Lacroix, but I'm quite confident it ends up like this.

Good luck everyone!