After we bankrupted the Differential budget to bring last gameweek’s selection of Mario Balotelli, Rafael Van Der Vaart and Didier Drogba, it feels good to get back to our roots for this week’s picks. With the benefit of a two-week break, we’ve been back trawling through old Championship footage to scout out three lesser known differentials for you to ponder, and we’re hoping for another bumper return this week….
Carl Jenkinson
Despite looking decidedly shaky in their first few games, a much easier run of fixtures and the news that Johan Djourou, Laurent Koscielney and WojciechSzczesny have been declared fit makes the Arsenal back line a consideration once again. With left sided Kieran Gibbs already making the Scout Picks earlier, we’re also backing 19 year-old right back Carl Jenkinson to step up this weekend, and with just 0.1% ownership he was a natural pick for the Differentials.
With Bacary Sagna ruled out for three months with a broken leg, the right-back spot at Arsenal looks like Jenkinson’s to lose right now. It’s a big step up from his days at Charlton, but Wenger already appears to have a lot of faith in the youngster, giving him a starting role against Liverpool and Man United as well as a 20 minute appearance against Spurs.
At 5.5, he’s not the cheapest defensive option around but Jenkinson’s low ownership makes him a massive differential to more popular alternatives in the same price bracket, such as Gary Cahill, Jose Enrique or Phil Jagielka. While those three all have a tricky run of games coming up, Arsenal play host to Sunderland and Stoke in the next two and excluding the trip to Stamford Bridge, fixtures look great all the way up to Gameweek 16.
Steve Morison
With so many mid-priced midfielders failing to make the grade this season, many are now choosing to pack the midfield with big names, and using a budget third striker to balance the books. Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge at 6.5, is the obvious target with this strategy, but if you can’t stretch that far then Steve Morison at 4.9 also looks great value, and fixtures look good enough for him to be a very useful option especially considering his low ownership of just 0.5%.
The Welsh international striker is coming off the back of a decent run of form that has seen him pick a goal, an assist and two sets of bonus points in his last three games, and with a home tie against Swansea up next, he has a great chance of continuing that run. Grant Holt is the only obvious threat to his starting role, but with three starts out of three and playing well, we can be pretty confident Morison will get the nod this weekend. Playing as the main focal point of the Norwich attack, he should get plenty of opportunities to score against a Swansea side still looking for their first point away from home, and could prove to be a strong pick, despite his low price.
Shane Long
Roy Hodgson has always been a big fan of two up front, and with such limited options available, we can expect Shane Long and Peter Odemwingie to be almost certain starters each week. The two have quite contrasting styles and as such, you would expect them to work well together as a partnership. That has not exactly been the case so far with Odemwingie looking particularly poor against Sunderland, but there are signs that they are beginning to gel and as they get more experience playing with each other, their partnership will surely get better and better.
Of the two, Long looks the better option right now. Odemwingie is struggling for form and looks low in confidence, but Long has just picked up his third goal and first bonus points of the season, making that 1.4 FPL price advantage over his strike partner look even more attractive. Long’s three goals so far this season show he is more than capable of finding the net, and when you add the inevitable assists and bonus to the equation he looks like another solid value pick to take up that third striker spot.
