4 FanDuel Premier League Studs to Target for Matchweek 30

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.

This is one of the more balanced slates of the season as just one match has a spread greater than 0.5 goals. That match is Chelsea-Palace as the Blues are 1.5-goal home favorites. Everton and West Ham are 0.5-goal favorites, and the other three matches are installed as pick 'ems. The highest over/under on the slate is 2.5 goals, which is shared by Leicester-West Brom and Chelsea-Palace, and salaries reflect it as the seven highest-priced players are all from Leicester or Chelsea.

Here we go.

Forward

Jamie Vardy, Leicester City

FanDuel Price: $9,500

Chelsea and Leicester have appealing options at forward and in midfield, so there are a lot of routes to go to get exposure to both. With Chelsea boasting a handful of enticing plays in midfield, we'll go with Vardy up top.

Vardy is usually at his best when Leicester are facing a better side as the style of the game allows the Foxes to soak up pressure and hit on the break, utilizing Vardy's blistering pace. West Brom are clearly not one of the better teams in the league -- in fact, they're the worst side by just about any measurement and currently sit in last, eight points from safety.

But West Brom's dire situation means they have to go for the three points against Leicester, meaning this game should be more open than it may seem. That plays right into Vardy's hands. Vardy has six goals in his past 10 EPL matches, and he's put up at least 18 FanDuel points in seven games during that span.

He's incredibly goal-reliant -- just one assist in 28 league starts -- so teammate Riyad Mahrez (nine goals and seven assists) is the better cash-game play. But Vardy has a ton of appeal in GPPs against a West Brom squad that's allowed 15 goals in their past six matches across all competitions and owns just three EPL victories all season, spending most of the campaign looking like it belongs in England's second flight.

If you opt for Mahrez and don't want to stack Leicester, Chelsea's Pedro ($9,500) and Alvaro Morata ($11,000) are a way to get exposure to the Blues, although neither has been playing well lately.

Midfielder

Eden Hazard, Chelsea

FanDuel Price: $12,500

Chelsea offer three quality options in midfield in Hazard, Willian ($10,000) and Cesc Fabregas ($9,500). In the reverse fixture at Palace, Fabregas scored Chelsea's lone goal and led the side in touches while Willian is in dazzling form, scoring four goals in his last four games across all competitions.

But Hazard is hard to pass on when Chelsea are in a great spot, and that's exactly the case this weekend as they are by far the slate's biggest favorite (1.5 goals) with a slate-best 2.0-goal over/under.

Hazard spent much of the Blues' last match isolated by himself in a "false nine" role as Chelsea chased shadows against Manchester City. But if we remove that game from the equation, Hazard has totaled at least 20 FanDuel points in five straight matches. He's flashed a huge ceiling, as well, with outings of 54.5 and 58.0 FanDuel points in that span. On a slate that may be starved for goals, Hazard can be a GPP winner if he goes off, and with so many teams from the bottom half of the table on this slate, it shouldn't be too hard to find ways to pay up for him.

Defender

Ben Mee, Burnley

FanDuel Price: $6,500

Admittedly, Mee can't be used in large-field tournaments, but he makes a lot of sense in cash games due to his consistently safe floor. Mee has scored at least 10 FanDuel points in all 25 EPL appearances this season, and he's recorded at least 14.5 points in six straight outings. Sure, he doesn't offer much upside -- he's gone over the 20-point mark just fives times in 27 starts -- but there's a lot of cash-game value in his safety.

Burnley are 0.5-goal road underdogs against West Ham. The Hammers have been in decent form, scoring at least one goal in five straight league fixtures, and Burley surrender the most shots per match (17.5) on the road. West Ham allow the seventh-most clearances (4.91) per 90 minutes, and Mee leads the EPL in clearances (195) this season.

It should be business as usual for Mee, so if you have the cash to pay up at defender, he's a great target in small-field contests.

Goalie

Nick Pope, Burnley

FanDuel Price: $5,000

There's not much separating the keepers this week in terms of price (seven are listed at $5,000) or expectations. With so many matches expected to be low-scoring affairs, it's hard to find a goalie who offers decent clean-sheet odds and should also see a good number of shots on goal, therefore giving him a respectable floor even if he concedes a goal.

Pope doesn't have great clean-sheet odds -- West Ham's implied total is 1.25 goals -- but as we just mentioned, the Clarets allow the most shots per game (17.5) away from home, so his floor is pretty nice. Pope has had to make at least three saves in five straight EPL contests, and he's scored at least 15 points in three of them despite failing to keep a single clean sheet in that span. And even though it's not likely to happen, the upside is there, too, if he can stand on his head and find a way to keep the net from rippling.

Austan Kas is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austan Kas also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username akas247. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.