With only couple of days left in January, most of us have still not used the second Wildcard & looking for the right opportunity to do so. With Aguero back in form, Alexis set to return and availability of other expensive players like Harry Kane you might be looking to buy some of these for your starting XI and opting for cheaper alternatives on the bench. Here we take a look at one player in three positions that is relatively cheaper, in form and has skipped a lot of people’s attention just before we warm up for gameweek 24. These are my FPL budget buys:
1) DEFENDER: Patrick van Aanholt (Sunderland)
Price: 4.6m
Teams selected by: 2.5%
It’s the second half of the season and the relegation battle has almost certainly started, with at least the bottom 6 teams being in the danger zone. Sunderland had a pretty terrible 1st half of the season which led to the appointment of Sam Allardyce, who has a rather defensive approach and is supposed to save Sunderland from dropping down. Now, the relegation battle obviously gives an extra motivation for players to put more effort and win (or at least draw) games and we can already see that in van Aanholt. The defender missed 3 games in October through injury but has scored 5 goals and 2 assists since returning and we can expect him to continue his form. Also, expect his value to rise in coming weeks.
2) MIDFIELDER: Michail Antonio (West Ham)
Price: 5.3m
Teams selected by: 1.5%
Antonio started the season with a value of 6m but missed majority of the first half of the season and saw his value drop by 0.8m. but since returning in December, he has 2 goals and 4 assists to his name which would make him a very nice addition on your bench. West Ham have been unpredictable this season but Bilic has made a reputation for himself after beating the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea & Manchester City (all away games!). Plus with Lanzini out with injury, expect Antonio to get more playing time.
3) STRIKER: Jermain Defoe (Sunderland)
Price: 5.2m
Teams selected by: 4.2%
Having scored 5 goals in the past 3 gameweeks, I think it’s safe to say Defoe is one of the most in-form strikers in the Premier League right now. We all know about the pace and physicality of Defoe, and with 3 out of the next 4 fixtures being home games & the above mentioned motivation provided by the relegation battle, Defoe is a very good substitute to have if any of your other strikers or midfielders gets injured.