We’ve all seen the “template XI” and will, no doubt, have figured out which elite assets we’re going to jump on this season.
Whether you’re on the Salah train or the Haaland bus (or both), you’re going to be needing some handy differentials in your side to ensure you’re always one step ahead of your mini-league rivals and can climb up those world rankings!
In this weekly series, we explore those low ownership options that could be the hidden gems to help you to creep up that table. Here are the options we like the look of for GW14…
Goalkeeper: Vicente Guaita – Crystal Palace – 3.0% TSB
If you persist with something then eventually it will come off, surely. We’ve predicted a Crystal Palace clean sheet with Vicente Guaita between the sticks on numerous occasions without success but surely Palace have a great chance of keeping their first home shut out of the season against struggling Southampton.
Defenders: Dan Burn – Newcastle United – 1.7% TSB, Luke Shaw – Manchester United – 0.9% TSB, Takehiro Tomiyasu – Arsenal – 0.9% TSB
To the surprise of most, Dan Burn seems to have nailed down the left back spot at Newcastle United at the expense of the unlucky Matt Targett, making him a very useful FPL differential. Their GW14 opponents Aston Villa are experiencing at least a short term revival but don’t travel well and in form Newcastle should be favourites to win and keep the clean sheet.
Someone else enjoying a mini revival is Luke Shaw who is slowly creeping back towards the form that saw him star at the last Euros for England. Two clean sheets and one assist in his last three should see his ownership rise ahead of a nice run of fixtures.
Takehiro Tomiyasu makes up the defence as he continues at left back with a home game against Nottingham Forest to look forward to this weekend.
Midfielders: Granit Xhaka – Arsenal – 3.7% TSB, Harrison Reed – Fulham – 1.3% TSB, Bruno Fernandes – Manchester United – 2.3% TSB, Michael Olise – Crystal Palace – 0.2% TSB, Emiliano Buendia – Aston Villa – 0.3% TSB
Granit Xhaka costs £5.1m, has more points than Wilfred Zaha and Son Heung Min and only three less than Mo Salah. Despite another goal for him at the weekend, he is still in only 3.7% of FPL teams and looks to be in a good position to add to his 55 points in Arsenal’s home game against Nottingham Forest this week. If you’re getting sick of Zaha’s inconsistency, Xhaka is your man for GW14!
From one generally unattractive FPL option to another in Fulham’s Harrison Reed. He won’t have been on many radars but a goal and an assist in his last two makes him an attractive enabler at £4.5m in a Fulham side who have scored six goals in their last two games.
We’ve mentioned him a few times in this article but Bruno Fernandes is slowly getting back to being the player he was when he first moved to Manchester. His performance against Tottenham in GW12 was nothing short of magical and he should be their main man going into an attractive run of fixtures.
The talented Michael Olise makes another appearance in the Differential XI as he continues to threaten to have a break out season. A home game against Southampton is another opportunity to sparkle while fellow low ownership star Emi Buendia could finally be getting the minutes he deserves and could be the FPL asset he’s threatened to be since his promotion to the Premier League with Norwich four years ago.
Forwards: Callum Wilson – Newcastle United – 2.3% TSB, Odsonne Edouard – Crystal Palace – 3.4% TSB
Callum Wilson’s goal at Tottenham was his first since GW9 and he will be hoping it kickstarts a hot run of form with some nice fixtures to come before the World Cup break. Newcastle and Wilson face a rejuvinated Aston Villa side but will be confident of a fifth win in six games. Wilson should be central to their goalscoring exploits as always.
Finally, Odsonne Edouard makes it three Palace players in the differential eleven this week. He’s nailed down that starting spot as Patrick Vieira’s striker and will always fancy his chances of getting on the scoresheet when supplied by the likes of Olise, Zaha and Eberechi Eze.
Fantasy Football 92 