FanDuel EPL DFS Soccer Picks and Analysis – April 29
By David Gate
Welcome back to our FanDuel EPL Soccer DFS column! With two full days of Premier League action we have have all the best picks, tips, analysis and lineups to help you cash in FanDuel EPL DFS!
It has been another fun week in FanDuel EPL with my Hazard/Fabregas picks giving a great platform for winning lineups and Wednesday’s lineup cashing despite their being only 3 goals on the whole slate.
This weekend is split into two very different days. Saturday has 5 games featuring 8 teams from the bottom half of the table and no team higher than 8th. Sunday on the other hand features 6 of the top 7 clubs. Two very different slates. It will be hard to spend your budget on Saturday and hard to fit in everyone you like on Sunday.
The team sheets come out an hour before kick off 9:00am ET and I’ll be tweeting out changes and surprises. You can follow me @DavidGateSports for updates and @FantasyCPR for the lineups.
The best EPL DFS lineups have 4x value to $1k of FanDuel budget. These lineups are for GPP play and not cash games. With so much value on this slate reaching value for each player on Saturday won’t be hard. The key will be moving to 5 or 6x value. Let’s look at the players to target for a big cash payout on Saturday morning!
FanDuel EPL Goalkeepers
It is such a cheap slate that you don’t have to worry about value. You only have to concentrate on points total. Who will score the most points? I am backing Jordan Pickford (7000) as being the highest scoring option. He is playing against Bournemouth who are the only team on this slate that know how to attack. In his last outing against them he scored 19.5 FanDuel points without a clean sheet. If they some how keep a clean sheet he could be in for 30 point bumper day. I’m locking him in.
Another keeper who could see some action are Ben Foster (6400) who is against a much improved Leicester who need one more win seal safety. West Brom are a tight defensive unit that don’t give up too many chances so I don’t love him.
Tom Heaton (7400) is not a bad pick today either. I think Palace will be keen to attack after a run of fixtures where they’ve been very defensive. It just boils down to whether they can shift gears from tight and defensive to free and attacking. I’m not sure they will. I would lock in Pickford and not worry about it.
FanDuel EPL Defenders
The trouble with picking defenders on this slate is that there are no dominate possession teams to matchup against. FanDuel EPL defensive points are not gained by good defenders against weak opposition but by busy defenders against dominate opposition. None of these matchups fit that bill. Therefore we need look at other strategies to gain points in the defensive positions this week.
One of my favorite defender strategies in FanDuel DFS is to use center backs who are facing Burnley. The Clarets use more long balls than any other team in the Premier League. Over 200 more than the next team! This is why I will be locking in Martin Kelly (5100) as one of the safest bets on this slate. Sakho and Tomkins are both missing with injury and the onus will be on Kelly to repel Burnley’s aerial bombardments.
My other strategy on Saturday will be to target defenders who like to attack. With few defensive stats up for grab it will be worth picking defenders who gain a good share of their points in the oppositions half. The leading contender on this slate is Christian Fuchs (6600) who needs no encouragement to get forward. West Brom have a deep back line and little threat on the right-wing. Fuchs should get forward often.
Three other candidates for attacking full backs are Southampton pair Ryan Bertrand (6100) & Cedric Soares (6100) and Bournemouth defender Adam Smith (5600).
FanDuel EPL Midfielders
Because every player on Saturday will have lots of excess budget everyone will look to ‘upgrade’ in midfield. I think it is inevitable that Mahrez, Ndidi and Lanzini are chalk plays. I would not be nervous about fading all of them and look for different options in GPP tournamnets.
Two of the best options for grabbing a goal are Wilfred Zaha (7000) and Andros Townsend (6700). They are natural attackers and should enjoy the freedom of having less defensive responsibilities this week. I would have a word of caution though as Burnley bypass their midfield with long balls meaning all Palace midfielders have low floors this week. They probably need to get a goal to be worth using.
I think you have to stack players on Saturday. I am going to shoot for Goal/Assist combos from my midfield and forwards. The two stacks I love most are Southampton and Stoke. I consider all Southampton midfielders available for stacking but I am going to go for Nathan Redmond (6300) and Dusan Tadic (6900) as they have the best chances to grab goals.
I think the best player on this entire slate is Xherdan Shaqiri (6600). I picked him last week and he put up a dud with only 4 FanDuel EPL points. I’m hoping that will keep people off him as he is the most talented player in any position on Saturday’s slate.
FanDuel EPL Forwards
Again with so much budget available on Saturday the three most expensive forwards – Benteke, Vardy, King – are bound to be chalk. I think Joshua King (9200) is a fine play against the worst team in the league but I actually prefer his team-mate Benik Afobe (6900). Sunderland have conceded the highest % of headed goals in the league. Afobe is the aerial threat on this attack and like the idea of pairing him with Marc Pugh (5900) who connected for a goal/assist combo last week against a similar Middlesbrough side.
As part of my Southampton stack I am going to go all on Manolo Gabbiadini (7700) who has not scored since returning from injury. However those games were against Man City and Chelsea. He played very well against Chelsea and was unlucky not to have an assist under FanDuel’s scoring system. I love his matchup against a very poor Hull side who struggle away from home.
The other striker I will use in a stack is Marko Arnautovic (7900) who faces West Ham. The Hammers have a midfield injury crisis and will give up a lot of possession away from home. I think West Ham are going to coast through this game on auto pilot. We call it being ‘on the beach’; teams that are safe from relegation dreaming of their summer vacations! West Ham are going to be ‘on the beach’ at Stoke and I am ready to cash in on that!
FanDuel EPL Soccer Lineups – April 29
Lineup 1
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FWD: Gabbiadini – Southampton
FWD: Arnautovic – Stoke
MID: Tadic – Southampton
MlD: Redmond – Southampton
MID: Shaqiri – Stoke
DEF: Kelly – Crystal Palace
DEF: Fuchs – Leicester
GK: Pickford – Sunderland
Lineup 2
FWD: Afobe – Bournemouth
FWD: Arnautovic – Stoke
MID: Shaqiri – Stoke
MlD: Pugh – Bournemouth
MID: Tadic – Southampton
DEF: Bertrand – Southampton
DEF: Soares – Southampton
GK: Pickford – Sunderland
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Best of luck in your FanDuel EPL contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your lineup updates and roster news!