DFS Soccer 101: Foundation for Cash Game Lineups

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Updated on January 11, 2016 5:42PM EST

When building cash game rosters on DraftKings, the most reliable statistic is crosses. There are some teams that purposely spread their play out to the wings and deliver crosses to their tall strikers for an attempt on target, or teams that push for getting many corners to give themselves set plays that can result in goals at a higher rate. We also see that some teams are very susceptible to conceding crosses from their opponents, which allows us to target certain teams and allow us to make better decisions when building our teams.

When it comes to allowing crosses, we are including both crosses from free play as well as those that are conceded from corner kicks and free kicks. When we look to target a specific team, we must take a look at that team's corner takers as a primary candidate for cash game lineups:

Team	Week 21 Opp	Opponent Crosses Per Game	Top Crossing Player (Season)
Bournemouth	West Ham	25.75	Matt Ritchie
Tottenham	Leicester City	25.15	Christian Eriksen
Southampton	Watford	25.15	Dusan Tadic
Manchester United	Newcastle	24.75	Ashley Young
Chelsea	West Brom	23.25	Willian
Stoke City	Norwich	22.85	Xherdan Shaqiri
Swansea	Sunderland	22.50	Jefferson Montero
Norwich	Stoke City	22.35	Robbie Brady
Aston Villa	Crystal Palace	21.10	Alan Hutton
Crystal Palace	Aston Villa	20.55	Jason Puncheon
Manchester City	Everton	20.45	Kevin De Bruyne
Sunderland	Swansea	20.30	Yann M'Vila
Leicester City	Tottenham	19.75	Marc Albrighton
Watford	Southampton	19.30	Ben Watson
West Ham	Bournemouth	18.75	Dimitri Payet
Liverpool	Arsenal	18.15	Alberto Moreno
Arsenal	Liverpool	18.00	Mesut Ozil
West Brom	Chelsea	17.80	Chris Brunt
Everton	Manchester City	15.70	Gerard Deulofeu
Newcastle	Manchester United	13.25	Daryl Janmaat

There are a few of the usual suspects showing up as the top crossing players for the season. For Week 21 there are a few players who should find themselves in some excellent positions to produce excellent fantasy returns; here are three with high floors and ceilings thanks to their matchups:

Ryan Bertrand
Bertrand has taken the lead as the top crosser on a Saints squad that is facing a Watford defense that allows 25.15 crosses per game. Southampton love taking crosses and Bertrand has been on corner duty, which has increased his floor; over the last four matches he has totaled 48 fantasy points on DraftKings.

Christian Eriksen
Eriksen scored a goal against Leicester in the FA Cup over the weekend, and he's sharing crossing duties with Dele Alli. Eriksen may not be considered one of the top crossers in the league, but he does take corners and plenty of shots (he even converted one this past weekend). Leicester are second highest in conceding crosses, which puts Eriksen and Alli as two prime targets for DFS this week.

Ashley Young
Most fantasy players avoid rostering any of the Red Devils for fear that the boring tactics championed by Louis van Gaal will hurt their fantasy outputs. However, Young has sent in 10, eight, four and 12 crosses in each of his last four matches, respectively. He was carted off in their last league match with Swansea and is a doubt this week against Newcastle, but if he does play, he's a great cheap midfield option due to his floor.

Players to Avoid

There are a few players who are notable when it comes to crosses and you might find yourself tempted to roster them. However, this week may not be their best chance to showcase that talent and they may end up hurting your fantasy teams more than they help them.

Riyad Mahrez
This may come back and bite me, as it's very tough to recommend fading the Leicester star, however, without Jamie Vardy (groin), Mahrez may be hurt in terms of the defensive focus that will be shifted to him. Mahrez still has the skill and talent to deliver a positive net results on the day, but it will be a very tough order, especially playing in White Hart Lane for the second time in a week against a Tottenham team that will be looking to secure a win after failing to do so over the weekend in the FA Cup.

Dimitri Payet
Payet is my favorite new player in the Premier League this season. However, when players come back from injury, they rarely return to their previous form right away and usually take a couple of adjustment weeks to reconfigure their motors back to the physicality of the league. Payet may hit the ground running, and a matchup with Bournemouth may prove beneficial, but he Cherries have been very good at limiting opponents crosses this season, sitting in the bottom half of the table in that category.

Dusan Tadic
Tadic may be listed as the top crosser for the Saints heading into the Week 21 matchup with Watford, but he has just five crosses in his last three appearances. Of course, Southampton has plenty of crossing wingers on their squad and are known to rotate who their corner-man is on a seemingly weekly basis, but I suspect that Tadic will remain out of that role with Bertrand and Sadio Mane continuing the trend we've seen in previous weeks.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire.