The King Power Stadium will play host to two of Fantasy Premier League’s most popular forwards on Wednesday evening.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.9m) remains the most fashionable with 59.8% ownership, starting once again for Everton in a front-three that also features Richarlison (£7.8m) and Alex Iwobi (£5.9m).
Carlo Ancelotti’s men will have to pull out all the stops to limit Jamie Vardy (£10.3m) tonight. Backed by 29.4% (making him the fourth-most-popular FPL forward), he has recorded just one blank since Gameweek 6.
Leicester’s talismanic centre-forward is supported by a powerful midfield tonight, featuring James Maddison (£7.1m), Harvey Barnes (£6.8m), Cengiz Ünder (£5.9m) and Youri Tielemans (£6.4m).
Accordingly, the Everton manager is going with the same back-four that kept a clean sheet at home to Chelsea last time out, featuring centre-backs Ben Godfrey (£5.0m) and Mason Holgate (£4.8m) either side of Michael Keane (£5.1m) and Yerry Mina (£5.5m).
But Ancelotti has changed his goalkeeper, benching Jordan Pickford (£4.9m) and handing a second Premier League start of the season to Robin Olsen (£4.5m), his first since Gameweek 7.
At Elland Road, Leeds remain unchanged from their 2-1 defeat to West Ham in Gameweek 12 as they prepare to host Newcastle – although, unfortunately for Fantasy managers, Marcelo Bielsa did not disclose his team-sheet this time.
“From now on, to avoid any backlash, I will not continue to give answers on the players who can or cannot play on the weekend. For me to name the team ahead of time is something I shouldn’t do. The formation, the XI, I gave last week [for the West Ham game] without knowingly giving it because they asked me about a certain position in particular and I spontaneously gave the XI with the player playing in that position.” – Marcelo Bielsa
Having been taken off after 73 minutes in that defeat to the Irons, a start for Patrick Bamford (£6.3m) has allayed any injury concerns.
Stuart Dallas (£4.6m) looks set to operate at right-back in Bielsa’s 4-1-4-1 system again, as Luke Ayling (£4.5m) continues to deputise for injury-stricken centre-halves.
Raphinha and Jack Harrison (both £5.4m) take up the wide midfield positions, with Helder Costa (£5.3m) not part of the matchday squad. Pablo Hernandez (£5.7m) is on the bench following an injury.
The team news from Newcastle United’s official twitter suggests that Steve Bruce is going to use a back five at Elland Road.
That would see Isaac Hayden (£4.8m) operating as a right-sided centre-half. The midfielder filled in as an auxiliary central defender in Gameweek 12 with the Magpies short on bodies following their coronavirus (COVID-19) ordeal. On Hayden, Bruce said in his pre-Leeds press conference:
“We were light at the back which was unfortunate. I thought the performance of Isaac [vs West Brom] was terrific, which has given me food for thought. The big thing for him was tiredness, fatigue [after having the virus].” – Steve Bruce
Hayden could also be playing in his natural central midfield position, where Sean Longstaff and Jeff Hendrick (both £4.7m) may also be found.
The latter is one of four changes that Bruce has made to his XI. Ryan Fraser (£5.6m), Federico Fernández (£4.8m) and Jacob Murphy (£4.9m) also earn starts. Ireland international Hendrick could be used at right midfield if Bruce goes with a back four.
Leading the line, Callum Wilson (£6.6m) will be seeking opportunities against a Leeds backline that has shipped five goals in the past two Gameweeks.
Hector Bellerín‘s (£5.1m) suspension has seen Mikel Arteta revert to a three-man defence for the visit of Southampton, featuring Kieran Tierney (£5.4m), Gabriel (£5.1m) and Rob Holding (£4.4m).
Lining his troops up in a 3-4-3 system, Bukayo Saka (£5.2m) and Ainsley Maitland-Niles (£4.6m) are the wing-backs while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.4m) and Nicolas Pépé (£7.6m) flank Eddie Nketiah (£5.5m) in the forward line.
Everything is as it should be for the Saints as Danny Ings (£8.4m) and Che Adams (£6.0m) pair-up once again, leading Ralph Hasenhüttl’s favoured 4-2-2-2 system from the front.
Gameweek 13 Line-ups
Arsenal XI: Leno; Tierney, Gabriel, Holding; Saka, Elneny, Ceballos, Maitland-Niles; Aubameyang, Nketiah, Pépé.
Southampton XI: A McCarthy; Bertrand, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Walker-Peters; Walcott, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Armstrong; Adams, Ings.
Leeds United XI: Meslier; Alioski, Cooper, Ayling, Dallas; Phillips; Harrison, Klich, Rodrigo, Raphinha; Bamford.
Newcastle United XI: Darlow; Lewis, Clark, Fernandez, Hayden, J Murphy; Joelinton, Hendrick, S Longstaff, Fraser; C Wilson.
Leicester City XI: Schmeichel; Fuchs, Ndidi, Fofana, Justin; N Mendy; Maddison, Ünder, Tielemans, H Barnes; Vardy.
Everton XI: Olsen; Godfrey, Keane, Mina, Holgate; Doucourè, Allan, Sigurdsson; Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Iwobi.
Written by David Munday and Colm Hayes
Lessons learned from FPL Gameweek 13
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