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EPL DFS Breakdown – Saturday 8/31/2019

By Vince Dray

BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND - AUGUST 25: Raheem Sterling of Manchester City celebrates scoring their 2nd goal during the Premier League match between AFC Bournemouth and Manchester City at Vitality Stadium on August 25, 2019 in Bournemouth, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND - AUGUST 25: Raheem Sterling of Manchester City celebrates scoring their 2nd goal during the Premier League match between AFC Bournemouth and Manchester City at Vitality Stadium on August 25, 2019 in Bournemouth, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Offside/Offside via Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 17: Ben Mee of Burnley heads the ball during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Burnley FC at Emirates Stadium on August 17, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 17: Ben Mee of Burnley heads the ball during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Burnley FC at Emirates Stadium on August 17, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /

Top-Tier Defenders

Emerson (Sheffield United @ Chelsea, $18) – While many people paying up for a top defender will choose Trent Alexander-Arnold ($18) (they’re not wrong, he’s still a good play), I didn’t want to write him up again.  Instead, we have Emerson here who got a massive price bump that his tremendous play deserves.  For most of last season, you could get Emerson for a minimum price on FanDuel, but after averaging 22.6 fantasy points in his first 3 games this year, he’s right up at the top.  Emerson finally looks like he fits out on the field with the rest of the Chelsea squad.  He’s collecting all kinds of peripheral stats, including the super valuable chances created.  Chelsea faced a poor defending team last week and Emerson created 4 chances.  Chelsea draws another subpar defense, this time at home, and Emerson is in a prime position for another good fantasy outing.

Oleksandr Zinchenko (Brighton @ Manchester City, $16) – Even though he’s an expensive defender, Zinchenko is actually a cheap way to get exposure to the City attack in this game.  He has a rock solid floor with his different peripherals and should be closer to his ceiling in this game with City such big favorites.  Zinchenko created 5 chances last week against Bournemouth, and I’m expecting 3+ this week as well.  He makes a great secondary piece to the City stack if that’s your route.

Lewis Dunk (Brighton @ Manchester City, $16) – On the other side of the field I like Lewis Dunk, but for completely opposite reasons.  Dunk is Brighton’s center defender, so we want to target him in games like this where Brighton are big underdogs.  Dunk spreads out his peripherals among the different defensive stats which generally means a safe floor.  If he wasn’t playing against Manchester City this week, I would have no interest in paying $16 for him, but he should see way more action in this one than he did in the first 3 games.

Shane Duffy ($14) has had 2 horrid fantasy games after his 20+ point performance in week 1.  He has the same plus matchup as Dunk does, so I expect a bounce-back game.  Last year he was continually one of the most expensive defenders on any given slate.  He has to play better at some point.

Ben Mee (Liverpool @ Burnley, $14) – I like Mee on the similar principles that I like Dunk.  He’s a center defender on a large underdog team.  Plus, he spreads his peripherals around.  Defenders against Liverpool have fared well so far this season, and Mee is not priced up for this matchup.  He won’t be getting a clean sheet bonus, but he has a great shot at exceeding his price tag with a definite possibility of going 20+.  For only $14 and in a good matchup, I’m looking at him in all formats on Saturday.  Mee is my favorite Burnley defender, but James Tarkowski ($12) is an awesome cheap option too.

Angelo Ogbonna (Watford @ West Ham, $14) – Copy and paste exactly what I said about Ogbonna last week right here.  “A few years ago when I first started writing EPL DFS Breakdowns, Ogbonna was one of the better defenders at getting peripherals.  He hasn’t been fit for a consistent period of time lately, but he started last game for WHU and got all the way up to 18.2 fantasy points without a clean sheet bonus.  This game should be no different for Ogbonna.  At $10, I’m looking for any defender who can get me safely into double digits, and Ogbonna should be able to hit that mark fairly easily.”  Obviously, his price went up to $4, but he’s still too cheap.  Whether he won you some money last week or you missed out on his 20.6 fantasy point game, feel free to consider him again this week.