SOCCER

3 FanDuel Premier League Under-the-Radar Plays for Matchweek 12

Zack Bussiere  —  @ZackBussiere Nov 8th, 2018
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Matt Ritchie, Midfielder, Newcastle

Salary: $7,500

Jonjo Shelvey's injury early in the second half of last weekend's match against Watford paved the way for Ki Sung-Yueng ($5,000) to enter the pitch and provide an assist to Ayoze Perez ($8,500) for the game's only goal. Shelvey is currently doubtful to play this weekend, and if he doesn't give it a go, Ki is likely to carry high ownership as a popular value option at his extremely low salary.

But Matt Ritchie may also benefit from Shelvey's absence and is an intriguing pivot off of Ki for tournaments.

Even with Shelvey on the field, Ritchie has been involved in set pieces and has been a cross machine, producing 7.6 per match over his last five matches. Operating as a right-mid in Newcastle's 4-4-1-1 formation, Ritchie's upside tends to be limited by his lack of shot opportunities, but he did have six shots against Brighton and three against Manchester United earlier this season.

Newcastle's dismal home record looks worse than it is due to three 2-1 defeats to Tottenham, Chelsea, and Arsenal to open the season. The Magpies have been competitive at home, and they picked up their first victory of the season over Watford last weekend.

Bournemouth have been excellent on the road, but they have had collapses -- most notably allowing four goals to Burnley in September. This should be a tightly-contested match, making Ritchie a GPP option due to his increased opportunity in Shelvey's likely absence.


Zack Bussiere is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Zack Bussiere also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zbuss1. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

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