Fansided

EPL DFS Breakdown – Saturday 11/2/2019

By Vince Dray

Riyad Mahrez (L), Sergio Aguero and Bernardo Silva of Manchester City during the Carabao Cup Fourth Round match between Manchester City and Southampton at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester on Tuesday 29th October 2019. (Photo by Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Riyad Mahrez (L), Sergio Aguero and Bernardo Silva of Manchester City during the Carabao Cup Fourth Round match between Manchester City and Southampton at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester on Tuesday 29th October 2019. (Photo by Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /
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EPL DFS
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 19: Pablo Zabaleta of West Ham United warms up wearing a T-Shirt in support of Children in need ahead of the Premier League match between Everton FC and West Ham United at Goodison Park on October 19, 2019 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images) /

Defenders

Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool @ Aston Villa, $16) – Alexander-Arnold as the most attractive defender should not be a surprised.  He’s been great from a fantasy and real-life perspective this season.  Liverpool is a large 1.5 goal favorite in this game and should have his normal role in their attack on Saturday.  His ceiling higher than any other defender, plus the other expensive defenders are not preferred plays this week either.  I could see TAA going under-owned in this game due to the pure number of studs we have in the FWD/MID category.  It will be difficult to pay up for TAA this weekend, but he could create some separation for your lineup if you find the right value attackers.

Andrew Robertson ($13) is still playing well.  His attacking upside is less than Alexander-Arnold, but he’ll also help you save $3 while still getting a high upside defender for some Liverpool exposure.

The value Liverpool defender is going to be Dejan Lovren ($9) for near-minimum price.  He has 15 fantasy points in both of his EPL starts this season.  I see no reason to expect anything less especially with a clean sheet bonus in the works.

Christian Kabasele (Chelsea @ Watford, $14) – Kabasele is back to his normal playing time on Watford’s back line, which is great for us fantasy players.  He’s averaging 24.1 fantasy points (right up there with TAA’s season average) in his last 3 EPL starts with 0 attacking stats all season.  He’s a monster at collecting defensive peripherals, and he has a great matchup this weekend for that.  Chelsea are giving up many tackles, interceptions, and clearances to opposing players.  We’ve already seen him put up 2 monster games recently, and he should be close to that ceiling in this matchup Saturday.

Craig Dawson ($12) is the second defender I would consider for Watford with Craig Cathcart ($9) being the value play.

Tyrone Mings (Liverpool @ Aston Villa, $13) – Mings started the season with an outrageous 41.2 point game which turned out to be an outlier, but FanDuel has had him priced up ever since.  He’s finally down to a more reasonable price, where I feel comfortable playing him in a good matchup like this.  He’s been churning out 13-16 fantasy points consistently mostly on blocks and clearances.  He put up 16 fantasy points last game against City, and with a similar matchup this week against Liverpool, that’s about what I’m expecting from him again this weekend.  A lot of people got frustrated playing him after his 40+ point game and have skipped right over his name on the list since.  He won’t carry much ownership despite being a good matchup and a more affordable price.

Bjorn Engels ($12) has the same nice matchup but is a little on the expensive end especially with Frederic Guilbert ($12) for the same price.

John Egan (Burnley @ Sheffield United, $12) – Burnley allow a lot of clearances to opposing defenders, and as a group, Sheffield defenders have been getting a good number of clearances this season.  The team lead is Jack O’Connell ($15), but that’s a tough price to pay for him, so I’ll take Egan who is second on the team in clearances.  He’s been in double digits in 9/10 of his EPL games this year, and I expect another this week.  He relies mostly on clearances which is a little risky for his floor, but I’m okay with that in this matchup.

Chris Basham ($12) is right behind Egan on the team in clearances and spreads his peripherals around a little more.  Both are good plays Saturday.

Pablo Zabaleta (Newcastle @ West Ham, $9) – I think I’ve only even written up Zabaleta once or twice in all of my articles, but I can’t pass him up for $9.  He made his first EPL start of the season last week and put together a nice 13.4 point game.  While he’s only a shadow of the attacking defender he used to be, he’s still a good veteran defender who knows what he’s doing out there.  He gets enough peripherals for me to consider him at $9 and he can always add in a chance created or two.  The matchup with Newcastle isn’t the best from a peripherals standpoint, but with West Ham at home, he could get involved in the attack some on Saturday.