4 FanDuel Premier League Studs to Target for Matchweek 8

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. EST Saturday and features six matches.

Let's get to it.

Forward

Gabriel Jesus, Manchester City

FanDuel Price: $11,500

Tottenham and Manchester City are the two teams we want to zero in on this weekend. City are a 2.5-goal home favorite against Stoke, and Spurs are a 2.0-goal home/Wembley favorite versus Bournemouth. Chelsea -- 1.5-goal road favorites at point-less Crystal Palace -- are in a nice spot, too, but they offer more mid-priced options thanks to Alvaro Morata's absence.

With Spurs and City both featuring stars in attack and midfield, it'll be easy to get exposure to both teams' studs. The question is how do you want to slice it up. Harry Kane may be the top in-form striker on the planet right now, but he's $13,000, so the more economical route is to go with Jesus up top and target Spurs in midfield -- although no one will shame you for rostering Kane and building from there.

With Sergio Aguero out, Jesus will be the end man on City's attacks. Jesus has been a prolific producer since making his debut for City mid-campaign a year ago. He recorded seven goals and four assists in eight starts last season, and he's started this year with four goals and one assist in six starts.

Jesus isn't scorching the earth like Kane, but he's in pretty fine form, as well, netting a brace for Brazil in international play his last time out. It wrapped up a red-hot World Cup qualifying campaign for the 20-year-old.

Jesus offers $1,500 in savings compared to Kane, he's playing well, and he's in a pristine spot this week.

Midfielder

Dele Alli, Tottenham

FanDuel Price: $9,000

If you go with City up top, then we need exposure to Tottenham here. Spurs offer Alli and Christian Eriksen ($11,000), both of whom profile as superb plays.

Eriksen's all-around game gives him a dope floor. He's averaging 25.3 FanDuel points per match, scoring at least 20 fantasy points in four of his last five starts. He tallied 8 goals and 15 assists a year ago, and he's got 2 goals and 2 helpers this year while averaging 2.9 shots per match.

Alli is more up and down, but his goal-scoring prowess makes for an appealing ceiling. Alli scored 18 times and dished out 7 assists in the 2016-17 season, and he's got a pair of goals to go with an assist through seven starts this campaign.

Both Alli and Eriksen are great plays, but if it's upside you crave, Alli makes for a better option, and he will likely see less ownership than Eriksen or Kane, making him an enticing GPP pivot.

If you take Kane at forward, then you can roll with any of City's midfield wizards -- Kevin de Bruyne ($11,500), David Silva ($10,500), Raheem Sterling ($9,500) or Leroy Sane ($9,000).

Defender

Kyle Walker, Manchester City

FanDuel Price: $6,000

Walker is a right back, but in matches that City dominate possession -- as a 2.5-goal favorite, they are fully expected to dismantle Stoke -- he basically plays as a winger, spending a majority of his time darting forward down the right flank.

This gives him attacking upside that's rare in a defender, and at $1,500 cheaper than the top-priced defenders, there's plenty of reason to love him this weekend.

While Walker's lack of defensive actions are a boost to his attack numbers, it also makes him a high-variance DFS play. Since he doesn't have the floor of defensive actions to fall back on, he's very reliant on creating chances or recording an assist to generate fantasy points. That's resulted in a topsy-turvy output this far.

Walker has games of minus-1 (red card) and 5 FanDuel points this year, but he also owns outings of 27 and 16.75 points. He's not a cash-game option -- you can target defenders on the big underdogs (Stoke, Palace and Bournemouth) for that -- but he has big-time upside if he can get in on City's goal creation. And he's a cheap way to get access to City's attack if you don't go heavy on the Citizens at forward and/or midfielder.

Goalie

Lukasz Fabianski, Swansea City

FanDuel Price: $5,000

It's a tough slate for keepers. The goalies for the favorites -- Thibaut Courtois, Hugo Lloris and Ederson -- have a good chance at a clean sheet, but they probably won't be required to make many saves, limiting their upside. On the flip side, the keepers for the underdogs -- Asmir Begovic, Wayne Hennessey and Jack Butland -- offer save volume but have very little chance at a clean sheet.

That brings us to Fabianski and Nick Pope ($5,500), two goalies who have a decent floor because of expected save volume while offering a respectable chance at a clean sheet.

Pope is filling in for Tom Heaton, Burnley's top keeper, who is out with a shoulder injury. Pope has been excellent thus far with back-to-back clean sheets, but he's facing a West Ham side that has a good amount of attacking talent, even if the Hammers haven't put it all together this far.

Fabianski, on the other hand, gets a home match with a Huddersfield side that has bagged a mere five goals through seven matches. Huddersfield hasn't scored in their previous three matches in all competitions, and their 0.75 implied total is the lowest of the slate (for reference, West Ham has a 1.0-goal implied total). All signs point to Fabianski having a great shot at a clean sheet, and even if he concedes a goal, he should be called on to make enough saves that he won't produce a total clunker.