UCL DFS breakdown: Smart six

UCL DFS: Forwards/Midfielders

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Real Madrid @ PSG, $16) – If you’re familiar with the Premier League, this name might ring a bell from when he spent one season with Stoke City.  He has been filling in for Edinson Cavani ($20) recently who is out with an injury.

Choupo-Moting has three goals already in just two starts this year, and he’s firing off 3.7 shots per game (2nd most on the team).  He’ll face a Real Madrid defense that has not been good this year.  They have given up six goals in four games and they have yet to keep a clean sheet.

An away match-up against a high-powered team like PSG is going to cause their defense fits.  PSG is without both Neymar and Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday, so Choupo-Moting will be asked to do more attacking than he would normally.

This is a very reasonable price for a guy with solid odds to score in a good match-up.  He likely will not go very high owned either with the number of players ahead of him including two other attackers from his own team in Cavani and Angel di Maria ($18).

Duvan Zapata (Atalanta @ Dinamo Zagreb, $18) – Zapata is an unfamiliar name to most, so he should go overlooked on Wednesday.  The Colombian attacker has three goals in three games for Atalanta, and he’s averaging over 5 shots per game.

Atalanta are small favorites on this slate, but it isn’t the best match-up.  However, I’m going to test the hot goal scorer in hopes of a low owned goal.  His peripherals aren’t bad for a forward either.

Bruno Petkovic (Atalanta @ Dinamo Zagreb, $14) – Zagreb is an underrated home team in my opinion on Wednesday.  They’re actually 0.5 underdogs against an Atalanta team that has no UCL experience.

Zagreb has played 12 times already this season in all competitions and he has six goals for Zagreb.  He also takes PKs for the team which adds to his goal appeal.  Atalanta’s defense has allowed at least one goal in every game this season against average Serie A competition.

Zagreb have scored 2+ goals in more than half of their games this year, and I expect them to give Atalanta some trouble on their home turf.  Petkovic is a nice mid-tier option with solid odds to score.  Dani Olmo ($17) and Mislav Orsic ($15) are nice GPP plays as well.  None of them will be very high owned.

Moraes (Manchester City @ Shakhtar Donetsk, $15) – Here we have Shakhtar playing well and City not playing well.  Obviously, City’s “not well” might still be good enough to beat Shakhtar, but it likely won’t come easy.

Many European teams struggled to play on the road against Shakhtar.  They’ve scored a whopping 29 goals in just ten games, and City’s defense just gave up three goals to Norwich and they’ll be without some of their best defenders with Laporte and Stones out.  Moraes has 11 of those 29 goals, and he’ll be a great GPP option on Wednesday.

I know he’s a defender, but I want to throw Ismaily’s ($14) name out there as a Shakhtar guy to target.  He provides some great attacking upside and does well with defensive peripheral as well.