Aston Villa host Manchester City on Saturday lunchtime as part of Fantasy Premier League’s (FPL) Gameweek 17, as Unai Emery’s side look to leapfrog their opponents in the table.
Here, we look at which Villans are the most popular and best differential signings, plus we take a look at whom to entrust with the all-important captaincy.
Most popular Villa player
Morgan Rogers (£5.4m) is enjoying such a productive season that he is the most selected Villa player in the game. Since Gameweek 5 he has produced six attacking returns and convinced over 20 per cent of managers to acquire his services.
An attack-minded player classed as a midfielder in FPL, his low price-point makes him a budget enabler who can be alternated with other players depending on the difficulty of the fixture.
His 11.3 points per £1m spent on him makes him the best value-for-money Villa asset ahead of Lucas Digne (£4.7m) at 9.5 ppm and Emi Martínez (£5.0m) at 9.0ppm.
Rogers is Villa’s third-highest goalscorer with four goals and his 28 shots on goal is the second highest at the club.
Difference maker
Jhon Durán (£5.8m) has found the net in his last three successive matches in all competitions, starting Villa’s previous two Premier League outings against Southampton and Nottingham Forest.
Duran is an explosive player who will shoot and score from anywhere. The 21-year-old has rattled off 11 goals in all competitions this term, with his fearlessness and directness bringing goals against Bayern Munich, Bologna and RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
Only two Villa players, Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) and Rogers, have enjoyed more than Duran’s 26 shots, yet they have both played more than double the number of minutes as the Colombian, whose six Premier League goals currently overachieve his Expected Goals figure of 3.83.
Another differential worth considering for this Gameweek is Matty Cash (£4.4m), who enjoys getting into an advanced role. Against Forest last time out, Cash had more penalty-area touches (nine) and a better xGi (0.45) than any team-mate.
