A weekend of FA Cup fixtures hands us a couple of quick-fire Gameweeks over the next few days. This gives us plenty of Differentials to pour over, then, offering you our selection of lesser-owned players over the upcoming schedules. First up, we take a look at three punts ahead of this evening’s 7.30pm deadline, with an Irishman, a Hungarian and a young Englishman all coming under the spotlight…
Akos Buzsaky
QPR have looked a much-improved side in the four games they’ve played under Mark Hughes and their 3-1 win over Wigan last weekend has helped propel Buzsaky to the top of the “Differential†pile for this week. The Hungarian provided plenty attacking threat against the Latics and a sweetly taken free-kick saw Buzsaky claim the maximum bonus to rack up a 10 point haul.
With regular centre midfielder Alejandro Faurlin out for the season due to a knee injury and new loan signing Samba Diakite currently on international duty at the African Cup of Nations, Buzsaky’s place looks pretty secure for the next couple of gameweeks at least. Considering QPR’s upcoming schedule, a creative midfielder that can hold down a regular spot would be great value at just 4.4 but Buzsaky offers more than that. He also takes direct free-kicks, some corners and managed as many shots on goal as the rest of the QPR midfield put together last weekend; in other words, he could be absolute steal. A word of warning, though; Mark Hughes admitted he “could be considered a doubt” for tomorrow’s clash with Aston Villa but we reckon he’ll recover from an ankle knock in time for the Villa Park showdown.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Other than the unstoppable (but prohibitively expensive) Robin Van Persie, Arsenal have been a pretty poor source of Fantasy talent this season. Gervinho and Theo Walcott have shown flashes of potential, but a lack of consistency has made it hard to justify shelling out on either. Oxlade-Chamberlain offers something different, however; priced at just 5.7 and an ownership of 0.5%, the young winger provides an exciting attacking option on a budget, and if he can retain his starting role, then the former Southampton starlet could kick-start the next big bandwagon of the season.
With Gervinho out of the picture for the time being, due to his commitments with Ivory Coast, and Andrei Arshavin demonstrating in 16 minutes against United exactly why the young winger was given his opportunity, it looks as if the teenager could be in with a chance of claiming a run of starts. Thierry Henry is another option, of course, but it’s going to be difficult for Wenger to drop Oxlade-Chamberlain after his showing at the weekend and with the fan’s frustrated chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ still ringing in his ears, following that ill-fated substitution.
Robbie Keane
Alex Mcleish looks to have made a pretty shrewd loan acquisition in the nomadic Irishman; Keane’s two goals in the previous Gameweek grabbed the headlines which drowned out a very strong Villa performance. Plenty of armchair pundits wrote off Keane’s career when he left for the elephant’s graveyard that is Major League Soccer, but at 31-years-old there’s still a long way to go before he falls into the same category as David Beckham or Thierry Henry and, priced at just 5.0 in the FPL game, he could prove to be a decent Fantasy pick too.
Villa aren’t short of attacking options but, with Mcleish playing Gabby Agbonlahor wide left in their last two matches, with Keane tucked in behind Darren Bent, game time looks assured until his loan spell ends after the Wigan game on February 25. Four games may be a bit short term for many, but with a home tie against an experimental QPR defence up next and a trip to bottom of the table Wigan also looming, he could still be worth a punt given his modest price tag.
