Kops Fantasy Football Tips Game-week 6 – Differentials

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
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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

Follow @KenLyons79

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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.