DraftKings Fantasy Soccer: EPL Saturday Value Plays

DraftKings Fantasy Soccer: EPL Saturday Value Plays

This article is part of our DraftKings Fantasy Soccer series.

Welcome to our Premier League coverage curtailed towards this Saturday's DraftKings contests. Your total available salary is $50,000 to build your best squad of eight players, which includes one goalkeeper, two defenders, two midfielders, two forwards and one FLEX. Points are awarded on DraftKings as follows: 



Goal = +10 PTs
Assist = +6 PTs
Shot = +1 PTs
Shot on Goal = +1 PTs
Crosses = +1 PTs
Fouls Drawn = +0.75 PTs
Red Card = -1 PTs
Saves (GK) = +2 PTs
Goal Allowed (GK) = -2 PTs
Clean Sheet (GK, D) = +5 PTs
One Goal Allowed (GK, D) = +2 PTs
Win (GK) = +5 PTs
Penalty Kick Save (GK) = +3 PTs

With that out of the way, here are the best available GPP contests for Premier League soccer Saturday:



$6K Equalizer ($1,200 first prize), Entry Fee: $27
$4K Golden Boot ($2,000 first prize), Entry Fee: $200
$3K Striker ($300 first prize), Entry Fee: $3
and many more…



DraftKings has announced the $100K Fantasy Soccer World Championship with a $20,000 first prize set to take place May 24 – yes, that's next Sunday. There are various opportunities to earn entry through contests with fees of $3, $9, $12, $33 and $55.

The following games are included: 

Stoke City at Burnley
West Ham at Everton
Hull City at Tottenham
Leicester City at Sunderland
Newcastle United at Queens Park Rangers
Crystal Palace at Liverpool

Let's quickly look at the impact of each game:

Stoke-Burnley: With Stoke firmly mid-table and Burnley guaranteed relegation (despite a win last weekend) there is little to play for here. Not much offense should be expected.

West Ham-Everton: Both teams are mid-table with no hopes to reach into European qualification nor are there worries of relegation, which means there is very little meaning in this match. The offensive expectations in this game aren't much better than Stoke-Burnley, but the quality of the teams makes the offensive proposition slightly more promising.

Hull-Tottenham: This game is intriguing. After two straight losses, Hull City has found themselves in the last relegation spot, two points behind Sunderland and Newcastle. Tottenham, as the table currently stands, is in a stiff fight for one of the remaining Europa League qualification spots. With both teams firmly looking for/needing the win here, goals should be expected.

Leicester-Sunderland: Neither team is quite clear of relegation yet, but the winner (if there is one) clinches another year in the Premier League. The loser? They'll be cheering full-heartedly for Tottenham to beat Hull. Not to the level of Hull-Tottenham, but it's a fair bet to expect some offense in this matchup.

Newcastle-QPR: Newcastle managed a draw last time out, their first non-losing result in a couple months, while QPR flamed out of the Premier League in disastrous style by losing 6-0 to Manchester City. Newcastle has initiative here, QPR is in a sad state with an even more sad defense. Dare I say playing Newcastle is appealing?

Crystal Palace-Liverpool: Crystal Palace is still safe from relegation, but their Bolasie-hat-tricking, Manchester-City-beating form looks to be behind them without much initiative to produce results with their place in the table. Liverpool has all but clinched a Europa League spot, trailing Manchester United by six points and 14 goals by differential for the last Champions League spot. Liverpool are the sharpest favorites on the slate, and their prices wholeheartedly are as well.

Goalkeepers
Tim Krul ($4,500)
The Newcastle bandwagon I suddenly find myself riding begins here. The Dutch international has made as many as six saves, but also allowed three goals on four separate occasions in his last four outings. Coming off allowing just one goal and playing against opposition that has scored just once in their last four and has nothing more to play for, Krul looks very good as the seventh-highest priced keeper.

Simon Mignolet ($5,600)
Those in favor of playing the odds, Liverpool are very sharp favorites and somehow Mignolet is not the most expensive keeper. With just three goals allowed in his last five matches and opposing a Crystal Palace side that has just one goal in their last four, Mignolet is the closest thing you'll get to a sure thing.

Other Options: Clearly positioned behind the top two, Jack Butland ($4,400) of Stoke City warrants mentioning being priced $500 behind opposing keeper Tom Heaton. The game doesn't figure to be specifically offensive, and if a team were to win I'd favor it to be Stoke. Kasper Schmeichel ($4,000), excluding the Chelsea game has a FPT line of 16-16-18-22-7-17 in six of his last seven. Those are some solid numbers.

Defenders
Ryan Taylor ($4,400)
My infatuation with Newcastle continues. Taylor is actually a midfielder, and more importantly has averaged seven crosses over his last two games along with an all-important assist last weekend.

Luke Garbutt ($3,600)
Ankle surgery for Leighton Baines has allowed the leftback position to fall back to Garbutt, who put in as many as 10 crosses during his short tenure starting in place of Baines back in March.

Danny Rose ($3,900)
A surprise absence last week with a hamstring injury, Rose should be back in the starting 11 this weekend. There's a chance American DeAndre Yedlin ($4,500) gets a chance to start, which is interesting though clearly overpriced seeing as he's only seen 11 minutes on the field all season. Rose is an excellent leftback, and should be deployed confidently if he returns to the starting lineup.

Other Options:Seamus Coleman ($5,500), Carl Jenkinson ($5,300), Kieran Tripper ($6,500) are all top priced defenders worth looking at while Yun Suk-Young ($2,900), Erik Pieters ($3,300) and Geoff Cameron ($3,000) are all reasonable on the discount side of things.

Midfielders
Steven Gerrard ($5,900)
This is the swansong for the longtime captain in front of the Anfield faithful. It seems like destiny could push old Stevie to make it three goals in three weeks before he bows out from the Premier League and moves to Los Angeles.

Remy Cabella ($5,500)
It was tight whether to recommend Cabella or the steeply discounted Moussa Sissoko ($3,800) , but I believe the former has the flair to make a very meaningful impact on the result in this game, a result I fully expect to favor Newcastle.

Ahmed Elmohamady ($6,500)
Tottenham is prone to giving up tons of crosses, something Elmohamady specializes in.

Christian Eriksen ($8,500)
For those trying to ensure they use the entirety of their salary cap, Eriksen seems to coming back into form after ten crosses and three shots last weekend.

Other Options:Philippe Coutinho ($7,400), Wilfried Zaha ($4,700), Charlie Adam ($6,800), Matthew Phillips ($4,800), Moussa Sissoko ($3,800) and Marc Albrighton ($5,000) all can be readily rolled out in a week when there is really no shortage of options in the midfield.

Forwards
Papiss Cisse ($6,100)
With 21 minutes off the bench last weekend, Cisse looks to finally return to the starting 11. Possessing one of the best goals per minute average in the league and playing for a Newcastle side I expect to score goals, Cisse comes in as the top recommended striker as such a cheap price. Do make sure he gets the start before rolling with him.

Harry Kane ($10,600)
It's time for Kane to score, possibly/probably more than once. He didn't hit 20 goals and become the Premier League's second-leading goal scorer simply by chance, he earned every goal and a game that figures to showcase a fair amount of offense should really play into Kane's potential upside.

Being so affectionate of the two forwards above, I'll simply list post a ranking of the remaining recommended forwards:

1. Connor Wickam ($6,800)

2. Jamie Vardy ($6,900)

3. Marko Arnautovic ($4,500)

4. Robbie Brady ($3,900)

5. Dame N'Doye ($7,500)

6. Mario Balotelli ($6,000)

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Alex Spalding plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: ajump08, DraftKings: ajump08.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex Spalding
Alex splits his expertise between College Basketball, NBA, NFL, MLB, and Saturday morning BPL. You'll find him under the username ajump08 on DraftKings and FanDuel.
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