Shrewd Moves and Differentials - Pre-season Assessment [Part 1]

Welcome back to the first of many, Shrewd Moves and Differentials articles for the 2016/17 Fantasy Premier League season

Guess who’s back, back again – Luke’s back, tell a friend… etc etc.

Yes, that’s right, as the 2016/17 FPL season approaches, what better time then to throw ourselves head-first in to some tasty Shrewd Moves and Differentials ahead of Gameweek 1.

As per usual, we will attempt to keep our selections below the 10% ownership benchmark which we work to, but, sometimes, FPL players can sit there quietly on 12-15% without making much noise or drawing too much attention to themselves.

With that in mind, we’d love to know who YOUR differential picks for the new season are – Be sure to post them in the comments section below, or, contact us via our twitter and facebook pages.

Ben Foster – West Brom

Current FPL price: £4.5

Teams selected by: 6.3%

2015/16 Points total: 56

First 3 fixtures: Crystal Palace (A), Everton (H), Middlesbrough (A)

Out for much of the season, Ben Foster returns this year as West Brom’s likely starting goalkeeper. Tony Pulis loves to set his teams up defensively, so I am fairly confident that West Brom will keep their fair share of clean sheets this season, like they usually do.

One bonus of owning Foster is that he’s likely to make plenty of saves, and saves = points. Since West Brom tend to sit so deep, it’s likely that opponents will have plenty opportunities to shoot. This combined with the potential for clean sheets makes Foster a great differential pick at only £4.5m.

Neil Taylor – Swansea

Current FPL price: £4.5

Teams selected by: 4.0%

2015/16 Points total: 89

First 3 fixtures: Burnley (A), Hull City (H), Leicester (A)

Swansea remain in the Premier League for 2016/17, despite, at best, a very shaky season just gone. Neil Taylor returns to the Barclays Premier League after putting in several great performances in the Euro 2016 tournament for Wales, where he helped his team all the way to the Quarter Finals.

Taylor and Co. have a good run of fixtures to start the season, with newly promoted Burnley and Hull in their first two games. I think that Swansea have a decent chance to keep a couple of clean sheets in their opening three games.

Taylor offers a cheaper alternative to the highly owned Ashley Williams (11.9% – £5.0m) and at just £4.5m, he could be key to picking up those all-important early FPL points to help kick-start your Fantasy Premier League campaign.

Yannick Bolasie – Crystal Palace

Current FPL price: £6.0

Teams selected by: 4.7%

2015/16 Points total: 96

First 3 fixtures: West Brom (H), Spurs (A), Bournemouth (H)

Having played in the league for three consecutive years, Yannick Bolasie will now be looking to flourish under Alan Pardew. He’s a talented, influential player who shows us year after year that he’s capable of scoring amazing goals, but tends to lack a certain level of consistency when it comes to Fantasy Premier League.

Bolasie unfortunately missed some of the season last year through injury, however, he still managed to score 5 goals and 3 assists whilst picking up 9 bonus points for his efforts. I expect him to perform much better this year. He’s very fairly priced at £6.0m and I think there’s great value to be had here, especially for a player that often plays as a second striker…

Bolasie is one early differential I’m hopping on from Gameweek 1, which will help free-up funds for premium midfielders and strikers. He’s certainly worth considering.

Álvaro Negredo – Middlesbrough

Current FPL price: £6.5

Teams selected by: 7.1%

2015/16 Points Total: N/A

First 3 fixtures: Stoke (H), Sunderland (A), West Brom (A)

“The Beast” is back in the Premier League. Middlesbrough have certainly been making waves with their recent signing of Victor Valdes and now Álvaro Negredo.

Whilst Negredo has proved himself to be a decent goalscorer in the Premier League and La Liga respectively throughout his career, his form and goals-per-game average have been below par over the last few seasons. However, priced at only £6.5m and with an ownership percentage of less than 10%, he’s an extremely tempting option, especially if his ownership doesn’t rise too much ahead of Gameweek 1.

Middlesbrough have some great opening fixtures on paper and don’t face a top 4 team until Gameweek 6, where they will welcome Spurs to the Riverside Stadium. With that said, we’ll have to see how Middlesbrough line up during their pre-season fixtures, as there are still some questions about their definitive front line, with Jordan Rhodes and Cristian Stuani fighting for their place in the starting 11.

In my personal opinion, I believe that Negredo has too much strength and class to be sat rotting on the bench and at just £6.5m, he’s currently secured himself a place in my FPL team until proven otherwise.

Whilst we’ve only mentioned 4 Fantasy Premier League players in this article, we do plan to write about many more options during the next few weeks. If there are any differential players that you would like to see us mention, then please mention them in the comment box below.

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