EPL Supercoach | Best PODs to start the season

Point of Difference players (PODs) are what make Supercoach fun and can be the defining picks of your season.

To start the season, especially, the risk vs reward is massive.

The risk is you pick someone that no one else has, and he flops, and the player that everyone owns does well.

The reward, well, if they secure a haul of points, you will be one of the only Supercoach managers reaping the benefits.

For this article, I have chosen 6% ownership as the threshold of POD territory, and with many managers opting for fairly similar sides, let’s just say there are lots of potentially exciting POD options…

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Goalkeepers

I honestly don’t see Goalkeeper as a good position to go POD hunting.

If you want to lock in a set-and-forget goalkeeper, David Raya is an easy choice.

If you are searching for value, then one of Lammens, Kinsky, or Trafford seems to be the player.

All of these guys are 12%+ ownership, so they don’t qualify as a POD, but I thought I’d better give you one anyway.

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Alisson Becker (LIV): £6,070,000, 5% ownership

A world-class goalkeeper, priced very reasonably, and playing for a Liverpool side that should, in theory, be good.

I myself am skeptical of them defensively, but with a great early run of fixtures, he only needs to snag a few clean sheets early on to make the pick worthwhile.

Defenders

With all of the best defensive cheapies pretty highly owned, most of the POD players are either mid-priced or premium options.

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Riccardo Calafiori (ARS): £8,560,000, 6% ownership

I was contemplating Calafiori as a pick, but with Konsa now heading to Arsenal, Calafiori, along with Gabriel, appear to be the only two defenders nailed on for Arsenal.

In saying that, there is always the risk that Calafiori loses out on some minutes to Hincapié, but could it be a risk worth taking?

We all know how good Arsenal are defensively, so the clean sheet points should come.

But he is also the biggest attacking threat out of their defenders, which we saw in the Community Shield as he scored in the very first minute.

Despite only picking up 1 league goal last season, he had an xG of 0.18 per 90, which is in the 95th percentile compared to other fullbacks.

I can see a world where he is the top-scoring player in round 1 with Coventry at home.

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Neco Williams (NFO): £8,790,000, 4% ownership

Firstly, shoutout to him for bagging me 31 points in a blank gameweek last season at just 1% ownership; I will never forget you.

But nostalgia bias aside, I could see Williams putting up huge numbers this season.

With Glasner coming to Forest and expected to play a back three, Williams is going to be in that left wingback role that should bring lots of attacking opportunities.

Similar to the role Muñoz played under Glasner last season, and we know how many attacking returns he reeled in.

The only thing holding me back from this pick is that Forest have a tough run of fixtures to start the season.

For me, I am eyeing him off in gameweek 5, when he has Coventry at home and may have leaked some cash.

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Jan Paul van Hecke (TOT): £8,970,000, 3% ownership

There is no arguing that Spurs’ new signing is a valuable Supercoach asset, averaging 8.3 points a game last season.

I expect Spurs to definitely be better this season, especially defensively.

Their early run of fixtures is also quite favourable, so even with the premium price tag, I think he is definitely worth considering.

The other thing is he may be your only reliable way into this Spurs defence to start the season, outside of Kinsky.

Pedro Porro is yet to feature in preseason because of his World Cup duties, while both Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie are under injury clouds.

Mind you, all three of these guys are higher ownership than van Hecke…

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Midfielders

Probably the best position to go POD hunting, with 5 available slots in our team and not many convincing options.

Enzo Le Fée (SUN): £9,120,000, 2% ownership

Yes, he is expensive, but that’s because he is a gun Supercoach player, averaging 8.4 points per game last season.

Be aware, this is likely just a 3-week play as Sunderland have Arsenal and City in gameweeks 4 and 5.

But Le Fée is going to be playing in that number 10 role, on penalties, and has favourable matchups against Ipswich, Fulham, and Brentford to start the season.

A proven Supercoach gun with good base numbers and plenty of attacking upside in a position that lacks certainty.

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Kevin Schade (BRE): £7,040,000, 2% ownership

Schade should be nailed on to start for Brentford, who have a nice early run of fixtures.

Played 71 minutes in their last preseason friendly, picking up 2 goals and 2 assists (equivalent to a hell of a lot of Supercoach points).

Still a young and improving player, his underlying numbers were also good last season, with an xG per 90 of 0.40, ranking in the 90th percentile.

Jack Hinshelwood (BRI): £6,480,000, 1% ownership

I really like this pick, and if it wasn’t for Brighton having quite a tough run of fixtures to start the season, he would almost certainly be in my side.

There is actually lots of value in this price, as Hinshelwood ended the season at around £10m, after averaging 8.7 points per game from gameweek 28 onwards.

In this period, his numbers were elite, and I can definitely see him picking back up where he left off.

As already mentioned, the fixtures are not ideal, but Hinshelwood is going to be the focal point of their attack in that number 10 role, which should lead to plenty of attacking chances.

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Forwards

With only 3 slots available, forward is a hard position to go POD hunting.

Especially when over 50% of managers have already invested in Haaland and Isak, leaving just one spot free for tinkering.

As mentioned in my team reveal, I am all in on João Pedro, but if you aren’t, or maybe you want to go against Haaland or Isak, here are some POD options for you to choose from…

Christos Tzolis (ARS): £5,500,000, 6% ownership

He just falls inside the POD cut-off, and I think it would be rude not to mention him.

Tzolis looks to have made that left-wing role his own, and is coming off a stellar preseason where he picked up a goal and SIX assists.

Maybe it shouldn’t be as much of a surprise once you realise he had FORTY attacking returns last season. Yes, 40.

Arsenal are the only team I am confident will hit the ground running, and the price is good. Definitley an option.

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Antoine Semenyo (MCI): £9,870,000, 3% ownership

He is expensive, but for good reason.

If you believe in the City attack to start the season, Semenyo is nailed on, and we know how high-quality a player he is.

Add in an excellent run of fixtures to start the season, and I think if you can spare the cash for him, he is a great pick.

Remember how he started last season at Bournemouth, averaging 15.6 across the first 7 games…