This article is part of our FanDuel Fantasy Soccer series.
Saturday's EPL slate is a bit smaller than we are used to on FanDuel with no late game on the docket. Four games that all start at one time takes away a little of the strategy we sometimes use to leave flexibility for the late game. Liverpool isn't in the best current form, but come into this game as the largest favorite on the slate by quite a margin. They are nearly double the favorites that Crystal Palace are against Everton as the second biggest favorite. Our optimal building has to start with Liverpool and fill in from there.
MATCHES (ET)
- 10:00 am: Brentford vs. Aston Villa
- 10:00 am: Crystal Palace vs. Everton
- 10:00 am: Leicester City vs. Wolverhampton
- 10:00 am: Liverpool vs. Nottingham Forest
For detailed stats and odds, check out the
FORWARDS/MIDFIELDERS
Mohamed Salah, LIV vs NFO ($23): Salah has scored four goals in his last three starts and to nobody's surprise is the most likely goal scorer, per the odds on this slate. The price is up there with what we usually see with Erling Haaland, but I think we will be able to find the value here to fit him in. Again, this is the best matchup on the slate and you really want multiple pieces of Liverpool. If you can get to him Cody Gakpo ($21) has the next-best goal-scoring odds, followed by Diogo Jota ($21). That is the order I would list them in terms of priority here at similar price points.
Eberechi Eze, CRY vs EVE ($19): Talk about good form, Eze is coming off a brace last week against Southampton and has put up 29, 30 and 45 fantasy points in his last three games. Palace is the second-biggest favorite on the slate and is looking to continue a run of three wins in a row in league play. Eze is clearly my favorite, but I am not opposed to stacking them up in GPPs with the likes of Michael Olise ($16), Odsonne Edouard ($16), or Jordan Ayew ($15). The latter two are more GPP dart throws if you are hunting for goals.
On the other side of that game, I have been impressed with the play of Dwight McNeil ($14) and even though they are solid underdogs here I still think there is some value with his open play and set share as of late. He also gives us some needed value to grab some Liverpool pieces in our lineups.
Bryan Mbeumo, BRE vs AVL ($15): There are three pieces of Brentford in which I am somewhat interested, but most of my interest is with value pieces of Mbeumo and Mathias Jensen ($13). Ivan Toney ($20) is a GPP pivot option to the above-mentioned Liverpool attack but is hard to get to in any form of optimal building. Brentford is taking on Aston Villa and I think we could see goals on both sides of this game. Jensen and Mbeumo will split sets here and both have solid floors and could get involved in a goal.
DEFENDERS
Trent Alexander-Arnold, LIV vs NFO ($13): I see no getting away from Alexander-Arnold who has shown a great floor recently and isn't overpriced at the defender position. I greatly prefer him to teammate Andrew Robertson ($12) who has not shown much of a floor at all recently. You can take a GPP shot in search of a set-piece goal with Virgil van Dijk ($12) who has the best goal-scoring odds of any defender on the slate, and if you play two of the Liverpool defenders, you will likely want to add in Alisson ($14) for a clean sheet stack.
Scott McKenna, NFO vs LIV ($10): Any of these Nottingham Forest center backs are in play in a matchup that they should be very busy from a defensive perspective and McKenna is underpriced in my eyes, recently coming back from injury. If you look back to the earlier season matchups in which Nottingham Forest were large underdogs, McKenna performed very well giving you into the double digits of fantasy points. As mentioned, Felipe ($14) and Moussa Niakhate ($11) are in play as well, but I will take the cheapest in McKenna.
GOALKEEPER
Alisson, LIV vs NFO ($14): Liverpool has by far the largest win and clean sheet odds on the slate. In addition, I like the correlation you get between Alisson and one of the defenders like Alexander-Arnold or Virgil van Dijk in a clean sheet stack. If you don't have the salary, or are stacking up Crystal Palace in hopes of a shutout win, the $2 savings may be enough to get some more attacking pieces in your lineups. Lastly, even though they are on the road, Jose Sa ($9) comes in at a discount if you are looking to save upside in GPPs.
