FPL GW13 Free Hit Guide – Tips, Players to Target and Best Drafts

With the first Free Hit Chip expiring in GW19 and no Double Gameweeks and Blank Gameweeks till then- GW13 provides a suitable window to Free Hit with Arsenal playing Chelsea, City playing Leeds and Liverpool playing West Ham. In this blog, we’ll analyze if you actually need to use Free Hit in GW13, Pros and Cons, Ideal FPL GW13 Free Hit Drafts with Keynotes, Players to target on the free hit, and more.

Link to all our FPL GW13 blogs including scout picks, players to target, buy, hold, sell analysis, differentials, captaincy metrics, best forwards, and more. Completely free to access as well!

FPL GW13 Free Hit Guide

FPL GW13 Fixtures

Players to Target in GW13 Free Hit:

• Goal Keepers: Raya, Kelleher, Donnarumma, Dubravka(Bench)
• Defenders: Timber, Van Dijk, Senesi, Munoz, Collins, Van Den Berg, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Van De Ven, Cash, Digne, Saliba.
• Midfielders: Salah, Gakpo, Rogers, Schade, Dango, Saka, Foden/Cherki/Doku(Based on midweek rest), Gibbs White, Minteh, Anderson, Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes, King(Enabler)
• Forwards: Haaland, Thiago, Watkins, Guiu(Bench)

Pros of GW13 Free Hit:

• Avoid the Chelsea vs Arsenal game completely or just pick only one Arsenal defender to protect Effective ownership. This is probably the only week to back against Arsenal(atleast to an extent) as their fixtures post GW13 are really good- BRE(H), AVL(A), WOL(H), EVE(A), BHA(H).

• Chelsea have the LEE(A) game in GW14 which means that you can avoid the likes of Enzo/Pedro/Chelsea assets vs ARS in GW13 Free Hit and get them back for their good fixture in GW14.
• Attack the Manchester City Triple up vs LEE(H) in GW13. You will probably have only Haaland in GW13. You can have one more attacker(Foden/Cherki/Doku) and one defender(Gvardiol/O’Reilly). Even with the Pep Roulette, it is a punt worth chasing as it is just for one week based on who gets the rest in midweek UCL.
• Liverpool’s form has not been great, but you can bet and punt on them for only week with a good fixture vs WHU(A) who have been poor at home especially in defense.
• Palace vs Manchester United and Sunderland vs Bournemouth are difficult fixtures to call- So you can completely avoid them if you are loaded up on them in your original team.
• Can attack with midfield punts like Schade/Dango vs BUR(H) and Rogers vs WOL(H) who have a great upside in GW13.

Cons of GW13 Free Hit:

• Backing Liverpool attackers- Salah/Isak/Gakpo might not be an easy decision considering their form.
• Going against Arsenal players(especially Defenders) could backfire easily as you are going against the league’s best defense.
• United Midfielders(Bruno, Mbeumo), Mateta, Munoz, Semenyo, Saka are some of the examples of players who might be in your original team but might not make your GW13 Free Hit squad. They are still good picks in GW13 and there are good chances that few of them go big.
• Can save it up for any other week where we are getting a leak if Haaland is not starting or any of the Premium players is ruled out for only one week.
• Blocks the Haaland Triple Captain vs LEE(H) if you are planning to use it.

Further Read: Premier League Players who will miss PL due to AFCON 2025

Other windows to Play First Free Hit:

With first Free Hit Chip expiring in GW19 and no Double Gameweeks and Blank Gameweeks till then, there is no right or wrong week to use the First Free Hit- It totally depends on your team. It is difficult to pick a week where you can surely tell that your Free Hit team will outscore your original team. But here are some of the windows where Free Hit can be used other than GW13.

• GW15– Target the Newcastle vs BUR(H) and Liverpool vs LEE(H) fixture.
• GW16– Go against Haaland vs CRY(A). Possibly the only fixture you can go against him. Attack with Arsenal triple up WOL(H), Liverpool attackers vs Brighton, Brentford players vs LEE(H).
• GW17– Completely avoid Newcastle vs Chelsea and Tottenham vs Liverpool fixture. Attack with triple Bournemouth(vs BUR) and Triple City vs WHU, Triple Palace vs Leeds.
• GW19– The final chance to use your first Free Hit. City are up against Sunderland and Liverpool are up against Leeds. Newcastle are also up against Burnley where you can take few punts.

GW13 vs GW16 Free Hit:

Other than GW13, GW16 is possibly the other popular Free Hit window due to these fixtures.

In the image below, we have shown a mock up of how a potential GW16 Free Hit would look like. Based on your Team structure, if your team is low on Arsenal, No Liverpool attack, No Thiago and also planning to use Triple Captain in GW13, GW16 Free Hit is not a bad choice.

This is just a mock up draft for GW16 Free Hit to give you an idea and show what are all the potential players you will be targeting. Note that you can get to most of these players with Normal transfers as we will all have 5 Free transfers extra for AFCON. That is a potential downside to it and also you will be likely going against Haaland(vs CRY) in GW16 Free Hit whereas non-free hitters will likely have him.

If you are looking for a detailed analysis on when to use your Free Hit and Triple Captain chips, do check this out:

Best GWs to Use Your Free Hit & Triple Captain Chips (GW13–19)

FPL GW13 Free Hit Drafts

FPL GW13 Free Hit Draft 1

• Formation: 3-5-2
• Substitutes: Dubravka, Esteve, Guiu, Heaven
• If your Team value doesn’t allow this draft, you can do Schade to Dango to afford this.

GoalKeeper:

Kelleher is up in goal vs Burnley at home- A fixture where you expect Brentford to keep the clean sheet with Burnley ranking 20th for xG and Shots in the league this season. Dubravka is the Bench Fodder at 4.0 million.

Defenders:

We have gone with O’Reilly in defense- One of the first names on our GW13 Free Hit.

Despite conceding 2 goals vs Newcastle and losing to them, Manchester City are still a good defense having a xGC of 12.9 this season- 2nd least and Ranking only behind Arsenal. Their opponents Leeds United are also not a very good attacking side away from home as seen by the data below.

Leeds Away Attack Rank:

• Shots inside the box- 14th
• xG- 19th
• Big Chances- 14th
• Goals Scored- 17th

O’Reilly has 3 Goal Contributions in the last 5 league games(4 starts)- 1 Goal and 2 Assists. He has started 5 off the last 6 matches and was also rested for the midweek UCL game. His underlying data over the last 6 matches is excellent.

O’Reilly Stats over the last 6 Gameweeks: (Rank among Defenders)

• Shots- 9 (1st)
• Shots inside the box- 8 (1st)
• xGI- 1.5 (3rd)
• Goal Involvements- 3 (Joint 2nd)
• Chances created- 7 (5th)
• Big Chances Created- 3(2nd)
• FPL Points- 37(3rd)

Matty Cash is the Villa Defender picked against Wolves at home. Wolves has lost all of their last 5 league games and has scored only 2 goals- Lowest in the league during this time. With minutes risk over Digne/Maatsen- Matty Cash is the pick. Cash already has 2 goals this season and ranked among 2nd among Defenders for Shots over the last 6 games.

Timber is the final pick Defender pick in this draft even with the CHE(A) game. This might be a slightly safe/defensive pick on Free Hit but considering the High ownership of Arsenal defense(among non-free hitters) and Arsenal’s defense being elite it is definitely not a bad strategy.

If you want to take risks and chase ranks, you can skip Timber and double up on Villa/Brentford defense.

Midfielders:

The midfield begins with the Liverpool Double up of Salah and Gakpo. Even though Liverpool have not performed well with 6 losses and just one win from last 7 games- It is just for one week with a great fixture, Salah and Gakpo are quality players, have good underlying numbers and could go really big on their day. In fact, Salah and Gakpo are Top among Midfielders for Expected Goal Involvement since GW4.

Top Midfielders for xGI since GW4:

West Ham- even with Nuno have struggled defensively this season.

West Ham Defense Rank this season:

• Big Chances Conceded- 20th
• Expected Goals Conceded- 19th
• Goals Conceded- 19th

Have an eye on Liverpool’s midweek UCL fixture to see how many minutes Gakpo and Salah play and how Liverpool set up.

Foden is the next pick who is bought in to complete the Manchester City attack double up. He was also rested for the midweek UCL game, came on as sub to play 45 minutes. So he should likely start in GW13 having started every league game since GW4. Foden has created 21 chances during this run- Second Highest among Midfielders during this time. He also has a good xGI of 3.3 during this time(9 matches), but got only 2 Goal Involvements.

Schade(7.0) is the midfield pick from Brentford for the Tempting Burnley fixture at home. Schade has 2 goals, 1 assist from the last 5 games. Dango(6.0) is the alternative cheaper pick from Brentford as he matches the 5 Goal Involvements Schade has had this season. Only issue is his minutes as he doesn’t complete 90 minutes often with his last 6 games minutes reading- 64, 90, 74, 90, 75, 22. On the other hand, Schade has completed 90 minutes in 8 out of the last 9 games.

If you have the funds, we would suggest Schade as the pick but if you don’t have the money Dango is not bad either. Fixture wise, Burnley are expected to sit deep and defend which should favour Schade more than Dango in our opinion.

The midfield is rounded up by Morgan Rogers who disappointed FPL managers at the start of the season.

He is back in form with 2 goals vs Leeds in GW12. He is streaky player and there is not a better fixture than Wolves(H) to get him in your Free Hit as a one week punt. Wolves has lost all of their last 5 league games and have conceded 13 goals during this time- Highest among all the Teams.

Forwards:

Haaland and Thiago are the 2 locked in forwards in any of the FPL GW13 Free Hit Drafts. Haaland has scored 14 Goals from 12 games– Highest in the league and is followed up by Thiago who has got 9 goals. Evidently, they are in Top 2 for FPL Points among Forwards this season as seen below.

Both these players are have excellent fixtures as well vs LEE(H) and BUR(H) so they should be no-brainers in every Free Hit team and doesn’t require much justification.

One advantage of getting Thiago is that Brentford have 2 tough games post GW13- ARS(A) and TOT(A). And then good fixtures against post that in GW16(vs LEE) and GW17. You can have him in GW13 on Free Hit and buy him in GW16 again if needed.

Further Read: Best GWs to Use Your Free Hit & Triple Captain Chips (GW13–19)

FPL GW13 Free Hit Draft 2

• Formation: 3-5-2
• Substitutes: Dubravka, Van Hecke, Esteve, Guiu

This is very similar to the previous draft but we have replaced Gakpo with Minteh. You can go for his if you are short of money or don’t trust Liverpool attack to fire. Minteh has been in splendid form with 5 FPL assists from the last 4 games. In fact, he has the most FPL assists(7) in the league this season. This also enables you to have a more strong first substitute in the form of Van Hecke/Van De Ven.

Further Read: FPL GW13 Transfer Targets & Watchlist Based on Eye Test & Stats

FPL GW13 Free Hit Draft 3

• Formation: 4-4-2
• Substitutes: Dubravka, Anderson, Guiu, Heaven
• Money in the Bank: 0.9 million

In this draft we have gone with Martinez along with a Brentford defender- Collins or Van Den Berg vs Burnley(H). They are up against a Burnley side who are ranked 20th for xG and Shots in the league this season. There is very little to separate Collins/Van Den Berg based on attack threat and DEFCON. Go for the pick based on the Budget you have for that slot.

Despite Liverpool’s poor defensive form, Van Dijk is not a bad one week punt if you look it in isolation as he is good for DEFCON and West Ham are bad at defending set pieces. In fact, West Ham have conceded 56 Headed attempts on Goals- Highest in the league. They are also ranked 4th worst for Shots conceded from Set pieces. If you get lucky, you can get a 15-17 pointer(Goal, CS, DEFCON) or else it will be a 2 pointer- A risk you can take particularly on a Free Hit.

In this draft, we have gone with Doku over Foden as the 2nd City attacker. There isn’t much to separate them in terms of Data. If you want to invest money elsewhere, Doku is a good option as well. Doku has 1 goal, 4 assists this season while Foden has only 1 goal, 1 assist. The underlying data suggests that Foden has better goal threat, while Doku has better assist threat. You would want to go for the pick with a higher upside(Goal threat) especially on a Free Hit, but Doku is not far away either for the price he comes in.

Foden vs Doku- Last 6 Matches(Per 90 Stats):

• Shots- 2.35 vs 1.38
• xG- 0.22 vs 0.14
• xA- 0.26 vs 0.34
• Chances Created- 2.85 vs 4.15

Further Reads from ALLABOUTFPL Ahead of FPL GW13

FPL GW13 Free Hit Guide – Tips, Players to Target and Best Drafts
Top FPL Gameweek 13 Captain Picks Based on Analysis & Metrics
Top FPL GW13 Differential Picks to Target Ahead of Deadline
FPL Gameweek 13 Transfer Tips: Two Players to Buy, Hold, & Sell
FPL GW13 Scout Picks Based on Stats, Analysis and Matchups
Premier League Players who will miss PL due to AFCON 2025
FPL GW13 Transfer Targets & Watchlist Based on Eye Test & Stats
Best GWs to Use Your Free Hit & Triple Captain Chips (GW13–19)
FPL GW13 Ultimate Guide: Tips, Differentials, Captaincy & More

Link to all our FPL GW13 blogs, including buy, hold, sell analysis, differentials, captaincy metrics, transfer targets, and more. Completely free to access as well!

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