Back in February we introduced you to the arrival of Draft Kings – a hugely successfully Daily Fantasy Sports site in the US – to the UK.
We’re delighted to announce that we’re all set to work with the game over the Euro 16 tournament, providing player recommendation articles prior to each set of matches.
With that in mind, we thought we’d bring the game back to your attention with a guide to playing their Premier League contests over the final day of the Premier League season.
As we stated in our introductory article, Draft Kings’ contests require an 11 player line-up to be selected with a fixed salary cap of $50,000, this squad or “roster” must include players from at least three different teams but beyond that there is no restriction on how many players from each club you can select.
The team must include a goalkeeper, three defenders, three midfielders and two forwards. There are then two ‘utility’ spots that can be filled by players from any category apart from a second keeper.
The points are rewarded based on Opta data so if you’re a member, you’ll have the advantage of being able to scan our tables in order to gain a potential edge.
We’ve actually created a public stats table to this effect here, which offers a view on the per minute totals across some of the key elements of the Draft Kings scoring matrix. These include Interceptions, Tackles Won, Shots on Target, Fouls Won and, perhaps most significantly, Crosses.
The reward for a cross (via open play and set pieces) is particularly unique, making full-backs from mid-table teams that rely on aerial balls into the box a focus of your attention – it’s also the key reason why you’ll see the likes of Dimitri Payet at the top of the price list.
Be sure to peruse the full Draft Kings scoring matrix here.
Gameweek 38 Targets
As mentioned, we’ll be on hand to provide some pointers via future Draft Kings articles.
True to form, we’ve identified some key targets for Sunday’s clashes which look to have the potential to provide the nucleus of a successful Draft Kings XI.
At the back we’re getting sentimental and are currently looking at Everton’s Tim Howard as our stopper, although his price of $4000 is somewhat off-putting.
If you’re looking to save pennies, we favour Crystal Palace’s Julian Speroni at $3200 who should reap in points from saves given Southampton’s current form – he made ten stops in his only other league appearance against Manchester United this season.
At the back we like the look of Liverpool’s Brad Smith given that he can be acquired for just $2800. The second string left-back looks likely to get the nod in a much-changed Liverpool lineup at the Hawthorns and has averaged a cross every 18.5 minute and a tackle won every 25.5 minutes in his two league appearances so far.
We currently have Smith alongside the crossing and clean sheet potential of Everton’s Leighton Baines ($5000) and Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand ($4400).
In midfield we just couldn’t ignore the current hot property that is Dusan Tadic ($6600), a player featured in Tom Fenley’s Weekly Shop article earlier in the week.
Tadic is on fire and averaging a cross every 11.7 minutes over the season. His team-mate Steven Davis ($4600) is another option, however: he goes into the Palace meeting off the back of two goals at White Hart Lane having averaged a cross every 12.3 minutes over his last four Gameweeks, which surpasses even Tadic over the same spell.
Elsewhere in the middle of the park we’ve gone for Eden Hazard (who looks cheap at $5600), purely on form and his ability to draw fouls. We’ve liberated some funds for his acquisition by looking to his team-mate, Bertrand Traore.
He’s keenly priced at just $2700 and yet he looks guaranteed a start up front for Chelsea in the absence of Diego Costa. Traore’s statistics are also eye-catching. While his opportunities have been limited to eight appearances, mainly from the bench, he’s impressed in those matches: he ranks top amongst midfielders for minutes per shot on target 59.2, and, having fired in a goal attempt every 25.4, he’s ranked fourth.
Another Everton player – Kevin Mirallas ($3500) – is also tempting us.
The Belgian scored a superb individual goat at Leicester last time out and, over a stuttering season has averaged an effort on goal every 25.6 minutes (ranked fifth amongst midfielders) with a cross supplied every 23.8 minutes.
In attack, we’re currently looking at Southampton’s Shane Long ($6000), another player picked out in Tom’s Weekly Shop, with support from Olivier Giroud ($5900) and Christian Benteke ($4700).
Giroud looks a certain starter against the ultra obliging Aston Villa rearguard and boasts a strong minutes per shot statistic (25.5 ranking sixth for strikers).
Similarly, Benteke has produced some solid numbers when he’s had his opportunities, firing in an effort on goal every 26.4 minutes, and we fancy plenty of goals in the final day encounter at the Hawthorns.
Those are some of the names currently under consideration for our lineups. We’ll doubtless be tweaking our right up until kick-off and you can do the same – using the teamsheet announcements to pounce on any bargain acquisitions.
Your lineups can be submitted into contests for an entry fee and can be saved so that they can be imported easily into other games.
There are various formats on offer, the tournaments or leagues (often referred to as GPP’s or Guaranteed Prize Pots) are the large entry competitions which have the largest pots. The head-to-head section provides a list of stakes for one-on-one battles, you can choose how much you would like to risk and view available opponents. Double-ups or 50/50s are quite self-explanatory with half the entries getting a twofold return on their fee.
We’ll be submitting a few teams to the 15k Striker Finale with, as you’d expect, a $15k prize pot on offer, including $1k to the winner, with prizes dished out right down to 1175th spot.
If you’re lucky enough to have your Fantasy Premier League lineup sorted already, be sure to give Draft Kings a go in preparation for Euro 16.
