At this stage in the season differentials are few and far between. It is generally know that around this stage in the season many accounts become inactive and around half of the overall teams within Fantasy Premier League are now inactive. This makes it harder in itself to actually find a true differential, for example if looking at ownership percentages on the Premier League site it doesn’t take into account these factors, but instead shows the overall percentages, which in some cases can be very misleading.
The objective of this article is to help you break away from the norm and bring in a few players that a minority of players will have. This being said, you shouldn’t purely base a team around differentials, as if they don’t come good then your team will be left with few foundations and you will see yourself falling down the ranks. Therefore a team with usual suspects (Kane, Hazard, ect), with one or two differentials would be ideal to help you rise up the ranks. Another thing to bear in mind is to take advantage of the double gameweeks approaching too…
So here are some players with lower ownership, but still have the potential to be explosive are the way your going to rise the rankings:
Matthew Phillips 4.6m QPR: Owned by 5.3% of the top 1000 managers
Perfect for QPR’s Double Gameweek 31. West Brom and Aston Villa Away. Surely at least a goal or an assist in there. For me, other options such as Charlie Austin is possibly too heavily owned to be considered as a differential. For defensive coverage Yun of QPR could also be considered.
Christian Benteke 7.5m AVL: Owned by 3.3% of the top 1000 managers
Any of the other Aston Villa forwards are also viable options. Also having a double gameweek is advantageous. Manchester United away seems a poor fixture, but with struggling QPR at home in the same Gameweek, it isn’t all bad.
For both QPR and Villa players it’s important to note that these players blank in gameweek 33, so it would only be a short period of time that you should look to own these players.
Kelvin Davis 4.4m SOU: Owned by 0% of the top 1000 managers
What? Who? That’s what I like to hear! A true differential. Saints starting goalkeeper Fraser Forster has just been ruled out for the season! Ya beauty! A keeper the same price as Krul guaranteed to start in what is arguably the best defence in the league this season!
David Ospina 4.8m ARS: Owned by 9.2% of the top 1000 FPL managers
Similar to Davis he is a differential. With the Arsenal backbone seemingly hard to actually guess who’s starting Ospina is surprisingly the only player nailed on. As you can see just under a tenth of the top managers have clocked into this fact. He’s the cheapest starter too. Bellerin is the only other Arsenal defender for this sort of price, but with Chambers offering stiff competition I wouldn’t go near near him.
Chelsea Coverage
Chelsea coverage is crucial. End of. Top the league. Hungry for the title. The premier league is the only trophy they’ll be playing in until the end of the season and with a Double Gameweek 34 also on the horizon I think we should be looking at 3 players from the mighty Blues. Looking at the statistics, owning Hazard isn’t going to make a difference: he’s owned by 98% of the top 1000. It’s a similar story with Terry (39.7%): they just simply won’t result in a surge up the fantasy football tables. So let’s look at the options we have:
Cesc Fabregas: Owned by 0.4% of top 1000 FPL managers
Oscar: Owned by 0.2% of the top 1000 FPL managers
Willian: Owned by 0% of the top 1000 FPL managers
Costa: Owned by 5.2% of the top 1000 FPL managers
For me Costa and Oscar grab my attention. Costa is a top class striker with the potential to become explosive. Oscar is a bit ‘hot or cold’, but has just been rested so should have a lengthy run in the team.
Willian’s a great player but just doesn’t deliver he fantasy returns we want! Fabregas has tailed off and I wouldn’t go near him.
It must be said that Costa and Fabregas are also close to a suspension so be wary.
Personally my Chelsea coverage will be Terry/Hazard/Costa as Aguero form has dipped and he no longer warrants a place in my squad.
Hope you enjoyed the short article during the international break, until next time,
FPL Avids
