MLS Fantasy Rankings: Week 5

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Published on March 28, 2019

The rankings below are based on Major League Soccer's official fantasy game and cover all games in Week 5. While they can be used for DFS purposes, they are done with a focus on the league's season-long game.

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below, or hit up JD on Twitter @dfsMLS.

MATCHES (ET)

Friday, 8:00 pm: Toronto FC vs. New York City FC
Saturday, 1:00 pm: Chicago Fire vs. New York Red Bulls
Saturday, 2:00 pm: New England Revolution vs. Minnesota United
Saturday, 3:00 pm: Sporting Kansas City vs. Montreal Impact
Saturday, 3:30 pm: San Jose Earthquakes vs. Los Angeles Football Club
Saturday, 7:30 pm: Columbus Crew vs. Atlanta United
Saturday, 7:30 pm: FC Cincinnati vs. Philadelphia Union
Saturday, 9:00 pm: Colorado Rapids vs. Houston Dynamo
Saturday, 9:00 pm: Real Salt Lake vs. FC Dallas
Saturday, 10:00 pm: Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Seattle Sounders FC
Sunday, 6:30 pm: Orlando City SC vs. D.C. United
Sunday, 9:00 pm: Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Portland Timbers

For detailed stats and odds, check out the MLS Fantasy: Week 5 Cheat Sheet.

Forwards
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Carlos Vela	LAFC at SJ	12.3	The only small knock to Vela is that Almeyda should know him relatively well and isn't afraid to devise an extreme gameplan to try and contain him.
2	Carlos Darwin Quintero	MIN at NE	12.5	Quintero creates enough offense for an entire 4 or 5 man unit. Considering his 33 points through three road games so far, don't be too concerned about a trip to Gillette Stadium.
3	Wayne Rooney	DCU at ORL	11.0	Orlando already have been starting a fairly unconvincing back line, but now Alex De John is out for a few weeks. DC are rested and in form.
4	Alexandru Mitrita	NYC at TOR	10.2	He has taken 19 shots (!) in just three games. There's another fantasy level still to be seen here, especially when Heber arrives!
5	Raul Ruidiaz	SEA at VAN	11.2	A bonafide goalscorer sitting atop one of the league's best attacks.
6	Josef Martinez	ATL at CLB	10.1	There's definitely a drop off in confidence levels from Ruidiaz at 5 to this spot.
7	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	LA v. POR	11.2	Achilles injuries aren't really something I want a 37-year old racing back from. I wouldn't be surprised if Zlatan subs on instead of starts this week.
8	Krisztian Nemeth	SKC v. MTL	6.7	I'm always a little weary of a player coming back from international duty, but it's helpful that this match is relatively early and we can always pivot to Gerso who I also like this week.
9	Mauro Manotas	HOU at COL	10.1	A goal or assist in every match so far, not to mention his CCL production. Manotas remains one of the league's most underrated players.
10	Jordan Morris	SEA at VAN	9.3
11	Diego Rossi	LAFC at SJ	9.0
12	Alberth Elis	HOU at COL	9.2	Cheaper than Manotas and probably can approximate the production.
13	Gerso Fernandes	SKC v. MTL	6.4
14	Gyasi Zardes	CLB v. ATL	9.8
15	Jozy Altidore	TOR v. NYC	9.6	Pozuelo is likely starting. Bradley is clicking. Jozy nearing full health. Toronto could continue or even elevate their hot start to the MLS season.
16	Bradley Wright-Phillips	NYRB at CHI	10.3
17	Adama Diomande	LAFC at SJ	9.3	As always, this could be Christian Ramirez instead.
18	Kei Kamara	COL v. HOU	8.8
19	Cristian Penilla	NE v. MIN	8.0
20	Fredy Montero	SEA at VAN	8.7

Midfielders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA at VAN	12.3	With a vast majority of the better teams on the road, and the Sounders looking to make MLS history with their fast start, Lodeiro gets the nod as my #1 midfielder.
2	Luciano Acosta	DCU at ORL	11.4	Is a match at Orlando truly a road game?
3	Marco Fabian	PHI at FCC	9.0	Extremely well rested after a two game suspension, and heavily relied upon. Fabian is a price drop risk, but I think the points will be there to prevent it.
4	Victor Rodriguez	SEA at VAN	9.5	Nearly three million cheaper than Lodeiro and it's a week where I will consider that discount.
5	Federico Higuain	CLB v. ATL	9.0
6	Maximiliano Moralez	NYC at TOR	10.2
7	Kenny Saief	FCC v. PHI	8.1	Big fan of the player and the price, but people are warming up to FCC too quickly for my liking AND souring on Philly too quickly.
8	Carles Gil	NE v. MIN	9.9	Most managers will be off of Gil after last week's dud and the Revs' disfunction but I think this is still a good spot for him.
9	Albert Rusnak	RSL v. DAL	11.2
10	Johnny Russell	SKC v. MTL	9.3	Would be higher if not for his return from international duty and upcoming CCL match. Likelier than not that he plays a full shift, but more uncertainty than some above him.
11	Diego Valeri	POR v. LA	11.6
12	Marc Rzatkowski	NYRB at CHI	8.0
13	Sebastian Blanco	POR v. LA	10.3
14	Jan Gregus	MIN at NE	8.2	Racks up bonus points, has a cannon from distance, and is playing what appears to be the league's worst team.
15	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR v. NYC	10.0	He'll be very good but NYCFC is a tough opponent for his debut. Let's wait a week considering the price tag.
16	Romain Alessandrini	LA v. POR	10.1	Like Zlatan, I don't think they rush Alessandrini back.
17	Daniel Royer	NYRB at CHI	8.3
18	Jonathan dos Santos	LA v. POR	9.4	These last three plus Alexander Ring are in a similar mold...a little too expensive but very safe. Ilie's penalty duties are a wrinkle to think about, but we may want to use our three SKC spots elsewhere.
19	Michael Bradley	TOR v. NYC	10.0
20	Ilie Sanchez	SKC v. MTL	9.1

Defenders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Graham Zusi	SKC v. MTL	7.6	With Piatti and potentially Taider missing this match for Montreal, Zusi is the clear cut number one defender this week. If Russell rests, Zusi may even see some added set piece action.
2	Matt Besler	SKC v. MTL	7.9
3	Harrison Afful	CLB v. ATL	8.1	One of the few other defenders this week that checks most boxes I look for. Home, good defensive team, joins attack.
4	Walker Zimmerman	LAFC at SJ	7.8	Seems like a lock for 2-3 bonus pts and then add the potential clean sheet and that he's one of the better set piece threats in the league.
5	Greg Garza	FCC v. PHI	5.5	Garza's price may be too good to ignore. We will have to see how FCC line up.
6	Kelvin Leerdam	SEA at VAN	6.5	Smith for daily fantasy, but Leerdam sneaking into the box from the opposite wing for FMLS.
7	Francisco Calvo	MIN at NE	7.5	New England are dysfunctional so grabbing a few Loons seems prudent.
8	Brad Smith	SEA at VAN	6.3
9	Romain Metanire	MIN at NE	6.2
10	Gaston Sauro	CLB v. ATL	6.5	Hype train is too full for my liking. Sauro is a good choice if you're near the top of the standings and just want to get the price rise and use the same player as many behind you will pick.
11	Andreu Fontas	SKC v. MTL	5.5	Barath will likely be relegated back to the bench with Fontas' health returning. Make sure when lineups are released though!
12	Michael Amir Murillo	NYRB at CHI	7.7
13	Leonardo Jara	DCU at ORL	7.5	Orlando aren't a good attacking side yet and United have dominated defensively thus far.
14	Joseph Mora	DCU at ORL	6.5
15	Seth Sinovic	SKC v. MTL	6.3
16	Reto Ziegler	DAL at RSL	7.2	When you have a defender that takes penalties, you rank him in all but the worst matchups.
17	Frederic Brillant	DCU at ORL	7.0
18	Justin Morrow	TOR v. NYC	6.7
19	Ike Opara	MIN at NE	7.7
20	Ryan Hollingshead	DAL at RSL	6.3

Goalkeepers
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Tim Melia	SKC v. MTL	7.0
2	Bill Hamid	DCU at ORL	7.4
3	Stefan Frei	SEA at VAN	7.0
4	Tyler Miller	LAFC at SJ	5.5
5	Joe Bendik	CLB v. ATL	4.4
6	Luis Robles	NYRB at CHI	5.6
7	Spencer Richey	FCC v. PHI	5.8
8	Andre Blake	PHI at FCC	6.2
9	Nick Rimando	RSL v. DAL	5.9
10	Vito Mannone	MIN at NE	6.5

Value Rankings
(forwards and midfielders under $7.5, defenders under $6.0; not ranked above)
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Fafa Picault	PHI at FCC	6.8	I'm not ready to stop targeting Cincy. They're capable but still below average.
2	David Accam	PHI at FCC	5.8
3	Paxton Pomykal	DAL at RSL	7.2	Probably good for another price rise, too.
4	Djordje Mihailovic	CHI v. NYRB	7.0	Djordje will want to put on a show before Gaitan joins the squad.
5	Kyle Duncan	NYRB at CHI	5.4
6	Memo Rodriguez	HOU at COL	5.6	Not a lock to start as far as I'm aware, but he's another guaranteed price rise with upside in a good matchup.
7	Alex Muyl	NYRB at CHI	7.0
8	Rolf Feltscher	LA v. POR	5.2
9	Eduard Atuesta	LAFC at SJ	7.2	With six bonus points last week, including a whopping three from passing (110), he'sa consideration against a struggling San Jose side.
10	Sebastian Lletget	LA v. POR	6.9

Captain Rankings
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Carlos Vela	LAFC at SJ	12.3	In a week where captain picks could be all over the place, there's some merit to sticking with the best combination of safety and upside.
2	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA at VAN	12.3	Short road trip to a bad team, just like Vela. Nearly a coin flip.
3	Carlos Darwin Quintero	MIN at NE	12.5	Trying to time when New England is going to snap out of it is futile. The better play is just continuing to assume they're really bad until they burn us with a good match or two.
4	Luciano Acosta	DCU at ORL	11.4	DC are one of the league's best sides at the moment and Orlando's fluke clean sheet isn't going to scare me off of some good attackers here.
5	Wayne Rooney	DCU at ORL	11.0