SOCCER

4 FanDuel Premier League Studs to Target for Matchweek 33

Playing at home against Burnley, the Toffees are in a great spot, making striker Romelu Lukaku one of the slate's premier plays.

As is the case when playing any sport on FanDuel, it’s imperative to hit on high-priced studs, the players in which you’ve made the biggest investment. This is especially true with strikers in soccer as goals are often the difference between winning and losing in DFS.

Let’s take a look at some high-priced players -- all across the pitch -- who, despite costing a good chunk of change, are worth the investment.

This article is geared toward FanDuel's main slate, which begins at 10 a.m. Saturday and features six matches.

Matchweek 33
Saturday, April 15th
Leicester City at Crystal Palace
Burnley at Everton
West Ham at Sunderland
Swansea City at Watford
Hull City at Stoke City
Manchester City at Southampton


Let's get to it.

Forward

Romelu Lukaku, Everton

FanDuel Price: $12,100

There's only one game on the main slate with more than a 0.5-goal spread, and it's Everton's home matchup with Burnley, a fixture in which the Toffees are a 1-goal favorite. Anytime Everton is a favorite, it pushes Lukaku toward the front of the forward pool.

Lukaku is always a little scary, because he's extremely goal-reliant. In his last five matches without a goal, he's averaged 5.3 FanDuel points per match.

Of course, on the flip side of that is the fact that he scores a lot of goals, netting 11 tallies in his last nine games. He's scored at least 28 FanDuel points in five of his last seven outings.

Opponent Goals Assists Chances Created FanDuel Points
Leicester 2 0 0 44
Manchester United 0 0 0 5.5
Liverpool 0 0 1 3.75
Hull City 2 1 1 61.75
West Brom 1 1 3 38.25
Tottenham 1 0 0 28.5
Sunderland 1 0 1 34


Facing Burnley at home is about as good as it gets for a striker this season. The Clarets give up 19.6 shots per match in their travels and own a 42.2% possession clip overall, both of which rank as the second-worst mark in the league. They've conceded 30 goals in 16 away matches while Everton boast a 1.75-goal implied total. Lukaku figures to be heavily involved in a match the Toffees should boss.

Midfielder

Wilfried Zaha, Crystal Palace

FanDuel Price: $7,100

Palace are in some kind of form, winning five of their last six matches, and the Eagles are fresh off a 3-0 trouncing of Arsenal. Zaha has been on of the key cogs in their red-hot run, totaling three assists and a goal over the last three fixtures. He's averaging 20.4 FanDuel points per game for the season, and he has outings of 45 and 33.75 fantasy points -- sandwiched around a 7-FanDuel-point outing -- over his past three matches.

Palace is a 0.5-goal favorite at home against Leicester City. With the Foxes getting a good result -- a 1-0 loss -- at Atletico Madrid Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal tie (and the club being clear of relegation), Leicester may rotate the squad in an effort to rest players for next week's all-important home game with Atleti.

Leicester rested players against Everton last weekend in their buildup to the first leg in Madrid, and they conceded four goals in a loss to the Toffees. If they go a similar route with their squad selection, it could mean big things for Palace's attack.

Even if Leicester play their normal starting XI, Palace has shown the ability of late to torch quality sides. They racked up 17 shots (6 on target) in the win over Arsenal, and the Eagles scored twice in a shocking 2-1 triumph over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Defender

Ben Mee, Burnley

FanDuel Price: $6,400

Mee continues to be an extremely safe play thanks to constantly being under siege as part of Burnley's back line. Mee has scored at least 17 FanDuel points in seven straight outings, and he hasn't dipped down into single digits since the calendar flipped to 2017, a span of 13 matches.

All signs point to the Clarets' back line being very busy once again as they travel to Goodison Park to face Everton. As we touched on with Lukaku, Burnley see just 42.4% of the ball and give up 19.6 shots per match on the road. Everton is a 1-goal favorite, the biggest of the slate.

Mee's high floor comes from his insane clearance numbers combined with a decent contribution in passing. He's recorded 11.7 clearances per match over his last seven games -- and each clearance is a point -- to go along with an average of 4.6 FanDuel points per match from passing. That kind of safety is hard to pass up.

Goalie

Jordan Pickford, Sunderland

FanDuel Price: $7,100

In a lot of ways, Pickford is very similar to Mee in that he's a pretty safe play due to the volume he receives by playing for a bad side.

Pickford has been excellent lately, especially over his last three starts. He's averaged 21.5 FanDuel points per match in that span, and he's done it without the benefit of a 10-point bonus for a clean sheet. He can do that because he's made an average of seven saves per match over those three games, and each save is worth three FanDuel points.

OpponentSavesGoals AllowedFanDuel Points
Manchester United6317.75
Leicester6218.75
Watford9128


Sunderland allow a league-worst 18.2 shots per match and rank 17th in possession (42.3%), so Pickford is going to be called into action pretty frequently in any game. With that said, he may not be under fire quite as much this week as the Black Cats host West Ham, who will be playing without the dangerous Michail Antonio. Pickford still has decent save upside, but facing a short-handed West Ham side at home also gives him better-than-usual odds of a clean sheet.