Setting the Table: Differential FPL Midfielders

This article is part of our Setting the Table series.

Unsurprisingly, Hazard is the highest priced midfielder at £11.5, trailed by Alexis (£11.0) and David Silva (£10.0) of Manchester City as the only double-digit priced players at the position. So, despite being so expensive, Hazard's potential for this season is enough to convince fantasy managers to take the plunge.

In total, there are 14 players who are at least 10 percent owned, including Southampton's Victor Wanyama, who has the benefit of being a starting player with a salary of only £4.5. However, fantasy managers are hardly expecting a big year from Wanyama, as his 19.8 percent ownership is simply because of his discounted price. I imagine he won't be in many starting lineups and likely won't be a big scorer when fantasy players use their bench points option.

The Crystal Palace midfield actually has two players owned by more than 10 percent of managers: Yohan Cabaye (£6.5, 11 percent owned) and Yannick Bolasie (£6.5, 11.7 percent owned). Cabaye was a big summer signing for manager Alan Pardew, and the expectations are already high that he will be a solid distributor this season. However, fantasy owners looking for a differential in the Crystal Palace midfield should slot right over to Jason Puncheon, who is both cheaper (£6.0) and less owned (7.4 percent).

As mentioned in the FPL Differential Forwards piece, it's also prudent to scan the salaries of newly-promoted players, as we can sometimes get significant value from players who are both cheap and under-owned.

Bournemouth's Matt Ritchie fits right into that mold, as his £6.0 salary is certainly affordable, and he's owned by only 4.6 percent of fantasy managers. If you're concerned that the Crystal Palace midfield might have too many options, which would effectively reduce their outputs overall, Ritchie is an attractive alternative. He broke out in a significant way last year in helping Bournemouth secure promotion by scoring 15 goals and assisting on 17 others in 46 appearances. Bournemouth led the Championship in goals scored, and while the jump to the Premier League will surely reduce their totals, Ritchie has excellent upside for a fairly cheap option.

Looking a bit higher up the price list, Southampton's Sadio Mane's £8.0 tag seems to be putting owners off, as he is rostered by only 6.1 percent of managers, the 26th highest owned player at his position. Mane had 10 goals and three assists in 30 league appearances last season, with his highlight match coming in Gameweek 37 when he bagged the fastest hat trick in Premier League history, while also adding an assist.

A few players who are higher owned this year but scored fewer fantasy points last season than Mane: Philippe Coutinho (£8.0, 11.2 percent owned), Mesut Ozil (£8.5, 10 percent owned), Yaya Toure (£8.5, 7.7 percent owned) and Aaron Ramsey (£8.5, 8.4 percent owned).

Don't sleep on Mane.

Here's the midfield ownership table as of July 30: