Spot the Differential – Gameweek 16

There’s just a few more hours left until the deadline and, with that in mind, we wheel out another trio of under-the-radar options for your Saturday morning perusal. A couple of our protagonists are kindly-priced frontmen with the form and upcoming fixtures to potentially maintain their eye for goal, whilst the third is a fit-again, premium playmaker who has already made his mark against the European champions earlier in the week:

Gerard Deulofeu

Climbing off the bench in Sunday’s game at the Emirates, the on-loan Everton wide-man kept his cool to slam home a deserved equaliser for the Toffees and deny the hosts victory. After serving up a goal and assist in his first start at home to Stoke in Gameweek 13, Deulofeu has been tentatively used by Roberto Martinez, with sub roles away to United and Arsenal over the subsequent couple of Gameweeks.

As Everton prepare for four home games in the next six, with Fulham, Sunderland, Southampton and Norwich all rolling up to Goodison between now and Gameweek 21, the young Spaniard is expected to be handed increased game time over the festive period as Martinez plots to capitalise on a superb upcoming schedule.

From a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective, Deulofeu’s classification as a forward is a real deterrent but, given that he’s racked up 17 points over the last three league matches, in spite of starting just once, there’s a definite upside to his acquisition. Priced at just 5.4 in FPL (7.0 in the Sky Sports game and 1.5 in the Sun Dream Team), there’s no question that transferring him in would be a real punt but if his manager hands him the platform his talents deserve, it’s one that could pay off handsomely.

David Silva

The City midfielder had an immediate impact upon his return to action last Tuesday. Handed a start against Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich, Silva inspired a stunning fightback as his side sprung a major shock with a 3-2 win in Munich as the visitors registered their most impressive result of the season so far.

Despite his class, Fantasy managers will be understandably cautious over jumping on board the Silva bandwagon again so quickly. Already this term, he’s broken down twice, with hamstring and calf complaints curtailing his game time but, providing he can steer clear of injury, there’s no doubt that the Spaniard looks a real option under Manuel Pellegrini’s guidance. Over seven appearances, he racked up three goals, a trio of assists and three bonus points – crucially for Fantasy managers, he’s served up real consistency, too, drawing blanks on just two occasions.

Given that he’s missed the last five Gameweeks through injury, there’s every chance he won’t last the full 90 minutes against Arsenal later today but Silva has only managed the full game on four of those seven league appearances and still found the time to average six points per game under the Chilean.

With a trip to Fulham next weekend followed by back-to-back Etihad showdowns with Liverpool and Palace, Silva could well be set to hit the ground running for Pellegrini’s free-scoring team and, priced at 9.1 in FPL, he currently sits in just 3% of teams and offers a real alternative to similarly-priced team-mate Yaya Toure (9.6, 38% ownership). Coming in at 8.4 in the Sky Sports game and 5.5 in the Sun Dream Team, Silva has been priced in the premium bracket right across the Fantasy games but his displays so far have more than justified the substantial outlay as City look for goals to fire them to the title.

Gary Hooper

There’s no doubt Norwich’s summer signing from Glasgow Celtic suffered a slow start to his career at Carrow Road. Despite splashing out a significant sum on the forward, Chris Hughton opted to utilise a lone forward system and, with Ricky van Wolfswinkel getting the nod to lead the line instead, Hooper was afforded no more than two brief sub appearances over the first seven Gameweeks of the season.

With the Dutchman forced onto the sidelines through injury, Hooper has finally been able to string together a run of appearances in the Norwich first-team and, as his match-sharpness improves, is finally starting to show the form that made him such a formidable force north of the border.

Coming in at 6.1 in FPL (7.4 in the Sky Sports game and 2.0 in the Sun Dream Team), Hooper looks a key player for the Canaries and has now scored in three of his last five league matches, also earning seven FPL bonus points for his endeavours. Van Wolfswinkel returned to training this week but the Dutchman may have to bide his time as Hooper’s eye for goal is poised to take advantage of a kind run of matches which hands him a home game with Swansea this weekend before going head-to-head against all of the bottom three (sun, FUL, cpl) over the subsequent four.