This article is part of our FanDuel Fantasy Soccer series.
Saturday's Premier League slate gives us another shot to figure out which Manchester City players can take us to the top. They are almost -1000 favorites home against Southampton with the next biggest favorite being Chelsea at -250. Manchester City's implied goal total is around 1.5 goals higher than Chelsea, as well, so in most contests, it's wise to prioritize them. It will become interesting in GPPs, as I think you can get different just by limiting how many you play in your lineup and hoping most of the goals and assists flow through them. On the flip side, you could full stack in GPPs and hope they put up four or five goals.
MATCHES (ET)
- 10:00 am: AFC Bournemouth vs. Leicester City
- 10:00 am: Chelsea vs. Wolverhampton
- 10:00 am: Manchester City vs. Southampton
- 10:00 am: Newcastle United vs. Brentford
- 12:30 pm: Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Tottenham Hotspur
For detailed stats and odds, check out the
FORWARDS/MIDFIELDERS
Erling Haaland, MCI vs. SOU ($25): Wow! Sticker shock hit me for a few minutes when I saw the price on Haaland. This price makes it hard to full stack City, so playing him with one other City piece makes sense and hoping that Haaland is responsible in some way for most of their goals. If you fade Haaland (scary to type), you will certainly want at least two of his teammates in Kevin De Bruyne ($21), Phil Foden ($20), Jack Grealish ($18) and Bernardo Silva ($19), assuming they all start. I rank them in that order with De Bruyne and Foden likely to be the most popular behind Haaland, as well.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, CHE vs. WOL ($19): I really like Chelsea here as a pivot to Manchester City for GPPs in hopes that we will see a turnaround under Graham Potter. They won 3-0 on Wednesday against AC Milan in Champions League in one of their best performances of the season. Aubameyang scored for the second-straight game and he seems to be hitting a stride. He hasn't been playing 90 minutes, but he gives us a strong matchup at home with the second highest anytime goalscoring odds on the slate of projected starters. He is a direct pivot to most of those City guys so we should see fairly low rostership. Mason Mount ($16), Raheem Sterling ($17) and Kai Havertz ($16) (if starting) all make appeal if you are stacking Chelsea to be a bit contrarian and they could very well put up two or three goals.
We will have to look in other places if we want value to stack up the big favorites. Harvey Barnes ($13) is cheap and scored Monday and maybe he has turned a corner, but I actually like the Bournemouth side a bit more at home. Joe Willock ($13) and Newcastle are in a strong home matchup with Brentford and can be paired with Joelinton ($16), Ryan Fraser ($9) or Callum Wilson ($18) if you want to get contrarian but still have access to the third biggest favorite.
Marcus Tavernier, BOU vs. LEI ($12): I mentioned my interest in Bournemouth and it starts with Tavernier who doesn't have the best game for FanDuel scoring but is on sets and has a strong chance at being involved in his first goal of the season against a dreadful Leicester defense. I like the idea of playing Tavernier and then jumping to the other side and playing either James Maddison ($19) or Barnes for GPPs in a game that I think could see some goals.
DEFENDERS
Kieran Trippier, NEW vs. BRE ($14): Trippier continues to produce for Newcastle and I expect no different here. If Matt Targett ($10) is in, they may split sets, but he should still be very much involved in the attack. Reece James ($15) is expensive but has upside as shown by scoring a goal midweek. Joao Cancelo ($14) would be ranked second of the top-priced defenders for me and should be fairly popular. I like the price of his teammate a bit more, though.
Sergio Gomez, MCI vs. SOU ($9): Gomez is just too cheap and gives us some much needed salary relief if we want to try and fit Haaland. We saw his upside against Manchester United by being involved in a goal. In this matchup he should again create chances and is a nice last piece to a Manchester City stack. Ben Mee ($11) should be busy against Newcastle and gives you at least a little set-piece goal equity. Jonny ($9) is another cheap piece I am considering as he has shown a solid floor and could be in a back three against Chelsea where he should have quite a few defensive duties.
GOALKEEPERS
Kepa Arrizabalaga, CHE vs. WOL ($12): Chelsea has shown a tendency to give up some goals this season, but in hopes that they will show a strong run with Potter at the helm, I am siding with Kepa at a discount from Ederson ($14). Even the difference of two dollars may help us with stacking where we want to. You could always go the Ederson route if you're tending lighter on the top priced City pieces and pair him up with Cancelo and Gomez for some added clean-sheet correlation. If wanting to go cheaper, I have interest in Nick Pope ($11) and Robert Sanchez ($10). I expect Newcastle to win and Pope should get an opportunity for some saves on shots from guys like Ivan Toney. Sanchez gets a fairly tough home matchup with Tottenham in the late game and hasn't looked as great defensively as they did earlier in the season but maybe being back home they get things together in Roberto De Zerbi's home debut.
