Welcome back to yet another UCL Fantasy MD3 Differentials blog. Before we begin, I would like to thank all the readers for the constant support and encouragement, it makes a difference when someone tells me that they loved reading my blog and that it helped them in picking a player in UCL Fantasy.
Before we deep-dive into the MD3 blog, let’s take a look back at how my differentials performed for MD2, 5 out of 7 differentials I picked came good during the course of MD2
Leroy Sane 9M being the highest points scorer with 16 pts. Robin Gosens 5.5M was unlucky with his injury in the 11th minute as Atalanta went on to keep a clean sheet in that game, only disappointment was Lautaro Martinez 10M who can still revive himself against Sheriff in MD3.
As per usual, in this blog, I will talk about the best UCL Fantasy MD3 Differentials that will propel your teams to those massive returns and rank boosts.
Looking forward to MD3, there are definitely some tasty fixtures to target, Man City vs Club Brugge, Inter vs Sheriff, and Chelsea vs Malmo FF being some of those.
You can find the link to all our Champions League Fantasy blogs here.
All data used in this article has been taken from FBREF
UCL Fantasy MD3 Differentials (<10% TSB)
Reece James~Chelsea,5.5M, TSB: 7.0%
Reece James is one of those players that do well whenever he starts for Chelsea, This year has been no different, In the Premier League James has started in 3 out of 8 games so far, come on as a substitute 2 times, and has missed 2 games via suspension/break due to robbery at his house.
But if you look at his stats so far he has 1xG and 2xA in effectively 3 games he’s started, he also has an xG of 0.5 and xA of 1.1 which is second only to Azpilicueta, his xA of 0.54 per 90 minutes is the best in the Chelsea squad so far.
He also boasts xG+xA/90 mins of 0.76 which is again the best in the Chelsea squad, in contrast, Lukaku has 0.74 in the same stat, Yes I know the stats can be skewed since he’s only played 3 games but that’s my point, whenever he starts it’s more than likely that he contributes with a G/A.
Chelsea plays Malmo FF in MD3 at home and given that Reece James was only used as a substitute in their last Premier League game against Brentford on Saturday, there is a high chance he gets the Malmo game.
He’s still only owned by 7% of UCL Fantasy managers and he can be one of your UCL Fantasy MD3 Differentials.
Some other notable defenders to consider are Denzel Dumfries 5M vs Sheriff, Joakim Maehle 5M vs Man Utd
Further Read: Top UCL Fantasy MD3 Captaincy Picks Ahead of Deadline
Kevin De Bruyne~Manchester City,11M, TSB: 5%
Kevin De Bruyne is arguably one of the best midfielders if not the best in the world, just to put that into context, KDB in the last 2 seasons in the Premier League has had 51 goal contributions with 19xG & 32xA in just 60 games.
Also, I think KDB is one of the few players when fit is safe from the “Pep Roulette”.
Since at the start of the season KDB came back late from the Euros and was also an injury doubt, he hasn’t exactly got the minutes he would have liked, but off late especially in the last games vs Liverpool & Burnley, he’s looked fit and in fact, scored 2xG already. As the sample size is too small, I will skip xG/xA for KDB.
Man City will be looking to get back to winning ways in the UCL after their defeat to PSG in MD2 and I feel playing Club Brugge is the perfect way to do it.
KDB is only 5% owned at the moment and can be a massive differential in MD3 and the best part is, we will be getting the Man City line-up confirmed before the UCL Fantasy deadline which is perfect especially for managers playing their Limitless/Wildcard chip this matchday.
Further Read:UCL Fantasy Football- Top Picks and Best Wildcard Draft for Matchday 3
Karim Adeyemi~RB Salzburg,7.1M, TSB: 3%
At only 19 years of age, Karim Adeyemi is already showing signs of the potential he has and is in the form of his life so far in both the Austrian Bundesliga and UCL.
For Salzburg this season Adeyemi already has 8xG & 1xA in 10 games in the Austrian Bundesliga.
In the Champions League, Adeyemi has already scored 2xG with an xG of 2.5 and if we look at per 90 mins, his xG shoots up to 1.47/90 mins which is amazing, one could argue that his npxG is quite low relative to his xG but since he’s the designated penalty taker, I don’t think it matters.
He’s also already earned 4 penalties in 2 games which bodes well for his points accumulation in UCL Fantasy.
Salzburg have taken the measure of resting Adeyemi for the first game right after the international break so he should be fit and fresh for the UCL game against Wolfsburg on Wednesday.
As Adeyemi is still just owned by only 3% of UCL Fantasy Managers, he can be a great differential value pick for your forward line.
Further Read: Top UCL Fantasy MD3 Captaincy Picks Ahead of Deadline
Serge Gnabry~Bayern Munich,10M, TSB: 1%
Serge Gnabry has been slowly ticking along in a star-studded Bayern Munich team, He probably doesn’t get as much limelight as let’s say Robert Lewandowski or Joshua Kimmich but he’s as much an important part of the team as anyone else in that Bayern team.
Gnabry has already racked up 5xG in 8 matches with an xG of 2.2 and xG+xA/90 mins of 0.71, Gnabry is also quite nailed on in the 4-2-3-1 set-up Bayern deploy so the worry of rotation shouldn’t be there with him.
On Sunday, Gnabry scored a brace again in the 5-1 thumping of Leverkusen so he along with his teammates should be in great form and team morale going into their UCL MD3 game against Benfica.
Gnabry is only owned by 1% of UCL Fantasy managers and can be a great pick with not many players having him in their teams.
Further Read: UCL Fantasy Football- Top Picks and Best Wildcard Draft for Matchday 3
Geronimo Rulli~Villarreal,4.5M, TSB: 1%
I usually don’t like to focus too much on GK’s in any fantasy games as I feel finding one cheap GK who ideally plays for a decent team is a “set and forget”.
Anyways I’ll make an exception in MD3 and talk a bit about Geronimo Rulli who at 4.5M can be your set and forget cheap GK from MD3 onwards.
In La Liga, in 7 games he’s played for Villarreal he’s managed to help them keep 5 clean sheets which in itself should say a lot, this also includes a 0-0 draw vs Real Madrid, Rulli further has only conceded 4 goals in 7 games so far with a save percentage of 71%.
Villarreal will play Young Boys twice in MD3 & MD4 and they should ideally get clean sheets.
In MD3 they play on Wednesday so if you are still not sure you can always pick another GK to combine with Rulli who plays on Wednesday, Inter’s Handanovic 5.5M, and Sporting CP’s Adan 4.5M are also great options for Tuesday’s fixtures.
Further Read: Top UCL Fantasy MD3 Captaincy Picks Ahead of Deadline
Arnaut Groeneveld (Danjuma)~Villarreal,6M, TSB: 1%
Firstly, a word of warning, please don’t get confused with Arnaut Groeneveld a.k.a Danjuma according to some football apps, both are the same person, more importantly, on the UCL Fantasy game, he’s known as Arnaut Groeneveld.
Arnaut has been in top form since his move to Villarreal from Championship club Bournemouth where he had an amazing season too with 15xG & 7xA in 29 starts.
At Villarreal so far, Arnaut has notched up 4xG already in 5 starts from the left-wing position with an xG of 4.4, he has npxG+xA of 0.97/90 mins which suggests he’s bound to get a goal contribution every game.
He can definitely be your budget midfielder pick at 6M who is still only owned by 1% of UCL Fantasy managers.
As mentioned before Villarreal play Young boys twice and they will really be looking at Arnaut to provide some firepower as they can’t afford to lose another game in the group stages.
Some other notable Midfielders to consider are Federico Chiesa 9M vs Zenit, Pedro Goncalves 8M vs Besiktas
Further Read: UCL Fantasy Football- Top Picks and Best Wildcard Draft for Matchday 3
Edin Dzeko~Inter Milan,7.5M, TSB: 2%
I have secretly always been a fan of Edin Dzeko, right from his Wolfsburg and Man City days, then being AS Roma’s main man for so many years, and now filling in the void that Romelu Lukaku left at Inter Milan.
He has already started well in the Serie A season with his new club Inter by having 6xG & 1xA to his name in 8 games, he also has the highest npxG+xA of 4.1 in the whole Inter squad.
Inter are currently sitting 3rd in their group still without a win to their name and these back-to-back games vs Sheriff will be a chance to redeem themselves.
Dzeko is currently owned by 2% of all UCL Fantasy managers and hence can be a decent outside shout for your forward line.
Some other notable mentions in the Fwd category are as follows: Paolo Dybala 9M vs Zenit, Ansu Fati 7.5M vs Dynamo Kyiv, and Gerard Moreno 8.5M vs Young Boys
This concludes my blog for UCL Fantasy MD3 Differentials, thank you again for reading. I hope you find this article useful and may it help you in picking the right differentials.
Since MD3 & MD4 have the same fixtures I will be back for another Differentials article for MD5 🙂
Also, please feel free to follow me on Twitter @FplRossoneri for further updates.
Thanks for reading the UCL Fantasy MD3 Differentials blog. Keep checking allaboutfpl.com for regular blogs. Also, follow our 33000+community on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to stay updated on regular Posts and FPL updates. Other group previews coming soon. Stay tuned and bookmark the link to all our Champions League Fantasy blogs.
2021/22 UCL Fantasy Mini League
Further Reads from ALLABOUTFPL Ahead of UCL Fantasy MD3:
Top UCL Fantasy MD3 Captaincy Picks Ahead of Deadline
Top Picks and Best Wildcard Draft for Matchday 3
UCL Fantasy Budget Enablers for the 2021/22 UCL Season
UCL Fantasy | Group A & B – Preview, Top Fantasy Assets To Own
Link to all our Champions League Fantasy blogs
What’s next from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of UCL Fantasy MD3?
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FPL Rossoneri (Nick)
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