Under the Radar

As we head into GW10 and prices for high value players skyrocket, here's a few players I expect to do well over the next 6 or so games and may take some pressure off your budget.

Tom Cleverly (5.3).  Started Man Utd's first 4 games before he was injured.  He's coming back into the squad now.  Whether he displaces Fletcher or Anderson remains to be seen, but he was a bit of a revelation at the start of the year. Aside from a tricky game @ Everton this week, the Man Utd schedule takes a big turn for the better.

Michael Turner (4.3).  Sunderland defender with a recent clean sheet and with Titus Bramble in legal trouble may be nailed on for the foreseeable future.  Good FF point history with Hull City, and the Sunderland near term schedule is very good, bar a trip to Old Trafford.

Nicklas Bendtner (6.4).  Despite apparently being a legend in his own mind, he is owned by only 1.2% of FF managers.  But he had a terrific goal per minutes played record at Arsenal, usually as a sort of storkish, completely out-of-position right wing.  He's claimed the Sunderland center forward role and has done well already with 2 goals, 3 assists, and 5 BPs, despite sitting the bench at Atrsenal early on and then missing Sunderland's recent Arsenal fixture.  I expect Bendtner to score in the 12-14 goal area this season, and it looks like he has also been valuable at setting up teammates.  Aside from maybe Sturridge and Ba, the best less than 8.0 forward in FF, in my opinion.  Sunderland's next 6: AVL, mnu, FUL, WIG, wol, BLA.  Tasty. 

Danny Graham (4.8).  Swansea striker has started to come out of his early season funk. He's had 17 attempts on goal, which puts him among the league leaders and has 3 goals in his last 3 games.  Swansea have 4 of the next 6 games at home.

Joe Allen (4.5).  At the low end of the budget scale and perhaps not nailed on with the return to training of Kemy Agustien, Allen has taken his chance to start and run with it.  The Welsh international has a goal, 2 assists, and 2 BPs in 6 starts.  He has slotted in in an attacking midfield role. Again, he may not hold his starting role but only Anthony Pilkington has a higher value rating.

David Wheater(4.4).  It's a pretty big gamble to slot in a defender from a side that has picked the ball out of the back of the net 24 times this year, but Wheater has a good FF history, going back to Middleborough and appears to have supplanted Zat Knight in Owen Coyle's back line.  Bolton have a nice run of 6 games, with only a trip to Tottenham to present a big worry.

Albert Crusat (4.8).  This is an out-of-left-outfield selection and represents a gamble.  But I watched the Wigan v. Newcastle match and the 'wee man' looked a real player.  I wonder if Martinez is about to give him a run in the side.  Statistically he wasn't brilliant, but he showed some class on the wing for Wigan and if he's given a run of games to settle into the English game . . . Wigan have a decent schedule ahead.

Jon Walters (6.1).  Listed as a midfielder (and therefore subject to picking up 1 point for CS)  but playing forward in a 4-4-1-1, Walters represents good value as an oop.  6 goals, 3 assists and 109 FF points in 2300 minutes last year, he already has 2 double figure GWs this year.  He's on pens too.  Owned by just 6.4% of managers. And Stoke have a very, very good short term schedule: NEW, bol, QPR, BLA, eve, TOT.

Matthew Etherington (6.4).  Very, very underrated FF talent.  Owned by only 3.2% of managers  Etherington is a proven FF performer, with free kicks and corners in his locker - he had 124 and 146 FF points the last 2 years in 2500 and 2800 minutes, respectively.  3 assists and 5 BP this year and despite some injuries this year which has cost him serious minutes, he's still 11th in FPL in successful crosses.  Stoke's short term schedule is very good and if Etherington resolves  his injury issues, he's a valuable FF addition to your midfield.

Daniel Sturridge(6.9).  His price is starting to rise as more and more managers notice (still, only held by 7.1% of managers) but he still looks good value as the cheap way into the Chelsea attack.  Looks like an AVB first choice selection on the right of Chelsea's forward line (he's been selected to start in every league match he's been available).  8 goals in half a season loaned to Bolton last year, he already has 4 goals this year, despite serving a 3 game ban to start the season.  Chelsea have some tough home fixtures ahead but 4 of their next 6 are at Stamford Bridge.

So that's list of some low priced options - there are a few more and some on this list represent a gamble - but if you peruse the players lists and use some of the options on the FPL players filters, you can find a fair few bargains.