Three FPL differentials who carry points potential over the Christmas period

Whenever we draw closer to the midpoint of a Fantasy Premier League season, a standard template team tends to emerge.

This, in turn, means that it becomes more difficult to make up ground in our mini-leagues and places more importance on having a differential or two in our starting line-ups who can make a considerable impact.

In fact, last Gameweek saw three of the top seven FPL points-scorers of the round having ownership of 5% or less.

Rest assured, there’s still time to find some hidden gems. These players can be key assets, especially during this time of the season when there is a short turnaround time between games.

With that said, here are three low-owned players that may be of interest to you over the next four Gameweeks:

Lucas Moura

• FPL ownership: 4.8%
• Price: £7.0m
• GW18-21 fixtures: CHE | BHA | nor | sou

At this moment in time, when it comes to Tottenham Hotspur’s attacking assets from a Fantasy perspective, you will automatically think of Harry Kane (£10.9m), Son Heung-min (£10.1m) and Dele Alli (£8.7m). However, Lucas Moura (£7.0m) is flying under the radar and rivalling that trio for attacking returns.

Under Jose Mourinho he has become revitalised, having scored three goals in his last three Premier League appearances where he has appeared for more than 70 minutes.

Among midfielders priced at £7.0m or less, he is currently ranked joint-third for goals scored, which is all the more remarkable when considering that he has only played three full league matches since August.

While he has become a regular starter of late, it can’t be ignored that he is often substituted, as was the case with his playing time under Mourinho’s predecessor.

But when we quantify Moura’s output we can see that he is averaging an attacking return for every 120 minutes played since August, which is more than respectable for an inexpensive midfielder.

You would expect him to feature in all four matches over the festive period (whether it be from the start or as a substitute), which includes fixtures against teams that have struggled for clean sheets this season.

With Moura’s form, you wouldn’t put it past him to add to his Fantasy returns, even if he’s prone to missing out on bonus points.

Neal Maupay

• FPL ownership: 1.6%
• Price: £5.8m
• GW18-21 fixtures: SHU | tot | BOU | CHE

With three goals in his last three games, it’s still somewhat surprising that Neal Maupay (£5.8m) has single-digit ownership levels.

He may not have featured regularly at the start of the season but it’s fair to say that he’s now established himself as Brighton’s main centre-forward.

Seven goals in 17 appearances to date is more than respectable for a player that hadn’t played in the Premier League before August.

His credentials as a budget forward option are also commendable. During the last two Gameweeks, Maupay is ranked second for attempts on goal and joint-second for penalty area touches among forwards priced at £6.0m or less. In fact, he’s had more goal attempts than the likes of Tammy Abraham (£8.0m) and Raul Jimenez (£7.5m) since Gameweek 16.

To add to his viability, three of Brighton’s next four league games will be at home.

The Seagulls’ home record since Gameweek 1 is only 13th-best in the league at the moment, with Graham Potter’s side scoring less than two goals per game at the Amex.

But we shouldn’t read too much into that, as Brighton are, in fact, getting better with their finishing, having scored ten league goals in their last five matches on the south coast.

Maupay presents a very good opportunity to invest in a player that is performing well and doesn’t cost over the odds. He may not score in all of the Seagulls’ festive matches but the chances are that, when Albion do find the back of the net, he will most likely have some sort of involvement.

James Tomkins

• FPL ownership: 0.5%
• Price: £5.0m
• GW18-21 fixtures: new | WHU | sou | nor

With the exception of a handful of must-haves in FPL this season, consistent returns from defenders have been somewhat lacking since August.

But with four Fantasy returns in his last four games, it’s surprising to think that James Tomkins (£5.0m) is still owned by fewer than 1% of FPL managers.

Tomkins has started every match for Crystal Palace from Gameweek 9 onwards, having missed the start of the season due to injury.

His form is impressive at the moment, with 85% of his points having been scored since Gameweek 14.

Crystal Palace’s next four games will be against teams currently placed in the bottom half of the table, which further enhances their chances of additional clean sheets in the short term.

However, it also remains to be seen whether Crystal Palace can cope over the busy period when stalwarts like Patrick van Aanholt (£5.5m) are injured.

Furthermore, the chances are that most seasoned FPL managers have already signed Martin Kelly (£4.4m) at a cheaper price, which makes Tomkins less appealing (and explains his ownership levels). Understandably, many of us will have a limited desire to double up on the Eagles’ defenders, despite their clean sheet potential of late.

But it can be argued that Tomkins offers slightly more.

Kelly has only registered three attacking Fantasy returns since 2016/17, whereas Tomkins has seven goals and two assists to his name during the same period. Maybe he’s due another goal?

In any case, he’s definitely worth keeping an eye on as one of the best performing budget defenders in FPL at present.