How do I find my differential? – Premier League
A differential is a player few managers own who still delivers. Own him when he does and you gain on the entire field. Own a player half the league already has and you score what everyone else scores, and stand still.
Finding them is the hard part. The tool now does that work. Every player carries a DI (Differential index) between 0 and 10.
Where to find it
The tool is on the Discover page, a little way down under the scatter analysis. "Differentials" used to be one of the scatter's quick views. It is now a table of its own that does more.
How DI is calculated
Three things are weighed together:
- The player's xFP on the horizon you pick. Next match, three rounds or five.
- How many managers own him. The weight halves at 10 % owned and drops away sharply above it, so a rare player beats an equally projected popular one.
- Which way that ownership is moving. A player the rest of the game is buying loses up to 50 % of his DI, because by the deadline he is not a differential any more.
Every player gets a DI, the priciest and most-owned included. They just sit at the bottom. Drag the ownership filter up and you see why. Haaland scores 0.2 despite one of the best projections in the league.
You can filter on position, ownership, price, minutes played and trend, switch horizon, and search for a single player to see his DI.
Top 5 ahead of Gameweek 2
Horizon is the next match, with the ownership trend weighed in:
- Truffert (Bournemouth, DEF, £5.5m). 4.2 % owned, xFP 4.2 → DI 10.0
- Scott (Bournemouth, MID, £6.0m). 1.5 % owned, xFP 3.5 → DI 9.6
- Iwobi (Fulham, MID, £5.5m). 1.0 % owned, xFP 3.4 → DI 9.4
- O. Dango (Brentford, MID, £6.5m). 1.1 % owned, xFP 3.4 → DI 9.4
- Rayan (Bournemouth, MID, £6.5m). 2.8 % owned, xFP 3.7 → DI 9.4
Four of the five are being sold right now. That is no accident. They stay rare through to the deadline, which is what the weighting rewards.
The same round with "Weigh ownership trend" off
Switch it off and the inflow penalty disappears. What remains is projection and ownership alone, meaning who is good and relatively low-owned right now, regardless of where the market is heading:
- Tavernier (Bournemouth, MID, £6.0m). 2.2 % owned, xFP 4.6, +46,000 transfers → DI 10.0
- Truffert (Bournemouth, DEF, £5.5m). DI 8.1
- Evanilson (Bournemouth, FWD, £6.0m). 2.8 % owned, xFP 3.8, +37,000 transfers → DI 8.0
- Thiaw (Newcastle, DEF, £5.0m). 1.7 % owned, xFP 3.6 → DI 8.0
- Rayan (Bournemouth, MID, £6.5m). DI 7.8
What the difference tells you
Tavernier is the clearest example. He has the best projection of the group, xFP 4.6, and only 2.2 % ownership. But 46,000 managers are buying him right now. With the weighting on he drops out of the top five entirely. With it off he leads the list.
Use the two modes for different questions. With the weighting on you learn who is still your secret after the deadline. With it off you learn who is the best of the relatively low-owned right now, even if half the league is on its way in. The second question is often the right one if you plan to move before the price rise.
The numbers above were taken ahead of Gameweek 2 and update continuously. Open the tool for the current list.