A sneak-peek of what’s about to come, that’s how we see Gameweek 14. In the middle of the regular Premier League schedule and European football obligations, we’ve got a midweek matchday on our hands, in preparation of the highly anticipated (and extremely fixture-congested) Christmas period. Just about 48 hours after the final whistle of GW13’s closing clash between Liverpool and Manchester City, Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace are set to kick off FPL GW14 at Portman Road.
Generally, when Manchester City play at home to Nottingham Forest, we would highlight that game as one to watch for fantasy managers. At the moment though, City are going through an unprecedented dip of form, while Forest are actually having one of the best season starts in their entire history. In other words, it’s 5th placed against 6th place at the Etihad on Saturday.
Fixture-wise, Gameweek 14 is looking tight overall, with Chelsea away at Southampton probably being the stand-out fixture from a fantasy point of view. Arsenal at home to Manchester United under their new manager will be interesting as well, as will Aston Villa at home to Brentford, both on Saturday. On Sunday, Brighton’s visit to Fulham and Spurs visit to Bournemouth look like they have some potential for goals.
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 14 is set at 18h00 (UK time) on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per December 2nd, 2024)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Raya (ARS), Martinez (AST), Vicario (TOT) | Kelleher (LIV), Sanchez (CHE), Onana (MUN) | Vicario injured, Martinez injury doubt |
| DEF | Konaté (LIV), Gvardiol (MCI), Keane (EVE) | Wan-Bissaka (WHU), Van Dijk (LIV), Gabriel (ARS) | Konaté injured |
| MID | Mbeumo (BRE), Smith Rowe (FUL), Garnacho (MUN) | Saka (ARS), Palmer (CHE), Salah (LIV) | All transferred-in midfielders are in form, Mbeumo fixture downturn |
| FOR | Haaland (MCI), Isak (NEW), Solanke (TOT) | Jackson (CHE), Cunha (WOL) | Cunha form + fixtures, Isak + Solanke injury doubts |
Premium pick
In his current form, Mohamed Salah is always a good shout as premium fantasy, but based on fixtures (and to vary a bit), we’re going with Cole Palmer (£11.0m) for this midweek gameweek. Where Liverpool are visiting Newcastle in Gameweek 14, Chelsea are rolling up to Saint Mary’s to face Southampton. Palmer is coming off a match-winning performance against Aston Villa, in which he got 14 FPL points courtesy of a cracking goal, an assist and 3 bonus points, and the Saints boast one of the leakiest defences in the league. Only Wolves, West Ham United and Brentford have conceded more goals than Southampton (11) in front of their own fans so far, while only Wolves and Leicester City have conceded more goals overall (25). Chelsea, meanwhile, haven’t lost in five and are co-leading the chasing pack behind leaders Liverpool, while Palmer himself is showing that his impressive last season wasn’t a fluke. After scoring 22 goals and providing 13 assists last season, the England international already has 8 goals and 6 assists from 13 league starts to his name this season.
Non-premium pick
In the shadows of his playmaking teammate, Nicolas Jackson (£8.1m) has been ticking along nicely as well. As a matter of fact, while Palmer is top of most scouting lists thanks to his 8 goals and 6 assists from 12 starts, Jackson is flying considerably lower on the radar, despite also having 8 goals and 4 assists from 13 league starts to his name. The Colombia international scored twice and gave 1 assist in his last two games, and scored 4 goals and gave 1 assists over his last six games, which is showing good recent form as well. Like Palmer, Jackson also has Chelsea’s appealing set of fixtures to offer, with their next eleven Gameweeks including home games against Brentford, Fulham, Bournemouth and Wolves, and visits to Southampton, Everton, Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace. He has conquered a starting spot in manager Enzo Maresca’s starting eleven and we wouldn’t be surprised to see a few hauls from him between now and Gameweek 24.
The budget enabler
If you’re looking for a cheap forward to free up some budget, Liam Delap (£5.6m) could be a shrewd investment over the short to medium term. The former Manchester City youngster is having a great break-through season at Ipswich Town, scoring 6 goals and providing 1 assist in his first twelve league starts for the Tractor Boys. The best performance of his season so far came against Spurs back in GW11, when a goal and an assist were enough for a 1-2 victory, Ipswich’ only 3-pointer in the league so far this season. Delap did not manage to record any returns since then, though it should be mentioned that he faced Man United in GW12 and Nottingham Forest in GW13, but we see potential for points from his side over the coming gameweeks. Up next are Crystal Palace at home, followed by Bournemouth at home and then a visit to Wolves. Ipswich will be eyeing these fixtures to take some points from if they want to try and avoid being stuck in the relegation battle for the rest of the season.
The differential
These past two gameweeks, we might as well have called our differential fantasy pick category the “Get ‘m while it’s hot” category, as we’re including Martin Odegaard (£8.3m) here for the third gameweek in a row. The Arsenal captain returned from a long stint on the sidelines in Gameweek 11 and has been delivering ever since: 7 FPL points in GW 11 (1 assist), 6 FPL points in GW12 (1 assist) and 8 FPL points last weekend, thanks to his penalty against West Ham. Odegaard is a undisputed part of manager Mikel Arteta’s starting eleven, but his injury earlier this season has resulted in a current ownership of just 5.2%. This makes him one of the official fantasy game’s most under-owned (i.e. most differential) players at the moment of writing and we don’t expect him to be eligible for the differential fantasy pick category much longer. In all honestly, Arsenal’s next fixture is not the easiest as Man United visit the Emirates, but after that it’s Fulham away, Everton at home, Crystal Palace away, Ipswich Town home and Brentford away for the Gunners.
The (vice-)captaincy
For Gameweek 14, we are placing the armband on Cole Palmer for Chelsea’s visit to Southampton. If you don’t have Palmer or can’t bring him in, Mo Salah in his current form is the go-to captain this gameweek.
Other alternatives for the captaincy in Gameweek 14 are Erling Haaland at home to Nottingham Forest, Nicolas Jackson away at Southampton and Bukayo Saka at home to Manchester United. Riskier armband picks include Chris Wood against Man City’s shaky defensive centre and Liam Delap at home to Crystal Palace in the gameweek opener.
For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.