DraftKings EPL DFS Soccer Premier League Picks – March 18 2017
By David Gate
Saturday brings us a full slate of Premier League games for DraftKings EPL DFS. There are 12 teams to pick from and we have you covered for tips, picks, analysis and lineups!
Last week was a big cash in with Joshua King and the Everton stack helping us to 124.75 DraftKings points to finish in the top 5% of lineups.
There are two slates on DraftKings this Saturday with one including the early West Brom v Arsenal game. I’ll be playing on the regular 6 game slate starting at 11am ET. The games I am targeting this week are West Ham v Leicester, Everton v Hull and Bournemouth v Swansea in the late kick off.
Teams release their lineups an hour before kick off – which will be around 10am ET this Saturday due to daylight savings. It is paramount you check these team sheets before you finalize your lineup. The DFS sites won’t list designations as accurately as they do for NFL or NBA sports as a player could be on the bench. I will list changes to my DFS lineups on Twitter at @DavidGateSports and @FantasyCPR
The best EPL DFS lineups have 3x value to $1k of DraftKings budget. These lineups are designed for GPP play rather than cash. Because of the scoring in soccer DFS that means chasing goals and assists wherever you can find them. It often means looking in places where others won’t rather than just load up with the highest priced strikers on the slate. There is a separate article for FanDuel here.
My picks are ranked out of three stars for each position to give you an idea of how confident I am in that pick.
* One Star = high floor players who will get adequate value
** Two Stars = players with a higher upside and fair match up
*** Three Stars = excellent option with a strong match up
DraftKings EPL Goalkeepers
If you’re looking for the win & clean sheet bonuses then the prime contenders are Everton’s Joel Robles (5600)*** and Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois (5500)**. The Toffees are at home to low scoring Hull and Robles is in great DFS form hitting 11+ DraftKings points 6 times since Christmas.
Chelsea are away to Stoke and will be approaching their away games without abandon. They have a 10 point lead with 11 games left to play. They are the better team and don’t need to get into a shootout. Stoke rank 15th in goals scored at home and Chelsea rank 1st in goals conceded away. There is no great upside here, Chelsea give up so few chances.
If you’re looking for a busy keeper to rack up the saves then Lee Grant (4000)* who is facing Chelsea. My only concern here is that Chelsea often don’t give up saves as they are the most efficient shooting side in the EPL – scoring on over 20% of their shots on target.
The game I like for busy keepers is West Ham v Leicester. Both Randolph (5100)** and Schmeichel (4500)** are in good form. I lean to the Leicester stopper playing on the road and coming off a draining Champions League game.
FanDuel EPL Defenders
I really like Leighton Baines (5000)*** this week against Hull. No team has given up more penalties this year than Hull and with Baines on penalty duty he is a great pick in GPP for a big score. He has a questionable injury designation that will frighten some people off but the club said yesterday that he will play.
One of my favorite DFS defenders is Jose Holebas (4200)*** at Watford. He often gets positioned in midfield and makes a ton of crosses. This week he is matching up against Crystal Palace who give up a huge percentage of their goals to left-sided players. I fancy Holebas to make the most of facing Zaha.
Stoke’s Geoff Cameron (3600)*** should play in Midfield this week against Chelsea despite being listed as a defender. He has cracked 10 DraftKings points three out of his last five games and will be very busy on Saturday. He could make his value through interceptions alone.
It is thought Stephen Kingsley (3400)** will come in for Swansea. At that low price against Bournemouth’s busy attack it will be hard to pass up on him.
FanDuel EPL Midfielders
In a very similar fashion to a few weeks ago the midfield slate is headed by Chelsea midfielders and Gylfii Sigurdsson (11200)**. The Icelander has a top matchup against Bournemouth but a combination of his high price, a big slate and likely high ownership means I’ll be fading him somewhat in GPP.
Chelsea’s midfield remains overpriced for my liking. The one exception is Cesc Fabregas (7000)*** who erupted on his last start for 30+ DraftKings points. When he plays he usually gets to the run show. If he starts I love his upside.
It wouldn’t be a weekly DraftKings EPL column without me recommending you play Troy Deeney (5400)** in midfield. He is Watford’s primary striker and goal scoring threat. If they keep him at $5.4k and able to put in midfield I’m going to keep picking him. He has three 14 DraftKings point games in his last 4 matches. Playing Crystal Palace doesn’t scare me either.
I picked Michail Antonio (7700)*** last week and he came good with 25 DraftKings points. He will thrive again this week in another appealing matchup at home to Leicester.
While most people will chase Sigurdsson, Lukaku and Costa I’d keep any eye on Pedro (8400)** who I like as a lower priced, lower owned alternative.
DraftKings EPL Forwards
Both Romelu Lukaku (9600)** and Diego Costa (10200)* have favorable matchups and will be highly rostered. It will be interesting to see how Lukaku fares after announcing he won’t sign a new contract at Everton. Does it unsettle him and his teammates or does he put on a show to entice the big European clubs? I lean towards the former. He will either get you 2 or 25 points this week!
Last week’s pick Joshua King (6200)** blew up for three goals and 38+ DraftKings Points. His price has stayed the same making him a great option. He has an elite matchup this week so will be difficult to ignore. I foresee a lot of people being into him this week. His teammate is a Afobe (4400)** is a sneakier alternative.
Even though he burned me last week with only 3 DraftKings points I like Andy Carroll (6400)**. Leicester have conceded 27 goals away from home this season and are coming off that draining win against Sevilla. There could be a significant hangover for them on a short week and West Ham take advantage. Carroll should be a beneficiary and I love him in a stack with Antonio.
DraftKings EPL Lineups
Lineup 1
GK: Robles – Everton
DEF: Baines – Everton
DEF: Cameron – Stoke
MID: Antonio – West Ham
MlD: Deeney – Watford
FWD: Afobe – Bournemouth
FWD: Lukaku – Everton
UTIL: Pedro – Chelsea
Lineup 2
GK: Courtois – Chelsea
DEF: Holebas – Watford
DEF: Kingsley – Swansea
MID: Deeney – Watford
MlD: Sigurdsson – Swansea
FWD: Carroll – West Ham
FWD: King – Bournemouth
UTIL: Antonio – West Ham
Best of luck in your FanDuel EPL contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR on Twitter for all the late breaking lineup news and roster updates!