soccer

It’s time for EPL Matchweek Six and we have the biggest slate this entire season to look forward to.

That said, there are not a ton of superstars on the DraftKings slate. On FanDuel, Manchester City joins the mix, adding a twist over there.

Saturday 9/3 EPL

Match Odds

Leeds United (+240) at Brentford (+115)

West Ham (+500) at Chelsea (-180)

Crystal Palace (+275) at Newcastle (+105)

Bournemouth (+285) at Nottingham Forest (+105)

Fulham (+550) at Tottenham (-205)

Southampton (+230) at Wolves (+125)

Manchester City (-320) at Aston Villa (+800) – FanDuel only

9/3 EPL Top Plays

Forward

DraftKings Forward

Alexander Isak – Newcastle – $6,600 – We’re used to usually spending up here. However, Alexander Isak arrives in Newcastle highly regarded and already added to his EPL goal account in his debut in Anfield facing Liverpool. He should likely start for a much easier matchup hosting Crystal Palace. Morgan Gibbs-White is another option in this price range providing solid value at the forward position. Over the last two matches, Gibbs-White has taken over set-piece duties for Nottingham Forest. I think it would be fair to give him a writeoff for last week’s matchup versus Manchester City.

FanDuel Forward

Erling Haaland – Manchester City – $24 – It is f*cking Haaland and Man City is a -340 favorite. The only reason not to play him is leverage in a large tournament hoping that he busts or doesn’t play and people don’t late swap/swap poorly. I will have AT LEAST two Man City guys in my lineups or at least all cash and head-to-head.

Pivots:

DraftKings – Patrick Bamford – $4,900 “low-end”, Morgan Gibbs-White – $6,100 “mid-range”, Harry Kane – Tottenham – $10,500 “high-end”

FanDuel – Pedro Neto – Wolves – FD, Riyad Mahrez – Manchester City – $17 “mid-range”, Harry Kane – Tottenham – $22 “high-end”

Midfielder and FanDuel Second Forward/Midfielder

DraftKings Midfielder

Jack Harrison – Leeds United – $8,400 – Harrison has seemingly taken over set pieces for Leeds and also has open field scoring upside. It’s not the world’s best matchup for Leeds, but he has a lot of ways to rack up points.

FanDuel Second Forward/Midfielder

Riyad Mahrez – Manchester City – $17 – Just too cheap and what can I say in DFS, especially now, it’s Man City for life. Between him and Haaland if one is out you should be able to swap, leave a couple of bucks if you want though.

Pivots:

DraftKings – Mathias Jensen – Brentford – $6,400, James Ward-Prowse – Southampton – $8,200

FanDuel – Phil Foden – Manchester City – $19, Wilfried Zaha – Crystal Palace – $20

DraftKings Defender

Neco Williams – Nottingham Forest – $6,100 – Neco Williams is just stuffing the stat sheet right now. This must be the juiciest matchup that Nottingham Forest has had all season as for the first time they’re favored!

Pivots: Matt Targett – Newcastle – $5,200, Aaron Cresswell – West Ham – $4,400

FanDuel Defender

Aaron Hickey – Brentford – $7 – Haaland doesn’t come free so we have to slum it as much as possible at the defense spot. Hopefully, one day this season we get a $5 defenseman after lineups.

Pivots: Ezri Konza – Aston Villa – $8 “Villa should get blasted so lots of clearances”, Anyone cheap

DraftKings/FanDuel Goalie

Neto – Bournemouth – $4,300/$8 – Those who slummed it with our pivot goalie Neto last week were rewarded. This week he has an even easier matchup despite the Cherries being the road underdog.

Pivot: David Raya – Brentford -$5,000/$11

EPL Top Bet

Bet – Nottingham Forest/Bournemouth – U 2.5 Goals (-145) Bet MGM – 1 Unit -“Ideally should be a snoozer hopefully help us get a goalie clean sheet”.

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Welcome to the first mid-week slate of the EPL season! This article will review my top plays at each position to help you build a winning lineup.

Soccer DFS: Game Overview

This slate shapes up to be an extremely low-scoring affair and we are doubtful to see another 9-goal outburst from a team on Tuesday. Chelsea is the only team projected to score close to two goals, and they’re the biggest favorite on the slate. Even with all that said, you won’t see me touting the Blues much in this article (I do like a couple of guys though). Outside of Chelsea, the Leeds/Everton game is my favorite game on this slate.

SOCCER DFS: Forwards/Midfielders

For me, paying up twice at forward is not something I want to do. There are a couple of good high-priced plays in Raheem Sterling ($10,200) and Aleksandar Mitrovic ($9,400) but they might have a hard time hitting value. A better option, if you want to pay up, is Pascal Gross ($9,700) from Brighton. Gross may be more expensive than Mitrovic, but he has a safer floor and that’s the type of play I want on this slate. With there not being too many goals expected on this slate, we want to find players with safe floors.

Another forward that is a little pricey is Eberchi Eze ($8,000). Eze takes set pieces for Palace so he has a big upside, but there is a catch here with Nigerian. If Michael Olise ($5,900) starts in the midfield for Crystal Palace he hurts Eze’s upside because he will take half of his set pieces away. Olise is actually a good play if he is in the lineup on Tuesday and will be in a few of my builds.

There are a plethora of good, inexpensive forwards and midfielders on this slate:

Even though Southampton is the biggest underdog, they have a few options up front and in the midfield that are cheap and make for great value. Joe Aribo ($3,500) is M/F eligible and projects as one of the highest-scoring value plays on the slate. Sekou Mara ($4,800) is another sub-$5K value play that offers upside from Southampton

If Neal Maupay ($3,900) starts for Everton, he is my favorite play in the under $4K range. Maupay will most likely be popular, but I am still going here. In that same game, Danny James ($5,000) from Leeds is another forward I have an interest in.

Sticking with Leeds/Everton game, both Jack Harrison ($8,300) and Brenden Aaronson ($6,000) are good plays in the midfield for Leeds, while Anthony Gordon ($7,700) and Demari Gray ($7,500) are solid upside plays from Everton.

Now, let’s move on to Chelsea. Kai Havertz ($6,700) is my favorite play not on the backline for the Blues. Havertz is honestly too cheap for his upside. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else I want from my favorite club.

I know I threw A LOT at you all, so let me try and simplify it:

Pick a top-priced play at forward, my favorites are Gross and Eze, and pair them with a cheap forward. Maupay or James would be my top plays there.

In the midfield, play two players in the $5K range. There is no need to pay up for someone like James Ward-Prowse in my opinion. There are two guys I did not mention that I plan to play a lot of, Andreas Pereria ($5,700) and Solly March ($5,400).

Soccer DFS: Defenders

I am all about paying up for the Chelsea wingbacks in this matchup. Ben Chilwell ($6,300) and Reece James ($8,100) are in great spots and are well worth paying up for. It’s because of these two plays that I suggest staying in the $5K range on midfield and playing one cheap forward with a high-priced guy. If Chilwell doesn’t start, but Marc Cucurella ($6,800) does he is a fine replacement. If you want to play three defenders, I am just fine with that, and Pervis Estupinan ($5,200) is a good option from Brighton. Rasmus Kristensen ($3,500) is my favorite cheap option and in that same game, Ruben Vinagre ($4,300) from Everton.

SOCCER DFS: Goalkeepers

If you want to pay up for the top keeper on the slate in Edouard Mundy ($5,700) then by all means do it. I do not plan on having much, if any, of Mendy because I feel like he’s too expensive for a goalie who is unlikely to keep a clean sheet. I would prefer to save $700 and go with Robert Sanchez ($5,000) for Brighton. Sanchez is averaging the most DKFP P/90 of any keeper on the slate. Both goalies in the Palace/Brentford game are also in play for me.

Remember to check lineups after 2 pm eastern to make sure the players you want to use are in the starting XI. I will try and be in discord to answer questions and post any players I like that may be in lineups.

Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! We will be there answering questions all day and all night!

Here we go, it’s time for the second half of the back-to-back of our first mid-week EPL slate of the season.

There are five matches and for the second time in a row, both Liverpool and Manchester City share the slate.

Without any further adieu, let’s dig in!

Wednesday 8/31 EPL

Match Odds

Wolves (+115) at Bournemouth (+260)

Aston Villa (+600) at Arsenal (-220)

Nottingham Forest (+2200) at Manchester City (-1200)

Tottenham (+100) at West Ham (+265)

Newcastle (+900) at Liverpool (-350)

8/31 EPL Top Plays

DraftKings/FanDuel Forward

Phil Foden – Manchester City – $8,700/$19 – For a slight dip in price from any of the other regular projected starting forwards on the top two teams, it makes sense to settle on Foden. He is getting the lesser split of set pieces with Kevin De Bruyne but perhaps has more open-field potential than his set-piece counterpart.

By comparison, All three of the Liverpool forwards cost more and are goal or nothing in terms of their scoring nature. Furthermore, City has a much better matchup than Liverpool. As far as Foden’s City counterparts Haaland is always in play but with his price likely tournament only.

Of note, young forward Julian Alvarez may be debuting for Man City and at $5,900 if in, even if subbed early, he should be a cash lock for your second forward spot and a great way to save money at the position.

Pivots:

DraftKings – Julian Alvarez – Manchester City – $5,900 “PUNT”, Luis Diaz – Liverpool – $9,100, Mohammed Salah – Liverpool – $9,900, DraftKings, Harry Kane – Tottenham – $9,700

FanDuel – Harry Kane – Tottenham – $20, Luis Diaz – Liverpool – $19, Mohammed Salah – Liverpool – $21, Gabriel Jesus – Arsenal – $19, Julian Alvarez – Manchester City – $16

DraftKings/FanDuel Midfielder

Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City – $10,400/$19 – For a second consecutive slate, De Bruyne ranks as the top midfielder. Manchester City comes in a whopping -1200 money line favorite hosting promoted side, Nottingham Forest.

Between his role on set pieces and chances of adding an assist/goal, once again he will be popular. It’s really a matter of how the City and Liverpool lineups shake out.

Pivots:

DraftKings – Marcus Tavernier – Bournemouth – $4,500 “Punt”, Bukayo Saka – Arsenal – $7,100

FanDuel – Phil Foden – Manchester City – $20, Bukayo Saka – Arsenal – $17

DraftKings Defender

Kieran Tierney – Arsenal – $4,400 – We need some savings to make things work. Kiernan Tierney is working his way back into fitness but is projected to start as of the time of writing. Given his role as a wing defender for -220 money line favorite Arsenal, this is a solid value.

Pivots: Trent Alexander-Arnold – Liverpool – $7,600, Jonny – Wolves – $4,700, Aaron Cresswell – West Ham – $4,800, Vladimir Coufal – West Ham – $4,200

FanDuel Defender

Scott McKenna – Nottingham Forest – $8 – You can rack up a lot of points on FanDuel as a central defender with your team under fire. That is the objective here and hopefully, the clearances are many. I also like Kieran Tierney for $8 as very cheap “don’t mind the game logs on FanDuel, three of those matches he only played ten minutes or less”.

Pivots: Kieran Tierney – Arsenal – $8, John Stones – Manchester City – $8, Joe Gomez – Liverpool – $8

DraftKings/FanDuel Goalie

Ederson – Manchester City – $6,000/$15 – City is an insane favorite on this slate so you either pay up or go all the way down. On FanDuel, I think you spend for the certainty and if you have the $ on DraftKings, just do it.

Pivot: Neto – Bournemouth – $4,300 – He will be making his EPL debut after arriving from Barcelona and Wolves are no offensive powerhouse. If fading City or Liverpool attackers, you can roll with Dean Henderson or Nick Pope but I see that more as a tournament-only tactic and only under those circumstances.

EPL Top Bet

Bet- Tottenham “Draw No Bet” (-210)/Liverpool ML (-340) – (-110 total odds) DraftKings – 1 Unit

Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! Rich will be there answering questions all day and all night! Follow Rich on Twitter @JFan303 and be sure to be on the lookout for future articles at https://windailysports.com/daily-fantasy-soccer/

We return for MatchWeek Three of the EPL season.

Unlike the last two slates so far this season, we do not have any heavy favorites, at least on the DraftKings slate. As a result, we won’t feel compelled to have as much as exposure as possible to any one team as we did last week with Manchester City.

Without any expensive stars to force in aside from James Maddison “more below”, this is the sort of slate where a balanced approach seems like the best idea. The addition of the late game on FanDuel where Arsenal is a -245 money line favorite certainly adds a layer to the slate on that site.

Saturday 8/20 EPL

Match Odds

Aston Villa (+190) at Crystal Palace (+155)

Nottingham Forest (+310) at Everton (-105)

Brentford (+190) at Fulham (+145)

Southampton (+319) at Leicester City (-120)

Arsenal (-245) at Bournemouth (+650) “FanDuel only“

8/20 EPL Top Plays

DraftKings/FanDuel Forward

Ivan Toney – Brentford – $8,400/$18 – It’s a close call here particularly on DraftKings. However, my lean is towards the scoring acumen of Ivan Toney despite the plus odds matchup. Former Burnley man Dwight McNeil would be my second choice as Everton has a better matchup facing Nottingham Forest and McNeil should grab some corners. However, he is more of a cash play given Toney’s higher goal scoring prowess. On FanDuel, the pendulum swings farther towards Toney.

Pivots:

DraftKings – Dwight McNeil – Everton – $7,900, DraftKings – Joe Aribo – Southampton – $4,200

FanDuel – Gabriel Jesus – Arsenal – $22, Gabriel Martinelli – Arsenal – $20 “and yes, it’s crazy they have the same first name, play for the same team as forwards”, Wilfried Zaha – Crystal Palace – $18

DraftKings/FanDuel Midfielder

James Maddison – Leicester City – $10,200/$19 – Once an EPL DFS superstar, James Maddison’s stock has taken a bit of a hit over the last few years. However, as of the last six months or so, he is back in prime form and gets a tasty matchup against a defensively porous Southampton team. Maddison has regained a monopoly on Leicester City’s set pieces giving him a high DraftKings floor in particular but we get a bit of a discount on him to offset on FanDuel. He can still rack up the FanDuel points with chances created and assists “as well as the occassional shot on goal/goal”. Leicester City and Maddison should be flying high at the King Power Stadium as -120 moneyline favorites.

Pivots:

DraftKings – Mathias Jensen – Brentford -$5,800, DraftKings – Demarai Gray – Everton – $6,700

FanDuel – Mathias Jensen – Brentford – $14, FanDuel – Bukayo Saka – Arsenal – $19, FanDuel – Dwight McNeil – Everton – $15

DraftKings Defender

Neco Williams – Nottingham Forest – $5,700 – Lucas Digne is rarely ignored when it comes to filling your lineup with high-end DraftKings defenders. However, at $6,800 he feels overpriced for his production. Particularly when we can take a shot on Neco Williams for $1,100 less. The former Liverpool youth/backup is finally getting regular playing time with Nottingham Forest and his exact role over the longterm is a mystery. However, if his last match with 22.1 floor points “no goals or assists” is any indication, perhaps a DFS star is born? He seems be taking most if not all the corners for Nottingham and setting some of the pace on offense. Nottingham Forest are underdogs once again but Everton are the least intimidating of the EPL teams they have faced to date.

Pivot: Lucas Digne – Aston Villa- $6,800, James Justin – Leicester City – $4,200

FanDuel Defender

Awful position on the FanDuel slate so I think the best bet here is to punt with one of the $8 defensemen. At the moment they are the cheapest projected to start but if someone pops up in a starting lineup cheaper prior to lock, I will just slum as low as possible.

Punt Ideas: James Justin or Johnny Evans – Leicester City – $8, Ezri Konsa – Aston Villa – $8

DraftKings/FanDuel Goalie

Dean Henderson – Nottingham Forest – $4,400/$8 – He’s Dean “F’N” Henderson! This man once carried a promoted Sheffield United team to a top six finish. After a year in the lion’s den, he has once again mercifully found a way to go on loan and escape Manchester United. It must be doing wonders for him as he is off to a magnificant start saving 7/9 shots Matchweek One and 4/5 Matchweek Two including a penalty kick save. If that wasn’t enough he is very cheap. For cash games he is a must, for tournaments he will be chalky so ownership and build “like you have two Everton forwards” are the only considerations.

Pivot: Emiliano Martinez – Aston Villa – $4,500/$10

EPL Top Bets

Bet One – Brentford Moneyline (+195) – Bet MGM – 0.25 Units, Bet Two – Brentford Draw No Bet (+105) – Bet MGM – 0.75 Units, Bet Three: Leicester City Moneyline (-115) – Bet MGM – 1 Unit

Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! Rich will be there answering questions all day and all night! Follow Rich on Twitter @JFan303 and be sure to be on the lookout for future articles at https://windailysports.com/daily-fantasy-soccer/

We return for MatchWeek Two of the EPL season. One match stands out as a mismatch in particular, as newly promoted Bournemouth travels to play the defending Champion Manchester City. It is a safe assumption that we might see the Cherries “get popped” or perhaps “Pep-ped” if you will, given the City theme to the affair.

As far as the plays, let’s try not to overreact one way or another based on the one-match sample size we have to date. Not much has changed in terms of the overall outlook on players from last week. However, now we have a number of fresh faces added into the mix on this slate. Last week, we had the luxury of having some extra salary to spend up on defense and/or goalie. Nevertheless, that is certainly not the case here as we’re suffering from some Manchester City-induced inflation and money is tight.

Saturday 8/13 EPL

Match Odds

Leicester City (+500) at Arsenal (-195)

Newcastle (+200) at Brighton (+145)

Bournemouth (+450) at Manchester City (-1400)

Leeds United (+215) at Southampton (+130)

Manchester United (+100) at Brentford (+290) “FanDuel only“

8/13 EPL Top Plays

DraftKings/FanDuel Forward

Erling Haaland – Manchester City – $11,000/$23 – The defending champions’ star acquisition is off to a brilliant start to his Manchester City career. If there was ever a good opportunity to follow up on his two-goal EPL debut, it will be in this spot hosting the Cherries. As you might imagine, he will be extremely popular and along with Kevin De Bruyne, a cash piece, with what sets up as a stars and scrubs cash slate. If building at least two tournament lines, I’d go one with, and one without given how expensive he is in addition to the boom or bust nature of a striker.

Pivots: Bukayo Saka – Arsenal – $9,300/$17, Phil Foden – Manchester City – $8,000/$21

DraftKings/FanDuel Midfielder

Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City – $10,000/$22 – Finally fully healthy and in control of set pieces for Man City, De Bruyne is a stand-out play. While Man City’s first match of the season versus West Ham only yielded five corners for our man, I’d expect much more possession and thus many more chances/set pieces here. The biggest issue is the price as in tournaments a De Bruyne/Haaland pairing is likely not optimal. He also has far less goal-scoring upside than Haaland although much higher assist upside and a larger floor in general.

Pivots: James Ward-Prowse – Southampton -$8,900/$18, Bukayo Saka – Arsenal – $9,300/$17

DraftKings Defender

Joao Cancelo – Manchester City – $6,500 – Cancelo might not take any set pieces but gets in on free kicks here/there and in general acts like a forward at times. Given the matchup and odds here that’s enough to propel him to the very top of the defender rankings this week.

Pivot: Matt Targett/Kieran Trippier – Newcastle- $6,200/$5,500, James Justin – Leicester City – $4,000

FanDuel Defender

Matt Targett – Newcastle – $12 – Targett has a split on Newcastle set pieces with Kieran Trippier leading to some chances created. He also grabs a variety of defensive stats as well, so I think he is a good “mid-range” FanDuel defenseman as it is hard to go any higher up in price given the costs elsewhere when building lineups this week.

Pivot: James Justin – Leicester City – $8

DraftKings/FanDuel Goalie

Ederson – Manchester City – $5,900/$15 – As mentioned above, Man City is a -1400 money line favorite hosting Bournemouth. In terms of odds versus costs given the chances of a clean sheet, this is one occasion it makes sense to spend up at goalie.

Pivot: Nick Pope – Newcastle – $4,500/$10, Marek Rodak – Fulham – $4,500/$9

EPL Top Bets

Over 2.5 Goals Southampton/Leeds United (-140) – Bet MGM – 1 Unit – Two defensively deficient teams are in play here and although far from even money, I still think this hits.

Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! Rich will be there answering questions all day and all night! Follow Rich on Twitter @JFan303 and be sure to be on the lookout for future articles at https://windailysports.com/daily-fantasy-soccer/