4 FanDuel Premier League Studs to Target for Matchweek 32

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 seven matches.

Outside of the two Manchester clubs, it's a pretty even slate. Both City and United will be very popular as they are each 1.5-goal favorites, with City on the road and the Red Devils at home. City have a slate-best 2.25-goal implied total, and United boast a 2.0-goal implied total.

Elsewhere, only one other match (as of now) isn't a pick'em, and that's the Newcastle-Huddersfield clash in which the Magpies are a 0.5-goal favorite.

Let's get to it.

Forward

Romelu Lukaku, Manchester United

FanDuel Price: $11,000

How you approach the slate hinges on how you want to handle City and United as six of the seven most expensive players come from those two teams, the two biggest favorites on the slate.

Both clubs have plenty of appealing players at forward and midfield, but with United in a dope spot at home against Swansea, we'll roll with Lukaku. Admittedly, if Sergio Aguero, whose fitness is in question, ends up missing out for City, it would put Gabriel Jesus ($10,500) in a delightful spot, so stay in tune with City's injury news.

As for Lukaku, he's got 14 goals and 7 assists this season, and he's been superb at home, netting 9 goals with 4 assists in 15 home EPL matches. For all the flack United has gotten this season for their lack of ambition going forward, the Red Devils have been pretty good at Old Trafford, totaling 33 goals in 15 home league games.

With United a 1.5-goal favorite over the Swans, a team allowing the second-most shots per match on the road (17.3), Lukaku is in a great spot to make the net bulge.

Midfielder

Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City

FanDuel Price: $11,000

One of the reasons it makes sense to go with Lukaku up top is that City -- 1.5-goal road favorites at Everton -- offer so many great midfield options. Depending on what you're looking for and how much cash you have, David Silva ($10,500), Raheem Sterling ($9,500) and Leroy Sane ($9,000) are all in play this week in addition to De Bruyne.

KDB has displayed a nice ceiling and safe floor this year. Over his last seven matches, he's gone for at least 17 FanDuel points each outing while putting up three performances of at least 40 FanDuel points. He's scored just one EPL goal since December 16th, a span of 12 matches, but he's recorded six assists in that stretch, which is where he gets his upside. Overall, De Bruyne has 7 goals and 14 assists in 30 EPL starts.

If you're looking for more upside for a large-field tourney, Sane and Sterling are the better bets for a goal, but neither offers the floor of KDB or Silva, who are safe plays due to their passing volume. Sane has 8 goals and 11 assists in 20 starts, and Sterling has 15 goals and 7 assists in 22 starts. If Aguero sits, then the goal odds for all other City attackers will get a boost.

Defender

Mike van der Hoorn, Swansea

FanDuel Price: $6,500

Everton's Michael Keane ($6,500) and van der Hoorn are the preferred cash-game plays among high-priced defenders.

Since getting back into the starting XI nine games ago, van der Hoorn has seven games with at least 4 clearances, including outings of 10 and 16 clearances. Those huge games came against Leicester and Huddersfield, and he should be under much more pressure this weekend on the road at United.

Keane has performed well this year against the top clubs, putting together FanDuel outputs of 21.0, 18.5, 21.5 and 22.75 in his four matches against teams currently in the top-five of the table. Everyone knows the story by now -- City are going to see a ton of the ball (66.3% possession on the road), and Everton's back line will be very busy.

Goalie

Nick Pope, Burnley

FanDuel Price: $5,500

The West Brom-Burnley matchup is a pick'em with the lowest over/under of the day (2.0 goals), so the two keepers -- Pope and Ben Foster ($4,500) -- have solid clean sheet odds.

Pope usually checks a lot of boxes. Not only is he good, Burnley are stingy defensively (26 goals allowed in 30 EPL matches) yet they give up the most shots per game (15.4) -- meaning Pope typically offers clean-sheet upside and a nice floor. The floor is a little lower against West Brom, a team that has averaged a measly 9.8 shots per match, the second-fewest in the league, but with the Baggies desperately needing three points in their battle to avoid relegation, Pope should still be fairly busy.

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.