FPL Top Picks for Gameweek 12
Welcome to another Fantasy Premier League week!
Finally, we are about to have a run of games that will not be hindered by FIFA mandating club football to stop for players to go and represent their nations in friendly matches or tournament qualifiers.
Week 12 feels like a fresh start for many managers because now they can plan their squads for the long term, which they could not because of the slew of injuries and fitness issues that followed the last three international breaks.
As you prepare your strategy for the next few months, here are our week 12 analysis and FPL top picks to help your short term strategy.
Gameweek Analysis
The popular sentiment in the FPL community is to back Arsenal to keep a clean sheet in week 12. This is because the Gunners are at home to Nottingham Forest, who, despite being in the top six (just below Arsenal in fifth place), do not have the best record against the north London side.
They also have the second best-performing striker in the league in Chris Wood, but Arsenal’s near-invincibility at the Emirates has influenced this sentiment that many FPL analysts and experts have expressed.
Backing Arsenal to keep a clean sheet means going big on either Jurrien Timber (£5.5m), William Saliba (£6.0m) and/or Gabriel Magalhães (£6.1m). It will be near impossible—and quite frankly, FPL suicide—to get all of them and, for this reason, we bring to you two games where you can get enough value to augment what you will get from having only one of the Arsenal defenders.
Best Value Games for Week 12
Leicester City vs Chelsea
This match makes our list mainly because of Chelsea’s big hitters Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson. The major reason, however, is that nine of Chelsea’s next 11 matches score only two points on the official FPL Fixtures Difficulty Ratings (FDR). This means that both players are long term assets to be held.
Players to watch: Cole Palmer (£10.9m), Nicolas Jackson (£7.9m), Jamie Vardy (£5.7m), James Justin (£4.6m).
Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur
This is a fixture that has produced fireworks in the past and is expected to do so once again. There will be goals, which means that there will be many chances created, assists and shots taken.
Players to watch: Erling Haaland (£15.2m), Kevin De Bruyne (£9.4m), Son Heung-Min (£9.9m), Dejan Kulusevski (£6.3m).
Best FPL Players for Week 12
Bruno Fernandes (£8.3m) – Manchester United
Ruben Amorim will be taking charge of his first game as Manchester United manager in week 12 and one thing is certain: Bruno Fernandes will be a key feature for the former Sporting CP Lisbon manager. As fellow countrymen and players with ties to the Primeira Liga leaders, we expect them to hit the ground running as a pair, leading United back to the top as the fans (and INEOS) hoped when Erik ten Hag was replaced.
Ipswich Town presents a soft landing for the new manager to try out his tactics and captain Bruno, who has hauled in two double-digit game weeks since Erik ten Hag left the club, will once again get the opportunity to do so again against one of the worst defences in the Premier League. The Tractor Boys have conceded the second most goals (22) of the EPL teams and have the worst xGC (24.7) in the league.
Raúl Jiménez (£5.8m) – Fulham
After injury forced him to take a back seat last season at Fulham which allowed Rodrigo Muniz to shine, the Mexican is back to his best this season. He did not start great as he still needed to get match fit, but he now has six goals in eight starts in all competitions (four goals in 11 apps in the Premier League). Fulham will welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers, the worst defence in the league, to Craven Cottage this week, which is an opportunity for the Mexico international forward to add to his tally.
He is an even bigger goal threat than most of the strikers in the league —Jimenez has had four big chances and created a further five over the last six gameweeks, which gives him a combined total of nine big-chance involvements. These are the same numbers as top scorer Erling Haaland among forwards during that spell.
Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) – Aston Villa
Aston Villa face Crystal Palace at home, which gives Ollie Watkins a chance to get back to his goal scoring ways in the Premier League this season. Although he scored only one goal in Villa’s last five games, he was called up by England’s Three Lions and scored away against Greece, in a game that the England national team truly needed to win.
An important stat to note going into the match with Crystal Palace is that Watkins has had 15 big chances this season—more than twice the number of any of his teammates—and scored five goals this season.
Palace are not exactly at their defensive best away from home since Joachim Andersen left for Fulham (Palace have no clean sheets on the road so far this season). The Eagles are still one of the toughest nuts to crack, but Watkins will fancy his chances against them when week 12 rolls around.