Fantasy hopes pinned on Brazil against the Swiss

Brazil and Switzerland bring the curtain down on day four of the 2018 World Cup as they meet in Rostov in the evening kick-off.

The Selecao boast the three most-owned players in McDonald’s FIFA: Marcelo (£6.5m), Neymar (£12.0m) and Philippe Coutinho (£9.0m).

A whopping 44% of Fantasy managers have bought Marcelo – no player is more widely owned – who scored a goal and recorded two assists in qualification and was on target in the November friendly win over Japan.

Neymar, selected by 33% of those playing McDonald’s FIFA,  was directly involved in 15 of Brazil’s goals during World Cup qualification and has scored on a further three occasions in subsequent friendlies.

Only Paolo Guerrero (19) of Peru had more attempts from set-play situations than Neymar (16) in CONMEBOL qualifying.

The 29% of Fantasy managers who own Coutinho will be heartened by his goal in the 10 June friendly win over Austria. The Barcelona playmaker scored on four occasions and set up two goals in qualification, despite only starting eight of Brazil’s matches.

Gabriel Jesus (£9.0m), Brazil’s top goalscorer during qualification, carries the hopes of just 12% of Fantasy bosses, despite being some £3.0m cheaper than Neymar.

Switzerland’s attack-minded full-back pairing of Ricardo Rodriguez and Stephan Lichtsteiner (both £5.5m), who scored six goals between them during qualification, are owned by 2% and 1% of managers respectively.

Hopes will be high for plenty of goals in this Group E encounter: Brazil scored at a rate of 2.3 goals per match during qualification, while Switzerland scored 24 goals in 12 qualifying fixtures – an average of exactly two goals per match.

Brazil’s backline, however, is uncharacteristically mean: the Selecao have not conceded a single goal in their last five friendly internationals (despite facing the likes of Germany, Croatia and England) and their defence was the best in South American qualification (11 goals conceded in 18 fixtures).

The Selecao have a new-found strength in set-play situations, too: four of Brazil’s goals in their six most-recent friendlies were scored directly from corners.