GW11 proved to be an exciting game week with a roller coaster of emotions as the likes of popular FPL picks including KDB, Salah, Vardy Son, Kane, DCL, Bamford all returning points for us managers. This meant one thing the GW average ended up at 62 points, the highest average gameweek so for this season, once again proving how competitive this FPL season has been so far. Moving forward what makes GW12 is interesting there are very good fixture swings for popular FPL assets and the added dilemma of which premium assets to own as there an array of options in front of us managers. In this week’s preview, we talk about Spurs impressive run, Best defensive teams to consider, How to get in Mo Salah, Bruno Fernandes impact as a sub, Zaha hitting form for Palace, and much more in detail so fasten your seatbelt and jump right into our FPL GW12 preview.
Looking ahead- Best defensive teams to consider
There has been a flurry of goals this season and it has been difficult to count on defenders in FPL to get you points. Chelsea have been the standout defensive team in the over the last few weeks- Best xCS(3.37), Best xGC(3.3), Least Big chances conceded(3) from GW6- GW11.
Least Big chances conceded from GW6- GW11:
- Chelsea-3
- Spurs- 4
- Manchester City- 4
- Newcastle- 6
- Brighton- 7
Looking at the form and fixtures, the teams you should consider from defensive point of view in FPL are City, Spurs, Chelsea and Brighton in that order. Manchester City are back in form and among the clean sheets with 2 cleansheets from the last 2 games. Even though they have the fixtures on their side, the biggest concern to go with City defensive assets in FPL is Pep Roulette. All the defenders are finally fit and the successive games during Christmas period also doesn’t help things. Dias(5.6) has started every league game this season and seems to be the safest pick from City.
Spurs are in fact statistically the best defensive team in the league this season with least goals conceded(9), Most clean sheets(5), 2nd least big chances conceded(11) this season. They run into better fixtures- With just Leicester and Liverpool(FDR >3) till GW19. The best thing with Spurs defenders are that- They are still surprisingly under-owned with Doherty who hasn’t started the last three games, the most owned at 6.4%.
Brighton don’t have the points and clean sheets to justify their good football this season. Brighton have just 10 points from 11 games and are languishing 16th at the table. They have conceded 88 shots(2nd least), 52 shots inside the box(2nd least), 18 big chances(6th least), but have just 2 clean sheets to show for. They are slowly getting better defensively and have good fixtures- Leicester, Fulham, Sheffield to turn things around. If you are looking for budget defenders from the smaller teams for the shorter run, Lamptey(4.8) is still the best option!
Zaha- The talisman
Zaha has been the talisman this season for Crystal Palace with 58% Goal Involvement– Best among any midfielder in FPL this season. He has 72 points(4th among mids) despite missing two games- Just 8 points behind Bruno. Zaha has come back even better getting 2 goals, 1 assist and 18 points against West Brom last week.
Zaha vs Grealish- There isn’t much to separate them this season, but slightly the latter edges him out with better fixtures. But there isn’t any harm holding both of them in your squad! In fact, Zaha is a better direct goal threat whereas Grealish is a better creator- Suggested by these numbers.
Zaha vs Grealish- This season
- Goals- 7 vs 5
- Points- 72 vs 71
- xG- 4.62 vs 3.82
- Big chances- 7 vs 5
- Assists- 3 vs 6
- xA- 2.53 vs 4.59
- Big chances created- 4 vs 7
Key Zaha stat: Best xG(4.62), Most Big chances(7), Most shots inside the box(22), 3rd most shots(24), Most Points(72) among any midfielder under 9.0 this season.
Mo Salah back with a bang for Liverpool
Mo Salah proved with his performance against Wolves that why he has best the best FPL asset for the vast majority of the last three seasons. Against Wolves, Salah registered a goal, assist, and took him three bonus for a mega haul of 14 points. He has so far scored 87 points in 10 games averaging 8.7 PPG only Son and Kane average more points per game than him this season.
Salah attacking stats amongst midfielders this season:
Shots on goal: 38(highest) Shots on target: 17(highest) Shots inside box: 28(highest) Big chances: 9(2nd highest) xG: 7.08(highest) Goals:9(2nd highest) Key passes:23(5th highest) Big chances created:5(5th highest) xA:3.93(5th highest) Assists:3 Most touches in oppostion penalty box:89
Salah is also averaging more shots on target/90, shot inside box/90, xG/90 than the other three popular midfielders, Son, KDB, and Bruno Fernandes. What makes it even more irresistible to bring Mo back and captain him for GW12 and over the Christmas period is that he faces four of the worst six defenses for shots conceded so far this season.
Fulham have conceded 21 goals(second-most) and kept just one clean sheet. Over the last four games, Fulham have conceded the most big chances(14). Meanwhile GW14 opponents fair even worse recently having conceded the most shots on goal(75), shots inside box(56), second highest shots on target(22), big chances(13) over the last four games. The perfect definition of whipping boys.
It’s a matter of how to get Mo Salah for this game week as the prospects of going without Salah is definitely haunting. Bringing him in for a hit shouldn’t also be a huge problem as he’s definitely one of the best captain option in the next 6/7 GW’s with GW13 alone exception considering how defensively stable Spurs have been so far this season. Liverpool are out of the carabao cup and already qualified for the CL knockouts which means ample rest for Salah and he will not be rotated by Klopp.
Fixture Proof Spurs:
We might very well finally call Spurs as ‘Fixture Proof’ this season. Kane and Son are in really good and top the strikers and midfielders chart with 98 points(2nd DCL- 78 points) and 100 points(2nd Salah- 87 points). There were doubts about moving on to other premium assets sacrificing Spurs assets due to their fixture swing, But they have proved their doubters wrong with great performances against the bigger side too.
Kane/Son against big teams this season(United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal)
- Points- 34/44
- Goals- 3/4
- xG- 1.64/1.80
- Big chances- 2/4
- Shots- 10/5
- Assists- 3/2
- xA- 1.26/0.76
- Big chances created- 2/1
- Points per game- 8.5/11
Considering their very high ownership holding at least one of Kane(40%) and Son(58.7%) is very essential as the duo don’t show any signs of slowly down. Kane has already registered 10 assists so far this season and had been involved in 18 goals. Son has 13 goal contributions to his name so far. Spurs fixtures begin to ease and the duo is crucial for Jose Mourinho which means they’ll be very less likely to be rotated during the busy christmas period.
Bruno Fernandes continues to rally Manchester United
If you are already amazed by the stats posted by Salah. Then hold on for a bit because there’s a certain Bruno Fernandes to look into. The Manchester United midfielder once again proved why he’s such an influential player and FPL manager’s dream player. Having been benched due to a minor foot issue, Bruno came in at halftime when united were trialing 1-0. After coming on he simply turned the game for United creating 8 chances in just 45 mins getting an assist and two bonus in the process.
He has created 35 chances so far this season, highest not only in PL but also all of the top 5 European leagues. His overall influence is reflected in the stats so far this season as he averages 1.6 shots on goal/90, 0.8 big chances/90, 0.9 big chances/90, 0.6 xG/90, and 0.6 xA/90.
He’s up against Sheffield and Leeds in GW13 and 14 who are top amongst the worst defenses in the last four games.
Bruno minutes played last season 
Bruno Minutes played so far this season
Fernandes is rarely benched or substituted for United. He has missed just 90 mins of action this season both due to minor injury complaints. Manchester United have not scored a goal without Bruno on the pitch so far this season this means that Ole will not be willing to bench his main man at any cost and he should start every game during the busy Christmas period.
Looking for the best FPL tools? Check out our FPL tools in this series:
FPL Tools – All That You Need To Know About Fantasy Football Fix
FPL Tools: All That You Need to Know About FPL Gameweek Tool
Tools Series- FPL: All About Premier FPL Tools
FPL Tools: All That You Need to Know About FPL Planner
FPL Tools Series- Best Chrome Plugin – FPL Tools Chrome
FPL Tools: All That You Need to Know About FPL Review
Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL for FPL Managers:
All that you need to know about FPL cup
History Of Fantasy Football And Origin Of FPL
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Srinivasan S
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