The risk levels when considering differentials has now increased. With rotation biting, we need active players at our disposal.
Nonetheless, ever-changing line-ups and the momentum and fatigue generated by the quick turn-around can also open up opportunities.
We’ve used that as a factor in our Gameweek 20 selection to fall back on an early season mainstay for some reliability while taking bigger gambles on two strikers with a point to prove.
Aaron Mooy
The Australian appears to be assured starter at this time – a valuable attribute in itself.
More significantly, as we saw in the early season and in the recent Gameweek 18 victory at Watford, Mooy will prosper when Huddersfield Town find form.
The playmaker started his first top-flight campaign with an assist and a goal over the opening two Gameweeks, eventually driving his ownership up to 636,000 by Gameweek 5.
That has since plummeted, though his brace of goals in the Vicarage Road victory has revived matters, with Mooy’s ownership boosted by almost 100,000 going into Gameweek 19.
He remains a strong midfield alternative for Gameweek 20.
The penalty-taker and a key man on set-pieces, Mooy is at the hub of the Terriers’ attack.
He now hosts a Stoke City defence that has conceded the most goals this season (40), including 21 in away matches. That should hand him the opportunity to extend recent form and build on his improved Fantasy stock.
An option to replace the ailing Richarlison as a fourth or fifth midfielder, Mooy’s price tag frees up funds and should be an option for those who have resisted the charms of his team-mate Laurent Depoitre in attack.
Christian Benteke
There are times in every season where Benteke comes to life and, to a great extent, seems unplayable. For Fantasy managers, he then becomes an option and a third striker solution.
Up until Crystal Palaces’ Gameweek 18 victory at Leicester City, that spell of form looked remote.
Benteke had failed to convert even one of the eight big chances that came his way. And, while he missed another two in the King Power Stadium, he finally converted his first goal of the campaign.
Later booked for a fifth time this season, Palace were robbed of Bentke’s services at Swansea City in Gameweek 19, but the Belgian will return against Arsenal for tomorrow’s clash.
Confidence boosted, the fixture with the Gunners looks tailor-made for Benteke.
The Eagles won the corresponding fixture by a convincing 3-0 margin last time out and, while Arsene Wenger’s side may not capitulate in the same manner, they will remain vulnerable to the lively Palace attack.
The likes of Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend will fancy their chances at getting at the visitors in wide areas, while Benteke will seek to bully Arsenal’s uncertainty in central defence.
Looking at data for strikers over the last four matches, only Harry Kane and Charlie Austin have bettered Benteke’s five big chances.
He’ll get further opportunities against Arsenal, and his ability to take them will test the theory that Benteke is truly about to enter one of his famed purple patches.
Dominic Solanke
If Benteke is a gamble, the 20-year-old Liverpool striker is surely off the scale.
There’s no question that Solanke is a short-term option, limited to perhaps one start over the next three Gameweeks.
However, that start could come today against bottom club Swansea City, making him a potentially effective short-term differential.
Jurgen Klopp’s current levels of rotation are extreme and, heading into three matches in six days; we will surely see it in action.
Roberto Firmino’s form is electric, but Klopp could question whether Swansea’s visit could be a more viable fixture to rest the Brazilian than the clash with Leicester or a trip to Burnley.
That could open the way for Solanke, who at just 4.7 in Fantasy Premier League, is a candidate to replace Charlie Austin in squads to be “upgraded” to a Peter Crouch or a Laurent Depoitre at a later date.
