Fantasy Premier League Preview for Gameweek 13.

TLDR: Zaha is a good replacement for Diogo Jota, Sheffield are bad, Brighton are bad, Chelsea is suffering without Ziyech, Southampton and Leeds look like they can score goals, Captain Kevin De Bruyne, Bruno Fernandes, or Salah.

Crowds coming back:

Fans have started trickling back into the stadiums and has this made a significant difference in making away fixtures harder? Perhaps. There were some interesting scorelines this weekend with fans; Home Everton vs. Chelsea was 1-0, Home Palace vs. Spurs was 1-1, Home Fulham vs. Liverpool 1-1. In these games. I think that while there have been some anomalies away games have not become much harder. Perhaps away games with fans may be a bit harder than usual away games, but overall it remains the same.

Diogo Jota Replacements:

The news that Diogo Jota would be out two months is absolutely terrible news. Now, with Jota out, many are looking for new midfielders around the 7.0 million mark. An exciting prospect is Tomáš Souček of West Ham who is on a goal scoring run and being priced very cheaply is able to free up some funds. Souček teammate, Jarrod Bowen is another shout having supplied the assist for Souček’s goal. However, without Michail Antonio West Ham seem so much more worse and reserved. This makes these West Ham options high risk gambles. The two obvious choices in my eyes are Wilfred Zaha and Jack Grealish. Zaha and Grealish are two good longterm picks who will return points as long as they are fit. Grealish is confirmed on penalties. Wilfred Zaha is still playing forward and creating so many chances.

Liverpool:

Without Diogo Jota Liverpool has seemed to return to a 4-3-3 formation. When Liverpool played a 4-3-3 against Fulham they looked very solid and seemed like they could keep cleansheets going forward with this formation. In fact, one could say that Liverpool already does keep cleansheets. Liverpool kept a cleansheet against Leicester, almost kept a clean sheet Brighton due to a last minute penalty, kept a cleansheet and destroyed Wolves. So, is it time to get Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson? If you are looking for a differential this may be it. With their break after Palace, Liverpool has the ability to regain their match fitness.

Aston Villa:

I have not enjoyed watching Aston Villa. Against Wolves, Grealish was marked by 3 players every time he got the ball. Like what is Jack supposed to do there? Couldn’t do much. I still maintain the fact that Grealish is a good pick since he will keep trickling in points and will get bonus points when he gets returns. For me, the problem is not Grealish but Aston Villa itself. When I watch Aston Villa it seems like they’ll lose most games they’ll play. Villa may win against teams like Burnley, West Brom, and Palace. Just not impressed with Villa overall. Grealish just puts up insane numbers each game so I think he is a good pick. But, if it’s between Grealish and Zaha its Zaha for me. Even when Palace is bad Zaha can still scrape up some points. When Villa is bad Grealish just does not function.

Changing my midpriced midfielder ordering: #1. Wilfred Zaha #2. Jack Grealish

Southampton

Che Adams vs. Danny Ings: is Ings worth 2.5 million more? Maybe, Ings is on penalties and Southampton have been quite good lately. Even though Ings just came off injury he got five shots, 1 xG, and an assist the past game. Just an absolute monster. Che Adams is also very good and much cheaper than Ings. Che just keeps trickling in points and is playing on a very attacking team which are all great things. I have Che since he’s great and returns more points for his price than Ings.

Sheffield United

First just want to say that Ramsdale is a beast. What a keeper. Moving on to the absolute trainwreck that is Sheffield United. One point. Five goals: one open play goal, two penalties, and two corners. Literally the worst start for any team in Premier League History. Chris Wilder. I literally did not have a clue what this guy was doing against Southampton. Southampton is the second highest pressing team and my guy Chris Wilder decides to increase the average age of his squad as much as possible by putting in Billy Sharp (34 yrs old) and Phil Jagielka (38 yrs old), Phil’s first game coming by the way. Insanity. It is physically painful to watch. Fire or not fire Wilder? Sheffield have certainly spent some money by buying 20 million worth of strikers and a 20 million goalkeeper. However, after one point and no goals after twelve games Wilder has not changed anything. I understand that Wilder has a system instilled for the past three years. But I don’t really understand why it has not changed since the beginning of this season given that its not working out. Even the substitutions Wilder makes confuses me. Like why sub out two strikers for another two strikers. Like that does that even accomplish? It’s just bad. I also don’t understand why Wilder isn’t fired. Maybe it’s because Wilder helped legitimize Sheffield and people believe that if Sheffield goes down Wilder is the only one who can bring them back up.

Arsenal:

So many reds. So bad. It’s painful to watch. Stay away.

Brighton is a scam

Good lord Brighton is lost. In the beginning of the season Brighton looked quite good. They should have beaten Manchester United and Chelsea but ultimately their weakness have shown themselves as the season has progressed. Brighton leaves space all over the place, so many of their players are bad, they let up chances for laughs, they don’t create chances, and they don’t finish. Just a bad team.

Leeds

Similar to Brighton, Leeds has a fraudulent smell. Leeds’ backline is just so open and they just try to outscore the other team. Bielsa is doing some magic so at least they have that going for them. Bamford is a great pick but their defense is terrible.

Chelsea

In Chelsea’s last game there has been literally zero functionality in the attack. Chelsea’s other games have been fine I guess since they had Timo Werner. However, with Ziyech out and Havertz in Chelsea have been really suffering. Havertz is playing in a free attacking role, not really a winger since he’s floating inside, and he just can’t do it. Compare that to Ziyech who puts in dangerous balls and good passes and it a sad state of affairs. Havertz is world class and Lampard just needs a good place to play him. It is very weird what is happening with Havertz and Chelsea. Usually, Chelsea buys players who they really need and they slot immediately into their team. Players like Chilwell, Pulisic, and Ziyech have immediately settled in their team. However, Havertz was bought soley on the fact that he’s world class. Bit of a problem. It’s also insane though how much Chelsea is relying on Reese James and he’s a fullback. Don’t feel too good about them going into their match about Everton.

Teams to look out for short term:

City looks promising: Home West Brom, Away Southampton, Home Newcastle. Same thing with Liverpool and Aston Villa. Fulham is also a good team. Actually not that sure about picking teams off of fixtures. Fixtures don’t look like they make a difference anymore and anything can happen really. Good players are good players and I am not sure that fixtures make too much of an impact on these good players’ performance.

Captain Options This Week:

Kevin De Bruyne is obvious this week since he’s so freaking good. Bruno Fernandes captain is also an option this week going against Sheffield but Bruno might have some trouble with Sheffield playing nine defenders.

Maybe a Salah captain with the Spurs fixture this week? Idk. Maybe corona made Salah stronger.