DraftKings Fantasy Soccer: Saturday EPL Value Plays

This article is part of our DraftKings Fantasy Soccer series.

The following games are included: 

Odds from PaddyPower.com as of 12:00pm EDT on Wednesday

Step one in building a good lineup: make sure your players are starting. There is a bit of guesswork in projecting lineups until they are actually announced, and all recommendations and projections are subject to change based on this. All said, be sure to check out our starting lineups page approximately one hour prior to kickoff.

Of the 14 teams playing on the Saturday slate, nine played midweek in the Capital One Cup. This Cup is often on the back burner for most clubs with the Premier League and even the FA Cup ranking higher in importance, but nonetheless it's worth recapping results to find inform and out-of-form players and teams:

Watford: Played mostly a second tier squad, but a 1-0 loss to Championship team Preston isn't ideal coming against Premier League leaders Manchester City on Saturday. Watford is coming off consecutive scoreless draws, a result they'll likely be shooting for in a matchup that sees them being vastly over-matched.

Stoke City: Played League 2 Luton to a 1-1 draw through extra time and squeaked by on penalties (8-7). Not a sparkling result against what should've been a much lesser team.

Aston Villa: Played League 2 Notts County to a 5-3 victory behind a Scott Sinclair hat trick. It's encouraging to see a goal by Barcelona transfer Adama Traore as well, but bad news reigns as he has picked up an ankle injury.

West Brom: Continued to showcase an inability to score, taking League 1 Port Vale to a scoreless draw through extra time while narrowly advancing behind penalties. Salomon Rondon, though impressive in his debut against Chelsea by collecting an assist while looking thoroughly threatening, did not factor in this match, coming on in the 57th minute. It's hard to know what to make of Albion's two goals against struggling Chelsea after going scoreless in their first two matches behind James Morrison's herculean effort netting twice (equaling his total for the entire 2014-15 season) while also missing an all-important penalty.

Sunderland: Scored an impressive six goals on their way to a 6-3 victory over League 2 Exeter. The defense still looks poor for the Black Cats, who played much of the first tier squad and were led by a Jermain Defoe hat trick and brace from Jack Rodwell. If I were ever to gamble on the Aston Villa offense, this is the matchup to do it on.

Leicester City: They continue to cruise as they defeated League 1 Bury 4-1 behind a hat trick by academy winger Joe Dodoo. It's hard to see Dodoo featuring in the Premier League anytime soon, so you may be best off recording his name in the bank for a later date. It's worth mentioning Napoli transfer Gokham Inler made his debut in the starting XI.

Crystal Palace: Despite a 4-1 scoreline, Palace actually struggled against League 1 Shrewsbury, who grabbed an early lead and held a 1-1 tie until the 95th minute when the Palace offense exploded for three goals in extra time. A late goal from Wilfried Zaha is a welcome sight, being one of the top up-and-coming young talents in the Premier League. Traveling to Chelsea is a bad gig at first glance, but Chelsea's defense has been among the worst in the league by conceding seven goals and two red cards in just three league matches. The champs seem vulnerable, for now.

Bournemouth: Bournemouth rolled to a resounding 4-0 victory over League 2 Hartlepool behind mostly a second-tier squad. They'll look to continue their momentum from the last week as they host a Leicester City squad who is quite in-form in their own right.

Everton: Playing John Stones amongst transfer questions with Chelsea wasn't a good idea, but Everton narrowly got by 5-3 to League 1 Barnsley. Traveling to face Spurs on Saturday in the late game will be a difficult task, but it must be stated how impressive Gerard Deulofeu was in serving up three goals during crucial stages. Romelu Lukaku also had a brace, but I'm a bit concerned after he played the full 120 minutes.

Jack Butland ($4,600)
Butland has been very good this season, accumulating 13 saves while conceding just four goals. At home, Stoke is historically tough to beat. And West Brom, where do I start? They struggle mightily to put the ball in the back of the net. I'll write off Morrison's freak onslaught of goals last weekend and say that if Butland and the Stoke defense can handle Rondon, a clean sheet is very much in the cards.

Simon Mignolet ($5,200)
Liverpool is three-for-three with clean sheets so far this season and West Ham's top goal scoring threat, Diafra Sakho, was arrested Sunday for the second time this month. For one reason or both, Liverpool is a worthy 4/11 favorite as they hope to regain their spot in the top four.

I really can't justify Joe Hart at $5,800. Sure, a win and a clean sheet looks great, but his upside is low given the expected low number of saves. If you want him in cash games, go for it, but it's unlikely he'll be the top-scoring goalkeeper.

Defenders:

Aleksander Kolarov ($6,300)
He's expensive for a midfielder, but with his readiness to get up field and potency once he gets there, the price is completely justified as a defender. Kolarov is averaging an absurd 17.7 fantasy points per game this season.

Simon Francis ($3,400)
Francis has become a bit of a stalwart in this article week-in-and-week-out, but with crosses abound and what should be an active role at home against Leicester, I see no reason to jump ship coming off an assist last weekend.

Bacary Sagna ($3,700)
He's no Kolarov, but at home against a lesser Watford side Sagna should see plenty of action offensively, as he did last weekend with five crosses.

Nathaniel Clyne ($5,200)
For sakes of matching somebody up with Mignolet, Clyne is the only option. He's not as active offensively as his Southampton days, but he still collects enough peripheral stats to be relevant.

Jordan Amavi ($3,300)
Villa paid up for the talented French fullback for his offensive exploits. He's been fairly active in every game thus far and Sunderland presents his best chance to show off his offensive talents.

Midfielders:

Jeremain Lens ($5,700)
Lens is coming off a nine-cross, three-fouls drawn, two-shot, one-assist game on his way to 19 fantasy points last weekend against Swansea. As both Sunderland and Aston Villa figure to open up the field in hopes of taking all three points, Lens figures to be extremely active once again.

Jesus Navas ($6,200)
Accumulating 12 fantasy points last weekend and now playing in a game where Manchester City should dominate possession, Navas should be serving in a bounteous number of crosses and just may get on the board with his first assist of the season (he had eight last season).

Nacer Chadli ($6,500)
In the absence of Christian Eriksen (knee), Chadli took an even more offensive role last weekend with five shots and an assist. It's worth mentioning that Chadli accounted for nine penalty area touches too, tied with Philippe Coutinho for the most of any midfielder on the slate. If Eriksen plays, I'd scale back my exposure to Chadli, but we'll just have to wait and see on that front.

Bakary Sako ($3,600)
Filling in for Yannick Bolasie (personal), Sako was sparkling last weekend with a goal on six shots (five on target) and four crosses. With a struggling Branislav Ivanovic responsible for guarding the talented winger, Sako could be an excellent choice for those needing to save some money.

David Silva ($9,000)
Silva is recommended for similar reason to Navas except for two differences: he won't cross as much and he's more talented. Silva is always capable to score, assist, or both, and he could be the player with the most touches and passes across the entire Premier League on Saturday as Man City owns possession against Watford.

Xherdan Shaqiri ($3,900)
Shaqiri is a star at a club like Stoke, and hopefully the masses are distracted by the large number of expensive options that they don't even scroll far enough to find him. His value is impeccable.

Forwards:

Christian Benteke ($9,500)
Quoted at 4/6 to score, Benteke had four shots and two attempts on target last weekend against Arsenal. He is a primal goal scorer and West Ham has allowed six goals in their last two games, including four last time out to Bournemouth.

Pedro ($5,000)
Is this price a joke? Pedro accounted for both a goal and an assist in his Premier League debut. The former Barcelona player will be heard from in large quantity all season and from the wing position accumulates points in every stat category. A must use in cash games at this price.

Rudy Gestede ($4,500)
Gestede may be seldom mentioned, but he is firmly expected to be Villa's top goal scorer on the season following 20 goals at Blackburn in the Championship last season. Paddy Power has Gestede marked at 7/5 to score against the league's worst defense in Sunderland, fantastic odds considering his price. He scored as a sub in his team's debut against Bournemouth and led this slate's forwards in number of touches inside the penalty area last weekend, the same angle that led me to Callum Wilson last weekend.

Sergio Aguero ($11,100)
Manchester City is 1/5 to win and Aguero is 4/11 to score. I simply cannot reasonably tell you to fade him. It's always worth a shot in a GPP, as it could indeed pay big dividends, but fading him could also be mightily costly.