Fantasy Premier League: Five alternative captains for Gameweek 13 ranked

Manchester City take on Liverpool in Gameweek 13, meaning the two best assets in the game — Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) and Erling Haaland (£15.1m) – face their toughest match of the season.

The takeaway? This is a great opportunity to look elsewhere for a captain.

The way the games have fallen in next matchweek means there are several legitimate captaincy options, making this a great week to take a risk and go with a difference if you need to make up the overall rankings or your mini leagues.

So these are my top five alternate captain picks for Gameweek 13…

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I think the Chelsea star will be the most popular captain this week and for good reason.

Enzo Maresca’s side face Aston Villa, who are not in the best form and seem to be feeling the effects of playing Champions League football. They have lost two and drawn as many in their last four league games.

During the season, Villa have conceded fifth most goals (19), with an expected goal (xGC) of 14.6 (also fifth). Against that, Chelsea have been fantastic in the final third, scoring 23 goals (third most) with an xG (expected goals) of 22.4 (fourth best).

Palmer is shutout in his last three games, but don’t let that put you off. He has seven goals and five assists so far and was very unlucky not to score against Leicester City last matchweek, while the other two games were against Arsenal and Manchester United.

In that span, his stats have still been good with an xG of 1.27 and an xA (expected assists) of 0.46.

He will also be fit and fresh for the match, as will Chelsea, having been left out of Chelsea’s Conference League squad.

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The Brentford forward has made a good start to the season with eight goals and one assist.

He has also failed to score in the last three, but his performance against Leicester City (H) this week is one of his best of the season, with the away side having just sacked manager Steve Cooper.

Brentford are a decent attacking side, having scored 22 goals (fourth most) with an xG of 19.3 (sixth best). They will be heavy favorites to win this and score a few too.

Mbeumo is their talisman, nailed to the start and is on penalties. He is one of the few forwards in the league who is not rotated in the busy party.

Remember, Gameweek 14 is midweek (Tuesday 3 December deadline 6pm GMT) and at this point in the season players like Mbeumo are like gold dust.

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Joao Pedro (£5.6m) – Brighton

Joao Pedro has wasted no time in his return from injury. He came off the bench against Manchester City in Gameweek 11 and in 25 minutes scored a goal and got an assist.

The Brazilian started and played 63 minutes against Bournemouth the following week, enough for him to record another goal and assist.

At his price, he is almost essential and he has his best game of the season as Brighton welcome bottom of the table Southampton to the Amex.

Russell Martin’s side have conceded the second most goals (24) and, unsurprisingly, have the worst xGC (25.5) in the league, while Brighton have really impressed under their new 31-year-old manager, Fabian Hurzeler. They have scored 21 goals (fifth most) and are fifth in the league, one point behind second-placed Manchester City.

Pedro is a first-team player and should get more minutes to build up his match fitness, but he likely won’t get the full game.

I don’t think there is any chance of him being benched for this game as Brighton’s next game in Gameweek 14 is next Thursday, which means a full six days’ rest. However, the expected minutes work against him in the captaincy discussion.

On the other hand, he is on penalties, has goals and assists in his cupboard and is the clear talisman for his team.

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The England international is simply one of the most consistent players in the league.

When he is fit, he is nailed to the start, is on set pieces and penalties and has a high goal and assist threat. With so many routes to points, he is the ideal FPL asset.

Arsenal have been going through a bit of a slump recently, but it’s no coincidence that their upturn in form coincided with the return of Martin Odegaard (£8.2m). They are a much more fluid attack with the Norwegian in the side.

Saka scored a goal and had an assist last matchweek as well as in midweek’s Champions League game away at Sporting CP. He has four goals and eight assists in the league.

The north London club face West Ham, who have not been great this season. Despite their 2-0 win against Newcastle United last matchweek, they have conceded 19 goals (fifth most) and also have the fifth-worst defense according to their xGC (20.5).

They are leaky and Mikel Arteta’s side are looking back at their best. Saka is the most likely to get the most points here, having scored or assisted 57 per cent of Arsenal’s goals in the league – the third-highest goal involvement of any player.

The only downside to Saka is that some of the other options have superior target threat.

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Matheus Cunha is in the form of his life right now. Since Gameweek 9, he has collected the second most FPL points (43) with four goals and three assists.

The Brazilian has seven goals and three assists during the season and is very much in demand to start.

Despite Wolves’ slow start to the season, they have still managed to score 20 goals (sixth most) and Cunha is by far their best player.

He has the highest xG (3.1) and xA (2.3) among his teammates and not only scores the goals, he also pulls the strings.

Wolves have a fairly even match against Bournemouth in Gameweek 13, who have conceded 17 goals (sixth most) with an xGC of 15.3 (seventh).

But with Gary O’Neil’s side at home and in a bit of form with two wins in their last two, I can see a few goals in this one and Cunha is very likely to be involved in one way or another.

He can score, assist and is likely to be the first to take penalties.

Saying all of this, he has still outperformed over the past few weeks, so I wouldn’t expect this level of output to continue long-term.

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Locations

Here’s how I would rank them, based on a few factors.

I think Palmer and Saka are the safe options. Mbeumo, Pedro and Cunha are more risky as they are not as consistent. However, they have a lot of benefits if it pays off.

Note: Statistics from Opta.

(Top photo: Bryan Mbeumo; by Naomi Baker via Getty Images)