Here is Joseph’s article containing my GW6 fantasy premier league differentials. As always, he will be giving three choices of varying ownership; 5-10%, 1-5% and <1%. Joseph finished with an overall rank of 13k last season.
fantasy premier league differentials – Joseph’s GW7 picks
NOTE THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BEFORE LOFTUS CHEEK’S INJURY BECAME PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE
Last week’s picks
There was a big success amongst my picks last week with Sterling bagging a brace against bottom of the league Palace. He has gone rather under the radar despite scoring 5 goals, more than Harry Kane, and looks a good City option at 7.8mil if he continues to start. My other picks, Baines and Sanchez failed to pick up clean sheets though a win for Everton could signal the start of a return to form for them and Baines. It was interesting to note that Sanchez registered the highest bps score out of all the Spurs defenders which could signify future points.
This week’s picks
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, 4.5mil MID, 7.1%
On the face of it, picking a player from a team who has yet to score and has lost every league game doesn’t seem like the best of ideas. However, I have seen some encouraging signs from Loftus-Cheek which suggests he will be the player to turn things around for Palace. He seems to be involved in everything good that happens during their attacks.
A good example of this was at the weekend when he went on a driving run against the City defence resulting in his low shot hitting the post. He missed another good chance in that game meaning he collected an xG score of 0.51; pretty good in a tough away game. In the previous two games, he registered over 0.5 for xA so I think he’s been unlucky not to bring home any fantasy returns.
Admittedly, I think that I may be a week or two premature with this pick seeing as the youngster plays Man Utd and Chelsea (a match that I believe he is ineligible for) in his next two games. There is also the factor that Benteke is now injured leaving Palace without any senior strikers. However, the Belgian has been extremely wasteful so far this season and has actually hindered Loftus-Cheeks FPL scores in my opinion. From GW9, the fixture list starts to turn positive and we should see the return of the injured Zaha which could help Loftus-Cheek score some useful points at the cheap price of 4.5mil.
Palace’s next 6 fixtures:
Man Utd (A)
Chelsea (H)
Newcastle (A)
West Ham (H)
Spurs (A)
Everton (H)
Juan Mata, 7.0mil MID, 2.7%
The diminutive Spaniard could be a way for managers to turn the injury to Pogba into a positive outcome. He has started both games since Pogba went off with a hamstring injury which could require surgery if reports are to be believed. Mata is proven FPL quality from his days at Chelsea with his best season coming in 2012/13 when he scored 11 goals and picked up 18 assists on his way to 212 points. Since moving to United, he has yet to score over 150 points but he has had limited minutes since the move up north.
Man Utd take on Palace this weekend and as alluded to previously they have lost every league game so far this season. Hodgson’s men look devoid of confidence and this could be a match that Mata thrives in facing the side ranked 19th for xG conceded. He has been playing on the right-hand side of midfield and has plenty of ability cutting inside on his left foot. He comes in at a reasonable price of 7.0mil which could help those managers looking to find funds in order to bring in three big strikers for their teams. Mourinho has also confirmed that he is the designated penalty taker when on the pitch.
Man Utd next 6 fixtures:
Crystal Palace (H)
Liverpool (A)
Huddersfield (A)
Spurs (H)
Chelsea (A)
Newcastle (H)
Aaron Cresswell, 5.0mil DEF, 0.7%
West Ham may have conceded three goals in their last game but it’s worth remembering that they had kept clean sheets in their previous two games. Their next four fixtures are looking very strong as well and I’d be surprised to see many goals conceded by Cresswell. They start with a home game against Swansea this weekend and the Welsh side have struggled for goals so far this season so there should be an opportunity for points. After that, they face Burnley, Brighton and Palace who are all sides that aren’t exactly on fire in front of goal at the moment.
Furthermore, there is the added bonus of a good assist threat with Cresswell. He has whipped in an impressive 58 crosses so far this season which is considerably higher than any other defender with Davies next on the list with just 35. The Spurs man is top of the created chances chart for defenders but Cresswell is next in line with 9. Looking at these stats and the fixture list, it seems only a matter of time before he registers his first assist of the season which, if combined with the expected clean sheets, would mean a big points haul.
West Ham’s next 6 fixtures:
Swansea (H)
Burnley (A)
Brighton (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Liverpool (H)
Watford (A)
That concludes my picks for this week. Let me know any of your differential picks in the comments section and feel free to ask any questions about your team for this gameweek. You can also find me on Twitter.
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