This week we get a 6 game slate without some of the heavy hitters like Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham. Besides the Arsenal Huddersfield match and Liverpool Bournemouth all the other games seem pretty even on paper. Even Bournemouth could put up a fight against the reds which should make for a very good slate. Draftkings has upped the main tournament to a 10k first place prize so let’s make sure we fill up this tournament to make next week’s tourney even bigger. Salah and Aubameyang figure to be the chalkiest players with Auba making the most sense playing against that leaky Huddersfield defense. Here are my picks for the week.
Forward
Top: Alexandre Lacazette
Normally Aubameyang $10,000 would be my play in this spot but since I believe ownership will be pretty high on him why not pivot to the other guy from Arsenal who has been scoring goals and will be less owned. Any forward is in play against Huddersfield but Lacazette makes for a ultra juicy gpp pivot here. He only had one point against Man City which will lower his ownership even more but besides that game he scored against Cardiff and Chelsea the previous two. Mane $9,100 also makes for a great pivot from Salah as he takes on Bournemouth.
Mid: Richarlison $6,700
The matchup against Watford does not scare me at all and he should have plenty of opportunities to score against them like he did earlier in the year. The price is very low for someone with the upside that he brings.
Value: Shane Long $5,700
With Danny Ings set to miss a few weeks Long should be in line for a start against a Cardiff defense that gives up a lot of goals. He should have plenty of chances to find the back of the net here. Mounie $5,500 is intriguing because Arsenal does not have the best defense in the premier league and they will more than likely give up a goal against Huddersfield. Mounie will shoot enough to get you 4-5 points and if he finishes one he could crush value.
Midfielders
Top: Dwight Mcneil $8,300
The price is a little disturbing since he was sub 4k the first week he was on the player pool. Since then he has only scored less than 9 points once and has scored over 13 points 4 times with only scoring one goal. Last three weeks he has crossed the ball 25 times and he should have no problem having a big game against Brighton. Oh yea and it is a late game hammer!. Sign me up.
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Mid: Robert Snodgrass $6,400
Log watchers will look and see that he has not had a double digit scoring game since December 27th. He has not had the minutes that he had at the beginning of the season but in their last match Snod finished with 9 crosses a goal and 19.8 fantasy points. I think if he starts he makes for a very sneaky gpp play.
Value: Junior Stanislas $3,900
Stanislas has been a regular 6k player the entire season and this slate he is priced under 4k. Liverpool does give up goals and while I do not expect him to have an earth shattering performance the price seems way to low for someone with his kind of talent.
Defense
Top: Digne $6,800
As long as he starts he will be my favorite defender for the rest of the year. Not much else to be said about him. If you can fit him lock him in.
Mid: Valery $4,500
I was pretty bummed out last week that he did not get the start. He should find himself back in the starting 11 and he gets a fantastic matchup against Cardiff. Besides Digne he is my favorite defender on the slate.
Value: Joe Bennett $3,700
I do not think it is necessary to go hunting for a punt at defender this week but Bennett is always a safe bet for 4-5 points if you need to go down to this zone.
Goalkeeper
Tom Heaton $4,200
At this price we don’t need Heaton to do more than get a couple of saves. Last time these teams met earlier in the season Burnley walked away with a 1-0 victory. Odds say that there will not be many goals in this game and the fact that Heaton has not scored under 5 points all season makes him my favorite goalie play of the slate. I think he has the floor of 4-6 points and if he does get a clean sheet or win he will crush value at pretty low ownership.
As always if you have any questions feel free to send me a message on discord or on twitter. I can’t wait to see all the screenshots after we dominate this week! Enjoy the slate and make sure to tune in to our slack when lineups come out since we usually drop a play or two in there as well.
Written by Jaime (Twitter: @jaimedurand1)
