With yet another Fantasy Premier League Gameweek upon us, we’ve taken to championing the cases of three overlooked FPL assets in our regular Friday feature.
All of these differentials have an FPL ownership of 3% or less and each player enjoys an appealing home fixture in Gameweek 16.
Javier Hernandez (£6.3m)
FPL ownership: 2.7%
A hamstring injury sustained by Marko Arnautovic (£7.1m) leaves a West Ham-shaped hole in many Fantasy managers’ squads, with the Austrian set to be unavailable for the next month.
The Hammers’ fixtures are the best in the league over the next six Gameweeks (at least, according to our Season Ticker) and there has been plenty of Fantasy investment over the past month, with Lukasz Fabianski (£4.6m) and Felipe Anderson (£7.2m) both rising in price in the past few days.
Another West Ham player to enjoy a price hike last night was our first differential pick of the week: Javier Hernandez.
Chicarito’s place in the West Ham starting XI looks perhaps even more secure now, with Arnautovic injured and there being room for two strikers in Manuel Pellegrini’s 4-4-2.
Lucas Perez (£6.2m) and Andy Carroll (£5.4m) may eat into Hernandez’s gametime over the coming month but this weekend we’re backing the Mexican striker to deliver at home against Crystal Palace.
Hernandez’s performance in the win over Cardiff in midweek admittedly causes some concern, with the striker not having a single penalty box touch or shot on goal before his substitution midway through the second half.
The Mexico international was starved of service against the Bluebirds though and we’ll instead focus on his display at St. James’ Park a week ago, when he scored twice and racked up four big chances against the Magpies – twice as many as any FPL forward in Gameweek 14.
No team has created more of these big chances over the last five Gameweeks than the Hammers, with only two clubs having recorded more shots in the box over that period.
Sead Kolasinac (£4.9m)
FPL ownership: 1.5%
Arsenal are one of only three clubs in the Premier League not to have registered a clean sheet over the last eight Gameweeks but this differential defender’s appeal is less about his side’s solidity at the back and more concerned with his attacking potential.
Sead Kolasinac has registered an incredible 27 penalty box touches over the last four Gameweeks, nine more than any other FPL defender and indeed more than any forward has managed during this period.
While he has only recorded two attempts on goal over the last four rounds of Premier League matches, no defender can better his record of ten key passes and three big chances created over that spell.
Two assists in the 2-1 win over Bournemouth a fortnight ago highlighted his attacking potential, which has been increased since Unai Emery switched to a wing-back system.
The injury to Rob Holding (£4.4m) is a worry given the dearth of fit centre-halves available to Emery and if the Gunners boss wishes to continue with a 3-4-2-1 he may be relying on the return to fitness of Nacho Monreal (£5.4m) this weekend.
Nevertheless, even as an orthodox left-back Kolasinac can be counted upon to bomb forward at will and, from a defensive perspective, the Gunners will be up against a Huddersfield side who have created fewer big chances away from home than any other Premier League club in 2018/19.
Victor Camarasa (£4.6m)
FPL ownership: 1.5%
Callum Paterson (£5.3m) is the obvious go-to Cardiff City asset this Saturday for the match against Southampton, given that the “out of position” FPL midfielder looks set to lead the line against a Saints side that has conceded more goals (15) than any other Premier League club over the last five Gameweeks.
However, we’ll instead look towards the man who has been supporting him in attack over the past few weeks: Victor Camarasa.
The budget midfielder and set-piece specialist has effectively been playing as a “number 10” behind Paterson recently and with FPL managers casting a wary eye over the inevitable rotation over the coming month, Cardiff’s on-loan midfielder could be a decent bench fodder option to be called upon in an emergency: Camarasa has started the last 14 games for the Welsh club since his move from Betis.
Our interest was piqued further this morning when Neil Warnock confirmed that Camarasa would succeed Joe Ralls (£4.7m) as the Bluebirds’ first-choice penalty-taker from this weekend onwards.
No budget midfield option available for under £5.0m has created as many chances as Camarasa this season, either.
With Kenneth Zohore (£4.7m) set for a return to fitness by Gameweek 18, Paterson’s run as a makeshift striker could be coming to an end – but the corner-taking Camarasa looks as secure as any player in Warnock’s starting XI.
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