Week 24 Yahoo! Fantasy Pre-Deadline Chat

With some of the most popular fantasy options still out through suspension (Diego Costa, Ryan Bertrand, Gylfi Sigurðsson), injury (Mile Jedinak, Alexis Sánchez?) or international duty (Wilfried Bony, Yannick Bolasie), Week 24 could follow last week as a difficult one for managers who have built up some healthy discounts through the first two-thirds of the season.

Of course, there are still plenty of top performers available, and the likes of Sergio Agüero, Santi Cazorla, Cesc Fàbregas and Kieran Trippier will be popular picks this weekend given their form, fixtures and fantasy consistency.

However, it could be the differential picks in your team that make the difference between an average week and a big fantasy payoff. One of the best places to look for those differentials is in the holes left by those absentees mentioned above. Can Loïc Rémy, Matty Targett or Jonjo Shelvey fill in adequately for their red-card burdened teammates? Is now the time for Jordon Mutch to rediscover his fantasy form from his time at Cardiff City? Will Theo Walcott get a chance to make it three goals in three appearances for Arsenal?

The other place to look for those differentials is on teams with favorable match-ups where there is a lot of investment in "the usual suspects." Is Steven Gerrard primed to deliver a classic performance in his final Merseyside Derby for Liverpool, or will the vastly more popular Raheem Sterling do the business for the Reds again? Will Oscar put in another man-of-the-match performance for Chelsea and steal the points from Fabregas and Eden Hazard? Will Manchester City see an unlikely hero in Fernandinho (hat-tip to yewtee)?

There are so many possibilities, and it's certainly a risk to go out on a limb, but it also adds a certain element of excitement and mystery where the "template" teams we've seen for much of the season have been consistently solid, but a bit boring. You can't argue with results, of course, but if you're like me and are in a place where you have some catching up to do, this is a great week to take a punt on some of the lesser-selected players in the Yahoo game.

I've taken the differential route this week, and settled on the following team:

Hart
Targett | Zouma | van Aanholt | Cresswell
Hazard | Gerrard | Shelvey | Silva
Kane | Aguero

Bench: Sanogo | Okore | Sinclair | Robles

How is your team coming together? Will you be including any differentials this week? Post your thoughts below for feedback to help you put together a successful fantasy team for this weekend!