It's a busy old week on Hive FPL! No sooner has GW13 completed than we are diving straight into GW14.
As predicted, the weekend saw a lot managers using their triple captain chip on Haaland at home to Leeds. Unfortunately for the record numbers of FPL players who did so, they were left disappointed by the big striker blanking in a game that saw City score 3 times.
By contrast, those who opted to free hit instead were generally rewarded for backing the likes of Brentford's forward line and Villa's defenders.
In Hive FPL alone, the 3 top point scorers for GW13, Suffragette City (71 points), Skander and Red Cards of Rohan (both 63 points) all used their Free Hit chip to good effect and all made sizable gains in the Classic League on the sides above and around them.
The 2 main challenges to consider for GW14 are...
Squad rotation
With a full midweek fixture list in the EPL following on from European fixtures last week for 9 Premier League clubs then rotation seems inevitable.
It really is a bit of a lottery as to who is going to be rested, when and to what extend? i.e. do they come off the bench for 20 mins at the end which is generally what you don't want as an FPL manager.
Having a squad with a bit of depth to it will undoubtedly help as to will looking at the clubs and positions that leave managers with little choice but to stick with playing their assets over extended periods.
That can often mean looking at the smaller teams who simply don't have the resources to rotate regardless of whether they want to or not. We'll examine a few of them in more detail below.
AFCON and the 5 free transfers
If you weren't already aware, FPL announced at the beginning of the season that all FPL teams will be bumped up to the maximum 5 free transfers during GW16 to facilitate managers changing out players who are due to take part in AFCON which cuts across GW17 to GW22.
To get the full impact of this, it'd be worthwhile not carrying over a significant number of free transfers in GW16 and therefore, if you haven't done so already, think about how you might use those transfers in the next couple of GWs.
A quick look at the top 50 teams in the Hive FPL shows that 11 of those sides are carrying 3 or more free transfers into GW14. That means they can make quite substantial changes to their sides over the coming weeks without incurring a points penalty.
At the same time, you should never make a transfer just for the sake of making a transfer!
Division 1
GW13 Results
GW14 Fixtures
Division 2
GW13 Results
GW14 Fixtures
Header 1GW14 Player Picks and Tips
Here are our tips and picks for GW14 of the season...
Chasing the soft targets (again)
As recommended last week, it's becoming apparent that there are a couple of easier fixtures for teams against the bottom 2 in the Premier League.
GW13 saw Brentford and Villa benefit from that and while GW14 has Wolves and Burnley both playing at home, they still look good sides to bet against at the moment.
Forest will be desperate for a win against Wolves. While it's difficult to single out an attacking option for points, especially with MGW an injury doubt, you can bank on Elliot Anderson for a steady return.
Not only does Anderson lead the way for midfielders with Defcon points this season but he's also 4th best for key passes
The England midfielder leads the way for Defcon points this season and takes a significant proportion of Forest's set-pieces. He's delivered 28 points in the last 4 GWs and it feels like he is full of confidence given his elevation within the national team even though he's plying his trade at a club fighting relegation.
Palace visit Turf Moor and as such, Mateta feels like a player to either target or keep faith with. As noted above, if squad rotation is a risk then target teams and positions where there appear to be few other viable options.
Palace do have Nketiah but the former Arsenal man hasn't started a Premier League game all season. With Sarr almost certainly out injured, it'd be a big risk for Palace to start a game without their 2 most potent goal threats.
Home fixtures for Arsenal and United
I'd expect that GW14 will see a lot more variation when it comes to captaincy picks. That in part will be due to a number of managers getting their fingers burned with Haaland at the weekend but also because City haven't looked that potent away from home this season.
By contrast, Arsenal and United both play at home against weaker opposition and you'd back their attacking players to put some points on the board.
On that basis, you'd expect that the performances of Saka, Fernandes and Mbeumo will be key to deciding who the big movers are in GW14.
Mbeumo's stats vs West Ham
Mbeumo has 4 goals and an assist in 7 appearances versus West Ham. None of those goals came from the spot and more generally he's taken on a whopping 29 shots versus the Hammers in those games suggesting he'll been in with a decent chance of improving his record on Thursday if he keeps pulling the trigger.
By contrast, Bruno has just 2 assists in 11 prior Premier League meetings with West Ham but that may represent United's struggles more generally against that opposition in recent seasons (they've lost 4 of their last 5 encounters).
It's a similar story for Saka who does have a goal and 4 assists against Brentford but none from the last 3 games that these sides have met with the Bees proving a tough nut for Arsenal to crack at the Emirates in recent seasons.
Roll the dice on Liverpool defenders
In the normal course of events you'd be looking at the fixture list below and not wondering whether you should have a Liverpool defender but how many you should include in your FPL side.
Liverpool's next 5 matches
However, even though Liverpool achieved a win to nil at the weekend, it's difficult to ignore the fact that they shipped 10 goals in the 3 games prior to that.
On one hand, their paucity of options in central defence does mean that the likes of VVD and Konate are almost guaranteed to continue to start as they have done in the 13 game prior to this week.
In fact, despite Liverpool's struggles at the back, Van Djik is 1 of just 16 outfield players to have played every single minute in the league this season.
Equally, ownership of the pair has plummeted in recent weeks with Konate now dropping in price to £5.4mil making him a potentially effective differential given he is in just 3% of teams at present.
On the other hand, they are still expensive players, playing for a side that has conceded 20 goals this season. Only the bottom 5 teams in the league at present have a worse record in 25/26.