Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 6 – Differentials
We 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
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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.
[divider_1px]
Defenders
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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!
[divider_1px]
Midfielders
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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.
[divider_1px]
Forwards
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/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
[divider_1px]
The FBA Awards
You may have noticed a new banner on the right hand side of the site. We have been entered into the Football Blogging Awards in the category of ‘Best New Football Blog’. This is quite a prestigious annual event and we have to say we would love to win it! If you get the chance we would appreciate it if you would vote for us via the links. But that’s only if you agree!
Our friends over at Fantasy Football First are endorsing our bid in the ‘Best New Football Blog’ category and as such we encourage you to vote for them in the ‘Best Established FPL Football Blog’ category. We have, but again that’s up to you! To vote for Fantasy Football First simply copy and paste the following into a tweet and send it –
I’m voting in @TheFBAs for @fanfootfirst as the Best #FPL Football Blog
Thanks on both counts if you do.
Throwing this out there . . . . . Don’t shoot me down. Yet
Baines and Jedinak in for Moreno and Sigurdsson. Could that work?
Bearing in mind that will be two penalty takers in but I’d be relying on Boyd or Jedinak to start each week. The main aim of this is to preserve my Forster/Heaton combo and my Costa/Aguero, Welbeck attacking line-up.
Don’t want to lose Siggy BUT . . . is there a greater good here?
Cheers chaps.
GP – Is there no other way to raise a Baines fund? Having both Boyd and Jedinak is too light, for me. I made that very mistake recently whilst on my wildcard with King and Rodwell. Thought i was being clever but it failed miserably. Boyd and Jedinak are a guaranteed 2 pointer every week and that’s about it.
Personally, i’d be looking towards Welbeck as a means to raise funds. Sigurdsson vs Welbeck…. i choose Siggy
GP I see your Baines/Jedi/Moron/Siggy and raise you Baines/Herrera/Moron/Sterling. Think about that for a minute! And I know you’ve got ADM too, and I don’t understand the argument against doubling up on a team’s attack if both players are looking good.
Gp. Simply put, for me, no. You are way too light in the middle. I I fully understand the combos you don’t want to break up but you are basically having two player that if you only had one or other you’d never play (unless auto-sub kicked in). Welbeck to Ulloa maybe? ADM (I know what you said before) to Herrera?
Lads,
That’s pretty conclusive that that will leave me a bit short. Going back to your earlier point CC, I don’ tthink the GK one (of having both Burnley) will do because I also have Duff. Not planning to use Heaton and Duff together anyway so throwing Gilks into the mix won’t make it work.
So Herrera eh? I must admit (and I said so yesterday) I see him being involved in the attcking third a lot more now Blind is also in there. Losing Sterling though bites me. Don’t think I could go with that in truth. I will check fixtures and consider though so thanks.
NIN/NZ – Looks like Welbeck is the man in your shooting sight. Unfortunately I can’t make the sums work on that one without further moves.
Great points though lads. Cheers.
GP I can’t have been very clear in my point! I meant when you plan on benching Forster, if Burnley have a particularly good fixture will you double up with both Duff and Heaton or not? Or as a rule whenever you play Heaton will Duff be benched?
CC
Reading my reply, I wasnt very clear either. Not planning to double up on Burnley anytime. So it’ll be Heaton alone or Foster and Duff depending on fixtures.
If i went double Burnley GKS, I’d never probably use Duff so therefore I’ve ruled that one out.
Gotcha. I don’t believe I ever mentioned getting in Gilks though
But let’s move on, maybe someone else said it and I missed it!
CC
Check back, I mentioned Gilks as a money saving idea to get in Baines
Page 1, Comment 6.2
*cough* let’s move swiftly on *cough*
Cheers for this Kop. Always find differentials a difficult thing to find, because as soon as they do well, 300k people buy them in straight away!
Yeah, you need to get on them fast which sometimes is a gamble. Ime always one for gambles playing FF, it makes things a lot more interesting. Last week I took Aguero out and put Welbeck in as captain. That gamble got me to first place in my money league
.
Guys, need few thoughts on my transfer this week. My priority is to get in a sort-of must have player for maybe 2-3 months so that I could make use of the price rise to get in another player later.
current team
mannone – krul
moreno – taylor – clyne – duff – moore
ADM – siggy – sterling – erikson
costa – aguero – welbeck
Am seriously thinking about getting either 2 of these players in
– cesc
– baines
without losing aguero, costa, sterling and ADM. I know the TIMING of getting this player in is important as well. Would appreciate your advise!
I just WC last week and result last GW was good. 1 FT and 0.7 in the bank.
apologies.. i miss CORK (Sou) in the midfield..
Deserteagle, I wouldn’t bank on making much out of a player given this new pricing system, and there’s not really anyone you’d want to drop from that attack apart from maybe Eriksen. Ulloa is on the rise, but you have a great front three already. You could get in Schneiderlin for Eriksen I guess as he’s near the top of the NTI list, and you could use the funds from that to get in Baines.
As for him being a banker for two or three months though you can probably forget it. It’s impossible to say who that will be – today’s must-have is often tomorrow’s flop. Your team is solid though, so I’d just play it by ear for now. Nothing wrong with looking forward, but the best laid plans of mice and men and all that. Just be prepared to change your plan as and when necessary.
@ Clyne
With JWP injured I think Mane could be a very good point. VERY GOOD! That is, if he plays/starts. He was ripping apart Arsenal yesterday.
Hi Raz I thk he will start Wayanma now & he looks lively
Also a bit of an arseface. Think dude made a gesture towards Koeman after scoring.
Hmmm also, Wanyama is a DM, Mane is a winger like JWP.
@clyne, i got wut you mean. i been wanting to transfer our ERIKSON for any 8.6million mid but there are none. bad performance from him this week will see decrease in value. then comes this BAINES situation..
so now i can transfer out DUFF, ERIKSON for BAINES, SCHNEIDERLIN.. da questions is now or next GW. but next week, I might encounter other transfer headache..
I will wait until saturday to decide.. but at least I can forget first about getting CESC in. you cannot have everything, right? haha.. thank you so much fer da advice
Hey Desert I would do Moreno to Baines and Welbeck to Ulloa save ft this wk do nk
@silverback… yeah, i am with you on MORENO. LIV has yet to find their CS form yet.. suicidal defending at times.
but how i wished ULLOA dont play that well these past games.. hohoh.. but thanks at least I know who to sacrifice (WELBECK) from your point of view.
am leaning towards not making any changes this week.. thanx everyone
Great articles Kops. I replaced DDG last weekend with Forster. Think not many have him because plenty of people already have Clyne.
Anyway, it’s kind of funny RvP is popular in all the polls but Falcao isn’t. Louis van Gaal said Rooney will be dropped as a striker since he’s not good enough. Another thing he said… Mata isn’t good enough as a midfielder? Ouch. Anyway, Rooney will take Mata’s role and maybe even deeper. He should get his fair share of assists. I actually expected Falcao to score before assisting but this just show how much they think of RvP, same with Di Maria, he made some worldly passes towards RvP. Those 2 are bread and butter, hope Falcao will find his footing he already showed 1 magical shot, too bad it was on top bar.
Anyway, leaning towards Falcao and have him replace Rooney for this weekend. He played 70 minutes already and I think he will only get more play time.
Aaah yes, unsure if this has been told already but JWP will be out for a month or 2. I think he’s in many teams.
Hi Raz not good JWP he is in my team 5th Mid only in 2.4% of teams , will have to live with him not playing for now
Hmmm, have done the same with Albrighton. Seems someone needs to be injured bad in the Leicester team will he get a chance. Never change a winning team.
Afternoon all,
Is this a nice team for the upcoming GW? To get it I do Rooney>>Aguero and Baird>>Duff (So I don’t have to play Ferdinand). for a 4 point hit. Not doing any transfers until after tonight’s fixtures, but any thoughts?
Ummm why take a hit for a defender? I wouldn’t do that unless it’s maybe Baines. It’s practically impossible for a defender to make up for that hit.
On that note, I see you’re on 299 points and that’s only 15 points away from me. TAKE THE HIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bwahahaha. Means I’m 19 points lose. 😛
Raz, how’s it impossible? Baird is getting 0 anyways, so Duff could easily get 6 and he’s made up for it. Though I’ve been caught out by Duff’s price rise so I can’t do the moves above, but I can still do Ferdinand to Duff. Ferdinand will get 1 or 2 while DUff again might get 6 so thats made up for the hit!
If, if, if. With defenders that shit rarely works out. That’s just from my experience. And lol, you’re math is all wrong. I bet Baird is on your bench and you will play Ferdinand ahead of him. If Ferdi picks up 2 points than Duff ”HAS” to get a cleansheet. And it’s not like cleansheets come easy, even to a team like Chelsea.
Oooh and if Duff does get that CS, he also will need some extra BPS/assist/goal if you want him to outscore 2 point Ferdi.
Well would you just do Ferdinand >> Duff and save the Aguero move for next week?
Btw, isnt it possible Aguero makes up for the hit?
Kun could make up for that hit but again you can get Kun without taking a hit right?
Also, on Kun, I’d wait on the friday presser how things are with his injury. Rooney to Kun should give you more points in the long run, so that’s a solid move. I’m going with Falcao myself though.
What I meant to say is that Kun wouldn’t be making up for that hit. Unless you can’t afford to buy Kun without getting Duff first (which is unlikely since I think Baird is 4m). Nope, trying to track your way of thinking but I don’t understand it, hahaha. Sorry mate. 😛
Haha! So would you do just the Aguero transfer?
Yip Veer. But I would wait on that move till late friday. Dude has a muscular injury yet again, Pellegrini said he should play but shit, with Kun you never know.
Hi Veer dont take the hit you could do Baird to Duff & keave it @ that for now give Rooney another game then get rid nk wk your call
Veer – Aguero is a slight doubt for this weekend because of a knock so certainly hold off on that move until after the Friday pressers. Baird out for Duff is a legit transfer.
Thanks Nin! But I can’t afford selling Baird since I’m 0.1 short, but is it still worth it if I sell Ferdi instead? And if Aguero is playing is he a better option than Rooney?
Veer – Yeah i think Ferdinand to Duff is still worth for the coming gwks. I also think Aguero is a much better option than Rooney but again, his fitness is a worry so hold fire there until we know what is what
@ NiN
Agreed. But would you want to make both transfers for a hit? I say either do the 1 or the other. Taking a hit for a defender is not the way to go.