SOCCER

4 FanDuel Premier League Studs to Target for Matchweek 38

Liverpool have a lot to play for on the EPL's final day, and they're massive home favorites against Brighton. That puts Mo Salah in a delectable spot. Who else can you trust on Sunday?

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 10:00 a.m. EST Sunday and features 10 matches.

Matchweek 38
Sunday, May 13th
Bournemouth at Burnley
West Brom at Crystal Palace
Arsenal at Huddersfield
Brighton at Liverpool
Watford at Manchester United
Chelsea at Newcastle
Manchester City at Southampton
Stoke City at Swansea City
Leicester City at Tottenham
Everton at West Ham


All 20 teams are in action on this slate. That gives you a plethora of options, and it should result in ownership being pretty spread out across the board with the exception of a few players.

Fates are sealed for most teams, but there are some sides with a lot to play for. Liverpool need a draw or win to secure a top-four finish. If the Reds lose, Chelsea can overtake them with a win at Newcastle.

At the bottom of the table, there's one more relegation spot left to be decided, and it comes down to Southampton or Swansea City. The Saints are in a superior position as Swansea need to have Southampton lose, win themselves and then make up a nine-goal differential. The Swans are probably toast, but with Southampton playing Manchester City and Swansea hosting last-place Stoke, it's not impossible.

Outside of those teams, starting lineups will be hard to pin down ahead of Sunday morning, which adds a ton of volatility to this slate. Liverpool, Chelsea, Southampton and Swansea will likely field their strongest lineups, but it's a guessing game for everyone else.

Liverpool are a huge 2.0-goal home favorite, the largest on the slate, and they own a slate-high 2.75-goal implied total. Tottenham, Manchester United and Manchester City are 1.5-goal favorites while Arsenal are a 1.0-goal favorite. As of Thursday morning, those are the only three matches with a spread of at least 1.0 goal.

Let's do this.

Forward

Harry Kane, Tottenham

FanDuel Price: $12,000

Tottenham have nothing to play for, but if the Kane goal-claiming saga taught us anything, it's that Kane very much cares about the Golden Boot race. He's currently three behind Mohamed Salah, but with Tottenham a 1.5-goal home favorite against a skidding Leicester side, Kane could make things interesting.

As always, Kane is pretty much a goal-or-bust asset in DFS, but we can live with that when the dude has scored 35 goals with 4 assists in 41 matches across all competitions this season. Kane netted a goal on Wednesday to secure a top-four finish for Spurs, and he's got four goals in his last six league matches. In those last six, he's scored at least 22.5 FanDuel points in the four matches in which he got a goal, but he put up 8.5 and 9.0 fantasy points in the two goal-less outings.

Leicester haven't been a bad team this year, but they're stumbling home as they haven't had anything to play for in a while after clinching safety a few weeks ago. The Foxes did beat 10-man Arsenal, 3-1, on Wednesday, but in the four matches prior, they lost to Crystal Palace, West Ham, Newcastle and Burnley, giving up at least two goals in each defeat, including a five spot to Palace.

Spurs have a 2.5-goal implied total, and Kane is mighty attractive in large-field tourneys. Salah is the top cash-game option because he's not as reliant on goals, but Kane has GPP-winning upside.

Midfielder

Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

FanDuel Price: $13,000

Salah is pretty close to a lock to be the highest-owned player, especially in cash games. Not only are Liverpool are the day's biggest favorite (2.0-goal favorites) for their home date with Brighton, the Reds have to get a result to secure a top-four finish, and Salah is, you know, ripping the Premier League to shreds this season.

The Egyptian has 35 goals and 12 assists in 38 appearances across all competitions, and his passing ability gives him both safety and incredible upside. Salah has scored less than 10 FanDuel points just four times across his last 25 EPL outings, granted two of those have come in his last two matches. In that same 25-game span, he's gone for at least 40 FanDuel points 10 times, including a silly 98.75-point explosion against Watford in late March.

Prior to the duds in his last two matches, Salah had totaled seven goals and one assist in his last four EPL games, and his lack of output in his past two games could stem from fatigue as those matches were intertwined with the two legs of the Reds' Champions League semifinal against Roma. Salah has had a full week off leading up to Sunday's match with Brighton, who has allowed three goals apiece to Palace and Manchester City in recent away fixtures.

Salah's likely high ownership means you have to think about pivoting off him in GPPs, but he's the stud to build around in cash games.

Defender

Harry Maguire, Leicester City

FanDuel Price: $6,500

Maguire should be a busy man with the Foxes traveling to Wembley to do battle with Spurs. He doesn't have much upside -- no goals or assists since the calendar flipped to 2018 -- but his floor is ideally suited for cash games as he's posted at least 10 FanDuel points in 20 of his last 24 EPL appearances, including 25.25, 18.0 and 20.0 in his past three.

Leicester average 48.5% possession while Tottenham's 58.8% possession mark is second in the league. Spurs are 1.5-goal favorites, and they should have the Foxes pinned deep for much of the 90 minutes, which should allow Maguire to rack up blocks, clearances and interceptions.

If it's ceiling you're after, peep Manchester United's Ashley Young ($6,500) or Tottenham's Ben Davies ($6,500) and Kieran Trippier ($7,000), all of whom provide a good attacking punch going forward and have much better odds than Maguire does of getting in on the creation of a goal.

Goalie

Nick Pope, Burnley

FanDuel Price: $5,000

Pope has been one of this season's breakout stars as he's been top class in goal for Burnley, the surprise team of the campaign. Pope has one more EPL match to state his case for inclusion into the England team for this summer's World Cup, so he should be motivated to perform in what is an otherwise meaningless home game against Bournemouth.

The Cherries are a good team to play keepers against. They're 9th in possession (48.5%) and 8th in shots per match (12.1), but they're only 12th in goals (43 in 37 matches), including a mere 17 tallies in 18 away fixtures. Burnley are an ideal environment for DFS goodness for Pope as the Clarets surrender the most shots per game (15.0) but have conceded just 37 goals in 37 matches, including 15 in 18 home games.

As has been the case since he took over for Tom Heaton, Pope offers good upside (clean-sheet odds) as well as a solid floor (save volume).



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.