FanDuel EPL Daily Fantasy Picks and Tips – May 16 2017
By David Gate
Welcome to today’s FanDuel EPL DFS column covering the midweek mini-slate. We have two games and four teams to build rosters for today before the season finale on Sunday. We have you covered for picks, tips and analysis for you to cash in FanDuel EPL DFS!
Saturday’s picks had a fantastic day. The Bournemouth defensive stack racked up 49 FanDuel points to give a solid base to all the lines. Even sleeper picks like Swansea’s Ki and Arsenal’s Bellerin chipped in with assists. Despite fading the potent Arsenal attackers we were able to cash!
Today has just the two games – Man City v West Brom & Arsenal v Sunderland – but they both carry importance. City and Arsenal are chasing Liverpool to grab Champions League qualifying places. If Arsenal fail to win they will almost certainly miss out.
Being a small slate I am going to look at the picks differently today. I will be looking at Locks (players I will have in every line) and Value (where to save budget to fit in all the studs.
The team sheets come out an hour before kick off – 1:45-2pm ET -and I’ll be tweeting out changes and surprises. You can follow me @DavidGateSports for updates and @FantasyCPR for the lineups. Now let’s see how to build a killer lineup today!
FanDuel EPL DFS Locks
The first player I want to lock in today is Oliver Giroud (8600). Arsenal have been playing with Sanchez wide left and using Giroud or Welbeck in the most advanced central position. Whoever starts there today will make my team but I really love Giroud in this matchup. He ranks 2nd in the league for headed goals (6) while playing a lot fewer minutes than his contemporaries. Today he faces a relegated Sunderland who have conceded the most headed goals this year (15). Sanchez, Aguero and Jesus all have fantastic upside but they have harder matchups and are much more expensive and have each had recent injury issues. Giroud will be in all my lineups today.
To pair with Giroud I will be using Hector Bellerin (5400) in defense. The French wing back found his countryman on Saturday for an assist and grabbed one other for a nice 27+ FanDuel point day. My only concern is that he had not much in the way of defensive stats – and the same would apply to today’s matchup. But I love their goal/assist possibility in this game especially as there are no defensive players I love for their defensive stat potential.
My remaining locks will come from Man City’s midfield. Kevin De Bruyne (10300) is the most expensive of the bunch but I actually like that today. With everyone trying to fit one or more of the $10k+ forwards in their lineup I think De Bruyne could be slightly under owned for a two game slate. Add to that he put up a 5 point dud at the weekend and it could encourage punters to stay away.
I’ve been watching City a lot of the last few weeks and it is clear they have gone back to running everything through David Silva (8800). He has had a noticeable increase in touches, passes and time on the ball. He is my solid floor pick today.
FanDuel EPL DFS Value
Away from the high end midfielders I find the most value today in Yaya Toure (7300). If you take a look at his game log you can see how he has been heavily involved in the last few weeks when the games have become important.
He racked up over 100 passes against Crystal Palace which translates to 5 FanDuel points. I am not expecting him to pick up many tackles or interceptions as West Brom don’t play through the middle but I am expecting a bunch of clearances. West Brom are the tallest team in the EPL and Man City are the shortest. Yaya is one of the few players that has any real height or heading ability so expect him to be used at set pieces to repel West Brom’s aerial threat.
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I am expecting a similar line for Toure today than he had against Palace – 21 FanDuel points – but there is a potential for some upside. In the last matchup between these sides Ilkay Gundogan grabbed a brace. Toure now fills that role and is more than capable of grabbing a goal today,
For Goalkeeper I will be using Ben Foster (6200) a lot today simply for his price. The other keepers all project to score higher – and I agree with that – but I want the savings elsewhere. I will also #PuntTheKeeper in at least one $1 GPP game as I love to do that on two game slates.
Other value names I am wanting to see are Donald Love (5100), Sam Field (4200), Marc Wilson (4400) and Darron Gibson (4800). My value forward punt is Fabio Borini (7100) who won’t get a goal or an assist but will give a nice floor in auxiliary stats.
FanDuel EPL DFS Sample Lineup
FWD: Giroud – Arsenal
FWD: Borini – Sunderland
MID: De Bruyne – Man City
MlD: Silva – Man City
MID: Toure – Man City
DEF: Bellerin – Arsenal
DEF: Manquillo – Sunderland
GK: Cech – Arsenal
Best of luck in your FanDuel EPl contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR on Twitter for all the latest lineup news and roster updates.