SOCCER

Premier League: 5 FanDuel Studs to Target for Matchweek 3

Diego Costa is in a great spot to produce in Chelsea's home match with Burnley. What other high-priced players are work a look?

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 especially true with strikers in soccer as goals are often the difference between winning and losing in DFS.

Here is the entire schedule for Matchweek 3, which features 10 games.

Matchweek 3 Schedule
Saturday, August 27th
Liverpool at Tottenham
Arsenal at Watford
Bournemouth at Crystal Palace
Burnley at Chelsea
Swansea City at Leicester City
Stoke City at Everton
Sunderland at Southampton
Manchester United at Hull City
Sunday, August 28th
Middlesbrough at West Brom
West Ham at Manchester City


With a full 10-game slate on tap, there is no shortage of options. 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.

Forward

Diego Costa, Chelsea

Price: £9.8 million

Diego Costa may be crazy, but he’s also really, really good at soccer. He’s scored the match winner late for Chelsea in each of the Blues’ first two games, including this pristine finish off a sweet pass from Cesc Fabregas.


For some reason, Costa is criminally underpriced this week for Chelsea’s home game against Burnley. This is a game the Blues should dominate as a 1.5-goal favorite. Chelsea ranks second in possession rate (59.4%) while Burnley is last (37.5%). Costa was very good at Stamford Bridge a year ago, averaging 2.5 shots per game on his way to 7 goals and 3 assists in the Blues’ home matches.

Midfielders

Ross Barkley, Everton

Price: £9.8 million

Ross Barkley has been outstanding early on this season. After scoring a goal and totaling 39.25 FanDuel points in the opener, he tallied 20.5 FanDuel points in Matchweek 2. Barkley has a chance to keep rolling in a home matchup with Stoke City.

In addition to averaging 3.0 shots per game, Barkley is drawing 2.5 fouls per match. Everton have been a fairly offensive-minded side in their first two games, ranking seventh with a 52.9% possession rate. Stoke, on the other hand, is allowing 12.0 shots per game, and the Potters surrendered the sixth-most shots per game (14.1) last season.

Romelu Lukaku, the Toffees’ star striker, has yet to start a game -- coming on once as a sub -- as he recovers from a heel injury. If he’s out of the starting XI this weekend, Everton will likely continue to lean on Barkley to center the attack. If Lukaku returns to a full-time role, it would cap Barkley’s upside a bit, but it would also give him a better chance to record an assist.

Eden Hazard, Chelsea

Price: £12.5 million

A lot of the same reasons Costa is attractive apply for Hazard, as well, except the Belgian doesn’t come with any sort of discount. Hazard has been a consistent producer through two fixtures, logging games of 25.75 and 27.25 Fan Duel points.

Hazard is making 60.5 passes per match and leading Chelsea with an average of 3.5 shots per contest. Not a renown goal-scorer -- although he did net 14 apiece in the two seasons prior to last -- Hazard has one of the Blues’ four goals this campaign, and he is capable of producing some truly wonderful goals.


Defender

Danny Rose, Tottenham

Price: £8.7 million

Saturday’s showdown between Tottenham and Liverpool should be a DFS dream all the way around. It’s hard to find a player, outside of the goalies, who isn’t worth investigating. With Liverpool going forward the way they have since Jurgen Klopp took over, Tottenham’s defenders could be in for a busy day.

Rose is particularly enticing because of his propensity to get in on the Spurs attacks. Rose leads the club with 57.5 passes per match, and he’s played every second in each of the team’s first two games. The Reds are only allowing six shots per contest, but they’ve conceded five goals in two matches.

Rose’s offensive ability comes with some gaudy defenses numbers. In last week’s win over Burnley, Rose finished with nine tackles, five clearances and two interceptions. Liverpool should put a lot more pressure on the Spurs’ defense than Burnley did, meaning Rose could surpass those eye-popping totals.

Goalie

Heurelho Gomes, Watford

Price: £8.3 million

Playing for a side that’s allowing the third-most shots per game (18.5), Heurelho Gomes is going to be a busy man this year. That’s particularly true when Watford goes up against one of the big boys, which will be the case this weekend as they host Arsenal.

The Gunners have averaged just 11.0 shots per game, but their starting XI is about to see a huge boost with the full-time returns of Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud. This should give Gomes a great chance of racking up saves, something which he did plenty of last season as he led the league in saves with 122.

It’s important to remember that FanDuel’s scoring settings award 10 points for a clean sheet while giving out 3 points per save and subtracting 1 point for a goal allowed. So a busy keeper who racks up saves -- even if he concedes a goal or two -- can be better than a goalie who isn’t asked to do much but gets a clean sheet. That applies here as several other keepers -- namely David de Gea and Thibaut Courtois -- have a better chance for a clean sheet, but they may be bored for most of the game.