FPL GW13 Tips – Best Arsenal Assets, Mbeumo Dilemma & More

Welcome to StatsmanFPL’s Weekly Tips & Preview for FPL GW13 of the FPL 2024/25 season. This blog will provide FPL GW13 Tips and advice to address key dilemmas and maximize your FPL points.

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

FPL GW13 Tips & Preview

1.  Capitalising On Manchester City Collapse

Manchester City are winless in their last six fixtures (5 Losses, 1 Draw) and have conceded 17 goals which is just under three per fixture. They have conceded 13 expected goals against and 34 big chances. Astounding numbers. 

This can attributed to a number of reasons. Rodri being out, a number of injuries across midfield and defence, an aging squad, a lack of determination after years of success, etc. All we need to care about is to how we can take advantage of this situation. 

The highest priority and the first thing you should do is remove any City defenders or goalkeepers. They are the most affected by the downturn in form and will take the longest to become valuable assets again. 

The second priority is to consider removing Haaland and any other City assets. Haaland will definitely continue to score and tick over his goal tally, but if City are being run over in midfield and going behind in matches regularly, the game state of these fixtures makes it harder for them to score goals themselves. 

The other thing to consider and potentially where the most points will be earned is targeting Manchester City in certain fixtures. Liverpool v Manchester City is a perfect example of this and will be discussed further down this article.

2. Best Arsenal Assets from FPL GW13 Onwards

Arsenal have their captain and midfield maestro Martin Odegaard back in action and their convincing 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest was the perfect display of what he means to this team.

I have mentioned previously that he not only helps the team offensively, but he provides value on the defensive end. His link up play with the likes of Timber, Saka & Havertz is easy to see. While he was injured, teams would double up on Saka on the wing and stunt his ability to impact the match. With Odegaard back, there are more creators to worry about and Saka can allow Odegaard to provide through balls to him. 

On the defensive side, Odegaard is a great ball retainer and is very precise with his passing. Combine this with his distance covered in fixtures, his work in midfield causes less dangerous turnovers and more possession which are keys to clean sheets. 

Over the next run of fixtures, the likes of Saka, Havertz, Odegaard, Gabriel, Saliba, Timer & Raya are all viable options. 

The optimal trio I believe is Saka, Gabriel & Timber, with Havertz just missing out. Timber has emerged as an option due to the medium term injuries to White & Tomiyasu. As the only fit senior right-back, expect Timber to start nearly all of the upcoming fixtures with Partey potentially deputising once in the busy December period. 

Timber was slightly offside when he scored a goal against Notthingham Forest in Gameweek 12 before providing a great assist in the Champions League last night. He regularly features in and around the penalty box and should benefit from the easier fixtures coming up for Arsenal. He also provided an attacking return approximately once in every seven fixtures on average at Ajax.

3. Bryan Mbeumo Conundrum

Mbeumo has been a key figure since last season. He has always shone when Ivan Toney has been unavailable and his numbers this season so far suggest this still remains true. 

8 goals & 1 assist in 12 fixtures from a man who is currently £7.9m is great returns. 

He has been a bit fortunate though. 2 of his goals were penalties and the other 6 came from 2.3 xG. He is historically not an elite finisher so we can say this is definite over performance. 

His next fixtures after the Leicester match this week read Aston Villa (A), Newcastle (H), Chelsea (A), Nottingham Forest (H), Brighton (A), Arsenal (H), Southampton (A), Man City (H), Liverpool (H). One of the worst fixture runs possible. 

Mbeumo over the last 3 matches:

• 0 Shots on Target
• 0 Big Chances
• 0 Big Chances created
• 0.13 xG & 0.38 xA

Combining his current price, over performance and upcoming fixtures, I would definitely look to transfer him out after this weekend. Finding the spare money to upgrade to Saka or shifting that money to the forward positions or Arsenal defensive assets would be a better use of funds in the medium term. 

4. FPL GW13 Key Fixture Analysis

Liverpool v Manchester City. As mentioned previously, this should be seen as a fixture to take advantage of when it comes to Liverpool attacking options.

City’s defensive frailties are obvious and due to having Pep Guardiola as their manager, it is likely that they will try and play the same game style while trying to sort through their problems. This is key in this fixture as Liverpool could cut the Manchester City’s midfield and high defensive line with great effect. The confusion and sometimes panic in the current Manchester City defensive structure could also see penalties being conceded. 

Salah therefore is a great captaincy choice this week. 

Chelsea v Aston Villa. This is a fixture that features many key FPL assets such as Palmer, Jackson, Sanchez, Watkins, Rogers & Konsa (if fit). Both teams have shown to be greater attacking outfits rather than defensive. 

Chelsea host Aston Villa which will give them the upper hand in the fixture but Aston Villa average 2 goals per match in away fixtures if you exclude their trip to Anfield. They enjoy feeding Watkins in the space in behind defences and Chelsea’s backline could provide this.

Chelsea have conceded in every home fixture and the expected goal data shows that they provide oppositions with multiple chances to score per match.

Chelsea have scored in every home fixture except for the opening weekend against Manchester City. Aston Villa have conceded in every away fixture.

The above points show that 3+ goals in the fixture is highly likely and a 2-2 draw with many key assets scoring or assisting is probable.

Bench any defenders from either of these teams.

Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL GW13

FPL GW13 Tips & Ultimate Guide: Differentials, Captaincy & More
FPL GW13 Tips – Best Arsenal Assets, Mbeumo Dilemma & More
GW13 Sleeper Draft Fantasy Punts and Hidden Gems

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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What’s next from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL Gameweek 13 of the 2024/25 FPL Season?

We’ll be covering differential picks, transfer targets, Buy, Hold, Sell analysis, Scout picks, Gameweek preview, Captaincy metrics, FPL GW13 tips, and more. Keep checking allaboutfpl.com for all our blogs. We’ll also be posting regularly about the same on our social media accounts so follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and keep our notification ON.