This article is part of our FPL Bargain Bin series.
I am filling in for Chris Mosinski this week and I am going to switch up the format a little bit because he's not around to tell me otherwise.
The growth in daily fantasy games has significantly changed the way we value every player. Where once we would look at their next four to six matches to determine whether they were a good transfer target, we now look no further than the upcoming weekend to decide if a player is worthy of our precious salary cap dollars.
One of the biggest differences we see in daily games is that player pricing moves significantly faster than in season-long games. Take Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski as an example:
Touted back in the GameWeek 2 Bargain Bin, Fabianski started the season as one of the lowest-priced keepers in the game ($4.0 in ESPN's Premier Fantasy game) after leaving his backup role at Arsenal for what looked like a backup role at Swansea. But after being handed the starting job when Michel Vorm was sold to Tottenham, Fabianski's price has now risen in all formats, though there are still 20 keepers in ESPN's game that cost more than his $5.0 increased price tag and nine keepers in the Premier League's official game. However, due to his matchup against Leicester City this week, he clocks in as the third-highest priced starting keeper in MondoGoal ahead of the likes of Tim Howard, Hugo Lloris, Wojciech Szczesny, Joe Hart and David de Gea in MondoGoal's weekly game. His price is also up on DraftKings, which has him as the fourth-highest priced keeper in their Saturday game.
With such drastic changes week-to-week, it becomes a little harder to give advice for cheap players given that the games adjust so frequently for daily games, but not as much for season-long ones, which continue to dominate in the number of fantasy players. So, looking at this weekend's fixtures, here are a few potential bargain picks for season-long and daily games:
Goalkeepers:
Lukasz Fabianski ($5.0 ESPN, £5.1 FPL) v. Leicester City
After their dramatic come-from-behind win over Manchester United on Sept. 21, Leicester have managed to score just two goals in their last three games, both of which came against Burnley at home. Swansea haven't exactly been rock solid defensively in Wales, though allowing just one to Southampton back on Sept. 20 is looking better by the week. Fabianski's low price in season-long leagues almost makes him a must-start this weekend with higher-priced options like Thibaut Courtois (at Manchester United), David de Gea (v. Chelsea), Joe Hart (at West Ham), and Simon Mignolet (v. Hull City) with much tougher matchups.
Brad Guzan ($5.0m MondoGoal) at QPR
After allowing one goal in their first four games this season, Aston Villa fought through a nightmare fixture set that included playing at Liverpool, home against Arsenal, at Chelsea, home against Manchester City and at Everton. After playing the top-five teams from last season, Villa goes to the bottom of the barrel to face off against last-place QPR on Monday. Though they did show some life in last weekend's 3-2 loss to Liverpool, and maybe should have grabbed at least one point, they'll try to fight their way through an Villa defense that already has three clean sheets this season.
Honorable Mention:
Fraser Forster v. Stoke City ($6.0 ESPN, £5.1 FPL) - Southampton have allowed a league-best five goals this season, three ahead of next-lowest Chelsea and Manchester City.
Defenders:
Calum Chambers (£4.6 FPL, $4.6 ESPN, $6.7m MondoGoal, $3,700 DraftKings) at Sunderland
We've spoken quite a bit on the RotoWire Fantasy Soccer Podcast about how much better Sunderland are at home than they are on the road, which was completely evidenced by their 8-0 loss at Southampton last weekend (in fairness, Southampton only scored six of those goals on their own). However, with many higher-scoring defenders coming in at fairly high prices (I'm looking at you Seamus Coleman, Leighton Baines and Branislav Ivanovic), Chambers has an opportunity to put some real fantasy points on the board. With Mathieu Debuchy still sidelined with an ankle injury, Chambers should continue to start and has plenty of offensive upside, as we saw with his perfect cross to fellow-defender Kieran Gibbs in Wednesday's Champions League match against Anderlecht.
And if you're sitting there thinking wondering why you shouldn't just take Gibbs instead, it's because goals from defenders tend to be very unreliable, but Chambers should continue to send crosses in all game. Additionally, Gibbs checks in at a higher price in every game discussed: £5.6 in FPL, $5.9 in ESPN, $7.4m in MondoGoal and $3,900 in DraftKings.
Honorable Mention:
Younes Kaboul ($6.2 ESPN, £5.0 FPL, $7.1m MondoGoal, $2,900 DraftKings) - As Nick Pitner described in his MondoGoal Gameweek 9 Preview, Kaboul is the cheapest of Spurs' defenders, he leads the back-line in clearances and interceptions per game, has two clean sheets in four home matches and faces a Newcastle side that have failed to score in three of four road games this season.
Midfielders:
Ross Barkley ($6.6 ESPN, £6.7 FPL, $8.7m MondoGoal, $7,800 DraftKings) at Burnley
Barkley's price in season-long leagues has been depressed given he just returned from a knee injury that forced him to wait until last weekend to make his debut. He was a menace against Aston Villa, taking three shots and grabbing an assist, showing an offensive spark that Everton have greatly missed this season. Burnley had a hot run of three consecutive clean sheets, but they've now given up nine goals in their last three fixtures and Barkley figures to have a major impact as he's deployed in the No. 10 role.
Honorable Mention:
Mohamed Diame ($6.2 ESPN, £5.5 FPL, $6.3m MondoGoal, $5,200 DraftKings) - Four goals in his last five matches and playing at a Liverpool side whose defense can nicely be called "leaky" and realistically called "terrible."
Forwards:
Diafra Sakho ($6.1 ESPN, £5.7 FPL, $8.0m MondoGoal. West Ham host Manchester City in the early game Saturday, which isn't counted in DraftKings' game that day.)
Enner Valencia gets most of the publicity in the West Ham attack, but Sakho is cheaper in nearly all formats and has scored in five consecutive matches. City are no slouches defensively, but they're much better at home, shipping two goals at Arsenal and two at Hull City before blanking Aston Villa last weekend. After scoring 20 goals in Ligue 2 last season, Sakho has clearly found the recipe for scoring goals in the Premier League.
Honorable Mentions:
Danny Welbeck ($6.3 ESPN, £7.3 FPL) - Welbeck's season-long pricing is still fairly low after starting the year as a bench player behind Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie at Manchester United, but his move to Arsenal to replace the injured Olivier Giroud (ankle) has given him lots of playing time to show his scoring abilities, as evidenced by his four goals in his last four matches in all competitions. Proving the differences between season-long league pricing and DFS: Welbeck is the top-priced forward in DraftKings' Saturday contests.
Wilfried Bony ($7.1 ESPN, £8.2 FPL, $10.2m MondoGoal, $7,400 DraftKings) - Don't worry, I won't leave you DraftKings players looking for cheap players with one guy who isn't eligible this weekend and another that's the top-priced player his position. For a cheap forward option, look no further than Bony, who has goals in back-to-back Premier League games and plays at home this weekend against a Leicester City side that has allowed seven goals in their last four games.
