For the purposes of this article, all prices and points are via our partners Mondogoal.
Welcome back to another MLS Fantasy Tips article. We have to start out by saying that the midweek games sure didn't go to plan, did they? Not only was NYCFC the only team to get a clean sheet, but San Jose couldn't close the game out with a man advantage? Calling the results 'crazy' is just a bit of an understatement. But as they always say about daily fantasy football, you get a brand new roster and a brand new league every time you play. And after Wednesday's debacles, we sure could use a bit of newness.
Saturday events are always welcome because you're guaranteed to get more teams to choose from when building a roster. Here's what we have to work with this weekend:
Saturday September 19 Games
Toronto v Colorado
Vancouver v Seattle
DC v Columbus
NYCFC v San Jose
Montreal v New England
Chicago v Orlando
Salt Lake v LA
We here at fplbet hope to see all of you in the events this weekend. My team will be built around most of the advice I'm giving here - so you can use that to your advantage...or ignore it at your own risk!
Clean Sheet Potential
In what might seem a shocking prediction, the team with the best odds to win outright this weekend are Chicago playing at home against Orlando. If you don't follow the league tables very closely this would seem like a bit of an oddity. But when you consider that Orlando are the league's worst road team, it starts to make a bit more sense. First of all, Orlando have allowed more goals than any other team in the league with 51. And Orlando's Road Goal Differential sits at a staggering -19. Combine this knowledge with the fact that Kaka has been injured recently and it really looks pretty dismal for Orlando to score this weekend. And as for the other matches? I hate to say it but all other matches are predicted to be pretty high scoring affairs. This may be one of those weekends where the less you spend in the your keeper and defender positions, the better off you'll fare. Consider a 3-4-3 or a 3-5-2 as your lineup of choice heading into these matches on Saturday.#1) GOALKEEPER AND DEFENDER TIPS
Let's just continue to pick on Orlando and start out with Chicago's keeper, Mr. Sean Johnson ($4.2). He may be insanely cheap, but his stats haven't been the best recently -- so he's less likely to show up in your competitor's lineups. Now, don't be too alarmed that Johnson's last three matches have seen him turn in a 1.8 points per game average. Johnson, and the Chicago Fire, have been on a grueling three game road trip, and two of those games happened to include the league leading NYRB and the Montreal Impact (who just happened to have Drogba on a hat trick). Let's be clear though, I'm not betting on Chicago -- I'm betting against Orlando. After this many games into the year, the stats for Orlando speak for themselves and I'll simply take my chances with Johnson facing off against them. For defenders, Joevin Jones ($6.9) will pair up nicely with Johnson -- and he's the most expensive defender that Chicago have, so he won't break your bank at all. I may even stick with a real budget defense and include a second Chicago defender, and in that case I'd choose Eric Gehrig ($5.9) for an even cheaper option. Avoid Matt Polster -- he'll be serving a suspension this weekend. But maybe I'm crazy? Maybe you say there's just now way that you could stomach putting so much stock into the Chicago defense, no matter who they're playing. And what can I say? You'd have a valid point. Chicago are in last place in their conference right now, and you'll surely find better defensive units to choose from on the board -- but you'll have to pay quite a bit more for them as well. Maybe you want the highest priced keeper? Bill Hamid ($9.9) is playing at home against Columbus. But know that Columbus have scored 2 goals in each of their last four away matches. Vancouver's David Ousted ($8.9) is also playing at home -- against a Seattle side that have just reunited Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins. And finally, Nick Rimando ($8.1) is playing at home against LA. Now LA aren't accustomed to being shutout, and they're going to want to come back in this fixture and prove that their last nil-nil draw against Montreal was a fluke. Nobody would blame you for paying the premium price for the top-tier goalkeepers, but their matchups are going to be trouble this week. As for myself? I think I'm going to pick the most budget options in the back and heavily invest in all of these attacking options we have available.Attacking Potential
So let's talk about all of these attacking options that we have available. The bookies have set nearly every line to be 'over' their typical goal total marks. In short, in these final matches for playoff position, it's expected that nearly every team will come out and be a bit more bold with their attack. The DC and NYCFC matches are actually even more favored than the other matches -- their base goal total has been moved up to 3 from they standard 2.5.#2) MIDFIELDER TIPS
I'm not moving off of Lee Nguyen ($15.3) until he gives me any reason to rethink him as my number one midfielder. Nguyen went into his last match with eight straight weeks with a double digit score -- and he just missed that mark against NYRB. But since he still managed to score 9.6 points, I'm going to forgive him for not getting that extra 0.4 points to extend his streak to nine matches. After such a long stretch, Nguyen has been relatively fixture-proof in his play. I don't expect an away match to Montreal to hinder his production to anything below its current level. If you're looking at the most expensive pick at midfield for Saturday, Javier Morales ($16.3) is probably worthy of his price. Morales' last match saw him turn in a score of 22.8 points, and I expect him to get up for a big match against LA. LA typically have a fairly decent defense, but they are a bit below par in their road performances this year, so banking on Morales to give you good points isn't a terrible idea. If you're looking for a bit of a budget pick, Patrick Mullins ($7.1) has performed admirably in Villa's absence for NYCFC. His last two scores are 14.48 and 10.15. If he continues to feature, he's the most likely to perform above his cost. And against a traveling San Jose squad that's struggling to regain the form they showed just a month ago, Mullins may be the one to capitalize on their recent form woes. Cheaper still, Colorado's Kevin Doyle ($6.4) is traveling to Toronto this weekend. I'm not really all that high on Colorado as a unit right now, but Toronto can't keep a clean sheet to save their lives. Doyle had three shots on target in his last match, and when he starts, he's going to produce something for you. If you want to continue to pick on Orlando, Jeff Larentowicz ($8.2) is a great option this weekend. Larentowicz has a goal in each of his last two matches and has posted scores of 12+ points to go along with that. After all, Orlando not scoring on the road is only half the equation to their poor differential. The other half is due to them allowing opponents to score. There could be some inflated scores for Chicago across the board this week.#3) FORWARD TIPS
If you're not a fan of Larentowicz continuing in his brief run of form, then upgrade to a Chicago forward. David Accam ($10.7) has averaged 9.27 points per game over his last four -- and that number is shocking if you really don't follow Chicago football (don't worry, very few do). By this point in the article, you are probably tired of hearing me prop up a team that has done as poorly as Chicago has, but sometimes the numbers line up and you just have to go for it. The three most expensive strikers on the board, Obafemi Martins ($14.7), Robbie Keane ($14.4) and Kei Kamara ($13.8), are all playing on the road. This is a bit of a tough ask if you want to load up the front line with these guys. Could one of them do well? Absolutely. But if you're going to gamble that the three of them together will combine for huge points while all playing away matches...that could be a bit of a letdown for you. I like Columbus consistently putting up two goals in their last away matches. For that reason, I'd choose Kamara over the other two this round. Finally, Giovinco ($13.1) is due for a bounce-back game at home after his last dud in NYC midweek. I don't know which adjustment Toronto are going to have to make to ensure that Giovinco is freed up to score like he was earlier in the year, but at this stage of the game, you'd have to expect that the Toronto brass aren't worried about hurting anyone's feelings. Look for Giovinco to take center stage again this weekend -- and look for all those players that have slowed him down to be pushed further out to the margins of the game.We here at fplbet hope to see all of you in the events this weekend. My team will be built around most of the advice I'm giving here - so you can use that to your advantage...or ignore it at your own risk!
