This article is part of our FanDuel Fantasy Soccer series.
MATCHES (EDT)
- 10:00 am: AFC Bournemouth vs. West Ham United
- 10:00 am: Aston Villa vs. Burnley
- 10:00 am: Chelsea vs. Brighton & Hove Albion
- 10:00 am: Crystal Palace vs. Norwich City
- 10:00 am: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Southampton
- 10:00 am: Wolverhampton vs. Watford
- 12:30 pm: Everton vs. Manchester City
For detailed stats and odds, check out the FanDuel Fantasy Soccer: Saturday EPL Cheat Sheet.
FORWARDS/MIDFIELDERS
Where to start? This seven-match slate is as big as it gets in soccer. Most people will lean on the three big favorites in cash games, so let's get those out of the way. Unsurprisingly, Manchester City are the biggest favorite, though they're playing in the late match, so make sure you have a secondary option in case you're banking on Riyad Mahrez ($18) to start. The biggest decision in cash games will be deciding between Harry Kane ($24) and Sergio Aguero ($23), who have the same anytime goal scorer odds. Kane had a good floor for the first time all season last match, but I'd still rather trust Aguero and City, even away from home. Aguero has seven goals and two assists in five starts, and that's hard to pass up against a struggling Everton, who have lost their last two league matches to Bournemouth and Sheffield United. Raheem Sterling ($22) is oddly more of a GPP play these days after not playing last match and failing to make the scoresheet in his prior three starts. I'd consider Kevin De Bruyne ($20) before the rest in cash games, as he may have the best floor on the slate, averaging 5.39 chances created per 90 minutes. A lot of people will look at Bernardo Silva's ($18) price and his hat trick and blindly use him, but I'm likely avoiding him due to an unstable floor. If you don't like City away from home, combining Tammy Abraham ($20) and Mason Mount ($18) could be a useful strategy. I'd use them as more of a GPP play because in addition to Chelsea's recent struggles, Brighton have allowed the sixth-fewest shots on goal. I think Son Heung-Min ($20) could be the better pivot from City with a better matchup, as well as seven shots on goal and eight chances created in four starts.
Unfortunately, it's reasonable to back all of the other top attackers because most of them are home favorites. Callum Wilson ($19) doesn't have much of a floor, but he has four goals in his last three starts. Teemu Pukki ($19) has a better floor, but I don't want to bank on a goal from him since Crystal Palace have been the most defensive team in the league, with 11 total goals in their six matches. Even in a loaded slate, John McGinn ($18) is a favorite of mine with at least 16.5 fantasy points in every match this season and Villa are slight favorites against Burnley. Raul Jimenez ($17) is in a great spot at home, and while he hasn't had a huge performance, Watford are a good team to score against.
Slightly cheaper, I think Wilfried Zaha ($15) makes the scoresheet for the first time as Norwich City have allowed the most shots on goal in the league. If you want to go all-in on Palace, this is also a good spot for Zaha to draw a penalty for Luka Milivojevic ($15), who will already have a floor of at least 10 points. If you want favored set-piece takers, Joao Moutinho ($14) and Jack Grealish ($14) fit the bill. I probably won't use Willian ($13) in cash games, but he's a viable GPP play with upside for cheap. It's the same case for Andriy Yarmolenko ($12) in a match that has the second highest over/under on the slate.
For defensive midfielders, Tom Cleverley ($10) and Marvelous Nakamba ($9) are my picks, with both showing floors near 10 points. I'd probably take Nakamba first because he has 11 tackles in his two starts. If you're into Wolves, Adama Traore ($8) is oddly cheap at the bottom of the list after assisting and creating three chances at Palace last match.
DEFENDERS
Even with all of the big favorites, the most expensive defender is $16, which likely has to do with the higher-priced forwards and midfielders. Still, I'm avoiding all these guys because I'd rather trust the goalscorers than banking on a random assist or clean sheet. If you have the money, I'd look at Jannik Vestergaard ($16) and Jan Bednarek ($15) since they already have floors around 15 fantasy points and Tottenham have forced the second-most clearances and third-most tackles.
If Aaron Cresswell ($8) starts again, he may be the most popular defender because of price and average from two starts. I'm not confident in his floor, but it's probably better than most in his salary range. My other pick of the projected starters below $10 is Kevin Danso ($9), mostly because he's going against Tottenham.
A lot of my lineups will feature defenders between $10 and $12, as they're slightly more consistent with floors of at least 10 points. Sam Byram ($12) stands out slightly because he has 10 tackles in two starts, and those came against teams who haven't forced a ton of tackles from defenders (Burnley and Man City). While hitting another floor of 28.6 is likely out of the cards, reaching 20 wouldn't be surprising. You're hoping for about 15 points from others in this range like Bjorn Engels ($12) and Ben Mee ($12). Issa Diop ($11) is in that same range and does a little bit of everything, scoring at least 13 points in his last five starts. Jonny and Matthew Lowton are the best bets at $10, with the former having higher variance. Jonny had a ridiculous 11 tackles last match and I wouldn't count on that happening again. Meanwhile, Lowton gets his numbers from more places and that usually helps him hit 10 points.
GOALKEEPER
I'm not sure I'd trust any of the expensive goalkeepers enough to secure a clean sheet, especially with so many cheap options. Rui Patricio ($9) has been disappointing this season, but outside of the top three, he has the best odds to win and get a clean sheet. I like Vicente Guaita ($10) slightly more because Palace are playing defensively and have allowed two goals in three home matches. Norwich have also lost their three away matches by a combined 8-1 score line. On the other end of that, Palace have scored four goals and Michael McGovern ($8) wouldn't be a bad play if you're going heavy on forwards and midfielders.
