This article is part of our DraftKings Fantasy Soccer series.
The Premier League season is ramping back up as we head into the New Year and we have a fun Saturday slate to close out 2022. Manchester City are massive favorites at home against Everton and is where most of the decisions on the slate lie. They are followed by Newcastle who are strong home favorites at home against Leeds.
MATCHES (ET)
- 10:00 am: AFC Bournemouth vs. Crystal Palace
- 10:00 am: Fulham vs. Southampton
- 10:00 am: Manchester City vs. Everton
- 10:00 am: Newcastle United vs. Leeds United
For detailed stats and odds, check out the
FORWARDS
Erling Haaland, MCI vs. EVE ($12,700): The first decision you have to make on this slate is to Haaland or not to Haaland. I think in most formats you are going to want him. He is -330 to score with by far the highest goalscoring odds on the slate. At this price you likely need more than one goal from him to get there though, or at least a goal and assist. In tournaments, I suppose you can pivot to Phil Foden ($12,200), but he is much too close in price to Haaland for me. I would prefer Bernardo Silva ($7,600) if going to another City forward due to the price savings he gives you.
Chris Wood, NEW vs. LEE ($4,300): It still remains to be seen if we see Wood start again or Callum Wilson ($7,800) jump back into the starting XI. If we do get Wood he gives some strong salary savings and even though he is goal dependent, he is in a good matchup as the second biggest favorite on the slate and almost even money to score in this one. Wilson would give me interest as well if he does start as a pivot to some of the City pieces. We have seen Newcastle stacks take down GPPs a few times this year and it could very well happen again. Miguel Almiron ($9,800) is high priced and I would only use in full Newcastle stacks. Joelinton ($6,500) provides a bit of salary savings as well if you want to dip into the mid range.
I want most of my exposure to be Manchester City and Newcastle in general, but if you want to go off the board you can dip into one of the other two games. Aleksandar Mitrovic ($9,400) has strong goalscoring odds but isn't cheap. Jaidon Anthony ($4,900) showed a strong floor in 45 minutes against Chelsea and had a strong set share. He is my preferred pay down option if you don't get Chris Wood. Eberechi Eze ($6,900) and Wilfried Zaha ($8,000) are the last guys worth a mention as slight favorites against Bournemouth. Eze should share sets while Zaha has solid goalscoring odds.
MIDFIELDERS
Kevin De Bruyne, MCI vs. EVE ($10,200): As much as I want to prioritize Haaland, at the price, De Bruyne is even more of a priority for me. There was a bit of worry about him coming out of a subpar World Cup, but he was solid against Leeds. He has a great floor to go with goal and assist upside. Ilkay Gundogan ($7,100) is only a GPP option if you want more exposure to City.
James Ward-Prowse, SOU vs. FUL ($7,700): At the price, this is likely a GPP-only play with City and Newcastle on the slate. He always has a strong floor and if he scores a goal he will crush, which we saw last week against Brighton. He is over all set pieces for Southampton and even though they are underdogs I still think they will have opportunities.
Rodri ($5,700) is a little too high priced for me with what he gives you, but he scored his first goal of the season last week against Leeds. In full-on Manchester City stacks, he is in fringe consideration. Lewis Cook ($4,400) is cheap, but he may lose some of his set responsibility to Anthony as mentioned above.
DEFENDERS
Kieran Trippier, NEW vs. LEE ($8,100): This is a super strong matchup for Trippier who has one of the better floors in the league, but on this slate, I don't know if we can get to him. I plan on paying down for at least one defender and I may need two depending on the rest of the lineup. This may apply to every slate to the rest of the season, but if you are able to find the value, then play Trippier. He fits well in lineups you go light on City and heavier on Newcastle for this slate. Dan Burn ($2,900) is one of the salary-saving options I am interested in and while he probably isn't giving you much, he does have set-piece upside so would be a good pair with Trippier for that correlation.
Aymeric Laporte, MCI vs. EVE ($3,600): This may be a center-back slate and Laporte is at the top of the list for me. He is cheap with high clean sheet odds and has some added upside as an attachment to a City stack. Joao Cancelo ($5,600) and Kyle Walker ($4,900) are in play as the full-backs for City at a quite cheaper tag than Trippier but without his role.
Kenny Tete ($4,800) and Antonee Robinson ($4,500) are in play for Fulham but were boosted last week by the Palace red cards.
GOALKEEPER
Ederson, MCI vs. EVE ($5,900): Manchester City have massive win and clean sheet odds making Ederson the preferred goalie if you can get to him. If you are stacking any other parts of City it may be hard to do, though. Nick Pope ($5,600) is a high-priced pivot I would only go to if playing the Trippier/Burn stack I mentioned above. It's hard to justify any of the punts, but to fit higher stacks you may have to go to Jordan Pickford ($3,600) or Illan Meslier ($3,900) who will both see lots of shots. You're hope with them is that they get enough saves to get you four-to-six DraftKings points.
