Welcome to our latest visit to the Weekly Shop, where we will help guide your selections for daily and weekly Fantasy Football squad building, scanning FanDuel’s player list with all ten Gameweek 9 fixtures in mind.
A number of those match-ups leap out as potential sources of FanDuel talent.
For starters, a trip to take on in-form Arsenal looks ominous for Middlesbrough, who have lost four of their last five matches.
Sunday’s indifferent display in the 1-0 defeat to Watford at the Riverside suggests that the Emirates visit is unlikely to end well for the newly promoted side. That ensures that we need to consider Arsenal’s attack, while seeking out potential in a ‘Boro defence that’s likely to be on the back foot throughout.
A goalless draw at Anfield against Manchester United on Monday night was perhaps a temporary blip for a Liverpool side that had scored 13 goals in the previous four outings.
Normal service could be resumed when West Brom pay visit to take on Jurgen Klopp’s men this weekend. The Baggies have drawn their last three matches 1-1 and will be intent on holding out for a point, which should guarantee us some defensive returns from Tony Pulis’ defenders and ensures that we’re assessing both sides ahead of Saturday’s clash.
Better Buys
We start the review of our targets by looking at the top bracket options – the players who demand hefty fees but have the fixtures and form to justify the outlay.
We will be constructing our FanDuel squads around these assets and relying on them to underpin our weekend points tallies.
Arsenal’s Petr Cech (£7.2m) appears to be the stand-out selection amongst the big-ticket keepers, with the ‘Boro clash looking tailor-made to provide a fourth clean sheet of the campaign.
Only Burnley (68) have mustered fewer attempts than Aitor Karanka’s side (71), helping to justify Cech’s relatively modest price point.
Virgil van Dijk (£8.2m) has averaged 21.75 FanDuel points over his last four league outings and fetched 27 points against Burnley last time out, ensuring that he leaps out ahead of a daunting trip to the Etihad.
Clearly, Manchester City will stretch a resilient Saints defence, but Van Dijk is so pivotal to Claude Puel’s backline that he could easily match or even better his season average via points for defensive actions such as clearances, blocks and interceptions (CBI).
Crystal Palace travel to Leicester City with doubts still hovering over the availability of key defender Scott Dann, which persuades us to turn to Joel Ward (£6.9m) for potential points in the Eagles’ rearguard.
The full-back fares better away from Selhurst Park, recording an average of 21 FanDuel points on the road compared to 15.34 overall. The 17 tackles he’s notched so far is joint fourth in the league for defenders, while at the other end of the pitch, Ward’s 10 goal attempts is second only to Watford’s Jose Holebas.
Eric Bailly (£6.9m) has settled superbly in Manchester United’s defence. The centre-back has picked up 48 clearances, blocks and interceptions (CBI) over his last four outings to help him return an average of 20.6 FanDuel points. Bailly seems likely to maintain such numbers as he attempts to shackle Diego Costa’s menace at Stamford Bridge.
Shifting our focus to the centre of the park, Kevin De Bruyne’s (£15.5m) versatility renders the Belgian a buoyant source of points – only Spurs’ Son Heung-min (£11.1m) boasts a stronger average per game amongst FanDuel midfielders.
However, it’s also worth considering David Silva, who is available for £10.6m this weekend. We feel that the Spaniard could provide stronger value against the Saints, having created seven chances against Everton last weekend, earning a second assist of the campaign.
Since returning from injury, West Ham United’s Dimitri Payet (£13.2m) has created the most chances (22) in the Premier League over the last five Gameweeks and is also in the top four midfielders for goal attempts (19).
The Hammers look to be recovering from early season issues and Payet could well fill his boots against a suffering Sunderland defence that’s conceded an average of 21.5 efforts on goal in each of their last four outings.
Swansea City’s Gylfi Sigurdsson (£10m) has a 25.91 FanDuel average over the last three Gameweeks, having registered a goal and an assist.
The midfielder is consistently a threat, having at least one shot on target in each match this season. Dead-ball duties help boost Sigurdsson’s frequency of attempts and chances created and, encouragingly, visitors Watford have conceded 25 attempts from set plays away from home this season, more than any other Premier League side.
Theo Walcott’s (£10.6m) 14 shots on target is the most in the Premier League this campaign, level with Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Thirteen tackles this term also indicates an improved work-rate which has helped him establish a better average (29.31) than Alexis Sanchez’s 26.97 FanDuel points per match, despite the lower price tag. One of these two will make our lineups this weekend, and we may well favour Walcott’s value in the majority of our XIs.
Poundstretchers
A first clean sheet in the stalemate with Manchester United was a positive for Liverpool’s Loris Karius, who is available for a cut-price £5.6m ahead of the weekend.
The shut-out helped the German earn a score of 14.5 FanDuel points, ensuring that he looks outstanding value ahead of his Anfield meeting with West Bromwich Albion.
Southampton’s Cuco Martina (£5.6m) appears to be a viable budget route into Claude Puel’s defence for the trip to the Etihad.
He will be expected to retain his place with Cedric Soares remaining sidelined until early November. Martina created a chance and picked up four interceptions against Burnley – his bid to silence Sergio Aguero, Nolito and Raheem Sterling will surely ensure increased defensive returns this time out.
West Brom will likely be under siege from Liverpool’s attack at Anfield, so their defensive assets look ideal FanDuel picks this week with clearances, blocks and interceptions (CBI) all providing points.
Gareth McAuley (£7.1m) is the top Baggies defender for CBI’s registered with 65 this term. The centre-back has also most the goal attempts (3) and is level with Craig Dawson (£7.5m) on tackles (13) ahead of a potentially testing afternoon at Anfield.
For those with a tighter budget, Allan Nyom offers an upside for just £4.8m; the former Watford man has started the last three for West Brom and created three chances in his last two outings.
Arsenal loanee Callum Chambers has the best FanDuel average of Middlesbrough defenders but is ineligible against his parent club. That has us consider George Friend (£7.7m) from the Boro backline who will surely generate defensive points aplenty at the Emirates. The full-back boasts a healthy CBI tally and has made 21 tackles which have contributed to strong 22.57 points average.
Southampton’s Pierre Emile Hojbjerg (£6.5m) has been a value option but inconsistent starter in FanDuel. However, he appears to be favoured over Jordy Clasie in away matches and may well make the teamsheet at the Etihad. An average of 24.25 in his three away starts so far means the Dane could provide excellent value.
Back-to-back run-outs for Victor Moses provides us with a Chelsea midfield option for a £5.8m price tag. A second goal of the campaign saw the Nigerian pick up a 36.25 haul against Leicester City and a wing-back role for the visit of Manchester United should provide opportunities to pick up points at both ends of the pitch.
West Ham’s summer signing Simone Zaza (£7.2m) is yet register a goal in five outings. The Italian has had time to settle now, though, and after an encouraging display in the 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, we’re toying with the idea of looking to the Italian as a risky punt in our attacks.
Borja Baston is another who has taken time to adjust to new surrounds. The Swansea City striker is available for just £5.1m for the visit of Watford. A goal and assist in his last two outings suggests he’s been underpriced and we suspect that Bob Bradley will restore the club’s record signing to the starting line-up, having deployed a false nine setup at Arsenal last time out.
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.
