FanDuel Focus – Gameweek 3

Welcome to our regular Friday lunchtime article, which takes a look at one day and weekly game FanDuel’s key picks and contests. Each round we’ll be putting forward a proposed XI who we think should prosper in the Gameweek’s action, according to FanDuel’s unique scoring system.

There are three deadlines on FanDuel for entering line-ups into contests this weekend. The 12.30pm early afternoon kick-off at White Hart Lane marks the start of the games that cover all ten fixtures of the round. The Saturday only contests begin at 3pm, while the two-game slate on Sunday must be joined by 1.30pm.

Four sides are looking for a third consecutive win in Gameweek 3. The match at the KCOM stadium surprisingly features two of these teams – Manchester United travel to Hull and will be strong favourites despite the Tigers’ bright start to the campaign. Chelsea and Manchester City both have home fixtures, which they will be expected to win against Burnley and West Ham respectively.

Southampton, Leicester City and Everton also enjoy home comforts. The Saints welcome Sunderland while the champions are visited by Swansea, with all four teams looking for a first victory of the campaign. The Toffees defeated West Brom 2-1 at the Hawthorns last time out, while their visitors Stoke conceded four at the Etihad.

To get started, register for a free account via this link. When you sign up, enter the promocode “SCOUT” and FanDuel will refund your first paid entry fee, up to £10, as free entry credit if you don’t win cash.

There’s also a strategy guide available that examines which players to target in the various positions based on the average scores they would have accrued if the scoring was applied to last season.

My Team

Maarten Stekelenburg (£5.5m)

James Collins (£4.1m)

Curtis Davies (£6.1m)

Ben Mee (£6.1m)

Nathan Redmond (£8.5m)

Ross Barkley (£9.8m)

Andros Townsend (£10.1m)

Eden Hazard (£12.5m)

Salomon Rondon (£6.9m)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (£14.0m)

Sergio Aguero (£16.0m)

Key Picks

Everton look well set for a first clean sheet of the term as they welcome the Potters to Goodison Park. Ronald Koeman’s managerial acumen should improve the Toffees defence and keeper Maarten Stekelenburg provides a budget route into their backline. Three saves in each of the opening fixtures also bodes well for the Dutch shot stopper’s chances. If you have more funds available for the keeper spot, the only position in FanDuel that’s rewarded for clean sheets (10 points), then consider Ben Foster (£7.5m) – a second shut-out of the season may be on the cards as West Brom host Middlesbrough.

We’ve gone for a trio of centre-backs who are likely to face considerable attacking threat, which should elicit plenty of clearances, blocks and interceptions (CBI) points from our picks. James Collins has made eight interceptions and 11 clearances across his two outings so far. Tasked with preventing Pep Guardiola’s expansive City side from scoring at the Etihad on Sunday, we’re backing the West Ham asset to substantially increase those defensive numbers.

Only Curtis Davies has a better average than Collins for defenders over the first two matches. He is also expected to be kept busy accumulating defensive points for the visit of Manchester United. His kind price tag also offers excellent value, with 6.4 FanDuel points per million the fourth best in Gameweek 2.

Ben Mee is another defender set to accumulate a strong CBI tally, when his Burnley side visit Stamford Bridge. He has notched up 15 clearances so far this season.

We highlighted another centre-half, Scott Dann (£7.9m) in the Weekly Shop, as Crystal Palace host a lacklustre Bournemouth side which has conceded 17 shots in the box already. With a goal midweek against Blackpool in the League Cup, Dann looks in the mood to replicate his scoring heroics of last season, where he scored five times and had the second highest shots on target tally of any defender.

Dann’s team-mate Andros Townsend also makes the XI, having created five chances and fired eight attempts on goal so far. Christian Benteke (£8.3m) seems unlikely to start, judging by Alan Pardew’s comments earlier today, yet the Belgian could be worth a gamble and will surely get minutes off the bench at the least.

Ross Barkley maintained an encouraging start to the season with another goal and assist in this week’s League Cup win over Yeovil Town. The midfielder has produced six attempts on goal and five key passes in his pair of league matches. A reasonable price tag and a points per match average of 29.88 make him an ideal FanDuel selection on current form.

With a large chunk of our funds being utilised on forwards, we’ve had to save money in midfield. We’re still confident that Nathan Redmond provides value, though Dusan Tadic (£10.7m) has also piqued our interest – the Serbian midfielder has created eight chances and it could be worth doubling up on the Southampton pair for the visit of Sunderland.

We’ve gone for Eden Hazard over Riyad Mahrez (£13.5m) in our selection for the same cost-cutting reason. However, the latter should not be ignored after accruing an average score of 31.38 points so far this term. The Chelsea midfielder is no slouch, though, averaging 26.5 points and facing a Burnley team that has conceded the most goal attempts of any Premier League side this season.

The big-hitters up front pick themselves. Both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sergio Aguero appear risky to drop from any line-up at this point, though it could be worth considering changing one to the likes of Mahrez if playing multiple entries. Finally, Salamon Rondon fills our final slot ahead of the home tie against promoted Middlesbrough. The West Brom striker scored against Crystal Palace in Gameweek 1, has created four chances and had three shots on target so far.

This Week’s Games

The Saturday time-frame has the biggest pot of the weekend, the £7500 Fan Favourite contest which has a £5 buy-in and a £750 first-place prize. There’s a £10 entry game with 40 places available – the top half of entrants receive £18 back.

These Saturday only contests have a 3pm deadline so be sure to watch out for team news before finalising your line-ups. There’s also a free £25 pot available here which is ideal for trying out the format for the first time to get used to the scoring.

On Sunday there are two big games starting at 1.30pm. The Special has £777 guaranteed in winnings, with a £7 entry fee, while the £500 challenge has a £3 buy-in.

The main game that covers the full slate is the £1500 weekend special – it has a £3 entry fee, with £200 going to first place. Our own contest, the Fantasy Football Scout Challenge is £1 to enter with a guaranteed pot of £150 available, these two contests start at 12.30pm on Saturday.

What Is FanDuel?

FanDuel is a one-day and whole weekend Fantasy Football format, that originated in the US and has been specifically tailored for the UK.

Its strong focus on underlying statistics makes it an ideal fit for the Fantasy Football Scout community, some of whom have also been involved in developing the UK version.

You can register for a free account at FanDuel via this link. When you sign up, enter the promo code “SCOUT” and FanDuel will refund your first paid entry fee, up to £10, as free entry credit if you don’t win cash.