We have a slate where the most important match of the day is Hull City – Sunderland! How exciting?! With that in mind, we’ll have to be careful with the starting lineups this weekend and ensure everyone we’re targeting is starting. Let’s go game by game.
Hull City – Sunderland
Hull are fighting the relegation battle and have an extremely important game this weekend. They are two points up on Swansea for the last non-relegation spot and have to keep getting points to survive. A home game against Sunderland is the perfect place for getting points, and Hull should spend the majority of the game attacking. With Sunderland unlikely to push forward much, I don’t see how Hull City can defend and counter, especially since they need a win. The likelihood of them going all-out is pretty high and there should be value across their team. It’s worth noting Hull City are the biggest favorites of the slate.
Kamil Grosicki will lead the attack. He isn’t the best choice for FanDuel’s scoring system but he has goal and assist upside and that makes him tournament viable, especially at his low price of $6,000. Oumar Niasse hasn’t played well but has shown upside in the past and deserves consideration in a game where his team will likely attack from start to end. On the other side of the ball, Jordan Pickford is an option that will likely face a very high number of save opportunities. He’s cash viable even at an elevated price. John O’Shea and the rest of Sunderland’s defenders should get increased opportunities for tackles and interceptions. Depending on what their back line looks like, there could be value there.
Burnley – West Brom
This game is very, very heavily favored to be under 2.5 goals. It’s a pretty easy game to avoid, as there are no big names or values here to target. With clean sheets not being of high value on FanDuel, even goalkeepers are tough to target here with the low save potential. Matthew Lowton is viable in cash games but a bit expensive, however he is consistent and can contribute across all categories. The home boost is nice too. In tournaments, Andre Gray should be very low owned and deserves slight consideration, however I wouldn’t get more than 15% of exposure to him if multi-entering and he wouldn’t be in my lineups if I made less than five.
Bournemouth – Stoke City
This game is the exact opposite of Burnley – West Brom. Both teams have been better in attack than in defense and that should make this one very interesting. The chances of it going over 2.5 goals are 4/6, which are some of the best I’ve seen this season. The value here is across the board on both teams.
To start off with Bournemouth, Joshua King is expensive but worth it in tournaments. I’d probably avoid him in cash games because he is very goal dependent, but he has shown a great goal-scoring touch in recent weeks and he’s a fantastic tournament target. Ryan Fraser’s playing style doesn’t bode well with FanDuel scoring but he has goal and assist upside and comes at just $5,700. We’ve seen this season that when Bournemouth score, they score a lot, and if the flood gates open here then I like Fraser’s chances of getting involved. Mini Bournemouth stacks are a great way to attack tournaments, and you can even bring in a defender into them with Charlie Daniels.
On Stoke’s side of the ball, Xherdan Shaqiri has been playing well and is underpriced. Since crossing doesn’t score points on FanDuel, Shaqiri is difficult to trust in cash games even at this price, but he is tournament viable. Ryan Shawcross should have plenty of chances of defensive statistics and can be considered here as well.
Leicester City – Watford
Leicester City are another team who come in as fairly big favorites. They’ve improved since making their coaching change a few weeks ago and are playing very well going forward. Jamie Vardy is expensive but is a strong tournament option as he should lead the line once again. Riyad Mahrez is underpriced but that’s largely a result of his low floor. He is unplayable in cash games but usable in tournaments. This slate in general is one that doesn’t feature a big number of cash game options and may be better to focus on tournaments rather than cash games here.
From Watford, Jose Holebas is questionable but has been great as of late. He should be featured in all formats if he starts, as he’s truly a player that contributes across all categories and carries both upside and a solid floor. Heurelho Gomes should see a high number of shots and is playable in all formats. The price across goalkeepers isn’t large and we are in a slate where we can afford almost anyone, so don’t worry too much about goalkeeper prices and just play the ones with the highest upside. Gomes is certainly one of them.
Swansea – Everton
The last match of the day features Swansea, another relegation candidate. They definitely need a win and will try to break down Everton’s solid defense. Whether or not they succeed is unknown, but if they do, Gylfi Sigurdsson will be involved. Gylfi is not even the most expensive player on the slate, so he’s certainly an option given his upside and floor. He is on all set pieces and is frequently involved in a variety of ways, making him a great fantasy target.
For Everton, assuming Maarten Stekelenburg starts again, he can be deployed as he has a shot at both keeping a clean sheet and racking up saves. Offensively, Everton are tough to play as we don’t know how they’ll approach this game. If they decide to just counter Swansea, there could be very few opportunities for them to rack up fantasy points and thus make them dangerous plays. They’re mainly tournament only options but even there I’ll likely be underweight.
Good luck everyone!
