It all happens quickly in December. The quick-fire barrage of fixtures for Premier League teams – six games in just four weeks – make for a hell of a fast-moving landscape in Fantasy Draft. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered – here at StatrDraft we’ll keep an eye on who’s winning, losing, or getting yet another red card (cough cough Chelsea again wtf cough cough) in our look at Statr’s Team of the Week for Game Week 13.
This week it’s a good old-fashioned 4-4-2, like the kind your granddad used to play in, except not all from the same village. A big high 30.7 average across our starting XI this eek, with no fewer than five players earning a spot on the TOTW for the first time. As Ronaldo would say (when he’s not getting a pass for being a shit player and human just because he’s famous) : let’s dive right in.
GOALKEEPER
Verbruggen (Brighton): 18
The mightiest seagull of all was outstanding this week. Sure, he had a world-class performance from the defensive duo in front of him, so the save volume wasn’t at siege levels or anything, but 46 passes and a clean sheet all added up to top goalie performance this week against the beleaguered Forest. Was there an element of delicious revenge for last year’s 7-0 plucking? You bet there was, and I’m not even sorry. #UTFA
DEFENDERS
Digne (Aston Villa): 28
It’s a good year for Lucas – the Frenchman, notorious for being patchier than a politician’s memory, is really delivering for a resurgent Villa this season. We’ve talked elsewhere about their woes out front, but at the back, Digne has been solid in both defensive and attacking contributions. It’s weird to say but…yeah, pick him up!
De Cuyper (Brighton) : 35
No single minor statistical piece of outstanding work here this week, but the Belgian delivered the simple combo that we all want from our defenders – he put it in at one end, and kept out out at the other. A clean sheet with a goal earns him 17 points, while playmaking contributions in the form of key passes – that’s the pass to the assist, a great earner for build-up backs – got him the other half. Points worth of a City striker for De Cuyper this week.
Thiaw (Newcastle) : 39
I know what you’re wondering, and we’re wondering the same: where the hell did that come from? In this year of centre-halves stealing the limelight for good and bad reasons, Thiaw’s brace this weekend couldn’t have come at a better time. Newcastle’s cursed away fixture drought has come to an end with a 4-1 drubbing of Everton. As with most weeks, Thiaw registered little else other than Aerial victories. Probably not a long-term asset of value, but it’s great to see the young fella have his moment.
Porro (Spurs): 29
If there was a first round draft just for defenders, Porro would make the cut in any league, any time, for the last few seasons. This year he’s already racked up 80+ connected crosses, 4 blocked scoring attacks, 4 clean sheets…the right side of the pitch at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium belongs to the easily-angered Spaniard. He’s in and out of our Team of the Season but never too far away.
MIDFIELDERS
Foden (Man City): 42
There’s a simple sentence about Man City – both in terms of goal scoring and fantasy advice – and it goes like this: if it’s not Haaland, it’s Foden. Two goals was always going to catapult him into his best week of the season, but remember he got a whole other 20 points from other stats. 45 Passes and 10 crosses show this wasn’t selfish play. Foden, no longer encumbered by trying to get into his team’s starting lineup ahead of the best midfielder in the world – is an absolute no-brainer for anyone mid shopping late in the season.
Fernandes (Man Utd.): 33
Every week, as the united fans go through what has to be their worst decade in 60 years, one man gives all and delivers. The Portuguese legend that is Bruno plays the middle of the pitch the way a composer directs an orchestra. It’s not his fault most of the musicians are a bit shit. There’s no more bankable player on any team in the league, for our money.
Anderson (Nottingham Forest): 34
Elliot Anderson may be the most deserving of the more recent call-ups to Tuchel’s England side. He’s been stellar for Forest from the moment his feet touched the pitch this season, and despite the club as a whole going through a bit of a rough time, he’s there every single week with passing accuracy, crosses, and even a bit of getting stuck in defensively. We were worried he wouldn’t yield as much under Dyche as Gibbs-White would. We were absolutely wrong.
Miley (Newcastle): 34
There’s real potential here, at least in the numbers… 19 year old Lewis Miley has only averaged forty minutes a game in his nine appearances (from thirteen game weeks) this season at Newcastle, with six of those coming off the bench, so you couldn’t really call him a nailed-on starter. That being said, this week he managed to squeeze a goal and an assist into his 90 minutes when given the full run at the game. Usually he’s only included when Newcastle chance their arms at a 3-5-2 so it’s hard to see how he lands regular full matches in Howe’s regular 4-3-3 as it starts to yield better results.
FORWARDS
Ouattara (Bournemouth): 28
Not quite the goalscoring reliability of Semenyo, but maybe a better-rounded player, with tackles and clearances a regular contributor to his stats (although admittedly, more yellow cards than a forward should see). Still, Bournemouth aren’t awash with attacking players so this one’s a great pick once you hit the double digits in your draft rounds.
Thiago (Brentford): 26
We’re going to have to do this every week aren’t we? The man out front for Brentford is on the form of a lifetime with five goals in three games, totalling eleven for the season and putting him second for the year behind You Know Who. The best part of all for anyone shopping: his longest goal drought this season was two weeks, once, two months ago. The rigours of December will test any player’s consistency but with almost all of Brentford’s attacking moves going through him, he’s bankable as fuck.
Jimi Kavanagh, November 2025
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