Aston Villa are once again teaming up with the No.1 independent fantasy football site in 2021/22.
Fantasy Football Scout will be providing regular reports packed with hints and tips to help you, hopefully, move into the top tier of fantasy football management.
If you need some guidance ahead of GW8, sit back and take their advice on board…
While the result against Tottenham in London for Gameweek 7 was not what Aston Villa fans were hoping for, one of several positives was Ollie Watkins (£7.3m) scoring his first goal of the campaign.
Watkins missed the first two games of the season due to injury but has gone from strength-to-strength since his return.
The forward is owned by just 1.6% of managers and therefore could be an excellent differential over the next few Gameweeks, particularly when you compare his underlying stats to other forwards in the game.
Over the last four matches, Watkins’ expected goals (xG) tally of 1.79 is only bettered by Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.6m), Jamie Vardy (£10.5m) and Timo Werner (£8.6m) - all of whom are considerably more expensive.
Watkins has also registered 11 goal attempts in the last four Gameweeks, nine of those have been on target and three were deemed as big chances.
This is more than premium strikers such as Romelu Lukaku (£11.7m), as well as highly-owned FPL forwards such as Ivan Toney (£6.3m), Gabriel Jesus (£8.6m) and Patrick Bamford (£7.8m).
The arrival of Danny Ings (£7.8m) during the summer transfer window worried some FPL managers, who feared Watkins would play further out wide and therefore be less involved in goalmouth action, returning fewer points.
However, Villa’s formation has allowed Watkins to play centrally alongside Ings and the pair have created a good partnership, suggesting he could be a wise investment.
Since Gameweek 4, Watkins has registered 89 touches in the final third and 13 successful take-ons, which ranks third among all forwards.
For FPL managers looking for an established goalscorer whose underlying stats suggest more are coming, Watkins could be the differential needed to shoot up the overall ranks plus their mini leagues.
