AM's Week 13 Player Picks
Welcome to Week 13 of my player picks for the Yahoo Fantasy Premier League game. Once this coming weekend is done we will have passed a third of the season, so as the Premier League continues to take shape your private leagues should be doing the same to give you an idea of the sort of campaign you're set for.
Check in with Rotoworld.com for news, analysis and fantasy predictions all season
Week 12 was another decent one for AM FC, finishing on a weekly total of 104 points thanks to the usual suspects. Diego Costa, Alexis Sanchez, Dusan Tadic, Ryan Bertrand, Victor Moses and Thibaut Courtois all pulled in double figures, although there were disappointing returns from Sergio Aguero, Cesc Fabregas, Angel Di Maria and my defensive gamble, Ryan Shawcross. I'm on 1346 points for the season which gives me an 80 point buffer to the nearest competitor in my main private league, but it's only good enough for 27th position in Rotoworld PL League 1, so there's still a lot of work to be done.
Week 13 Fixtures
Burnley v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Stoke
Man Utd v Hull City
QPR v Leicester City
Southampton v Man City
Sunderland v Chelsea
Swansea v Crystal Palace
Tottenham v Everton
West Brom v Arsenal
West Ham v Newcastle
On first glance there isn't a stand-out fixture, with a lot of evenly matched teams facing off, although on closer inspection there are a few attractive matches. As usual you'll want to focus on teams who have a clear advantage over their opponent, so top of the list are improving Manchester United at home to struggling Hull City, followed closely by runaway-leaders Chelsea for their trip to Sunderland. There could also be some value in improving Queens Park Rangers at home to goal-shy Leicester, Swansea hosting Crystal Palace and even Burnley at home to Aston Villa, with the Clarets riding on the crest of a wave after back-to-back victories.
Elsewhere I'd recommend you avoid falling in to the trap set by Arsenal's trip to West Brom, with the Gunners looking badly out of sorts, and the same could be said of Liverpool hosting Stoke, with Brendan Rodgers' men desperately short on confidence. Could both Arsenal and Liverpool win? Of course. Should you back them? If you choose to then you're a braver man than I. Southampton v Manchester City gives us 3rd v 2nd and it should be a cracking clash with a few goals, while Tottenham v Everton and West Ham v Newcastle look like potentially-entertaining score draws.
With that in mind please click over to the next page to view my Week 13 player recommendations.
Check in with Rotoworld.com for news, analysis and fantasy predictions all season
KEEPERS
Thibaut Courtois - Sunderland have vastly improved since the 8-0 hammering they took back in October but Gus Poyet's side doesn’t offer a huge goal threat, so I expect Chelsea and Courtois to keep a clean sheet at the Stadium of Light as the Jose Mourinho steam-roller keeps on rolling.
Lukasz Fabianski - Swansea have conceded the third fewest goals in the Premier League so far this season and look especially solid at home, so Fabianski will have the opportunity to record a win and possible clean sheet as Crystal Palace visit Wales.
Rob Green - For second time this season I'm recommending QPR's Green in this column, with the first occasion being back in Week 3 when the ex-England keeper returned 22 points in a win over Sunderland. He'll have a chance of another of a big score this weekend as goal-shy Leicester make the trip to Loftus Road.
DEFENDERS
Kieran Trippier - The Burnley right-back had his worst fantasy week of the season against Stoke when returning just a single point, but we should treat that as an anomaly. Trippier had been averaging 11 points per games over his 12 matches and is capable of exceeding that number in the home clash with Aston Villa.
Branislav Ivanovic - I managed to catch the extended highlights of Chelsea's win over West Brom and it appeared Ivanovic spent most of the match as a right-winger, such was the attacking domination of the Blues. It was similar against Schalke in midweek and the Serbian will be looking to continue his marauding at Sunderland.
Paddy McNair - Despite being thrown in to the starting XI by necessity, McNair is equipping himself extremely well and is a real bargain for Manchester United's home match with clash at a price of less than £3.5million
Aaron Cresswell - The left-back tends to excel in West Ham's home matches when he can get forward and provide crosses for the forwards, and Cresswell will have giant Andy Carroll to aim at this weekend as Newcastle come to town.
Calum Chambers - Consecutive poor fantasy weeks for Chambers has led to a big price drop and the England man can now be picked up for a shade over £7million for the Gunners' trip to the Hawthorns. A clean sheet is unlikely, but the 20-year-old can provide handy points from general defensive contributions.
Neil Taylor - Ever-present and quietly effective for Swansea this season, Taylor is averaging seven points and yet costs less than £7million. Guaranteed a start against Palace and has the chance of a clean sheet.
Javier Manquillo - Liverpool full-backs have been chopped and changed throughout the opening three months of the season but Manquillo is usually certain to start on one side of the other and he loves to get forward to help join the attack overlapping Sterling when possible.
Massadio Haidara - Back in to the Newcastle's team due to Davide Santon's injury, Haidara has been nothing short of superb in the left-back slot and has returned 27 fantasy points in his past two matches. The Frenchman will be aware that he'll need to keep up this form to keep Santon out on his return.
Jose Okore - Aston Villa are experiencing a defensive crisis which means Okore started against Southampton and he acquitted himself well against Graziano Pelle and co. Still priced at £1million and likely to keep his place for the crunch match with Burnley, although we'll need to monitor team news on Friday to check on Ron Vlaar's fitness.
MIDFIELDERS
Angel Di Maria - Far from his world class best in recent weeks but we know ADM is always on the cusp of something special and a better finish at the Emirates would've seen another 20 point week. It'll click eventually and I wouldn't bet against it being this weekend against Hull.
Eden Hazard - Another match-winning display from Hazard in Week 12 has led to his price rocketing up to the almost-unaffordable but when he's returning 20 points+ the winger is worth it. Sunderland beware.
Gylfi Sigurdsson - A classic Siggy free-kick sealed a victory in Swansea's last home game against the Gunners and the ex-Tottenham man remains a huge threat from his position just behind Wilfried Bony. Expect the Icelander to cause Crystal Palace problems.
Yaya Toure - We finally saw glimpses of the old Yaya last week as he found himself in a more advanced role and scored a trademark goal after driving in to the box to sweep home. The performance has put him well and truly back on the radar and he'll be well rested after missing the midweek Champions League match due to suspension.
Joey Barton - Love him or hate him (and most people will fall in to the latter camp), Barton is an effective Premier League player and his all-action displays often translate well in fantasy games. Tackles, interceptions, blocks and successful crosses (he's QPR's main set piece taker) have brought the midfielder an average of 12 points in his two games since returning from injury and he can build on that vs Leicester.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Injuries continue to mount for the Gunners but this is actually good new for Oxlade-Chamberlain who is getting an extended run in the first team for the first time in a long time. The Ox has been impressive in terms of fantasy production, returning 16 points, 13 points and 12 points in his past three Premier League matches and he is the pick of the Arsenal midfielders for the trip to the Hawthorns.
Mile Jedinak - A tough game, but the Palace captain now has four goals this season and has taken on penalty duty, so this attacking production combined with his consistently excellent defensive contributions makes Jedinak one of the most valuable midfielders in the Yahoo fantasy game.
Philippe Coutinho - You'd normally see Raheem Sterling here, but the winger had a tiring outing in the Champions League while his colleague warmed the bench, so I'm expecting to see a fresh Coutinho pull the strings for Liverpool against Stoke - taking set pieces, shooting from distance and generally making a nuisance of himself in the gap between the oppositions midfield and defensive line.
Cesc Fabregas - The alternative if you want a Chelsea midfielder but can't afford Hazard, Fabregas now has a staggering ten assists in the league and a further three in the Champions League.
Michael Kightly - A few years ago Kightly was a favourite player of mine - a good old fashioned winger who uses pace to beat his man, hits the byline and gets crosses in to the box. Injuries have stifled a promising career but the ex-Wolves star gave glimpses of his best against Stoke and will start Burnley's winnable game against Villa.
STRIKERS
Sergio Aguero - 17 goals in 14 games in all competitions - staggering. Aguero may have disappointed against Swansea last weekend but a mid-week Champions League hat-trick against none other than Bayern Munich should set the Argentine up nicely for the 2nd vs 3rd clash with Southampton.
Diego Costa - Not much to say really. Chelsea have a great fixture against Sunderland and Costa generally gets on the score-sheet when the Blues play in the Premier League. Expect 11 goals in 10 games to become 12 in 11.
Alexis Sanchez - Another goal in mid-week takes Sanchez's tally to an extremely impressive 13 goals for the season and he remains one of the only bright-spots for Arsene Wenger in what has been a very difficult season so far. The Chilean is the man West Brom need to worry about.
Wayne Rooney - As we said last week, Rooney's goals tend to come in bursts and he's currently on one of those spells having scored in three consecutive games for club and country. It's a good thing too considering how out-of-sorts Robin van Persie is, and alongside Di Maria the captain is one of the danger men who can hurt Hull.
Charlie Austin - Like many strikers coming up with a promoted side it's taken Austin a while to get up to speed, but he's hit his stride now and showed against Chelsea what a threat he can be. Expect the 25-year-old to add to his impressive six league goals against Leicester.
Wilfried Bony - Swansea's main man has crept up to five Premier League goals and has signed a contract extension recently which should ward off any interest in January. Bony can celebrate his pay-rise at the Liberty Stadium with a goal against Crystal Palace.
Danny Ings - It's taken a while but England U-21 star Ings is starting to display the goal scoring exploits that made him such a dangerous Championship player. Three goals Premier League goals in his last four matches and a chance to improve those figures against Villa.
Bojan - With Victor Moses injured for a couple of months it will be down to Bojan to provide the spark from the attacking midfield areas and the little man has shown that he's starting to adjust to life in the Premier League. Liverpool's defence is a mess so expect a productive weekend.
Graziano Pelle - It's becoming a worrying baron spell for Pelle after an electric start to his time in England, but Manchester City's defence are far from secure right now and the Italian will have chances to break his drought.
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So those are the players I'm considering for my Week 13 Yahoo team. Please make sure you check back here on Friday for Ben Dinnery's outstanding team and injury news column, where he'll run through the fall-out from the midweek European matches.
My own team page currently looks like this ...
XI: Courtois, McNair, Trippier, Bertrand, Barton, Tadic, Di Maria, Fabregas, Sanchez, Costa, Aguero
Subs: Cresswell, Mason, Kelly, Gazzaniga
I've spent less than 10 minutes on the above so a lot is likely to change between now and Saturday's deadline. As it is I don't hate it; I just wish it wasn't tied up with so many undroppable discounts.
How's your Week 13 team looking?
