West Ham United continue their 2024/25 Premier League campaign when they host north London rivals Arsenal, looking to build on the momentum they gained from their victory at Newcastle United on Monday.
The Hammers delivered a commanding 2-0 win in the North-East to end their wait for a second away triumph of the Premier League campaign, with Tomáš Souček and Aaron Wan-Bissaka on target.
Arsenal got the better of West Ham in this fixture last season, but the Irons defeated the Gunners 2-0 at Emirates Stadium earlier in 2023/24, while we also earned a 3-1 victory over Mikel Arteta’s side in the Carabao Cup in November 2023.
Both sides will be full of individuals looking to provide the touch of magic required to make the difference on the day, meaning there are a number of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) decisions to be made in the lead up to kick-off.
Friday night football is back in the top-flight this weekend, meaning the Gameweek 13 deadline will be earlier than usual at 6.30pm GMT on Friday 29 November, ahead of a mouth-watering feast of action.
While we will be giving you FPL tips and tricks throughout the remainder of the 2024/25 season on whufc.com, see below for some of our picks for the upcoming round.
Also, don't forget to join the Official West Ham United FPL League by entering the code tezfax...
Back to our Gameweek 13 preview, and we’re looking for our Polish goalkeeper to keep yet another clean sheet…
Fabiański great value for money...
If you were one of the ten per cent of Łukasz Fabiański (£4.1m) owners who didn’t bench the West Ham United goalkeeper, there was plenty of joy to be had.
The 39-year-old is among the cheapest goalkeepers in Fantasy Premier League and has undoubtedly been one of the most underrated assets in recent weeks, having kept back-to-back clean sheets against Everton and Newcastle United, while in Gameweek Eleven, the Pole was the most-benched player, but returned a season-high nine points as 1,570,668 FPL managers left him on the sidelines.
He was equal to both of Newcastle’s Opta-defined big chances on Monday. Fabiański was alert to smother Anthony Gordon’s clear-cut opportunity, while he also brilliantly narrowed the angle that denied the in-form Alexander Isak levelling for the hosts shortly before half-time.
Fabiański, who now has the second-highest amount of Premier League saves (1,179) since its inception in 1992/93, will no doubt be full of confidence after recent impeccable performances. He will need another big display between the sticks against the Gunners, and what better time to do it than on Saturday against his former employers?
Tomáš Souček (£4.9m) has eclipsed 100 FPL points in each of his four full seasons as a West Ham United player, and is on course to do so again in 2024/25.
The Czech international's importance to the Hammers is in no doubt. Having stepped up in another key moment at St James’ Park, Souček became the first West Ham midfielder to score 30 non-penalty goals in the Premier League.
Souček has now hit the back of the net 35 times in all competitions since his arrival in January 2020, and the statistics behind the importance of them are quite incredible. Only six of those goals have come when the Hammers have been winning, while 20 have arrived when we have been level and nine when we have been losing. An incredible 13 of those 35 strikes have been game-winning efforts.
With 42 points from the opening 12 matches this season, Souček, who is renowned as a big-game player, will surely have a part to play on Saturday against Arsenal.
Opposition Watch: Arsenal
Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard (£8.2m) has made an immediate impact for the Gunners since his recent return from injury.
The Norwegian has delivered back-to-back assists against Chelsea and Nottingham Forest to earn 13 points over the last two Gameweeks.
Ødegaard’s ten key passes from those two fixtures were twice that of any teammate and placed joint-top among all players in FPL.
According to the Fixture Difficulty Rating, four of Arsenal's next six matches score only two, so Ødegaard is a player the Hammers will have to be wary of at London Stadium.
Bukayo Saka (£10.2m) was one of the most transferred-out players in FPL prior to Gameweek 12.
And managers who dropped the Arsenal forward have been severely punished after two spellbinding performances in the last five days.
The England international scored one goal and assisted another during the Gunners' 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest last weekend, which sealed an impressive 14-point return.
Saka ranks among the very best for big chances created (14), while he’s had 14 shots on target and created eight assists.
Inevitably, the 23-year-old will be among the most transferred-in players for Gameweek 13, and with good reason - he’s now on 80 points for the season, 29 clear of defender Gabriel Magalhães.
