We now embark on the Weekly Shop, where we will help guide your selections for daily and weekly Fantasy Football squad building.
For this weekend, we’re looking solely at FanDuel’s player list, taking all ten of Gameweek 8’s fixtures into consideration.
Scanning the schedule, there are a number of standout match-ups that look likely to provide the nucleus of our FanDuel squads.
For value options in attacking areas, we’re looking to the Vitality Stadium where Bournemouth host a Hull City side that have suffered three consecutive defeats.
The Tigers have conceded 11 goals in that trio of losses, indicating that Eddie Howe’s men could be in sight of a third consecutive home win.
A new regime at Swansea City could ensure that Arsenal face a tough ride at the Emirates but, with the Gunners in bloom, we’re expecting Bob Bradley’s men to be on the back foot. Their efforts to keep the home side at bay could offer us value at the back, while Arsene Wenger’s attacking charges look prime targets.
Equally, we’re expecting a rearguard effort from Everton at the Etihad.
Manchester City have scored nine goals in three home matches and need a quick response to the defeat to Spurs. But the Toffees are more robust under Ronald Koeman, and we’re lining up a couple of candidates that look crucial to their defensive efforts.
Better Buys
We start with our key targets – the players that, despite lofty price tags, look certain to feature highly in our final selection process.
Starting at the back, Southampton’s Fraser Forster (£6.8m) looks a standout in goal.
FanDuel have handed him a reasonable price tag, despite the fact that the Saints have kept three straight clean sheets, six in all competitions.
Claude Puel’s side face a Burnley outfit at St Mary’s that have failed to score in their two away trips, registering just five goals all season (the worst record in the league along with Stoke City).
Bournemouth’s Artur Boruc (£7.4m) has been scoring strongly in FanDuel, earning a 17.15 average over his last five outings.
The Polish shot-stopper has made the third most saves to date (25), over 3.5 per match. Having kept successive clean sheets in front of his own fans, the visit of a Hull City side who are placed in the bottom three for attempts on the road signals a third shut out is on the cards.
Everton’s defence seem destined to face an onslaught from a Manchester City side that dropped their first points at White Hart Lane last weekend.
Ashley Williams (£7.6m) should be up for the challenge and looks a worthy investment having made 30 clearances over his last four outings. These, along with interceptions and blocks, are key actions to look for when picking defenders in FanDuel. They provide a strong source of points for defenders, with goalkeepers the only position to benefit from clean sheet returns.
After being shifted to full-back by Jose Mourinho, Daley Blind (£7.9m) is now an intriguing prospect.
The Dutch defender has a high average FanDuel score of 24.04 over six league appearances and has created seven chances in his last two matches from left-back.
Irrespective of his craft in attacking areas, the Manchester United asset will be tasked with shackling the menace of Sadio Mane at Anfield, which should ensure ample defensive returns.
The signing of Christian Benteke has seen Crystal Palace subject opponents to an aerial bombardment, ensuring that we’re always looking to their fixture for likely targets at the back.
West Ham’s Winston Reid (£7.5m) is set to be the defender tasked with containing the Benteke threat and, after ranking as the top defender for FanDuel points per million last weekend, is on our radar this time around. Ten clearances helped the Hammers’ centre-back to a score of 38.25 points last time out.
Swansea’s Jordi Amat (£6.9m) is our pick from a Swans defence that will be hard pressed to repel Arsenal at the Emirates.
The centre-back has averaged 17.89 FanDuel points this season, earning him a price rise and consequently a promotion from our Poundstretchers section, and into this week’s Better Buys.
He’s amassed a respectable 77 clearances, blocks and interceptions over seven Premier League appearances, putting the Spaniard in the top six defenders for those statistics. We expect that number to be boosted further following Saturday’s meeting with the Gunners.
In midfield, we’re looking first to a man who has excelled over the international break.
Dusan Tadic earned two goals and four assists for Serbia to signpost his outstanding form ahead of Southampton’s clash with Burnley.
Only Liverpool (3.9) have a better chance per minute ratio at home than the Saints (4.8) and Tadic (£9.6m) is their main creator, capable of big hauls in FanDuel, having picked up 45 points against West Ham in Gameweek 6.
The Serb is joint top with Everton’s Ross Barkley for chances created at home (14), and third in all matches with 22 chances created, leaving him just behind Crystal Palace’s Jason Puncheon (24) Chelsea’s Willian (23).
Tadic will monopolise dead-ball situations, and that looks to be a handy bonus against a Burnley side that have conceded the most attempts from set plays (38) this season.
After hitting a timely streak of form in the absence of Harry Kane, it looks as though Son Heung-Min (£11.1m) will retain the role as the lone striker for Spurs’ trip to the Hawthorns.
The South Korean has four goals and two assists in four league matches and, having registered 18 goal attempts and created 12 chances, he has averaged a hugely impressive FanDuel tally of 39.94.
It’s worth bearing in mind that the FanDuel scoring system also favours more combative midfielders, a factor that brings Everton’s Idrissa Gueye (£8.6m) into the equation.
The former Aston Villa man has made 17 tackles in the engine room, more than any other midfielder. An average FanDuel score of 20.36 demonstrates the Senegalese should be heavily involved in breaking up Manchester City’s waves of attacks in Saturday’s clash.
Crystal Palace are unbeaten in five as they welcome a struggling West Ham to Selhurst Park. In Christian Benteke (£8.1m) they also have a striker who is full of confidence having netted a hat-trick for Belgium mid-week, albeit against minnows Gibraltar.
Ranked top for headed goal attempts (10), Jason Puncheon and Andros Townsend will once again be providing regular deliveries for Benteke, who has three goals in four league outings.
Theo Walcott has had an impressive start to the campaign, scoring three in the league while serving up as many assists.
At £9.9m the Arsenal forward is easier on the budget than Alexis Sanchez (£13.9m) but has recorded a similar average in FanDuel thus far, with Walcott on 26.43 points and Sanchez on 28.57.
Crucially, only Hull City (44) have conceded more chances than Swansea (35) from their left flank, which bodes well for Walcott as he lines up as an inside forward on the right side of the Gunners attack.
Poundstretchers
Having identified our money-no-object selections, we now start our search for those targets that can help us free up the necessary funds in our £100 million FanDuel budget.
Stoke’s Lee Grant (£5.9m) is a suitable first stop.
The Derby loanee made eight saves against Manchester United United at Old Trafford last weekend, earning an impressive score of 24.75 FanDuel points.
He welcomes a Sunderland side to the bet365 stadium that have mustered just 18 attempts in three away ties; only Burnley have registered fewer. A first clean sheet for Grant looks a possibility, who is a sure-fire option for those looking to liberate some cash.
Deployed as a left wing-back in Antonio Conte’s 3-5-2 system, Marcos Alonso (£6m) scored 31.5 points against Hull City last time out, with four key passes, two successful tackles and five clearances, blocks and interceptions amongst his underlying numbers.
The Chelsea defender looks like a value route into Antonio Conte’s side, who should have the opportunity to pick up points at both ends of the pitch against Leicester City .
Sunderland’s John O’Shea, available for £4.6m for the Black Cats’ trip to Stoke City, could provide us with a cheap enabler. The centre-back scored a healthy 21.75 against West Brom last time out, picking up 12 CBI’s and a pair of successful tackles.
A man-of-the-match performance at Bournemouth has put Nordin Amrabat (£6m) firmly in our thoughts as a cut-price midfield option, with Watford making the trip to Middlesborough.
Deployed as part of the attacking three in a shuffled 4-3-3 by Walter Mazzarri, the Dutchman provided an assist and created four chances in the draw with the Cherries, scoring 33.5 FanDuel points.
Alex Iwobi (£7.7m) has started the last three for Arsenal and continues to offer a bargain route into a midfield that could run riot against Swansea. The pacey Nigerian is a tempting differential, the 38.25 points earned at Hull City in Gameweek 5 demonstrates his potential and he notched for Nigeria over the international break.
Bournemouth boast a pair of attackers who could prosper against a fragile Hull defence.
Junior Stanislas (£6.3m) has averaged 23.35 FanDuel points over his two home matches, scoring and providing an assist. Callum Wilson notched a second goal in four outings to earn 30.25 at Vicarage Road last time out: the frontman looks exceptional value at just 6.5m against the Tigers.
Finally, Charlie Austin continues to impress in his weekly audition for our FanDuel line-up.
The ex-QPR marksman has scored two goals, served up an assist and provided a 26-point average over his last three outings. At £6.1m, we feel he’s been vastly undervalued for the visit of Burnley.
I will return on Friday with our FanDuel Focus article, revealing just how many of these assets made the final cut to take their place amongst my preferred line-up, along with a review of the available contests ahead of the weekend.
