DraftKings Daily Fantasy Football – Tips for the EPL Striker and Golden Boot (Gameweek 3)

DraftKings are daily fantasy sports giants in the US and they’ve now launched in the UK for the new Premier League season!

For those who don’t know how the DraftKings fantasy format works, find out all you need to know by following the link below:

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Football Explained

$20,000 Premier League Striker and $15,000 Premier League Golden Boot!

Gameweek 3 of the Premier League is fast approaching and DraftKings have plenty of competitions for those who like a quick return on investment in a 1-day fantasy format. DraftKings Premier League Striker gives you six fixtures to select your eight man fantasy team from, with an entry fee of just $3 (deposits and withdrawals will be converted at a competitive rate). $3 entry can potentially scoop you a huge chunk of the $20,000 prize pool, which has a $1000 top prize. DraftKings Premier League Golden Boot follows exactly the same format, just at a higher buy in. $27 is the entry for that competition, which has a $15,000 prize pool and a $2000 top prize. We have put together the following article to help give you an edge over the rest of the field when deciding who should make the cut in your team. See our lineup and read more below!

Who to Buy

1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Anthony Martial (Manchester United)

   King Ibra has had a lighting start to his Premier League season at Man United, scoring three goals from his opening two games. He scored two last weekend in Man United’s 2-0 win at home to Southampton: the first a looping across goal header from a Wayne Rooney cross, and the second a calmly converted penalty after Luke Shaw was brought down in the box. He is the second most expensive player available in DraftKings fantasy this weekend, costing appoximately 1/5th of the set budget, but with Man Utd playing Hull City on Saturday we expect the 34-year old will be worth his weight in gold. Anthony Martial is another who’s consistent involvement in the action for United earnt him a lot of points last weekend. He neither scored nor assisted last weekend and yet still earnt almost 12 points through shots, crosses, or drawing fouls. He’s also one of the most reasonable priced forwards in the DraftKings format for a player of his caliber.

2. Ross Barkley or Kevin Mirallas (Everton)

   Ross Barkley is a much loved midfielder in DraftKings Fantasy, not only thanks to the conversion of 8 goals and 9 assists last season, but also for his involvement in chances created. Players who have roles such as Barkley also collect 1 point for a shot on goal and 0.75 points simply for crossing the ball (via corner kick, open play, and set pieces). Barkley’s prominence in the Everton midfield has, however, overshadowed our second choice player here, Kevin Mirallas. Mirallas looks transformed since the departure of Roberto Martinez at the end of last season. He is one of Everton’s most talented and creative players when he plays at his best, and Ronald Koeman has seemed to bring that out of him. With most people opting for Barkley or Deulofeu in their teams, he is definitely under the radar and has an extremely reasonable price tag for such an attacking player.

3. Branislav Ivanovic or Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea)

   Conte’s Chelsea sees both full backs regularly making their way forwards. Branislav Ivanovic was unlucky not to score from open play in Chelsea’s opening fixture as he made a rather un-signature run, turn, and left foot shot into the bottom corner which was barely saved by West Ham’s Adrian. He not only creates chances, but gets himself forward for corners meaning he is frequently on the end of crosses for potential goals. While Chelsea have failed to keep a clean sheet in either of their matches so far, they face Burnley this weekend, who only registered two shots on goal against an awful Liverpool defense.

4. Dusan Tadic or Nathan Redmond (Southampton)

   Dusan Tadic was severly underutilised by Ronald Koeman and Southampton last season. He was benched eleven times throughout all thirty-eight Premier League fixtures and nonetheless scored 8 goals and assisted 13. Most notably, he became only the fourth player to ever achieve three or more assists in one Premier League match in Southampton’s 4-2 win over Manchester City. He should thrive under new manager Claude Paul and despite taking no extra points from either goals or assists in Southampton’s 2-0 defeat to Man United last weekend, both he and Nathan Redmond racked up over 10 points in DraftKings fantasy simply from shots, crosses, and drawing fouls. Southampton face Sunderland on Saturday and we feel they’ll do a bit more than that there.

5. Santi Cazorla or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal)

   Cazorla failed to make the starting eleven for Arsenal in their opener against Liverpool. After being substituted on with thirty minutes left, however, he revitalized Arsenal’s creativity in the final third, assisting two goals and racking up even more points simply by creating chances. With Ramsey sidelined for a further few weeks, we expect Cazorla has done more than enough to keep his position in the starting lineup. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is another who was benched for the opener, coming on to replace injured Iwobi in the 60th minute, and making an instant impact by scoring in the 64th. Despite Leicester City holding Arsenal to a 0-0 draw last weekend, both Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were amongst the highest scoring midfielders in DraftKings fantasy thanks to created chances and drawn fouls.

Who to Avoid

1. Stoke City Players

   Simply put, Stoke are in a bad state at the moment. Without goalkeeper Jack Butland they’ve been forced to play veteran Shay Given between the sticks, who earnt negative points last weekend. Glen Johnson and Xherdan Shaqiri are also out injured which has seen Stoke lack creativity on the right hand side of the pitch. Striker Mame Biram Diouf, who scored 12 and assisted 3 in the 2014/2015 season, earnt just 4 points last match and has seemed uninterested and out of form. From their remaining fit players only midfielder Bojan has picked up some decent points, tallying 9.6 points (fewer than many of the mentioned midfielders above who did not score) after converting a weakly given penalty descision by referee Mike Dean against Man City last weekend.

2. Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney (Watford)

   Watford’s Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney were some of the best “unknown” investments for forwards in DraftKings fantasy early on last season. Twenty-nine of Watford’s fourty goals last season were scored by the duo, but their performances so far this season have lacked inspiration. Both players cost about 7% of the allocated budget and they earnt a lacklustre 6 points between them in their 2-1 defeat to Chelsea last weekend. With Watford facing Arsenal this weekend, we recommend instead using your budget on forwards such as Theo Walcott, who not only earnt 13 points without scoring a goal last weekend, but is also available at a much cheaper price too.

3. Andre Gray and Sam Volkes (Burnley)

   While the pair got themselves a goal each last weekend, tallying a combined 22.3 points in total, they were otherwise largely absent from the game. Burnley registered just two shots on target against Liverpool, who’s defensive errors and lack of finishing helped the Clarets take away all three points with a 2-0 win. Burnley face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this Saturday, however, and we expect even fewer chances for the pair.
   

4. Alex Iwobi (Arsenal) and Fabio Borini (Sunderland)

   Though both of the above would usually be tidy pick ups for just a small portion of your budget, Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi and Sunderland’s Fabio Borini are both expected to be out for a few more weeks yet with injuries.

5. Defensive Midfielders

   Defensive midfielders are simply the lowest point earners in DraftKings fantasy. Though their cheaper price tag may be tempting, players who’s sole responsibility is to reclaim possession and pass it onwards will earn you very few points. Any winger from a weaker side, such as Montero from Swansea who earnt 7.9 points without scoring or assisting last weekend, will often earn more points than the best central midfielders, such as N’golo Kante who not only costs more of your budget, but only tallied 1.5 points last match.