Matchday 6 of FIFA Club World Cup Fantasy is nearing, so it’s time to once again look at some players with Scouting Bonus potential.
With a smaller pool of players to choose from, it’s now very difficult to find some quality differentials. General ownership of Chelsea, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain assets is high.
But with that in mind, here are some of the better low-owned names remaining in the final four.
WHAT IS THE SCOUTING BONUS?
Low-owned picks can be beneficial in Club World Cup Fantasy.
The scoring system encourages the selection of differentials, with additional Scouting Bonus points (+2) on offer if any player scores more than four points and is owned by fewer than 5% of all teams.
MATCHDAY 6 SCOUTING BONUS: BEST DEFENDERS
With all four predicted starting goalkeepers owned by more than 5% of bosses, we move swiftly on to the defence.
Trevoh Chalobah ($5.3m) started against Palmeiras and assisted Cole Palmer’s ($9.6m) strike, helping him grab these handy bonuses. We already saw the 26-year-old’s goal threat during his half-season on loan at Crystal Palace, scoring three times in 12 league matches.
Despite centre-back Levi Colwill ($5.3m) being suspended, the Blues are strong favourites to reach the final thanks to another very favourable fixture. Next up is Fluminense – a team goalless in two of their five outings.
Bans are also creating differentials for Tricolor, with Juan Pablo Freytes ($4.1m) unavailable. While Gabriel Fuentes ($4.0m) matched Chalobah’s seven points, defensive colleague Rene ($4.2m) is back from his own suspension and should start higher upfield.
Later on in New York, giants Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid face off.
Dean Huijsen’s ($5.2m) stoppage-time sending off turned a comfortable win over Dortmund into a very scary conclusion. We should see Raul Asencio ($4.2m) replace him, owned by just 3.2%.
As for PSG, they have William Pacho ($5.2m) and Lucas Hernandez ($5.8m) red cards to deal with. Therefore, Lucas Beraldo ($4.3m) likely starts in a backline that has four clean sheets from five in this tournament.
MATCHDAY 6 SCOUTING BONUS: BEST MIDFIELDERS
The first of those four PSG clean sheets came in a 4-0 hammering over the other Madrid side, Atletico.
Fabian Ruiz ($6.5m) opened the floodgates, but another interesting low-owned PSG midfielder is Bradley Barcola ($8.2m). The attacker has started over Ousmane Dembele ($10.0m) in consecutive knockout matches.
Having said that, he netted in neither, whereas Dembele replaced him in the 71st minute and went on to score. So don’t be surprised to see Barcola back on the bench.
There are slim pickings in midfield, though. Fluminense’s Hercules ($5.4m) secured 10 points in Friday’s quarter-final victory over Al-Hilal. That was in a cameo appearance, just like his round of 16 strike versus Inter Milan.
However, the suspension of Matheus Martinelli ($5.5m) should ensure he’s played himself back into the starting lineup.
MATCHDAY 6 SCOUTING BONUS: BEST FORWARDS
From the final four, the only pair of forwards to exceed three quarter-final points were highly-owned Real Madrid duo Kylian Mbappe ($11.0m) and Gonzalo Garcia ($5.1m).
That’s why the main source of differential strikers seems to be Chelsea and, luckily, we’ll find out their XI before the Fantasy deadline.
With Liam Delap ($6.0m) banned, it’ll be either Nicolas Jackson ($7.4m) or Joao Pedro ($6.5m) against an opponent that let Al-Hilal and Inter have plenty of shots.
Pedro is only new at the club, but it was he rather than Jackson who came on during the win over Palmeiras. Alternatively, perhaps both start and Christopher Nkunku ($6.3m) makes way.
