Soccer Grind Down: Gameweek 6 Page 2

by Hesh Hambazaza (hambazaza) Last Updated 2016-09-24 05:13:44

Sh/Gm	SoT/Game	Shots A/Gm	Shots A in box /Gm	Cross/Gm	Cross A/Gm	Sh/Gm	SoT/Game	Shots A/Gm	Shots A in box /Gm	Cross/Gm	Cross A/Gm
Sunderland						Crystal Palace
				Vegas Odds						Vegas Odds
				192						168
				LLDLL						LLDWW
				0-1-4						2-1-2
9.40	2.60	18.20	8.80	15.20	20.20	14.80	4.20	13.20	7.20	29.00	22.20
Penalties		Direct Free Kicks		Corners & Indirect Free Kicks		Penalties		Direct Free Kicks		Corners & Indirect Free Kicks
Borini, Defoe, Watmore		Khazri, Van Aanholt,		Khazri, Januzaj, Gooch, van Aanholt		Cabaye, Gayle, Wickham		Cabaye, Puncheon, Jedinak, Ward, Delaney		Townsend, Puncheon, Cabaye, Ledley

In a more or less even matchup according to the odds makers, Sunderland take on Crystal Palace in what is probably going to be one of the few opportunities this season to roster some Sunderland players. Unfortunately, none of these Sunderland players excites me, and the chances of them scoring multiple goals is very slim. Palace on the other hand are full of several players that can put up some good performances ranging from the goalkeeper, the defenders, midfielders and any forward they can trot out. In fact, one of the problems with targeting Crystal Palace in fantasy is the wealth of options which doesn’t allow us to pinpoint our targets. I’ll try to identify a couple of those targets this week, and we’ll just see if I’m remotely close to being right!

Sunderland Top Plays

None

Sunderland Secondary Plays

Jermain Defoe, Forward, $7,900 – Defoe is coming off a knock that kept him out of the Cup tie in the midweek, but he should be back for the clash with Palace. Expect Defoe to really look to take advantage of a defensively weakened Palace squad without Scott Dann in central defense. Defoe does pose some risk as he provides nothing else in terms of auxiliary stats, but he can score a goal or two and make somebody’s day.

Jordan Pickford, Goalkeeper, $4,800 – Home underdogs. Yes, I know that Sunderland aren’t that large of an underdog in this matchup, but playing against Palace, this looks like the best goalkeeper option on the week with his price tag and with Palace not being an imposing offensive threat. Pickford can get several saves as well as the potential for the win (though, it will likely end in a draw) making him have the potential to be the highest points-per-dollar on the slate in terms of keepers.

Crystal Palace Top Plays

Jason Puncheon, Midfielder, $6,400 – He’s been taking corners lately for the Eagles, and his side are favorites to press in this match and try to get some goals on the score sheet. He’s also the cheapest among the three midfielders I’m pinpointing for this matchup as the ones with the best chance of success. Puncheon had 28 crosses in the last three weeks and that type of output puts him in cash game territory as he can easily reach the floor of most players without scoring a goal or assist.

Crystal Palace Secondary Plays

Wilfried Zaha, Midfielder/Forward, $6,700 – Zaha filled the stat sheet last time out, but didn’t get on the score sheet. Look for him to continue his attack after getting 4 shots last time against Stoke. His price is rising up there and it makes it difficult to fit him in your teams. Again, he’s in that salary range that a lot of desirable players are, but it makes it very difficult to roster them all, along with some of the more expensive options.

Andros Townsend, Midfielder, $8,800 – Speaking of the more expensive options, Townsend, by all accounts is set to be the second highest floor this week regardless of how the matchups play out. Townsend has not had less than 6 crosses in any single match, and he hasn’t finished with fewer than 12 fantasy points. Of course, his price is very high, but his team will rely on him for all his talent and creativity to try to separate themselves from their hosts on the road.

Swansea vs Manchester City

Sh/Gm	SoT/Game	Shots A/Gm	Shots A in box /Gm	Cross/Gm	Cross A/Gm	Sh/Gm	SoT/Game	Shots A/Gm	Shots A in box /Gm	Cross/Gm	Cross A/Gm
Swansea						Manchester City
				Vegas Odds						Vegas Odds
				737						-248
				WLLDL						WWWWW
				1-1-3						5-0-0
12.80	3.80	16.40	10.80	24.60	20.20	17.60	6.40	9.00	4.80	16.20	17.80
Penalties		Direct Free Kicks		Corners & Indirect Free Kicks		Penalties		Direct Free Kicks		Corners & Indirect Free Kicks
Sigurdsson		Sigurdsson		Sigurdsson, Routledge, Stephen Kingsley

Swansea play host to Manchester City in what is gearing up to be a tough matchup for the Welsh side. City have dominated all their recent matchups with whatever opponent has been thrown at them. Aguero is back this week, and while the team will be missing Nolito, they have Jesus Navas and Sane waiting on the wings ready to jump in and support their team in its bid to keep its winning ways in the Premier League. Of course, City enter this matchup with an eye on their Champions League fixture with Celtic on Wednesday, so there is an opportunity for Swansea to close down the hatches and try to steal this one from the Citizens. Of course, that’s a tall order, and if they do succeed, then there will be some very upset fantasy players out there.

Swansea Top Plays

None

Swansea Secondary Plays

Gylfi Sigurdsson, Midfielder, $9,500 – I can’t in good conscious recommend Siggy as a Primary play at his price and with this matchup. There is really only one way for Sigurdsson to reach value at such a steep price tag, he needs to reach 25+ fantasy points. Can he achieve that? Sure, but the road is a tough one. He will take corners, free kicks and penalties, so if Swansea surprise us and manage to hold possession for stretches at a time, they should create their chances that could result in Gylfi reaching said value.

Manchester City Top Plays

Kevin De Bruyne, Midfielder/Forward, $10,100 – In the words of Dan Back, “Both the salary and the matchup are just too good, if you are not playing him in your head to head games, you are just going to lose.” Of course, I’m speaking of the great KDB, who seems to be a player specifically engineered to excel in the DraftKings scoring system. He’s very expensive and is only eclipsed in price by a single player. Nevertheless, he’s going to get corners, shots, open play crosses, and assisted shots. He’s got the highest floor of any player in the premier league and is absolutely worth rostering.

Sergio Aguero, Forward, $10,500 – It will be very difficult to fit both KDB and Aguero on your teams this week. Of course, I suspect plenty will try, but the combinations I have tried so far have yielded suboptimal results. So at the moment I’m sticking with Aguero in GPPs and KDB in cash, and I don’t like it. I want them both in both formats on all my teams. Aguero has been out of the EPL for 2 weeks now after being banned for three games (he served his 3rd match ban in the midweek cup fixture) And he’s itching to get back into the games to try to score some goals. If conditions are right for Aguero he can have double digit shots and 3-5 goals. He is an eligible play every week as he can always score multiple goals against any opponent.

Manchester City Secondary Plays

Leroy Sane, Midfielder/Forward, $6,200

Jesus Navas, Midfielder, $5,600

One of these two will get the start along with Sterling, and KDB as the attacking midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Whoever gets the start immediately gets a bump in fantasy value as City are expected to get involved in lots of goal scoring, and these two would make the cheapest option to break into that scoring.

Arsenal vs Chelsea

Sh/Gm	SoT/Game	Shots A/Gm	Shots A in box /Gm	Cross/Gm	Cross A/Gm	Sh/Gm	SoT/Game	Shots A/Gm	Shots A in box /Gm	Cross/Gm	Cross A/Gm
Arsenal						Chelsea
				Vegas Odds						Vegas Odds
				142						210
				LDWWW						WWWDL
				3-1-1						3-1-1
14.60	5.40	11.00	6.40	19.40	17.20	18.20	6.00	7.60	4.20	24.00	14.00
Penalties		Direct Free Kicks		Corners & Indirect Free Kicks		Penalties		Direct Free Kicks		Corners & Indirect Free Kicks
Walcott, Cazorla, Sanchez		Sanchez, Cazorla, Chambers, Walcott		Cazorla, Sanchez, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain		Hazard, Oscar, Fabregas, Costa		Willian, Oscar, Fabregas, Matic		Willian, Fabregas

This match has the potential to be the late game hammer as both these teams can put up goals and neither of them has been particularly good defensively this season so far. Arsenal come into this one after a solid win in the midweek and with an eye on the UCL in the midweek and a fixture with Basel. Chelsea on the other hand, don’t have an upcoming midweek matchup and are entirely focused on this affair with the Gunners. This matchup has been rather tense in recent years, but a lot of that stems from Jose Mourinho’s general demeanor and attitude. With Mourinho gone, it is up to use to watch and see whether Conte resumes the rivalry with Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal Top Plays

Alex Iwobi, Midfielder/Forward, $5,000 – Iwobi carries a lot of interest because of his cheap price tag, however, there is a risk with putting him on your teams as he may not get the start and that would result in a lack of viable pivots. I do recommend you putting him in your flex spot if possible in order to switch him out if he doesn’t start with a player from any position if necessary. That said, the reason you’ll want to get some exposure to Iwobi is due to his high ownership and his exceptional performance last time out. DFS players are reactionary, and with Iwobi recording an assist last time out and scoring 22 fantasy points, he’s going to make for an interesting option this week. Of course, also, rostering Iwobi allows you to get one step closer to rostering two very expensive players on the same roster.

Alexis Sanchez, Midfielder/Forward, $9,300 – Speaking of expensive players on a roster, Sanchez makes for an interesting pivot from all the $8K+ players and I believe when it comes to elite players, he’ll be extremely under owned and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s one of the more lower owned options. Sanchez however is talented enough that he can deliver in any matchup if he’s had adequate rest. And guess what? He’s had plenty of rest since he hasn’t played since last weekend in the matchup with Hull where he scored twice and missed a penalty. Expect Sanchez to not be on penalties any more, but for him to continue to score goals if given some good opportunities.

Arsenal Secondary Plays

Santiago Cazorla, Midfielder, $7,600 – If you’re looking for penalties with Arsenal, then the option to consider is Santi Cazorla as he’s expected to return to the main penalty kick taker. He’s also on corner kicks and with that carries a decent floor. However, given his rising price, he’s only considered a secondary option for me in this slate but he is worth considering and I suspect that some players will lean towards him on some GPP lineups.

Chelsea Top Plays

Diego Costa, Forward, $8,700 – Costa has been on fire lately with goals in every match except for one. He’s been Chelsea’s best player both on the pitch and in fantasy, and while a matchup like this can bring out the fiery version of Costa that tends to get into trouble, I think this week he manages he score a goal or two and get Chelsea the away win. Of course, he’s also just as likely to get aggravated by the Arsenal center back and commit a red-card-drawing foul and be done for the day. I just have a gut feeling it’s going to be a positive day for Costa.

Chelsea Secondary Plays

Willian, Midfielder/Forward, $8,500 – Willian has been taking corner kicks for Chelsea this season, just as he had been in previous years. He continues his offensive talents, and while he hasn’t scored any yet, he’s bound to score from a dead ball situation as that is his specialty. He carries a decent floor with his crossing potential and shot taking ability, however, he’s just a GPP option this week since the matchup with Arsenal is a little bit unpredictable.