Champions League Daily Fantasy Helper: Tuesday 4/9/19

The Champions League, Europe's biggest soccer competition, returns Tuesday with the final eight teams. FanDuel will be offering plenty of contests featuring the two Tuesday matches, both of which begin at 3:00 p.m. EST.

Premier League foes Manchester City and Tottenham will get very familiar with one another as they face off three times in the month of April. Potential travel headaches are minimized, reducing one issue that could contribute to lower quality of play in the UCL. Manchester City have just qualified for the FA Cup final while Tottenham opened their new home in the middle of last week with an impressive win.

City's only competition for the Premier League title, Liverpool, will host Porto. Liverpool just went back to the top of the table in England with a win over Southampton. Porto took home a 2-0 win on Friday to keep them top of the table in Portugal.

City and Liverpool are both favorites to win the first leg of their respective tie, with Liverpool a heavy favorite. Let's look at some players to target across the pitch at some different price points on this slate.

Forwards

Roberto Firmino ($9,000) -- Firmino has been good but seemingly inconsistent for Liverpool this season. However, he has a goal and an assist in his last two Premier League games and scored in his previous match for his national team. His real-world involvement in Liverpool's attack with his movement and passing is evident, but Sadio Mane ($10,000) and Mohamed Salah ($9,000) continue to steal the spotlight among the front three. However, Firmino's statistics speak loudly as he has 12 goals and six assists in the Premier League. He has created six chances in the last three Champions League games, and he could be the lowest-owned of the front three. Firmino has also padded his stats with nine defensive actions in those three matches. Firmino is a team player who is not necessarily always looking to score, but he takes pride in being heavily involved in the build up, giving him a nice DFS floor. With Liverpool expected to bulldoze Porto at Anfield, you need some exposure to the Reds' vaunted from three.

Tiquinho Soares ($8,000) -- With Harry Kane ($12,000) failing to score in his last two matches and being shut out by City earlier in the year as well as Sergio Agüero ($11,000) facing a late fitness test to make the starting lineup, we can move down the salary list to pick up Porto's leading goal scorer. Soares is also in great form as he has tallied three times in the past two matches. The Brazilian forward has a goal and an assist in two Champions League appearances and averages four shots per match. He averages 3.5 shots per match in Liga NOS. Should Porto be awarded a penalty, he has shown his confidence from the spot. Liverpool have given up two goals in the Champions League four times this season. They also do not have a clean sheet in five games across all competitions. Soares could be a GPP difference-maker.

Midfielders

Raheem Sterling ($10,500) -- With Aguero facing the late fitness test, Sterling will be expected to produce. His recent form in the Champions League says that he will -- in the last four matches, he has scored more FanDuel points than he did in the previous match. He had nearly 50 FanDuel points in his last UCL appearance. Sterling scored four goals and added an assist for England during the international break at the end of March. He's rolling. Sterling finished City's last match with the most touches among the attacking front three, taking three shots. Four of the top-five midfielders in FanDuel points per game on this slate are Manchester City players, but Sterling's improving form on Europe's biggest stage gives him the edge.

Jesus Manuel Corona ($7,500) -- Mane and Salah will be in plenty of lineups on Tuesday -- and deservedly so -- but Porto's Corona averages more fantasy points in the Champions League than either of them. He scored a goal in three straight appearances during the group stage and added an assist in his last outing (against Roma). Corona also created two chances, drew three fouls, and added five defensive actions in that match. The versatile midfielder -- who has even been played at center forward -- tallied an assist for Porto in their last domestic match. He averages more shots and defensive actions per match in the Champions League than he does in the domestic league, and he's likely to fly under the radar as the masses flock to Liverpool and City in midfield.

Defenders

Trent Alexander-Arnold ($7,000) -- Liverpool's Alexander-Arnold managed only four crosses in their most recent EPL match, getting taken off early, but he had three straight games of double-digit crosses prior to facing Southampton. He still registered an assist in that match despite the lower numbers. Alexander-Arnold created four chances in the first leg against Bayern Munich in the previous round and six chances in the final group stage match against Napoli. With Liverpool at home, they will likely try to play on the front foot, which means that Alexander-Arnold should be heavily involved in the attack. Liverpool beat Porto 5-0 in the first leg of last year's Round of 16, and that one was in Portugal. The Reds are capable of a huge night Tuesday at Anfield.

Ben Davies ($6,000) -- Paying up at defender on this slate is inevitable as the overwhelming majority of players who average at least 14.0 FanDuel points per match in the Champions League are priced at or above $6,000. Tottenham's Davies averages 14.6 points per match and had his second-best outing in the Champions League his last time out against Dortmund. Davies reclaimed his starting role in the clean-sheet victory over Crystal Palace last week, finishing with four tackles. He tallied three other defensive actions and drew one foul to go along with the clean sheet bonus. The match against Crystal Palace was Tottenham's third straight clean sheet in matches in which Davies got a starting nod. In his previous Champions League match, Davies had 10 defensive actions and is sure to be busy in this one against Manchester City.

Keeper

Alisson ($5,000) -- Liverpool are heavy favorites versus Porto, with Alisson curiously priced below both keepers in the City-Spurs match. The odds also favor the Liverpool keeper as a Reds shutout accounts for both of the top two most likely results, per betting lines. Two of Alisson's last three appearances in the Champions League have been clean sheets. He allowed one goal in the last match against Bayern Munich and still managed double-digit FanDuel points. Ederson ($5,500) will also be popular at keeper, but the better odds are on the side of Alisson.

Douglas Smith is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Douglas Smith also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username aquemini03. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.