FPL Community Reactions to Gameweek 13 (Saturday)
November’s final weekend began with Arsenal hosting Newcastle, as Eddie Howe cleared Covid to make his first bench appearance for the Magpies. A fairly even first half ended with an Emile Smith Rowe header pushed towards Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, presented with an open goal for a six-yard tap-in. Incredibly, Aubameyang missed.
Yet Arsenal eventually broke the deadlock via Bukayo Saka, operating from the left side after a quiet first half. His shot appeared to have caused injury, as Saka was immediately limping and replaced minutes later. He held on for 60 minutes though, meaning he grabbed a clean sheet points and a second appearance point.
Gabriel Martinelli came on and soon made it 2-0, meaning the many owners of Aaron Ramsdale and Ben White bagged a clean sheet.
It took just 97 seconds for Diogo Jota to reward his new owners and he bagged a second goal by the 32nd minute, sending many FPL managers into dreamland.
There were overnight fears that Storm Arwen could potentially have caused a postponement an Anfield and non-Jota owners will certainly wish it had done. Liverpool were dominant from start to finish, settling for a 4-0 over Southampton with further goals by Thiago and Virgil van Dijk.
Assists for Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold saw them finish on six and nine points respectively.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa made it two wins from two under Steven Gerrard by defeating Crystal Palace, whilst former boss Dean Smith guided his Norwich side to a 0-0 stalemate with Wolves. There were FPL blanks for popular assets Conor Gallagher and Raul Jimenez.
The evening’s action took us to Brighton, who produced the day’s second goalless draw when Leeds came to town. Apart from the interesting choice of kits and an Aubameyang-esque howler from Neal Maupay, the main FPL talking point was the absurdly high positioning of defender Tariq Lamptey.
Lamptey is a potential route for those tempted to sell Tino Livramento, substituted with a clean sheet secured. But owners of goalkeeper Robert Sanchez will be delighted with this shut-out, as a save point helped him gain one bonus.
