Picking the right captain in FPL can make or break your season and has a massive impact on your final overall rank come the end of the season. We attempt to ease the burden of any potential captaincy stress by offering a host of worthy selections ahead of each Gameweek - an Essential that is voted by the FPL Community, an alternative of our choosing, a Dark Horse who might spring a surprise, and a lowly selected Differential - to cover the bases. All aboard.

Fantasy Premier League: Gameweek 13 Deadline

For the 2019/20 Premier League season, the FPL deadline will be one hour before the commencement of the week's first game. Our website provides a real-world countdown timer for the the upcoming Gameweek, whilst you can read our latest Fantasy articles from the season on our 2019/20 FPL weekly hype sub-section.

CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE ESSENTIAL PICK

Our Essential picks for captain are selected each and every week on our main Twitter account, @RealHypeTrain, with four highly selected FPL options battling it out for alpha status amongst fellow FPL players.

Gameweek 13: Essential Captain

Player: Jamie Vardy (LEI)

Position: Forward

Fixture: Brighton (A)

Player Price: £9.6 million +

Player Selection %: 35.9%

Captaincy poll results:

Reason for victory:

By popular demand, Jamie Vardy is back in a seat of FPL power ahead of Gameweek 13, with a minority victory looking set to mirror the polls in the upcoming British parliamentary elections. Unlike the soured political elite, that continually marginalise themselves from all walks of life with their continued charades of public endearment, Jamie Vardy has risen from the heights of the 2015/16 season again to become thee popular figure 4 years on from the most memorable Premier League title win of all time, just in time for the upcoming Gameweek 13 captaincy elections.

Vardy's numbers are nothing short of impressive and in fact holds a few of the key stats that draws in the full ranges of FPL demographics, from being the best player in the game with 92 points, to earning the most bonus points (16 - a title shared with Tammy Abraham), Vardy has also played all 1080 minutes of the campaign and takes to the central stage when set-pieces come in to play.

Opponents Brighton are by no means walkovers and have actually won 3 of their last 5 games, including a 3-0 win over Spurs (GW8), a 3-2 triumph over Everton (GW10) and a routine 2-0 home win over Norwich (GW11). 7 goals conceded in this time does allude that Leicester might have the formula to crack Mat Ryan's goal at the weekend, but Leicester's own tale of promise this season is enough to suggest that The Foxes will be walking away with nothing more than the 3 points from The Amex on Saturday.

Leicester have won their last 4 league encounters and have kept clean sheets in the last 3, all of which has propelled Leicester up to second in the table, 8 points behind Liverpool and 1 point ahead of a disconsolate Pep Guardiola (who lets face it, it probably crying himself to sleep each night given Liverpool's sizeable lead at the top of the table).

Leicester's 29 goals from 12 matches is only beaten by Man City's 35 goals, with Brendan Rodgers' side also boasting the best defence in the league, only shipping 8 goals.

These are the numbers that have seen Vardy rise from an outsider to a mainstay at the polls, so there's little to think about when you've had the facts laid out in front of you. The party is in full swing and looks set to rage on with a visit to the south coast.

CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE ALTERNATIVE PICK

Our Alternative selection for captain typically commands a smaller FPL ownership percentage than our Essential poll winner, though this pick is usually reserved for The Hype Train's own gut instincts on who could be captaincy inspiration for the upcoming Gameweek.

Gameweek 13: Alternative Captain

Player: Harry Kane (TOT)

Position: Forward

Fixture: West Ham (A)

Player Price: £10.8 million

Player Selection %: 15.2%

Reason for selection:

Unless you've been living under a rock, or you've recently fallen into a coma and are living life in the blissful ignorance that Spurs are Champions League finalists with a young, pragmatic Manager, you're likely to be up to date with the news that Spurs have parted ways with Mauricio Pochettino and have replaced him within 12 hours with former Chelsea and Man United Manager, Jose Mourinho.

Back in the capital, Jose's first outing as Chief of Spurs is a visit down the road to the London Stadium to take on a bipolar West Ham, a side who more often than not don't know if they left the house in the morning with their shoes on the right feet (or on at all). What we do know is that there is a likelihood that Spurs are an unpredictable unit this weekend, albeit one that doesn't excite the FPL populace that are looking for a weekly dose of captaincy inspiration.

After scoring 5 goals and providing 1 assist in his opening 7 games of the season, Kane has scored 1 goal in his last 5 appearances. Lukewarm goal-scoring form has been met with 3 score-draws and defeats to Brighton (GW8) and Liverpool (GW10), hardly form that screams of potentially, especially as Mourinho is known for defensive football and frowning. Kane though is a top-class Forward that could be the benefactor of a change in overnight system, so we're not going to rule him out of contention this weekend in the early kick-off on Saturday.

Do we endorse this news? With a gun to our head we'd never openly campaign for this move, but given that Kane's international form is at least something to go by and there's a new Manager buzz (or potential backlash given that Kane and Alli posted love letters to Poch on social media) that might prove infectious for FPL players to potentially turn their heads.

CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE DARK HORSE PICK

A new captaincy selection this season sees us introduce a Dark Horse pick, which will be a player who typically has a good scoring record against an opposing team, or a player in good form that is being overlooked due to other popular captaincy picks.

Gameweek 13: Dark Horse Captain

Player: Tammy Abraham (CHE)

Position: Forward

Fixture: Man City (A)

Player Price: £8.0 million

Player Selection %: 50.6%

Reason for selection:

Our 'dark horse' captaincy picks are made for an occasion such as this, with 2 of the top 4 sides in the Premier League going to battle, with Chelsea currently sitting above 4th placed Man City, with Frank Lampard's side looking to extend a 6-game winning run, which is by far the best domestic league form in the top flight right now.

Our picks attempt to conquer the tough-to-predict encounters, and though we believe that the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling offer universal value across stages of the season, the key man to highlight in this fixture is of course Tammy Abraham, the newly-anointed English international who scored his first competitive goal for the Three Lions in a 7-0 home win over Montenegro.

Man City have been a shambles at the back when compared to their usual standards, with Fernandinho having been used as a make-weight central defender in the absences of John Stones and Aymeric Laporte. City were carved open at Liverpool (GW12) like a soft cheese, conceded a soft goal against Southampton (GW11) and were torn apart by the pace of Adama Traore (GW8). Moments are killing City's clean sheet productivity this season, with the current Champions keeping only 2 clean sheets, so why can't Chelsea, a side who have scored in 11 consecutive matches, keep the number as low as 2 for a little while longer?

Abraham has attacking returns (3 goals and 1 assist) in his last 5 matches and has recaptured early season form, all of which has led to 50% plus of the game throwing their hat on Chelsea's main attacking force.

There will be space and opportunity for Chelsea to attack this Man City defence and that is the only true way to beat a Pep Guardiola side. If Lampard manages to do that, the usual suspects will be in business this weekend from an FPL perspective. Lastly, there really aren't a lot of options to consider this week, so if there's ever a chance to gamble on a dicey fixture, this is the time, right?

CAPTAINCY HYPE: THE DIFFERENTIAL PICK

Our Wildcard selection is one of the ten differential picks that is featured in our Weekly Wildcard Differentials article. This captaincy selection has a very small percentage of owners in the FPL, and is our left-field option.

Gameweek 13: Differential Captain

Player: Richarlison (EVE)

Position: Midfielder

Fixture: Norwich (H)

Player Price: £7.9 million

Player Selection %: 7.5%

Reason for selection:

Here we go, another chance to pick out a standout differential as our captain. When the team picks the four captains for the upcoming Gameweek we like to think that consistency plays a huge part of that selection process, although the differentials come with their own unique red flag, and an extra one if you are an Everton player. Premium options for captaincy come from top six teams that always have the odds in their favour for a win, whereas picking a player from outside this bracket is an inherent risk that calculated odds don’t even matter. Everton are the absolute pinnacle of this thinking, and they are arguably one of the riskiest teams to adjudge in the Premier League. Let us explain.

During pre-season, Everton were once again touted as being a dark horse to get into the top six…again. The Toffees are constantly between managers which gives FPL enthusiasts hope that it could be a cornerstone of change that leapfrogs Everton into the big time. Everton managers then go out and spend ridiculous amounts on new players that makes people think: “God damn, the top four are on notice.”

Look at Lucas Digne, a player that during pre-season that a huge portion of FPL managers touted as being the best defensive option for the upcoming season, and that his starting price of £6.0mil was a ‘bargain’.

Everyone also banked on Gylfi Sigurdsson in their midfield with a start that consisted of teams that included Crystal Palace, Watford, Aston Villa, Wolves, Bournemouth, and Sheffield United. Everton lost three of these fixtures, and kept two clean sheets, and Sigurdsson only registered one assist.

Even until this point of the season, Everton have yet to win back-to-back games this season, and the worrying trend is that every single time Everton won a game they then lost their next game:

GW2: Everton 1-0 Watford

GW3: Aston Villa 2-0 Everton

GW4: Everton 3-2 Wolves

GW5: Bournemouth 3-1 Everton

GW9: Everton 2-0 West Ham

GW10: Brighton 3-2 Everton

On paper, Everton should have done much, much better this season. And yet, here the Toffees are, struggling in 14th place in the Premier League table. Everton win games, feel invincible, and then arrogantly take their next match for granted and then lose it. By now you are thinking why we are even backing Everton this Gameweek? Teams outside the top six have a red flag of vulnerability attached to their potential, and Everton are even more people to only judging them surface deep due to their actions of being a bigger club than what they are.

The only good news is that Everton might be able to break their winning curse, mostly because they are coming up against a team that everyone over-hyped because their striker scored a few goals at the beginning of the season. Enter Norwich, a team that has lost three matches in a row and have only picked up one solitary point since their win over Man City in GW5. Barring the 0-0 draw against Bournemouth in GW9, and during their 3-1 win over Newcastle in GW2, Norwich have conceded two goals in every game this season. The Canaries have the worst defence in the league, and they have yet to win a game away from home all season and based on their performances they may struggle all season to do that.

Put simple, Everton will have to either be the unluckiest, or the most arrogant team in the league if they lose to Norwich. The Toffees best chance of breaking their own record is Richarlison, a Brazilian who is in great form coming into this fixture. Three fantasy returns from the last five games is much better than any Norwich player, Lightening has struck three times for Everton after a win, but this is easily the Toffees best chance of writing that wrong. This may be the only time this season there is no inherent red flag for Everton this week, and if they are not defeating out-of-form promoted teams then there is no hope for them getting into the top half of the table this season.

Want to know more about The Hype Train?

The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.

We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.

In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles.

The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.

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All aboard.