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Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 6 – Differentials

Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 6 – Differentials

kops-tips-001We probably say this every season, but it really does feel as though it’s taking a long time for things to settle down in this season’s FPL. Take a look at the defences and you’ll see that Southampton, Villa & Burnley have all kept three clean sheets but in all honesty you’re unlikely to have fielded Villa & Burnley defenders in all of the games in which they kept clean sheets. The midfield has proved a little more straightforward but picking forwards has proved a nightmare with Diego Costa the only big hitter to consistently deliver. All this combined is making it difficult for fantasy managers to build a side they are happy with for more than a week! And we’re going to complicate things for you even further as this week we have decided to take a brief look at a number of differentials whom we feel could deliver over the coming game-weeks.

Goalkeepers
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[/three_fourth]In all honesty we rarely if ever look towards a goalkeeper in terms of picking up a differential but two goalkeepers with surprisingly low ownership rates are Southampton’s Fraiser Forster (3.8%) and Burnley’s Tom Heaton (1.8%). This is even more surprising when you take a look at some basic stats. Southampton have conceded just three goals in their opening five games, keeping three clean sheets in the process while Burnley have also kept three clean sheets and have conceded only four times in their opening five games. So basically, both Forster and Heaton boast the best defensive records after the first five games of the season. If you already think it sounds too good to be true, it gets better! Forster will only set you back £5.0m making him the cheapest route into the Saints defence, while Heaton is priced at just £4.5m. Finally, both clubs but particularly Southampton have some excellent fixtures coming up and therefore I suspect both Forster & Heaton will add to the three clean sheets they have picked up so far.

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Defenders
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[/three_fourth]Similarly to goalkeepers it’s not often we pick a defender on the basis that he’s a differential. Some fantasy managers might consider investing in a big hitter such as Ivanovic or Baines as being a differential, but when such players feature in 25% & 16% of teams there is no way they can be considered differentials. I have however identified a number of defenders whose ownerships rates I consider to be a little on the low side.

The first of these is Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand who features in just 4.4% of teams. Southampton sold Luke Shaw to Man United for £27m in the summer and have replaced him with Bertrand who has joined on a season long loan from Chelsea… did United sign the wrong full-back? Bertrand has settled in extremely well at St. Marys, starting the first five games and picking up an assist in the process. All the attention has been focused on Nathaniel Clyne who has picked up a goal, an assist and four bonus points, but this has seen his price rise to £5.3m and he currently features in 19% of teams so if you’re on the hunt for a differential from the best defence in the league then Bertrand could be your man.

Three other defenders who could also be viewed as potential differentials are Swansea’s Neil Taylor (3.9%) Leicester’s Liam Moore (1.9%) and Stoke’s Marc Wilson (1.8%). Swansea have conceded just six goals in the first five games, keeping two clean sheets and with Taylor having claimed an assist against Chelsea I feel he represents decent value for money at just £4.6m, particularly when you take a look at Swansea’s next four fixtures. Leicester’s defensive record to date hasn’t been great, but they have faced the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal & United. Their fixtures are set to become far more favourable over the coming weeks and at just £4.0 Moore is worth some serious consideration if you’re on the hunt for a budget defender. The Stoke defence has thus far proved to be an extremely frustrating proposition for fantasy managers, they’ve conceded only five goals to date but have only kept the one clean sheet in the process. However their fixtures remain quite favourable over the next few weeks and they will hopefully pick up a couple of clean sheets!

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Midfielders
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[/three_fourth]Moving onto the midfield and the potential differentials become somewhat more interesting. Unsurprisingly Angel di Maria is grabbing all the midfield headlines at Old Trafford, he has after all picked up two goals, two assists and four bonus points in his last two games. However if the Argentine is a little expensive for you or you are after a differential you could consider his midfield colleague, Ander Herrera. The Spaniard ‘eventually’ arrived in Manchester this summer and he is now beginning to settle in after missing game-weeks 2 & 3 through injury. Since then he has scored twice, claimed an assist and two bonus points in the last two games. With United’s defence no more resilient than a tea-bag, they will be forced to score plenty of goals if they are to win games meaning Herrera will be required to push forward and he is currently available for just £7.3m and features in just 4.4% of teams.

It’s hard to believe that this is the same Liverpool side who very nearly won the league last season, well it’s not really, they no longer have the mercurial Luis Suarez in their ranks! Without the Uruguayan their football has been slow and it looks as though they’re passing for the sake of passing, but hopefully the imminent return of Daniel Sturridge will spark them back to life. If they can find that spark Steven Gerrard is likely to come more to the fore as he attempts to dictate the pace of the game from a deep lying position. There’s no denying that it would take a giant leap of faith to bring Gerrard into your side but more often than not a differential is also a punt! It shouldn’t be forgotten that Gerrard is still on the vast majority of set pieces including penalties and if Liverpool do find that spark he could be decent value at £8.9m and he currently features in just 5.2% of teams.

Before you read on you should probably sit down and I want you to know that I’m deadly serious, I don’t joke about football!! Ok, so now that I’ve given you due warning I can now unveil the one & only Stewart Downing! Downing has never reached the heights of…well actually he’s never reached any heights, although he has had a couple of respectable FPL seasons in the distant past. He has however showed some promise over the opening five games of the season, scoring one and he has also claimed an assist in each of his last two games and has picked up six bonus points to date. If you’re on the hunt for a cheapish midfielder Downing actually warrants some consideration at just £5.5m and featuring in only 2.4% of teams.

Our final midfield tips this week are two deep lying midfielders, both of whom who have already found the back of the net this season and they are Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic and Hull’s Mohamed Diame. Matic does all the donkey work while Fabregas plays all the sexy football but this didn’t stop the Serb picking up a goal and an assist against Everton. He is likely to pick up either two or three points more often than not, but at just £5.5m he is the cheapest route into the most potent attack in the league and he currently features in just 4.7% of teams. Diame would be the ultimate gamble having scored in each of his last two games there is a small chance that you’ve missed the boat with Diame, but he has impressed in these games and he currently features in just 0.4% of teams.

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Forwards
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[/three_fourth]Last season Liverpool were the darlings of FPL as they scored goals for fun and this led to Suarez being a must have while Sturridge also proved extremely popular. Anyone who has seen Man United play of late will have seen remarkable similarities between Liverpool of last season and United of this, they’ve scored goals at will but as soon as they come under any pressure they crumble like the French! If this trend continues and I see no reason as to why it won’t, it means that United attacking coverage will be essential. Robin van Persie scored his first goal of the season on Sunday against Leicester to give us all a timely reminder of his capabilities, not that we’d actually forgotten. Should van Persie remain injury free for the season he should manage 20 goals and in all honesty he should break through that barrier with United playing such free flowing football. Currently featuring in just 2.1% of teams he represents the ultimate differential, the only problem is that he’s an expensive differential as he costs £12.4m!!

As I’ve already mentioned above when transferring a differential into your team you are more often than not taking a punt and my next differential is most certainly a punt, it’s Newcastle’s Papiss Cisse. The Senegalese international missed the first four games of the season and played just 22 minutes against Hull last weekend but he’s already the clubs leading scorer having scored two off the bench against Hull. The Geordies currently sit bottom of the table with just three draws from their opening five games, but they will be hoping that their fight back against Hull will have been the spark to ignite their season and luckily their forthcoming fixtures are not the toughest. Cisse was a revelation when he joined Newcastle back in January 2012, scoring 13 goals in just 14 appearances. Unfortunately for Newcastle he has subsequently failed to reach those heights but should he manage to recapture that form and he could prove to be the ultimate differential as he features in just 0.1% of teams and at just £5.9m his price tag is most certainly budget friendly.

Next up is Southampton’s Graziano Pelle who currently features in just 7.4% of teams. The Saints are offering up value for money all over the park and at just £7.7m I feel that Pelle currently offers excellent value for money. The Italian had a slow start to the season, that is if you consider not scoring in the opening two games a slow start, but he has certainly come to the party in recent weeks with three goals, an assist and four bonus points in his subsequent three games. Ronald Koeman appears to have spent well over the summer and with Southampton having some great fixtures over the next six or seven game-weeks I suspect that Pelle will continue to impress.

Before the season kicked off much was made of Stoke’s new signing Bojan Krkic as he scored a few goals in preseason and everyone got excited by the fact that he had played for Barcelona and was only £5.5m. Unfortunately for those who invested in the Spanish international he turned out to be a flop! However, Stoke’s forward line still offers up a couple of differentials, namely Mame Diouf and Peter Crouch. Diouf (0.8%) has scored twice while Crouch (1.7%) picked up a goal and an assist last time out against QPR. Neither are likely to be prolific but at just £6.4 and £5.7 they won’t break the bank and Stoke do have some decent fixtures over the coming game-weeks.

Thanks for reading Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 6. This article was written by Kop Warrior


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505 Comments

  1. 7
    photek says:

    Thanks for the write up Kop, i do love a differential, i already own 2 of these with a view to getting a 3rd in this week laugh

  2. 8
    Jeet T4 says:

    Does anyone think Aguero is a must have with there fixtures list ?

    • 8.1

      Jeet, not a must have but he can go on a scoring-spree at anytime and you want to be on board this week. He’s a possible transfer for me this week. It basically boils down to Augero V Baines!

    • 8.2
      NIN says:

      Jeet – Once passed fit, i would say yes, essential.

        • NIN says:

          Morning Alex. I’ll be okay if Aguero passes fit for this weekend 😉 He’s (c) material this week. I see you’re having another great season so far. Kudos, mate, kudos :thumbup:

        • Thanks NIN, I got to be honest I’m usually a slow starter so this is very unexpected! How are you going? Made your trade this week?

        • NIN says:

          Great stuff mate. Maybe this is your year? I said in preseason that i had a feeling one of us would go all the way this time, or come very very close. Maybe that’s you NZ 😉 Here’s hoping.
          My start has been so so. One good week at this stage of the season will mean a rocket in OR so i’m not too worried just yet. Sitting around 200k just now. Transfer done already, Rodwell out for Downing.

        • NIN, no pressure then?! Lol. thanks mate, it’s nice to have the support of people on this site and bounce ideas. I just looked at your history, you don’t have any past this season but you played last year didn’t you? Any thoughts on my transfer dilemma above?

        • NIN says:

          Haha, no pressure mate. Hopefully more of us can catch up a bit and make a real FF247 push for the title! That’s a tough call re your planned transfers. It will of course depend on the fitness of Aguero. Presuming he’s passed fit, would you be interested in losing Sterling? Brave one i know, but you could get both Aguero and Baines in then and maybe a decent midfielder to boot. It’s another option at least. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy then i think the Aguero trio, once he’s passed fit of course, is the one i’d go for. I was leaning towards making him (c) this week but now that looks to be fecked up. Oh well, maybe he’ll pull through yet.

          Last season was my 4th season playing FPL and would have been my best, but i jacked it late in the season, around gwk 33 or 34 i think.

        • NIN. Do it mate, we’ll do a big push over the top together!! Haha. I’m listening to you re sterling and not compelty against it by any means! Who would you suggest to bring in and who do you think should come in first; augero or baines? Although thinking about it, having pelle over the next few weeks whilst augero gets fit (something he seems to spend his bloody hole life doing!) does seem the preferable option!

        • NIN says:

          Haha, if he’s bloody well fit then i probably will mate! I fancy them to hammer Hull but only if he’s firing. How much would you have for a midfielder? Aguero would be first in for me if he’s good to go smile hat-tricks aplenty. Well, in theory anyway laugh

  3. 9
    Ant0800 says:

    Well carrying on from yesterday he is 5 players I think could be a great differential from your mini league rivals. I posted 4 of them in the captain poll section, but he’s all 5 in here.

    5. Ozil — Most people on FPL have either Ramsey or Sanchez in there teams. Ramsey for obvious reasons and Sanchez as many where hoping he would take the striker role up top at Arsenal. Now although both have scored a couple of goals there’s one player I think may out do them this season… Ozil. Over the weekend we seen Ozil sit behind Welbeck, a position that we all love here on FF24. Both players hooked up very well and each bagged themselves a goal and an assist. Wenger believes in Ozil and seems very impressed with how him and Welbeck are doing in training. I fairly believe Ozil will carry on playing in that position and he could be a very good choice. Someone that will get you points while not many people own him. And someone that could get you a little advantage over your friends.

    4. Baines — Now a well balanced team will only allow us 1 expensive defender. And there are plenty to pick from, but I find it amazing that Leighton Baines is only in 16% of selected squads while Ivanovich is in 25%. Over the past 3 seasons Baines has gathered an incredible 450 points from Left back. Now here’s something that may boggle your mind. Aguero has gathered 488 points. Aguero who some consider the best striker in the premier league with a price tag of 12m has only scored 33 points more than Baines over 3 seasons. Baines is a defender you NEED in your team, forget looking at Everton’s fixtures just get Baines and keep him there. Not many people will have in your mini league so you will gain a big advantage.

    3. hazard — Only 13% of teams have selected one of the best players in the premier league. Hazard has gathered close to 400 points in his first 2 seasons and actually crossed the 200 mark last year. Yet only 13% have picked him this year which is actually unbelievable. Everyone including myself has jumped on the Fabregas wagon, which ime abit gutted about. I think Hazard will out score Fabregas by at-least 30 points this season and when he hits form people are really gonna struggle to get him in. If you can get Hazard in I would really suggest you do.

    2. Pelle — Everyone thought Southampton would flop this season after losing some of there best players. But where now 5 game weeks in and they look a very good side. So far Pelle has scored 3 goals and bagged himself an assist. Last season Pelle scored over 20 goals which is very impressive. With a great midfield behind him at Southampton I can only see good things from this guy. He’s priced at £7.7m so you could use him alongside Costa and have a very solid 5 across your midfield. Or you could use him as a cheap 3rd striker. Either way I expect big points from Pelle and with only a 7.5% ownership you could benefit a lot.

    1. Herrera — This could be a great gamble if you have the nuts to do it. Forget previous stats from Herrera, because some players just adapt and shine in the premier league and I’ve got a feeling Herrera will be one of them. The holding Midfielder is a nightmare for fantasy football managers but sometimes these players get abit of a free role (Fabregas, Yaya Toure) and when they hit form there great to have in your team. Herrera has now scored 2 and bagged himself an assist in his first 2 games for Manchester United and I believe there’s a lot more to follow. You could free up some money with Di Maria – Herrera or if you don’t have Di Maria you have a cheap alternative.

  4. 10
    NIN says:

    Thanks Kop. There’s some great diff’s in there me auld flower. I’ve brought in Downing myself, it feels wrong but hopefully it works out. Top effort mate smile

  5. 11
    Jeet T4 says:

    Who is everyone going to captain this GW – Di Maria,Costa,ect ?

  6. 12
    photek says:

    guys,
    How’s my team looking for the GW?

    mannone
    pieters / taylor / dummett
    siggy / sanchez / cesc / di maria
    rooney / pelle / costa

    krul – cattermole – blackett – hooiveld

    1ft 0.2m

    I was thinking duff in for blackett or hooiveld this week with my ft
    but sanchez and rooney are on my radar to move on also, with sterling, aguero or falcao looking likely

    Any thoughts?

    • 12.1
      NIN says:

      photek – I would move out one of Blackett or Hooiveld as your bench is now just Cattermole, which isn’t ideal. Duff or Wisdom would be good replacements i reckon.

    • 12.2
      Calvin Clyne says:

      Photek for me that is still a very strong front seven, and given that you have three iffy defenders the Duff in would be my priority as you may find yourself only fielding 10 otherwise.

    • 12.3
      photek says:

      thanks guys, my sensible head says duff in for blackett or hooiveld and bench blackett for a week, would give me more options in defense than i currently have which are none laugh
      i still have quite abit of money tied up in sanchez so i can’t afford him not to play with only the useless cattermole on my bench

      • Photek, hook veld isn’t playing ay? I’d ditch him, as you say blacket may come back in week after next (but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t palsy again this season!!!) 4ph for Sanchez to ADM?

        • photek says:

          yeah i thought this would be a good chance to get rid of hooiveld as his on loan all season but blackett would give me a bit more money and man u haven’t exactly been great at the back so far.
          NZ, I have ADM already so sanchez would more likely go for sterling although both have a derby this gw and anything can happen in them!

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