Our write-ups of the Gameweek 13 action continue with the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Sunday’s fixtures.
The numbers you see in this article are from our Premium Members area, where you can access Opta player and team data for every single Premier League fixture.
RESURGENT VILLA
Goals had been a real problem for Aston Villa under Steven Gerrard, with just four scored in his final seven league games in charge. However, with caretaker boss Aaron Danks in the dugout, they looked a completely different side on Sunday, as they thrashed Brentford 4-0.
Danks, who chose to bench captain John McGinn (£5.2m), Jacob Ramsey (£5.2m) and Philippe Coutinho (£6.6m), lined his troops up in a balanced 4-2-3-1 formation, with Ollie Watkins (£7.2m) and Leon Bailey (£4.6m) on the right and left wing respectively, flanking centre-forward Danny Ings (£6.6m).
Above: Aston Villa’s average position map v Brentford in Gameweek 13, featuring wingers Ollie Watkins (no 11) and Leon Bailey (no 31)
Bailey was superb in his role on the left, opening the scoring before turning creator, with forwards Ings (x2) and Watkins also on the scoresheet. Overall, Villa created six big chances versus Brentford, more than any other side in Gameweek 13, with Watkins responsible for four of them.
There is usually a reaction when a manager is sacked, but nobody expected this.
“I had to pinch myself. We asked for energy, we asked for lots of endeavour and work rate and the boys brought that. The gameplan was a lot of phycological stuff as well, about our attitude and application and togetherness. We felt for a few weeks this was coming. We had put some good performances in but the goals were just missing. Today we were clinical and ruthless and today is the result you get from that. I’m a career coach. I’ve coached for a long time. I want players to express themselves and enjoy themselves. I want to get the best out of people I work with. It was about devising a simple game plan and the players did that.” – Aaron Danks
As for Brentford, they are winless in all six Premier League away games this season, with nine conceded in their last two.
“Shambles, to be honest. Shambles. They fully deserved the result and it could have been more. We were like a bunch of kids out there. I don’t mind losing games but not like that. Embarrassing performance from the boys. We knew what they were about, we knew they had quality throughout the team. They put in a performance today and deserved to win. 15 minutes in, 3-0 down. That cannot happen in a Premier League game. We had it against Newcastle and we bounced back so hopefully we can do that again.” – Ivan Toney
MITROVIC + ANDREAS COMBINE
Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.8m) netted his ninth league goal of the season on Sunday as Fulham made it back-to-back wins, beating Leeds United 3-2 at Elland Road. As a result, only Erling Haaland (£12.2m) and Harry Kane (£11.5m) have scored more than Mitrovic in 2022/23, with 17 and 10 respectively.
Still managing a knock from the internationals, the Serb worryingly went down in the first-half, but re-emerged for the second, going on to complete the full 90 minutes.
“He felt it in that moment, but we assessed it at half-time and he told me that he was okay to keep going. I asked him again in the middle of the second half and he said to me the same again. The feedback from the player is always the most important.” – Marco Silva on Aleksandar Mitrovic
However, Mitrovic was outscored by teammate Andreas Pereira (£4.6m) in Gameweek 13, who secured his first double-figure haul of the campaign courtesy of two assists and two bonus points. The playmaker has now created 27 chances so far this season, more than any other player bar Kevin De Bruyne (£12.3m), Bruno Fernandes (£9.8m) and Mohamed Salah (£12.8m).
Above: all players sorted by chances created in 2022/23
“He has been outstanding this season. I know a lot of people had doubts when I decided to sign him but I knew his qualities and his character. Even last season we had a conversation about his future but it wasn’t the right moment for him to join us. He’s a key player on and off the ball and with set pieces. Two assists this afternoon. A top professional who is enjoying himself at the moment in a white shirt.” – Marco Silva on Andreas Pereira
ALMIRON ‘FULL OF CONFIDENCE’
After scoring five goals in his last five matches, Miguel Almiron (£5.3m) is remarkably up to second in the midfielder standings, only trailing De Bruyne. In that time, he is averaging a whopping 9.0 points per match, which is backed up by some pretty decent underlyings: 18 goal attempts, 11 shots inside the box, two big chances and 2.31 expected goals (xG). Now, with Villa and Southampton up next, his 12.4% ownership is on the rise.
“Miggy [Miguel Almiron] deserves the credit for everything he’s doing this season. He epitomises what we want to see from a player out of possession but he’s adding goals and I think that’s changing people’s perceptions of his performances. The goal today was another very good one. He’s scored spectacular goals as well this year. He is just full of confidence and enjoying his football. He loves being part of this team.” – Eddie Howe on Miguel Almiron
Almiron has played a key role in Newcastle United’s fine start to the season, which continued in Gameweek 13 with an excellent 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur. It’s certainly looking very positive for Eddie Howe’s side as it stands, with no team having lost fewer games than them in the Premier League this season.
For Spurs, they are lacking a bit of creativity right now and missing Dejan Kulusevski (£8.0m), who often provides a spark in the final-third. In the five league matches he has missed, they have managed only five goals and nine big chances.
Against Newcastle, Conte rotated both of his wing-backs, benching Ivan Perisic (£5.5m) and Matt Doherty (£4.6m), although both made appearances off the bench. Kane, meanwhile, is now up to 10 league goals for the season, which is the soonest he’s done so in his career.
“We tried. We scored one goal. We didn’t do good enough. We are doing our best in every moment. Today the commitment was really high. We have to face a difficult situation for us. When you don’t have three or four players in the squad you’re in trouble. We have to manage very well this situation and overcome it together. When you play every three days you need to have a deep, strong squad. We have only just started our process. We are playing in the Champions League. We’re trying to improve our situation step by step. You need time and patience. I want to be honest. With my experience, we are doing well but we need the time and patience.
If we played one game every six or seven days, we could fight for something important. To play every three days we have to continue to build our path and have patience. If someone thinks we can invent the win and do a miracle, we need to continue to work. If someone doesn’t want to listen it’s not my problem. Fingers crossed we don’t have many injuries. Many injuries can affect our season. When you start this type of process, I can tell the line to follow. We have to finish this period of games and then in January we’ll see where we are, which improvement we need. Together with the club. The club knows very well. I was very clear in the summer. If we want to play in the Premier League and Champions League you need to improve the squad. When you play, play, play, injuries happen. When three to five players are out it becomes a problem for a team like Tottenham.” – Antonio Conte
TIRED ARSENAL
Arsenal stretched their unbeaten run to nine matches in all competitions on Sunday, but could only draw 1-1 with Southampton at St Mary’s. Granit Xhaka’s (£5.1m) early strike – his sixth attacking return in 11 league matches – put the Gunners ahead, but they dropped off in the second-half, eventually conceding an equaliser to Stuart Armstrong (£4.8m).
“I think we stopped doing all the simple things right. The distances on the ball positions were too far, we gave too many simple balls away in very dangerous areas without much pressure and that didn’t allow us much continuity like we had in the first half. Then you are more tired because the game becomes more open and there are more transitions and you are fatigued. I think again we finished the game on top of them and we tried to go for the second goal, but we didn’t find a way to do it. It was a consequence of one thing after the other and we didn’t stop it quick enough.” – Mikel Arteta
Attacking trio Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m), Bukayo Saka (£7.9m) and Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) all blanked, with the latter wasting two big chances.
“I’m sure that today he will be disappointed because he had the chances to put them away. Knowing Gabby, he’s disappointed when he scores two goals and could have scored three or four, so he can do that. But he’s having the chances and he’s always there. He gives so much to the team and it’s a shame he couldn’t put them away today.” – Mikel Arteta on Gabriel Jesus
CLINICAL LEICESTER
Leicester City secured their first away win of the season at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, moving out of the relegation zone in the process. In a truly remarkable afternoon at Molineux, the Foxes scored four goals from only four shots on target and five in total, compared to the hosts 5/21.
Above: Wolves (left) and Leicester’s (right) shot maps (efforts on target in green) in Gameweek 13
While goals arrived via Youri Tielemans (£6.3m), Harvey Barnes (£6.9m), James Maddison (£8.2m) and Jamie Vardy (£9.1m), the star of the show was undoubtedly ‘keeper Danny Ward (£4.1m). After conceding 22 goals in his first eight matches, the Welshman has since turned around his form, keeping three clean sheets in a row and four in five overall. In that time, he has racked up 32 points, more than any other goalkeeper bar Alisson (£5.4m).
“It is four clean sheets in five games. Collectively, we were excellent today. We played well from Youri’s [Tielemans] first goal. We have played well in a lot of games, and we should have more points. We worked really well, defended well, and had the quality to score goals. We started slow and gave them the impetus, playing sideways and backwards. Danny [Ward] made a couple of great saves, but you have to stay strong away from home. When we played the ball forward, we looked good and could have scored more goals.” – Brendan Rodgers
As for Wolves, they will be encouraged by the amount of chances they created, yet their lack of goals leaves them in major trouble. Indeed, they have scored just five in 11 matches so far this season, and just as worrying is the fact that it’s now 15 top-flight games without scoring more than once. Diego Costa (£5.5m), meanwhile, is still looking for his first goal since joining but did manage eight shots in the box versus Leicester.
