Our Gameweek 13 Sleepers XI article provides Draft managers with a lineup of Fantasy EPL hidden gems. Our starting eleven of Draft Premier League differential picks will help you find a golden ticket to a big score this weekend! These hints and tips will give you a better chance of picking up an all-important victory, as any one of these under-the-radar picks could make the difference in a head-to-head game!
We'll be focusing on players that will bring us not only attacking returns or clean sheets, but also those players that score Ghost Points in the sophisticated and statistics based Fantrax Scoring System!
Fantasy EPL Gameweek 13 Sleepers XI
For this article, we use the percentage rostered calculation from Fantrax and Sleeper. Our only rule is that each player we highlight is rostered in 60% of leagues or fewer at the time of writing. Therefore, there's a good chance some of these players will be free agents in your Draft league! As always, we'll take form, fixtures, projected points, and a healthy dose of intuition into account to make our selections.
In GW12, things did not go as expected, at all. The GW12 Sleepers XI team put up a very underwhelming 66 FPts, one of our lowest scores of the season so far. In net, we went with Verbruggen again, and he he did not disappoint with his 13.25 FPts despite conceding 1 goal. In our 3 man defence, we had a 19.25 FPts monster haul from Mykolenko, which included a clean sheet, his opponent in that gameweek, Sepp van den Berg who got 9.75 FPts with his clean sheet as well, as well as Fofana's 4.5 FPts, who was only a minute away from keeping his own clean sheet! Not a bad foundation to build off. Unfortunately, it only went downhill from there. In midfield we went with 5 picks and boy was it a horror show. Kluivert, who played the most minutes of the lot, scored the most points (6 FPts), which was more than the other MIDs combined. Lindstrom's 71 minute appearance saw him score 4.5 Pts (which sadly included a clean sheet point), Willock's MNF home game only lasted till half time (as he was yet again struck down by injury), Curtis Jones' 61 minute cameo versus bottom-of-the-league Southampton only scored 1.5 FPts and Baleba scored -5 FPts thanks to one of the softest red cards we've seen in some time. We finally went with 2 FWDs, Reiss Nelson, who scored 5.5 FPts in 70 minutes and Evanilson got 4.5 FPts for playing the full match. Welp. Surely GW13 can't get worse, can it?
The Sleepers XI table below includes a full team of Starters, as well as 5 Reserves - high-upside players with some question marks around whether or not they'll start in Gameweek 13. So keep an eye out when lineups are announced and pick them up if you see them starting, especially if you need to fill a spot on your roster. Read below for the rationale behind each of the Starter selections.
Caoimhin Kelleher (G, Liverpool)
Typically we would never suggest a goalkeeper versus Haaland and Manchester City, but the Champions have now failed to win in their last 6 games across all competitions, with their latest result in the Premier League being a 0-4 drubbing at the Etihad versus Spurs. The Spurs GK, Vicario, made 5 saves that game which means that Kelleher could potentially face a similar amount. We're backing the Irish shot-stopper to produce another impressive display, after his heroics versus Mbappe and Real Madrid in the Champions League, where he saved a penalty and kept a clean sheet.
Dara O'Shea (D, Ipswich Town)
After a bit of a poor run of form for a few gameweeks, Dara O'Shea seems to be back to being a ghost point machine again. He's currently the 7th best DEF for ghost points per 90 minutes (12.3 gPP90) and was averaging just under 12 PPS over his last 3 games. We suspect the dip in his points was due to losing his partner Greaves, being deployed in RB for one game and then being partnered with Burgess. Quite an unsettling time for the CB. However, things seemed to have fallen into place for O'Shea and Ipswich again, with a win versus Spurs and a draw against Manchester United which coincides with O'Shea's return to form. Let's hope for more of the same as he could return to being a possible DEF-2/3 for any roster.
Sepp van den Berg (D, Brentford)
In GW12, Brentford finally earned their first clean sheet of the season and now host Leicester City next for their first game post-Steve Cooper. In the last 4 games, Leicester have been the worst team in the league (1D, 3L) and there's no telling how Ruud will set up his new club. If the Foxes need time to settle into a scoring rhythm, then another clean sheet could be on the cards for the Bees. Great! Even if Leicester do manage to score, van den Berg has been scoring 8.5 gPPS, which should be enough of a buffer to warrant another start for us. Still great!
Valentino Livramento (D, Newcastle)
Despite losing 2-0 at home to West Ham on Monday night, in a result that most fantasy managers did not have on their Bingo card, Livramento still scored a respectable 11.25 ghost points. Up next, the Magpies visit Crystal Palace, who have one of the worst home records of the season so far. The Eagles have only scored 1 goal at home in their last 4 games at Selhurst Park, which bodes well for a potential clean sheet for Livramento and his teammates.
Enzo Fernandez (M, Chelsea)
In GW12, Enzo Fernandez scored his first goal of the season versus relegations candidates Leicester City. This was his first start since GW7, and the Argentine World Cup winner did not disappoint owners at all with his 26.5 FPts score. Enzo even played the full 90 minutes. With the uncertainty around Gusto's fitness, Enzo is being given the opportunity to play as one of the No. 10's in Maresca's system and seems to be absolutely thriving from it. He is also Chelsea's best gPP90 scoring midfielder to-date, scoring at a rate of 11.5 gPP0. Although the fixture versus Aston Villa in GW13 is a tough one, we'd expect the Villains to struggle with fatigue given their midweek exploits versus Juventus, which ended in a 0-0 result.
Joao Gomes (M, Wolves)
Although Joao Gomes had a massive score of 24.5 FPts in GW12 versus Fulham, it should be noted that his assist came after Andersen was taken off due to injury, leaving Fulham with 10 men on the pitch, with Marco Silva having used all his 5 subs already. That being said, this haul meant that Gomes now has 3 attacking returns in his last 4 starts, which coincided with the turn in fixture difficulty for Gomes and his teammates. Wolves now host Bournemouth in GW13, who are without the help of their talisman Semenyo for the first time this season and could prove detrimental to the Cherries. Despite the 6 point difference in the league table between the clubs, in the last 4 games, Wolves have been the 2nd best team in the league, having scored the most goals (10). Therefore we're betting Gomes is involved yet again, as Wolves aim to win their 3rd game of the season and continue their undefeated streak of 5 games.
James Ward-Prowse (M, Nottingham Forest)
It's crazy to think that an asset who scored around 400 FPts for 5 consecutive seasons is now an option for our Sleepers article. The ex-Saints talisman had struggled to secure his spot for West Ham and has now found himself at Nottingham Forest on loan this season. Some managers like myself thought that the transfer move would have sparked his old form again, but JWP has struggled to reproduce his familiar output of over 11 PPG. Although JWP has only completed 90 minutes in 2 of his 5 starts this season, he still managed to score at least 6.25 FPts on either occasion. It's definitely not something to brag about but with Ipswich Town up next, Nottingham Forest will want to break their 2 game losing streak. Assuming JWP is still able to retain set pieces versus Ipswich Town in GW13, we quite fancy him to notch an attacking return against a promoted team fighting to stay in the league.
Mathias Jensen (M, Brentford)
According to our fixture difficulty tracker, Brentford MIDs have the 3rd best rating of all MIDs in the game. In GW12, Norgaard was given a red card for a debatable challenge, which opens up a midfield spot in the Brentford system for GW13. We assume Janelt would take the CDM position with Jensen partnering Damsgaard in a slightly more attacking position. Despite Jensen's poor start to the season due to his multiple injury layoffs, we are hoping that the Dane has finally put those woes to bed considering nearly half of his starts have come in Brentford's last 2 games. Let's hope Jensen can build on his last appearance's 6.25 FPts as the Bees, who have the best home form in the league, host a wounded Leicester City, who have new management at the helm.
Omari Hutchinson (M, Ipswich)
In GW12, Ipswich hosted Manchester United and their new boss Ruben Amorim and earned a more than fair draw which saw Hutchinson score his first goal of the season via an on-target deflection off on of the Red Devils' players. Although this is only Hutchinson's 2nd attacking return of the season, the Tractor Boys could potentially build off their unbeaten run since GW10 and hopefully get a few wins under their belt. Now is better than never for Ipswich to get their 2nd win of the season as they face Nottingham Forest in GW13, who have just lost back-to-back games for the first time all season. Hutchinson is 2nd for key passes (11) and shots attempted (17) for Ipswich Town, so if they are to score some goals, there's a good chance Hutchinson could be involved.
Keane Lewis-Potter (F, Brentford)
As it stands, the Bees have the best home form of all teams in the league with 5 wins, 1 draw and 18 goals scored (the highest of all teams). So if Brentford are playing at home, you'll want a piece of that action, especially with one of the FWDs. However, the assets you want like Wissa and Mbeumo are probably already rostered. So enter Keane Lewis-Potter a.k.a KLP. I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to punt on the inconsistent English FWD seeing scores of 0.5 and 3.25 in his last 5 starts, but it should be noted that KLP has played a variety of roles for Brentford: LW, LM and LB, which skews his output potential a lot. Although KLP isn't known for his attacking returns with only 3 assists for the season, his ghost point production is definitely the best in the LB spot where he averages around 9 gPPS and also where he has featured in his last 2 starts. If he's playing OOP again, KLP is definitely worth a punt.
Stephy Mavididi (F, Leicester City)
Steve Cooper was let go after Leicester's 6th loss for the season, a decision that was made at a fairly baffling time of the season, especially after just coming back from the 2-week International Break. However, many fantasy managers must also be pleased with the decision given how frustrating it was to own some of the popular attacking assets like Fatawu and Mavididi, 2 of the Foxes' chief creators during their promotion to the Premier League. Now with Ruud at the helm, we're banking on Mavididi being a regular starter again, especially after Fatawu was ruled out for the rest of the season due to injury. The creativity has to come from somewhere right?
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