This article is part of our DraftKings Fantasy Soccer series.
MATCHES (ET)
- 10:00 am: Arsenal vs. Leicester City
- 10:00 am: Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Newcastle United
- 10:00 am: Manchester City vs. AFC Bournemouth
- 10:00 am: Southampton vs. Leeds United
- 10:00 am: Wolverhampton vs. Fulham
For detailed stats and odds, check out the
FORWARDS
Saturday's five-game slate gives us our first look at Manchester City as we enter the Erling Haaland ($11,000) era of both the Premier League and DFS. Haaland is a generational talent, surely destined to score many goals. If you thought playing "City roulette" was difficult in the past, it just got even harder. If, like me, you just mindlessly jammed Kevin De Bruyne every week last season (and were mostly rewarded), it might be time to re-evaluate that strategy. City are massive favorites at home against Brentford on Saturday. They have an implied goal total above 2.7 and Haaland has -270 goalscoring odds. Despite those big numbers, I'm not sure you need to roster any City players in cash games as there are plenty of other good options at every position. For tournaments, give me Haaland over De Bruyne this week.
Bukayo Saka, ARS vs. LEI ($9,300): Arsenal are the second-biggest favorite on the slate at home against Leicester City and have an implied goal total sitting around two. Saka took four of seven set pieces last weekend and should continue to split corner kicks in addition to probably having penalty-kick responsibility (he took the most recent one in the Emirates Cup). Assuming Riyad Mahrez ($9,200) doesn't start, Saka and Pascal Gross ($9,700) would have the highest floors at forward. Not normally known for his upside, Gross is coming off of a brace at Old Trafford last weekend as Brighton upset Manchester United. Gross continues to take most of the set pieces and he becomes much more appealing when playing in an advanced role as he did Sunday. Still, $9,700 seems a bit steep for a relatively tough matchup against Newcastle that features the lowest implied total (2.51). Gabriel Martinelli ($8,800) is a similar option to Saka after he played 90 minutes and scored against Crystal Palace last week, and he should continue to take in-swinging corners from the left side. Phil Foden ($8,000) looks like a decent option for tournaments, as it's a favorable salary for a player with hat-trick upside who won't be overly popular.
Morgan Gibbs-White ($6,600) (if Joao Moutinho doesn't start): Gibbs-White split set pieces with Pedro Neto last weekend in the absence of Moutinho, who remains a doubt. Saturday's home matchup against Fulham is a pretty good spot for Wolves. If Moutinho doesn't start, Gibbs-White would have a set-piece floor and attacking upside, making him a near-lock for cash games based on the cheapish salary.
GPP options in the cheap range include Rodrigo ($5,300) and Patrick Bamford ($5,200). Both seem slightly underpriced for Leeds away trip to Southampton. Rodrigo scored last weekend and Bamford should have with a point-blank header. Adam Armstrong ($4,500) and Joe Aribo ($4,500) can be rostered for even cheaper on the home side of that matchup. Southampton have the third-highest implied total on the slate which makes Armstrong and Aribo two of the best tournament options in my opinion. Joelinton ($5,600) was excellent last weekend, picking up an assist to help him score 20 fantasy points. He could've added a goal with a more composed finish after some slick dribbling. He usually plays 90 minutes and few ever roster him now that he's more of a midfielder. Hee-Chan Hwang ($5,800) will be mostly overlooked as well and would make sense paired with Gibbs-White or Neto.
MIDFIELDERS
James Ward-Prowse, SOU vs. LEE ($8,900): After ceding set pieces to Gundogan, Grealish, Foden and Mahrez last weekend and considering his salary, Kevin De Bruyne ($10,000) doesn't need to be prioritized this week. He's still a good options for tournaments as he'll be less popular than usual and City have the potential to score five at home against Bournemouth. Ward-Prowse is the safest option in this range, especially considering Southampton's matchup against Leeds at home. He takes all the set pieces as well as penalty kicks and it wouldn't have been surprising to see him with a five-figure salary. He's a great option for cash games and a good one for GPPs, too.
Pedro Neto, WOL vs. FUL ($8,200): Neto looked good against Leeds last weekend as he put up 14 floor points on eight crosses and three shots. It was encouraging to see him play 90 minutes and Wolves have a favorable matchup at home against Fulham on Saturday. Elsewhere in this range, Jack Harrison ($7,800) split corners with Brenden Aaronson ($6,000) for Leeds. Harrison had 15 floor points last weekend while Aaronson looked lively and played a part in both goals. GPP options in this range include Martin Odegaard ($7,100) and Jack Grealish ($6,900), both of whom are relatively cheap considering the upside they possess in plus matchups. We've seen Ilkay Gundogan ($5,900) score plenty of goals in these spots over the years, as well, assuming he starts again over Bernardo Silva.
Andreas Pereira, FUL at WOL ($4,100): Pereira played 89 minutes and took most of Fulham's set pieces last weekend as he finished with six crosses in a tough matchup against Liverpool. At that price and with set pieces against Wolves on Saturday makes him a near-lock for cash games.
DEFENDERS
Joao Cancelo, MCI vs. BOU ($6,500): The reason I chose Cancelo over Trippier is because Man City have a 2.73 implied total while Newcastle's is 1.17. If you prefer Trippier's set pieces, that's fine because they give him enough upside. Cancelo is now wearing the No. 7 shirt for City which looks odd for a defender but is fitting for his attacking prowess. He'll be involved in plenty of goals this season.
Matt Targett, NEW at BHA ($5,500): The reason I chose Targett over Trippier is the $700 savings. I'd expect them to take a similar amount of corner kicks going forward. If you want to pay the extra salary for Trippier's free kicks, that's understandable. In general, Newcastle's matchup away to Brighton isn't ideal with its 2.5 total being part of the reason, so it makes sense to look at other options for GPPs. Players like Kyle Walker-Peters ($4,900), Romain Perraud ($4,300) and Jonny ($4,400) are in decent spots and are rather affordable. I'll be looking to pair wing-backs with forwards on some of my tournament lineups. Oleksandr Zinchenko ($6,000) looked good in his Arsenal debut, picking up an assist and clean sheet. He's unlikely to play 90 minutes with Kieran Tierney on the bench but 80 is still enough to take a chance on him in GPPs. Ben White ($4,300) at right-back would be a decent option, too. He put up 10 floor points last week and while he's not much of an attacker, he should still be involved in advanced positions periodically which adds some upside.
GOALKEEPERS
Ederson, MCI vs. BOU ($5,900): Man City are 90 percent to win and better than 62 percent to keep a clean sheet as of Friday morning. Those are huge numbers and it'd be a good idea to spend up for Ederson in cash games if you aren't sacrificing too much.
Nick Pope, NEW at BHA ($4,600): Newcastle's matchup away to Brighton has the lowest implied total. Newcastle have been in good form and have a good defense in addition to Pope being a good keeper. Marek Rodak ($4,500) has similar clean-sheet odds for Fulham's matchup against Wolves which has the next lowest total. For GPPs, play anyone you want as long as they don't negatively correlate with your attacking players.
