FanDuel Focus – Gameweek 33

Welcome to our regular Friday article where we pay a visit to FanDuel and take a look at the contests, the prizes on offer and run through our strongest line-up ahead of the weekend.

We’ve now reached the penultimate round of our FanDuel Survivor contest with the top half of the 120-second stage entries making it through to challenge for the 25 spots available in the final.

As usual, there are three windows for entering line-ups into FanDuel contests this weekend. The full ten-fixture slate gets started with Bournemouth’s visit to White Hart Lane at 12.30pm tomorrow lunchtime.

There’s also separate Saturday and Sunday/Monday slates. The Saturday-only contests begin at 3pm with five matches and includes Manchester City’s encounter later on at Southampton.

On Sunday it’s an earlier start as Liverpool travel to West Brom for a 1.30pm kick-off ahead of Chelsea’s clash at Old Trafford. The action ends on Monday night when Middlesbrough host Arsenal.

Remember FanDuel’s late-swap feature means, that, whatever contests you choose, it’s possible to change non-starters right up until their matches start.

If you’re a newcomer to Fanduel, we’ve listed our best XI for the weekend matches to provide some immediate player picks. For more in-depth help, here’s our pre-season strategy guide for further hints on how to build a line-up.

My Strongest XI

Wayne Hennessey £7.3m
Javier Manquillo £6.2m
Daley Blind £7.6m
Maya Yoshida £7.8m
Luka Milivojevic £6.9m
Wilfred Zaha £9m
Son Heung-min £10m
Ross Barkley £11m
Jermain Defoe £8.2m
Harry Kane £12.5m
Romelu Lukaku £13.4m

The Key Picks

There were a host of goalkeepers that caught our eye this week but we’ve assigned Wayne Hennessey to the slot after his Monday night performance against Arsenal secured a fourth clean sheet in six outings. The Welsh stopper has registered 24 saves over that resilient run. Leicester City roll up to Selhurst Park having blanked in four of their previous six road trips, which bodes well for Hennessey’s chances of picking up the ten FanDuel points on offer for a shut-out.

Sunderland’s Bryan Oviedo was withdrawn from the encounter with Manchester United last time out due to injury and his replacement, Javier Manquillo, provides a budget defender for our line-up. The Black Cats host West Ham, and while we’re not expecting much from the full-back considering his 12.7 average in FanDuel over his last six starts, the Spaniard’s price tag enables funds to be spent elsewhere.

One of Manchester United duo Daley Blind and Luke Shaw (£7.3m) are set to be deployed against Chelsea after both were rested for the Thursday night Europa League tie with Anderlecht. We’ll be keeping an eye on the team sheet at Old Trafford then, and be ready to select Jose Mourinho’s favoured option.

Blind has a 20-point average over his last six starts and his experience may be favoured by Jose Mourinho against the league leaders. Shaw is the more attacking option – he produced an assist at Sunderland last Gameweek and has created six chances, made four tackles and eight clearances in two starts since returning from the sidelines, to score 20.5 and 29.75 points in FanDuel.

The last of our three-man back-line, Southampton’s Maya Yoshida, sits fourth for clearances, blocks and interceptions (CBI) over the last six matches with 71 of those defensive actions. That’s helped the Saints’ centre-back accrue a 23.75 average during that period. We’d expect the Japanese defender to reach that number again when hosting a Manchester City outfit that are second only to Liverpool for chances created (184 – 203) in away matches this campaign.

We’ve opted for a pair of midfielders from a Crystal Palace side that has growing momentum for the run-in after tallying five wins in six matches.

Our first Eagles’ asset has been steadily improving his FanDuel points returns over his last seven outings. We’ve been monitoring Luka Milivojevic closely and his goal from the penalty spot last time out – as well as his direct free-kick duties – give us confidence he’s a worthwhile pick. The Serb earned points from seven different actions against Arsenal and should flourish in an end-to-end role against Leicester City.

Team-mate Wilfried Zaha served up two assists against the Gunners to make it three in as many matches. The tricky winger should cause problems for the champions – he’s drawn 20 fouls over his last five matches. A pair of goals and ten tackles in that time frame provides further evidence that the Ivorian international has improved his all-round game in FanDuel and will be a key player against the Foxes.

We’ve settled on Son Hueng-min from the Spurs midfield, with the South Korean likely to provide a better value route into Mauricio Pochettino’s attack than both Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen. A brace and assist against Watford provided a 57.25 points haul in FanDuel as Son found the net for a third successive outing.

Our next selection, Everton’s Ross Barkley, has lacked consistency over the season, but seems to enjoy home comforts having picked up three of his four goals and six of eight assists at Goodison Park. A 30-point FanDuel average in his last six at home further demonstrates that he poses a more telling threat in front of his own fans. In addition, we’ve noted that opponents Burnley have conceded the most attempts from outside the box (136) for away sides this term, which could favour the midfielder’s liking for long-range shooting.

Considering Jermain Defoe has failed to score in seven outings, we’ve taken a risk by including the Black Cats’ striker. A reasonable price tag makes the 14-goal forward a viable differential though, as a West Ham outfit visit Wearside having lost three straight away – conceding eight goals.

After a return to the pitch against Watford, Harry Kane is once again foremost in our thoughts when weighing up Spurs’ assets – particularly when he’s priced lower than Alli (£12.8m) and Eriksen (£13.2m). The forward’s explosive potential has been demonstrated recently with two hat-tricks in his last four starts at White Hart Lane. Promisingly, visitors Bournemouth have leaked 14 goals in their previous six away trips and have allowed the most shots on goal over the past six Gameweeks.

Likewise, it’s difficult to overlook Romelu Lukaku’s scoring streak at Goodison Park. The Everton forward and Golden Boot leader has netted in seven straight matches on Merseyside, tallying an impressive 12 goals. Only Zlatan Ibrahimovic (45) has hit more shots on target (worth 5 points each in FanDuel) than the Belgian (44) this season. Burnley will arrive having faced the most shots and shots on target away from home this season, suggesting that the odds are in favour of yet another Lukaku home haul.

This Week’s Contests

The full weekend window again has the most substantial pot available – the £2,500 Fan Favourite contest has a £5 buy-in, the top 120 of 588 entries win returns with a £500 prize for first place.

There’s a £500 contest for Saturday, which has a £3 entry fee and pays out £100 to the top participant. Here, the first 43 of 197 potential line-ups pick up winnings.

The Sunday Special, which covers the pair of fixtures that day and the Monday night match, has a £777 pot, 29 of 131 entries collect prize money, with £140 going to first place. It has a £7 buy-in.

For those who made it to the second stage of our FanDuel Survivor tournament, be sure to check if you progressed ahead of the next round. You can register for a free account at FanDuel via this link.