FanDuel Fantasy Soccer: Wednesday UCL Targets

MATCHES (ET)

• 3:00 pm: Benfica vs. Bayern Munich
• 3:00 pm: BSC Young Boys vs. Villarreal
• 3:00 pm: Chelsea vs. Malmö FF
• 3:00 pm: Lille vs. Sevilla
• 3:00 pm: Manchester United vs. Atalanta
• 3:00 pm: Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Juventus

For detailed stats and odds, check out the

DraftKings Fantasy Soccer: Saturday EPL Cheat Sheet

FORWARDS / MIDFIELDERS

Robert Lewandowski, BAY at BEN ($23): Through two group-stage matches, Lewandowski has scored four goals, taken five shots and created five scoring chances. He's finished with more than 46 fantasy. points in both matches and is in a good position to continue his rich run of form. Bayern are the second-biggest favorite on the slate behind Chelsea and Lewandowski is second in goal-scoring odds behind Romelu Lukaku ($21). You'll need a goal to justify his price, though with 13 goals in 10 matches this season, that's not out of the question. With Lewandowski so prolific in front of net, the rest of Bayern's attack is up for a stack or even pivot if you run out of budget. Leroy Sane ($19) and Thomas Muller ($19) have a goal and two assists each, while Serge Gnabry ($18) scored in his lone start of the two group matches. Joshua Kimmich ($15) takes the majority of set pieces and is a cheap alternative who could supply an assist or scoring chances created. Darwin Nunez ($16) scored two goals for Benfica against Barcelona and Joao Mario ($12) takes set pieces for the Portuguese side. 

Romelu Lukaku, CHE v. MAL ($21): As mentioned, Chelsea are the biggest favorite on the slate while hosting Malmo at Stamford Bridge. Just ahead of Robert Lewandowski in the goal-scoring odds is Romelu Lukaku, who was shutout in the most recent UCL match but did score in the opening clash against Zenit. Chelsea's attack have struggled to score goals outside of Romelu Lukaku, as he's scored four total (one in the Champions League), while Timo Werner ($19) and Kai Havertz ($17) each have one goal in the Premier League and Mason Mount ($18) hasn't found the back of the net yet. All this to say, Lukaku is worth spending up on in a favorable matchup with the highest-expected goals scored total. 

Remo Freuler, ATA at MUN ($16): Of course, Cristiano Ronaldo ($22) and Bruno Fernandes ($20) will be the most popular choices in this matchup as they've both been impressive against BSC Young Boys and Villarreal, but they don't offer much in the way of budget flexibility. This match has the highest-implied goal total with both sides expected to score. Manchester United have conceded three goals in two UCL matches and allowed four goals against Leicester City on Saturday, giving Atalanta's attack a prime opportunity to produce. Duvan Zapata ($19) is their most expensive option and will lead the line, while Remo Freuler ($16) is a bit cheaper and would be a low-owned pivot from some of the aforementioned attackers. He has a floor around 10 points and could turn it into a big day if Atalanta can take advantage of United's defensive frailties.  

Manu Trigueros, VIL at YB ($15): Villarreal's attack has been full of solid fantasy plays as Gerard Moreno ($20), Paco Alcacer ($18) and Arnaut Danjuma ($17) have all scored more than 23 fantasy points in each of their UCL starts. A matchup against BSC Young Boys shouldn't halt any of that production and could even be a reason to target a cheaper midfielder like Manu Trigueros, who has scored 38.2 and 15.9 fantasy points in his two starts. He is a differential play who is unlikely to make it into a ton of lineups.

DEFENDERS

Yaroslav Rakitskiy, ZEN v. JUV ($13): Zenit have a couple defenders who have been fruitful fantasy plays in the first two group matches. The first one is Yaroslav Rakitskiy, who provided two assists in the 4-0 win over Malmo. He operates as a center-back, so any attacking stats may be tough to come by, though Zenit are playing a particularly tough brand of defense, conceding just the one goal to Chelsea. Juventus are a tougher opponent than Malmo and Rakitskiy should be closer to the five clearances he recorded in the 1-0 loss to Chelsea in the first match. Douglas Santos ($12) has made eight clearances, five interceptions, three tackles and provided one assist, helping him to scores of 30.2 and 20.3. 

Nicolas Otamendi, BEN v. BAY ($12): Our old Premier League friend Nicolas Otamendi is playing his trade for Benfica this season and has been impressive in a small sample size. Over two matches, he's made 13 clearances, four interceptions and won four three tackles on top of two clean sheets. While a clean sheet against Bayern Munich is always difficult to predict for any defender, you can bet that Benfica will be doing a lot of defending against Bayern's possession style. This helps Otamendi's chances of another big scoreline as five clearances is likely the baseline of what he'll do Wednesday. Dayot Upamecano ($10) is a cheaper option for a side with the second-highest clean sheet odds. 

GOALKEEPERS 

Wojciech Szczesny, JUV at ZEN ($11): Juventus have been stingy defensively as they've kept clean sheets against Malmo and Chelsea, which has allowed Wojciech Szczesny to keep two clean sheets and produce a quick 20 points (with a save included in each of those). He's in another good position to replicate that despite an away trip to St. Petersburg. Edouard Mendy ($14) has the highest clean sheet odds and has kept five clean sheets in five starts, including a six-save shutout against Brentford on Saturday. Manuel Neuer ($13) is always an option, though Benfica's attack could pose some problems for Bayern. Neuer has scored 23 and 17 in two UCL starts and could arguably replicate that. Johan Dahlin ($6) is the cheapest expected starter and may have a decent day as long as he can keep Chelsea from overrunning his side.