3 FanDuel Premier League Under-the-Radar Plays for Matchweek 8

If you have played daily fantasy sports for a while, you know the importance of being contrarian in large-field tournaments. Recognizing which players are going to be owned by the masses and finding others who you think have a similar point projection but will come at much lower ownership can really separate yourself from your opponents.

The same goes for DFS Premier League. Even though the large-field tournaments aren't quite as large as they are for other sports, there is still value in identifying quality under-the-radar plays.

This article will discuss FanDuel's main Saturday slate, which starts at 10:00 a.m. EST and features five matches.

The eighth main slate of the season features a single big-six side in Liverpool. Liverpool is the largest favorite on the slate, with an implied win probability of 70.6%, per FanDuel Sportsbook, at home against Leicester City. Outside of Liverpool, there are no clear-cut favorites on the slate. Watford, Norwich, and West Ham are all slight home favorites, while Everton is the lone road favorite as a slight favorite in a pick'em at Burnley.

This slate will revolve around Liverpool, who account for the three most expensive forwards/midfielders, the two most expensive defenders, and the most expensive keeper in the player pool. When Manchester City is in a similar situation, fading them is usually ill-advised, but this may be a spot to full or partially fade Liverpool for large-field-tournaments this weekend.

Liverpool is coming off a narrow one-goal victory over FC Salzburg in the Champions League on Wednesday, in which they played all of their usual starters. With only two days to recover, Liverpool should be without fresh legs this weekend against a Leicester City side that has allowed just five goals this season, the fewest in the Premier League, and currently sit third in the league table. This is likely to be a far more difficult game for Liverpool than their position as the only favorite on the slate indicates, proceed with some level of caution.

With that in mind, here are three players to consider this weekend -- especially for tournament formats -- who may fly under the radar.

Todd Cantwell, MID/FWD, Norwich City

FanDuel Salary: $14

After consecutive road defeats to Burnley and Crystal Palace, Norwich return home, where they have been a much better side. The six points that Norwich currently has all came from home fixtures, which is impressive considering they have only played three home matches this season and faced Manchester City, Chelsea, and Newcastle United in those matches. Following their incredible victory over Manchester City, Norwich has struggled twice when public confidence on them as at an all-time high. Now, with that confidence falling, they return home to face an Aston Villa side that has conceded an average of 2.3 goals per away match this season.

Cantwell specifically has struggled over the last two matches, with FanDuel point totals of 5.6 and 8.9. Before those matches, Cantwell was averaging 21.6 FanDuel points per match and had two goals and two assists in Norwich's first five matches of the season. While Norwich, as a whole, struggled in their last two matches, both of Cantwell's attacking-minded teammates, Emiliano Buendia ($15) and Teemu Pukki ($18), still managed to outscore him and produce useable FanDuel point totals. They are still excellent options this weekend but are likely to be higher owned than Cantwell will be.

In lineups that opt to fade Liverpool completely, consider stacking Norwich instead. It will only take one week of success for confidence in Norwich to be restored and return ownership on their attacking trio back to its previously high levels.

Trezeguet, MID/FWD, Aston Villa

FanDuel Salary: $11

One thing Norwich hasn't been able to fix, even when playing at home, is their defense. This issue isn't new as last season in the Championship Norwich conceded a stunning 34 goals in 23 home matches, the third-most in the league. A summer transfer window and joining the Premier League hasn't changed that. Norwich has conceded 16 goals so far this season, with 6 of those coming at home. Norwich hasn't kept a single clean sheet in eight matches this season. They couldn't even keep Crawley off the scoreboard when they lost to them in the League Cup.

Aston Villa's struggles to open the season certainly included their finishing. They produced just four goals in their opening five fixtures but have since doubled that number, scoring four goals in their last two matches. That uptick in production has benefited Trezeguet, who posted FanDuel point totals of 12.6 and 18.8 in those two matches with an assist, shot on goal, and three chances created. Aston Villa is trending in the right direction going into a dream matchup against one of the worst defenses in the Premier League.

Aston Villa's midfielder duo of Jack Grealish ($14) and John McGinn ($18) have also been productive this season, especially the last two matches, and are likely to see much higher ownership than Trezeguet. Both are excellent options this weekend, as is Aston Villa striker Wesley ($17), and make for good stacking options with Trezeguet to take full advantage of the Norwich backline.

Ricardo Pereira, DEF, Leicester City

FanDuel Salary: $15

Pereira has been excellent for Everton this season, averaging 21.2 FanDuel points per match. He has a goal in each of his last two games and has only failed to score more than 13 FanDuel points once this season. Pereira is certainly not flying under the radar, but going against Liverpool, his ownership is likely to be far lower than it should be.

Pereira is an excellent inclusion in lineups that fully fade Liverpool as he is likely to benefit if the Reds struggle on Saturday. Even if they don't, Pereira will be heavily involved defensively and will accumulate points on both sides of the pitch. Sadio Mane ($22), who Pereira will likely be tasked with covering, played the full 90 minutes in Liverpool's Champions League fixture on Wednesday, which should give Pereira the edge in terms of fitness.

Liverpool's defense has been excellent this season, conceding just five goals in seven matches. However, they allowed three goals to FC Salzburg on Wednesday, which shows that lapses are still possible. Leicester City may be without their star midfielder, James Maddison, but they should still pose a difficult test for Liverpool this weekend. Don't forget about Pereira because of his opponent. He's been one of the best defenders in the Premier League to start the season and has a decent floor to go with his high ceiling.