With the second wildcard available from the start of Gameweek 23, there has never been a better time to take a punt on a differential or two. While the world and his dog go double Gameweek crazy over Charlie Adam and Fernando Torres (who averages less than three points a game away from home by the way), we cast our eye over some of the more obscure targets once again, and pick out four of the best value picks for this week…

Johan Djourou

Since arriving at Arsenal in 2004, Johan Djourou has struggled to hold down a regular spot in the first team, and a serious knee injury restricted him to just one appearance last year. After Wenger brought in Koscielny and Squillaci over the summer, a starting role looked extremely unlikely at the start of the season, hence his initial 4.5m valuation. Since then however, Squillaci’s unsettled start and Vermaelen’s prolonged injury problems have allowed Djourou to rack up 15 starts in all competitions so far this season, and he has played the full 90 minutes in two of their last three league games, so looks set for a starting role again tomorrow.

A few shaky performances in the Champions league aside, Djourou seems to epitomize what Arsenal have been missing in recent years, especially against their title rivals. His strong showing in their 3-1 victory over Chelsea was all the more impressive when you consider how Drogba has terrorised Arsenal defenders in recent years, and he was similarly effective in keeping Carlos Tevez quiet in their 3-0 victory over Man City earlier this season. Arsenal face City again tomorrow, and while another clean sheet may be a tall order, they will take confidence from their easy victory last time out.

Djourou has only ever scored one goal in top flight football, so it is unlikely we will see any attacking points from him but he has picked up 4 bonus points so far this season, and Arsenal have some decent fixtures leading up their double in Gameweek 27. Arsenal’s attacking ethos mean they will always ship goals but when you consider he is owned by just 0.4% of managers and his current price of 4.2m put him in the same bracket as Danny Simpson or Kevin Foley, he still looks like an excellent value pick.

Graham Dorrans

Dorrans racked up an incredible 21 assists and 13 goals for West Brom in the Championship last season, and at the start of this season he was being widely tipped as one of the best Fantasy picks from any of the promoted sides. Nearly half way through the season however, he still hasn’t scored or assisted and his ownership has slumped to just 0.4%. What went wrong then? Well, he didn’t play 90 minutes in a game until December for a start, but even allowing for this, his Fantasy returns have been exceptionally poor. Rumours suggest his loss of form was down to personal problems which may or may not be the case, and the outstanding form of Chris Brunt and corresponding shift in tactics won’t have helped either. Whatever the reason, he played every minute of every game during December and looked back to his best against United at the weekend, so hopefully his problems are now behind him. His free role in that game saw him pulling the strings in midfield and getting forward a lot more, so it looks only a matter of time before he features on the scoresheet.

West Brom face play Fulham away this week, then play host to Blackpool in Gameweek 23, so they will be confident of getting at least a couple of goals in those games. Having dropped to just 4.7m, if Dorrans can translate his performances on the pitch into Fantasy points then he looks like he could be a good value pick in weeks to come.

Anderson

United fans may have been surprised that Sir Alex Ferguson did not sign an attacking midfielder this summer, especially when ‘Wheeler Dealer’ Redknapp was able to pick up Van Der Vaart for the cut price fee of just £8 million, but perhaps the wily old Scot had a plan after all. After spending a reported £17 million on Anderson in 2007, and tying him down to a new contract in December, Ferguson obviously has faith in the young Brazilian and with Scholes missing through injury again, he has finally started to show some of the form that merited his big money move. While his two assists and three bonus points in the last five games are hardly spectacular, he has steadily been gaining confidence and if he can find his shooting boots he could provide some decent returns, especially with Stoke at home up next.

Scholes is due to return to training next week , but will definitely miss out against Stoke and assuming he does indeed return to full training next week, then it is unlikely that he will be thrown straight in for their trip to Spurs on January 16th. Anderson looks good for the next two at least then, and at just 5.5m and an ownership of 0.4% could prove to be a handy differential.

Shola Ameobi

In the two weeks after his 18 point total against Sunderland, Ameobi was transferred in by just 16,000 managers, a stark contrast to the 450,000 who brought in Andy Carroll after his 17 point return against Villa. While the injury prone Ameobi is clearly not as good a Fantasy pick as the hugely popular Carroll, his 2.0% ownership is still surprising given that he is a first team regular (when he isn’t injured of course), is their regular penalty taker, and is priced at a bargain basement 4.2m.

With Carroll definitely out for their home game against West Ham, Ameobi will lead the attack again and will be looking to keep his goalscoring run going after netting against Wigan on Sunday. Long term his place is less secure as Newcastle have the option of playing 4-5-1 with Nolan behind Carroll, but Pardew like Hughton before him, seems to prefer playing two up front when injuries allow and so Ameobi may even keep his starting role even when Carroll returns.

Best of the rest

Blackpool’s Matt Phillips looks set to earn a start against Birmingham after an excellent performance last time out, and at 4.5m he could be a decent alternative to Charlie Adam if you are short of funds. Steve Harper returned as Newcastle’s number one last week, and at 4.3m also offers good value. Evra is an early doubt for the stoke game so Fabio looks set to be drafted in if he doesn’t make it. United’s lineup will be announced before the 7.30pm deadline tonight so if you’re looking for a one week punt then he could be a good option at 4.5m. Finally, Bolton’s Matt Taylor managed 4 attempts on goal last week, the highest from any midfielder, and is worth monitoring at 5.1m now that CY Lee has left for the Asian Cup.