Spot the Differential – Gameweek 1

Having rolled out the Scout Picks on Friday evening, we now turn our attentions to the first Differential article of the new campaign. If you’re new to this, the idea is to highlight certain Fantasy assets with low ownership – typically under 5% – ahead of each Gameweek and wax lyrical over their chances for the fixture ahead. This term we’re concentrating on just one player per Gameweek and, to get the ball rolling, we’ve opted for a proven Premier League goalscorer…

Let’s be honest – last season was a bit of a write-off for Darren Bent. The Villa forward arrived on the back of 41 goals over his previous couple of campaigns but the installation of Alex McLeish to the Villa Park hotseat put paid to the forward’s Fantasy potential, as the midlands outfit attempted to grind out results under the former Birmingham boss. As a result, Villa returned a meagre 37 goals over 2011/12, the second lowest tally in the league and only one more than Stoke; starved of service up top, Bent managed just nine goals before his season was ended in early March due to an ankle injury.

With McLeish now nothing more than a bad memory, Villa fans approach the new season with far greater enthusiasm. New boss Paul Lambert has handed his players a license to attack as he looks to replicate the offensive threat of former club Norwich; the Canaries racked up 52 goals upon their top-flight return under the Scot, a goal haul bettered only by the top six last time round. Already, Bent has been singing the praises of the new man in charge, with a change in tactics set to alter how we assess Villa’s Fantasy prospects for the season ahead:

“He wants us to be really dangerous and create loads of chances. He wants us to be an attacking outfit. He has a philosophy where he says: ‘If we’re going to lose, we’re going to lose having a go’. He wants us to have a right good go at every single team. That’s how it should be. We have attacking players in the team who can cause real damage and he’s told them to go out and do their stuff. It’s certainly going to be a dream for me playing that way as a striker.”

Villa roll up to West Ham for their Upton Park opener on the back of decent pre-season form. Lambert’s side have racked up eight goals in their final four fixtures and Bent signed off on summer duties with a smartly-taken brace against Bundesliga outfit Werder Bremen – aided by the creativity of Charles N’Zogbia, Brett Holman and Stephen Ireland, he could well be set to spoil Big Sam’s party tomorrow afternoon.

Bearing in mind the Hammers managed just seven clean sheets at home in the Championship last season, Lambert’s men will be anticipating goals. With spot-kick duties in his locker, an ownership currently under 3% and a strong set of fixtures to follow, Bent looks the man most likely to produce as the Villains seek to exorcise the ghost of McLeish with a new-found sense of optimism.