UCL Fantasy Best Differentials for Matchday 7

In this article we take a look through some of the UCL Fantasy best differentials for Matchday 7. To help us do that we have brought in expert manager and regular contributor @FplRossoneri who is one of the best in the community at finding them.

Differentials are players with low ownership within the game. They help to gain rank or an edge over your mini-league rivals. Because of this it can be absolutely vital to know who the best UCL Fantasy differentials for Matchday 7 are.

Introduction

Welcome back to yet another edition of my top differential picks for the business end of the Champions League this year. I am so excited about UCL Fantasy’ return. If you did not already know, for each Matchday, I go through the best differentials UCL Fantasy managers can target to increase their overall ranks and be a step ahead of their rivals.

All players mentioned here have less than 10% ownership. As always, I want to take the opportunity to thank the wonderful team at @FFCommunity for giving me this platform to continue talking about UCL Fantasy. This is a game I absolutely love and have been playing for over 5+ years now.

Lastly, before I get into the meat of it, I am again super thankful to everyone who has supported my articles by giving them a read. The amount of love the Group Stage articles got means the world to me. I have loved every feedback and your support is one of the major reasons I keep going. So thank you my lovely readers!

LUUK DE JONG, FWD- PSV EINDHOVEN, 8.5M, TSB: 0%

Let’s start with my uber differential already, Luuk De Jong has been in the form of his life this season for PSV. In just 21 matches, he has amassed 18 goals and eight assists in Eredivisie with an xG of 15.9 per 90 mins, this season De Jong averages 4,05 shots, and 1,78 of that on target.

His xG+xA per 90 is 1,09 which shows whenever PSV score, he is usually involved one way or another. We always think of STs as selfish and they tend to not create as many chances as they score but De Jong contrary to that belief has created 44 chances in 21 matches. He is also on penalty duties which adds to his appeal and at just 8.5M and 0% ownership, he could be a great differential in MD7.

HAKAN ÇALHANǑGLU, MID – INTER MILAN, 7.1M, TSB: 7%

It’s safe to say Hakan has turned a leaf after moving to Inter from arch-rivals AC Milan a few seasons ago. He now plays a more deep-lying midfielder role who orchestrates the midfield for Inter Milan instead of the attacking midfielder role he was used to at Milan and Leverkusen before that.

Inzaghi has been successful so far in his attempt to change Hakan’ role and this has contributed to some great performances in the recent past. He has started Inter’ every game in Serie A getting nine goals and three assists and is also their main penalty taker which is an added advantage from a fantasy perspective.

This season per 90 minutes Hakan has created on average 1.69 chances and has a passing accuracy of 91,6% which is among the best for midfielders. Inter Milan will be playing Atletico Madrid in MD7. This is touted as one of the best matches in MD7. I see a good opportunity to pick Hakan who is still only 7% owned.

IKOMA LOIS OPENDA, FWD – RB LEIPZIG, 7.8M, TSB: 3%

In Lois Openda, Leipzig have found a young, fast, and lethal get-in-behind striker who will provide goals week in and week out. That is exactly what he is doing this season with his new team. Openda already has 15 goals and four assists in 21 starts in the German Bundesliga and has looked like a great replacement for Nkunku.

Last year was his breakout year in which he scored 21 goals in just 29 starts for RC Lens and helped them achieve Champions League football for the first time. Openda is another good differential for MD7 and he has just 3% ownership. More importantly, Real Madrid have a huge CB crisis and it has also been confirmed Jude Bellingham will be out. I expect the game to be much closer especially with Leipzig playing at home in MD7.

ANDRIY LUNIN, GK – REAL MADRID, 4.7M, TSB: 1%

It’s not often that you can say that you can own a budget GK costing just 4.6M who plays for Real Madrid in UCL fantasy, that is exactly what Lunin is. Given the unfortunate injuries to both Courtois and Kepa being out of form, Lunin has been a steady and reliable GK so far.

In MD4, he stopped a penalty vs Braga which helped Real Madrid keep a clean sheet as well in the end. In 12 starts, Lunin has kept six clean sheets and per 90 minutes he averages 2.25 saves. Lunin is a great option if you want to save some budget in the GK spot and use it to further bolster your attacking options.

GABRIEL MAGALHÃES, DEF – ARSENAL, 6M, TSB: 4%

Gabriel has finally made the starting CB position at Arsenal his own after an up-and-down start to the season where Arteta was benching him constantly. Arsenal look to be in great form recently dispatching West Ham United 6-0 this past weekend with Gabriel scoring yet again.

The Gunners will also be relatively happy to play FC Porto as their R16 opponents given the teams they could have drawn. Gabriel has started most of the recent matches so his xMins are quite secure. I do see a great opportunity for Arsenal to keep a clean sheet which makes Gabriel with only 4% ownership a good differential option for your teams in MD7.

KEVIN DE BRUYNE, MID – MANCHESTER CITY, 10.5M, TSB: 3%

It is not very often that you can own someone with the talent and pedigree of KDB as a differential in fantasy games. But, given his long-term injury, we have a great opportunity now that he is back fully fit.
Last season in the Premier League, KDB amassed seven goals and 16 assists in just 28 starts and he is the main creative outlet for this Man City team.

As I mentioned earlier, he has just come back from injury and in just three starts he already has one goal and four assists so he is picking up form and this could be a great time to invest in the Man City playmaker.

Man City will play Copenhagen in the R16 games and it does look highly likely that they come away as the winners in both legs. From a UCL Fantasy differential perspective, KDB is currently only owned by 3% of managers but I am sure that will be changing soon.

FEDERICO DIMARCO, DEF – INTER MILAN, 5.3M, TSB: 9%

In recent times, Serie A has had a great output in terms of producing world-class LB/RBs and Dimarco fits that bill to the tee. He has made that LB/LWB position at Inter his own with some amazing performances in the last two years.

This season he has three goals and five assists so far in 19 starts, Inter have also kept the most clean sheets as well. The only reason why I think his ownership is as low as 9% is because Simone Inzaghi kept on rotating his team in the Group Stages. I think this is a great opportunity to own Dimarco at just 9% ownership and given how dominant Inter have been I personally back them to do the number over Atletico Madrid.

Notable Mentions

Here I would like to mention a few other names according to their position, price and ownership respectively who caught my attention and can be considered as good differential options for MD7 as well:

GK – A Remiro (4.1M) – 7%, M Neuer (5.9M) – 3%
DEF – Sacha Boey (5.5M) – 1%, Mats Hummels (5.1M) – 5%, Josko Gvardiol (5.5M) – 6%
MID – Zaire Emery (5.3M) – 3%, Marcus Thuram (6.5M) – 9%, L Trossard (7.6M) – 5%
FWD – Vini Jr (11.1M) – 8%, Evanilson (7.2M) – 1% N Füllkrug (7.5M) – 0%

That’s it from me for Matchday 7. If you like my work, please do follow me on Twitter @FplRossoneri for more updates and differential blogs for MD8 and beyond. Also, don’t forget to follow @ffcommunity for all the latest articles regarding #UCLFantasy. Last but not least, don’t miss the deadline, and good luck picking your UCL Fantasy Team for MD7.