FPL Gameweek 13 Wildcard targets: Best defenders

With remaining Wildcards being widely deployed in the run-up to Gameweek 13, we look at the stand-out Fantasy Premier League (FPL) targets for the next four Gameweeks.

To do this, we’ll be turning to the underlying Opta player/team stats, the Season Ticker and Rate My Team’s projected points for assistance. All of these tools can be found by subscribers in our Premium Members Area, where you can still get a full year’s membership for £2.49 a month (billed annually).

These numbers are all correct as of Thursday afternoon, before the day’s Gameweek 12 fixtures have taken place.

• READ MORE: Gameweek 13 Wildcard targets: Best goalkeepers
• READ MORE: Gameweek 13 Wildcard targets: Best forwards

SEASON TICKER

Crystal Palace sit top of our Season Ticker for ‘defence’ when looking at the next four Gameweeks: all of their opponents are scoring less than one goal per game on average and sit in the bottom half for big chances created.

Everton now rise to second and again, their Gameweek 13-16 opponents are all bottom-half material for minutes per expected goal (xG) in 2022/23.

Manchester City join the above two teams in avoiding a ‘big six’ side over the coming four Gameweeks, with excellent runs for West Ham United and Arsenal only punctuated by trickier-on-paper tests in Gameweeks 14 and 15 respectively.

Chelsea’s run of matches doesn’t actually look that favourable, with all four of the teams they face sitting in the top eight for minutes per xG this season.

UNDERLYING TEAM STATS

Newcastle United‘s unbeaten clean sheet (five) and goals conceded (nine) counts are backed up by some strong underlying numbers, with only Manchester City boasting a better minutes-per-xGC average over the whole of 2022/23.

Aston Villa and West Ham United are perhaps the most surprising names up there, while Nottingham Forest have had a marked improvement recently – although it’s worth pointing out that they have just had a favourable run of five games.

Everton are at the wrong end of the table for xGC: can their upcoming run of four favourable matches improve that stat or are we being lured to the rocks by the Season Ticker?

Also performing badly on the xGC front are Liverpool, who are ranked a dismal 18th for xGC over their last six matches. It’s not been the easiest run of games, it has to be said, with Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle among their opponents in that time. But the Gunners and Manchester United could say the same, having faced three big-six sides each in their last half-dozen fixtures, and they are still top half for xGC.

UNDERLYING PLAYER STATS