FanDuel EPL DFS: Fixtures, flyers and fades – Dec 16 2017
By David Gate
The FanDuel EPL DFS slates keep coming! We have 12 teams to pick from this Saturday in the Premier League. We are here to help you cash on FanDuel soccer.
Well Wednesday sucked for me. Not so much my picks but my line up construction. I had a bunch of stacks around a core of Adrian, Luke Shaw, Danny Rose and Oliver Giroud. The Arsenal striker was a bum but the other three were on point.
The Arsenal and Liverpool stacks died with neither team getting on the score sheet. My Man City stack got closest to cashing but I had no Silva or de Bruyne who were (once again) the key men. Every lineup at the top of the $4 GPP had Shinji Okazaki from Leicester who exploded for 70+ FanDuel points. I had him in some original lineups before deciding to go all in on Giroud. Yuck.
This is a nice slate with Chelsea and Arsenal with good home matchups. The big game of the day is Man City and Tottenham clash in the late game. It will be interesting to see how the field plays that game. Will punters be hesitant of either team or will they be all in?
I break down this column into three categories: Fixtures are those you need to build your lineups around. Flyers are the gambles and the punts; cheaper or lesser known players in great positions for a break out game. Fades are those you need to avoid; I think who you choose to fade in soccer DFS is more important than in any other DFS sport.
I’ll probably be on Twitter @davidgatesports to chat through lineups from 9:00am ET. Gonna see the new Star Wars movie with my kids so may not be as present as usual!
FanDuel EPL: Fixtures
My favorite player of the day is Ben Davies (6000) from Tottenham. His price has dipped as his FanDuel point average has dropped with squad rotation. That is great because when he plays he is a virtual lock for 20 FD points.
Over the last few seasons the matchups between these two teams have been great games. Plenty of goals and action at a fast pace. What I love most about this game is it is the first time Kyle Walker (5500) will face his old club Spurs. There is some resentment in the Tottenham side over his leaving. It should be tasty. Davies will line up as his direct opponent and the Welshman will be determined to shut down his old teammate.
The rest of the Man City attack is all in play. Love the prices of Raheem Sterling (9500), David Silva (9500) and Gabriel Jesus (9500). And Leroy Sane (8500) at that price seems…. inSane. Sorry.
Arsenal burned me again in midweek but I am going to go back to the well. I am hoping the Man City/Spurs game takes all the attention and the bad game logs keep people off Arsenal. I love Alexandre Lacazette (9500), and Granit Xhaka (7500). I also can’t ignore Mesut Ozil (9500) at that price in this game.
My interest in Chelsea comes down to Alvaro Morata (11500). If he plays then I like him in a pair with Cesar Azpilicueta (7000). If he sits again then I want more of Pedro (9500) and Willian (9000) who did the business for me on Tuesday.
FanDuel EPL: Flyers
I have been impressed with the turn around in performance of West Ham. I don’t like saying that as I picked them to go down and I desperately want to see David Moyes relegated for the second straight year. Yet he is picking a much smarter side than his predecessor. They look decent again.
One of the bold choices he has made is to drop the hugely overrated Joe Hart and revert back to Adrian (4500) in goal. The Spaniard has been excellent in his last two games and his price has only picked up by 500 so he will be my main keeper tomorrow.
The smartest thing Moyes has done is to build the attack around their best player; Marko Arnautovic (7000). They are facing the worst defense in the Premier League. Stoke have conceded 36 goals (20th) and 15 of those at home (19th). I love this play today.
The Kevin Long value train has left the station with the Burnley reserve getting a $1.5k bump in price. I am more interested in the Brighton & Hove Albion back four this week. Lewis Dunk (5500) is a lock for 3x value and has 4/5x value upside.
Other defenders that have my attention for some budget saving are: Daryl Janmaat (5500) who scored in midweek. I love any Watford full back under 6k; Wesley Hoedt (5000) seems to cheap. If he starts (and especially if Morata starts too) I will have some exposure to the Dutchman.
FanDuel EPL: Fades
Most of my fades on this slate are to do with accumulating minutes. Teams are playing Saturday/Wednesday/Saturday right now and racking up huge amount of game time with little recovery. I’m paying attention to those players who have not had much rest as their production is likely to ease off until they do.
In the big game Man City have been riding Kevin de Bruyne (11000) hard. He keeps on getting FanDuel points but has only hit over 3x value once in the last six games. The Spurs midfield and defensive unit should keep City from blowing them out. I prefer all his teammates on this slate.
Harry Kane (12000) is the most expensive player in the slate and you always have to decide if you are going to fade him or ride him. He is another who has played a ton of minutes of the last few months. While I’m impressed he racked up over 36 FanDuel points in midweek without a goal or an assist he will not get that many chances at the Etihad.
I think you can fade Christian Eriksen (9000) and Dele Alli (8000) also. However I am interested in Son Heung-Min (7500) whose price seems implausible, even in a bad matchup. He is Spurs most in form player and always a goal threat.
Watford have been in a dip and the heavy usage for their work horses – Richarlison (10000) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (9500) – has me very hesitant even against Huddersfield. I want to see some upturn for the Hornets duo before I feel comfortable using them.
FanDuel EPL Lineups
Note: these are sample lineups and are not optimized. The only guarantee I can give you is that I will playing them too. I will also have some lines that are not here. Best thing is to take some of these picks and build your own lineup – especially in GPP – as lineup sharing only reduces the amount you can win.
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Lineup 1: Man City Stack
FWD: Jesus – Man City
FWD: Arnautovic – West Ham
MID: Sane – Man City
MlD: Silva – Man City
MID: Sterling – Man City
DEF: Dunk – Brighton
DEF: Davies – Tottenham
GK: Adrian – West Ham
Lineup 2: Man City Fade
FWD: Pedro – Chelsea
FWD: Lacazette – Arsenal
MID: Willian – Chelsea
MlD: Ozil – Arsenal
MID: Son – Tottenham
DEF: Dunk – Brighton
DEF: Walker – Man City
GK: Adrian – West Ham
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