EPL Weekly Plays: Week 21
It’s another week and the soccer world rejoices because the schedules are back to normal. The frantic holiday season has come and gone and hopefully the DFS gods treated you kindly. This week we have some very fun matches with no clear superstar favorites, but a few teams that have a decent chance at scoring goals. You’ll notice I left my favorite forward off the list for the week, Charlie Austin didn’t make the cut (spoiler alert) as I think he’ll have similar production to Danny Ings but for almost $3K more in price. I’d rather spend top dollar on another forward (who may or may not be the header image for this article). As always, be sure to check the Twitter for starting XI and you can follow me @DFS_Hambazaza for any updates or questions.
Goalkeepers
Thibaut Courtois, Chelsea $5,500 – He’s the most expensive and Jose Mourinho will want to dominate this match from the get go given the current table the recent slip-ups by Chelsea. Courtois will likely be a not so popular choice as most players will steer clear of him due to the unlikelihood of him getting any saves. However, given Chelsea’s current state in defense, I think he might see 2-3 saves and even get the clean sheet this week along with the win.
Ben Foster, West Brom $4,600 – He’s coming off three weeks of disappointment, but he’s playing against Hull and his price has come up. However, one look at the game logs and most people will choose to ignore him. What’s more, if you look at the odds on the game, you’ll see the West Brom are slight favorites, but not overwhelming. Hull lack a dominant offensive force and the only true threats come from midfield option Elmohammady’s crosses and the potential of Jelavic and Hernandez to meet those crosses and do something with them. However, so far this season, the two of them haven’t been extremely productive which gives me some hope in Ben Foster delivering a decent performance at home.
Others I Like: Joe Hart (Manchester City, $5,400), Robert Green (QPR, $4,000), Tom Heaton (Burnley, $4,800)
Defenders
Kieran Trippier, Burnley $5,100 – He’s playing at home, but it’s against Charlie Austin, which makes him a slight risk as the Clean Sheet is not a guarantee. However, Trippier can provide points on his own without actually scoring goals or getting a clean sheet. Those points come strictly from crosses, as last week he had 12 crosses and the week before he had ten. He has hit double-digit fantasy points in four of the last six weeks, and he did it all without scoring a single goal or getting a single assist. However, given the extreme number of crosses he has (150 total crosses, 83 at home) and the low number of assists (1 assist), I would say that Trippier is in a good spot to be involved in a goal-scoring event this week.
Andre Wisdom, West Brom $3,600 – Hull can’t score, we’ve covered this already, Wisdom’s price has been dropping and he makes an excellent play this week. WBA have a new manager who is known as a defensive organization specialist, which will further tighten up their defensive effort against Hull. This heightens the odds of a Clean Sheet, however, it increases the question of whether Wisdom will find himself falling further back in the defense or be given free range to roam as an attacking full back. For his price, he is worth the gamble.
Other Defenders I Like: Alan Hutton (Aston Villa, $4,000), Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea, $5,300), John Terry (Chelsea $3,900), Carl Jenkinson (West Ham United, $4,700)
Midfielders
Stewart Downing, West Ham United $6,900 – At such a low price and with such an interesting matchup, it is hard to ignore him. He will be heading the diamond in midfield for West Ham and should get a large portion of the midfield supply and touches in the final third. He has 162 crosses on the season with 6 assists in total. The Hammers should come away from this game with at least a point and potentially a goal or two scored. Downing has a good shot at being involved.
Christian Eriksen, Tottenham $8,100 – Priced as a “slightly below the top tier” option, Eriksen is my pick for most likely midfielder to score this week. He’s had several great games in a row. Eriksen will be a good pivot from Kane since Kane’s price is very high at $10.2K and the Spurs should get plenty of opportunities. In the last four weeks, Eriksen has been averaging 2.5 penalty area touches per game that have resulted in 9 goal attempts with 12 chances created. The team is currently firing on all cylinders and the expectation is that they will continue to do so going into this matchup with Crystal Palace.
Other Midfielders I Like: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea, $8,400), Stephane Sessegnon (West Brom $7,000), Eden Hazard (Chelsea, $9,900), Ahmed Elmohamady (Hull, $5,800), Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace, $4,000)
Forwards
Harry Kane, Tottenham $10,200 – Kane is a super talent that is just now getting the recognition he deserves, and I was saddened to see DraftKings take his price up so drastically in such a short time. I was impressed at how well he was able to play against Chelsea and expect him to continue that good run of form this week against an overmatched Crystal Palace. Kane is my top forward option of the week, however a good pivot would be to Costa or Aguero if the latter is back from injury and starting.
Bafetimbi Gomis, Swansea $6,800 – He’s going to have a hard time filling in the shoes of Wilfried Bony, who is away on international duty for the month. What Gomis lacks in talent, he makes up for in opportunities. In his last match he managed 13 touches in the penalty box to go along with 8 goal attempts (only 2 shots on target) and on top of that he had 3 chances created. Gomis may have frustrated Swansea fans (Editor’s note: Yes, yes he did), but he was on the verge of a special fantasy performance. Maybe this match he can recreate some of that magic and pull his team towards a win.
Romelu Lukaku, Everton $6,900 – Everton are in freefall. It is hard to believe that this is the same team that managed to run through the league and earn itself a Europa League spot last season. We won’t go into the reasons for that drop off tho (they are obvious if you look into the personnel), Lukaku should be a good GPP option today for a desperate team looking to regain form. Lukaku has made a career off of producing goals, and with only 6 goals scored so far, it is very tough to imagine him not increasing his productivity sometime soon. He won’t be in any of my cash games as his production is not guaranteed, but he has hat-trick upside in the right situation.
Other Forwards I Like: Saido Berahino (West Brom, $7,800), Diego Costa (Chelsea, $10,500), Christian Betenke (Aston Villa, $8,000), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City, $10,300), Danny Ings (Burnley, $7,400)