Welcome to our latest visit to the Weekly Shop, where we will help guide your selections for daily and weekly Fantasy Football squad building, paying particular attention to FanDuel’s player list.
As with last term, we divide the player analysis into two parts: I’ll assess the key targets that no squad can do without in “Better Buys”, before seeking out those one-shot “Poundstretcher” prospects that can provide us with points whilst liberating crucial funds.
For those new to FanDuel our recent strategy guide will help familiarise yourself with their scoring model and key strategies for success.
Chelsea assets are likely to be prime candidates for our squads this week as they host newly promoted Burnley and look for a third straight Premier League win.
There are also tempting prospects at St Mary’s, where Southampton will be looking for their first win of the season against a Sunderland side who have suffered back-to-back 2-1 defeats.
Elsewhere, Crystal Palace will be hoping to pick up their first points of the season as Bournemouth travel to South London, while win-less Leicester City welcome Swansea City.
Better Buys
West Brom’s Ben Foster (£7.5m) is our top goalkeeper pick for the weekend thanks to a 19.5 point average over the first two fixtures in FanDuel. In last weekend’s 2-1 home defeat to Everton he earned 15 points from his five saves.
Only Tom Heaton’s 23.88 can better Foster’s per game average, but this weekend the £7.4m priced Burnley stopper faces a tough task to earn a clean sheet away at Chelsea. Meanwhile, Foster hosts newcomers Middlesbrough.
A potential clean sheet is a factor when selecting your FanDuel keeper – it’s the only position to earn points from a shut-out; keepers also benefit from three points for every save made.
Hull’s unexpected back-to-back victories have been secured due to a resilient back-line in which Curtis Davies (£6.1m) has excelled.
The Tigers are unlikely to keep visitors Manchester United from scoring but in FanDuel, with no clean sheet points for defenders, centre-backs that see plenty of action are valuable selections.
Davies’ average points tally of 36.13 is higher than any other defender. Accumulation of clearances, blocks and interception (CBI) points is key for Davies, who earned 23.5 points just from CB1 against Swansea last weekend.
Scott Dann (£7.9m) is not far behind Davies in terms of CBI points, with the Crystal Palace centre-back picking up 18.5 points from defensive contributions in the defeat at Spurs. Dann’s goal threat at set-plays is always a factor and we’re banking on that coming into play when Bournemouth visit Selhurst Park.
Our midfield is set to built around at least one Southampton asset.
Though classed as a midfielder, Nathan Redmond should partner Shane Long up front once again for the visit of Sunderland to St Mary’s.
The ex-Norwich flyer scored in the Saints’ previous match at and at £8.5m remains a value pick once again from Claude Puel’s attack.
Dusan Tadic (£10.7m) is the pricier option. The Serb is likely to pick up plenty of points for chance creation, while set-piece duties also add to his appeal with shots on target are worth five points apiece.
We’re also heavily touting Ross Barkley’s this week. The 22-year-old captained the Toffees in their League Cup tie and earned another goal and assist combination. He’s already notched against Spurs and earned another assist at West Brom last weekend.
With an average of 29.88 points over his two matches in FanDuel, he looks primed to deal damage and maybe boost that figure when Stoke park up at Goodison.
Chelsea should see plenty of the ball against Burnley and Eden Hazard (£12.5m) is set to be heavily involved against the Clarets after registering a goal and an assist so far this term.
The Belgian accrued 10 points for shots on target and nine points for chances created in the win at Watford last weekend and could easily better those numbers this weekend.
Chelsea could also provide a key figure in our FanDuel attacks.
Diego Costa is worth considering at £9.8m. The troublesome Spaniard has netted in both his outings so far and his propensity to pick up bookings doesn’t impact significantly in FanDuel: a yellow card results in just a single point deduction.
Selecting one or both of Sergio Aguero (£16.0m) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (£14.0m) seems inescapable at this point. The latter’s price puts the Swede slightly ahead in our estimations this week but with both scoring over 50 points each last round, saving funds elsewhere appears crucial this term.
Poundstretchers
Both Crystal Palace’s Wayne Hennessey (£6.1m) and Manchester City’s Willy Caballero (£5.6m) have budget price-tags and home ties that look encouraging for clean sheet points. They face Bournemouth and West Ham respectively and should register some save points even if they concede.
Hennessey is now under increased threat from Steve Mandanda (£6.5m), so if you don’t fancy the risk, then Everton’s Maarten Stekelenburg continues to offer value at just £5.5m.
The Dutchman faces Stoke City at Goodison and the Toffees already appear more resolute in Ronald Koeman’s 3-5-2 setup.
While it may appear counter-intuitive to consider a Burnley rearguard playing away from home at Chelsea, the FanDuel scoring system favours defenders that actually have to defend.
Ben Mee (£6.1m) recorded 14 points from clearances, blocks and interceptions last weekend when Liverpool visited Turf Moor and we think he can produce similar numbers in West London this time around.
Swansea travel to Leicester City and provide two of the top ten defenders for average points so far. Jordi Amat (£4.1m) picked up 28 points in the defeat to Hull while Kyle Naughton (£5.4m) was close behind with 26 points. They should certainly be kept busy against the Champions.
If you’re shopping for a cheap enabler in midfield then Southampton’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is available for only £4.0m and picked up an impressive 28.25 points against Manchester United last Friday, including 12 points from tackling and six from creating chances.
The Danish midfielder had the second best points per million ratio last weekend, behind Middlesbrough’s two goal hero Cristhian Stuani, who is classified as a striker and is also priced at £4.0m.
Hojbjerg may not be kept as busy at home to Sunderland, so elsewhere we coveting cheap midfielders who could offer goal and assist potential.
Leicester City’s Andy King (£5.3m) should be in line to start against Swansea given the injury to Nampalys Mendy and Everton’s Kevin Mirallas (£6.9m) offers a handy alternative to Ross Barkley if you’re willing to risk his pitch-time at home to Stoke.
Then there is Robert Snodgrass (£7.3m).
He’s been a central figure in Hull’s unexpected start to the campaign and has averaged 31.13 FanDuel points thus far. It remains to be seen if he can make an impression against Manchester United – Mike Phelan’s side have certainly surprised us to this point.
The Hawthorns provides the backdrop for two value strikers who have both demonstrated strong early season form.
Salomon Rondon at £6.9m looks to be a promising FanDuel option after scoring against Crystal Palace in Gameweek 1. Across the opening two matches he has created four chances (worth three points each) and registered three shots on target (worth five apiece).
Opponents Middlesborough have their own cut-price striker worth considering. Alvaro Negredo (£7.1m) has averaged 24 points over two matches, a goal and two assists suggest that the Spaniard is likely to be involved in a high proportion of Boro’s attacking returns.
Elsewhere, you’ll need to spend more to find a differential or two.
But we like the look of a gamble on Christian Benteke (£8.3m) for a debut Palace goal against the Bournemouth defence.
We’re also wondering if Olivier Giroud is undervalued at £8.8m given that he could be set to lead the Arsenal attack at Watford.
This Week’s Contests
There’s a range of contests now open on FanDuel, some covering the full-slate, beginning with the 12.30pm kick-off at White Hart Lane, while there’s also a chance to enter line-ups for only the Saturday or Sunday kick-offs.
The main contest that includes all the fixtures is the £1500 weekend special, it has a £3 entry fee with £200 going for first place. The Fantasy Football Scout Challenge is £1 to enter with £150 up for grabs this week.
The Saturday only matches have a 3pm deadline so be sure to watch out for team news before finalising your line-ups, there’s a free £25 pot available here so you can test the format out.
This time-frame also has the biggest pot of the weekend, the £7500 Fan Favourite contest, which has a £5 buy-in and a £750 first-place prize.
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.
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.
