MLS Fantasy Rankings: Week 8

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Published on April 16, 2019

MATCHES (EDT)

Wednesday, 10:00 pm: Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Los Angeles Football Club
Friday, 7:30 pm: FC Cincinnati vs. Real Salt Lake
Friday, 8:00 pm: Toronto FC vs. Minnesota United
Friday, 11:00 pm: Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo
Saturday, 1:00 pm: Chicago Fire vs. Colorado Rapids
Saturday, 1:00 pm: Philadelphia Union vs. Montreal Impact
Saturday, 3:00 pm: Orlando City SC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Saturday, 4:00 pm: Atlanta United vs. FC Dallas
Saturday, 7:30 pm: Columbus Crew vs. Portland Timbers
Saturday, 7:30 pm: New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls
Saturday, 10:00 pm: San Jose Earthquakes vs. Sporting Kansas City
Sunday, 4:00 pm: D.C. United vs. New York City FC
Sunday, 7:00 pm: Los Angeles Football Club vs. Seattle Sounders FC

Forwards
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Carlos Vela	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	13.8	Pick a stat that you think is important for fantasy soccer, and Vela is probably leading the league in said stat...
2	Diego Rossi	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	10.5	...Except for shots and touches inside the opponents box, which Rossi is leading in. Using both is entirely viable this week, but opting for two defenders/keeper will be tempting too.
3	Latif Blessing	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	8.5	A certain candidate for rotation, and less likely to poach a goal than Ramirez, but his newfound all around production locks him into the third forward ranking.
4	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	LA v. HOU	12.7	Don't let Houston's unbeaten record deceive you. They've played four of five at home and haven't faced an impressive opponent yet. While Juan David Cabezas could start and boost the team's defensive record even further, I'll still side with Zlatan who is scoring a goal every sixty minutes.
5	Jozy Altidore	TOR v. MIN	11.1	Pozuelo has shown he's clever enough to work around Minnesota's tough defensive midfield and Jozy will certainly be able to find space amongst the middling Ike Opara and Michael Boxall. With Toronto looking like one of the league's best teams, Altidore has a solid shot at a brace here.
6	Christian Ramirez	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	6.2	We'll need to monitor the status of the injured Diomande and Rodolfo Zelaya, but assuming they remain out, Ramirez would be the best value play of the week.
7	Fredy Montero	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	7.8	Marc dos Santos will likely want to give Ardaiz another shot at starting this week, but it's not 100% whether it will be in place of or alongside Montero. I like but don't love Fredy for this week.
8	Gyasi Zardes	CLB v. POR	9.3	Don't call it a revenge game, as Porter is the one who broke up with the Timbers, but he should have the team a little more motivated than usual this week. Gyasi only has four shots on goal in 540 minutes, but he's playing well enough to take advantage of this fallen Timbers defense.
9	Dom Dwyer	ORL v. VAN	9.2	Vancouver already would be a good matchup, but then we add the short two and a half day turnaround PLUS the league's longest flight (VAN-->ORL). It's just a matter of who starts for Orlando. I'd rank Mueller a few spots lower than Dwyer and Akindele would flirt with the top20.
10	Alberth Elis	HOU at LA	10.2
11	Wayne Rooney	DCU v. NYC	11.1	NYCFC are a rollercoaster in defense this year and while I still think they'll figure things out soon, Rooney should be able to take advantage.
12	Krisztian Nemeth	SKC at SJ	8.2	Sporting Kansas City are one of the teams I'll be worried about the least this year when they're on the road. Vermes has their sights locked on the Supporters Shield. For their part, San Jose have given up ten goals in four home games.
13	Carlos Darwin Quintero	MIN at TOR	12.0
14	Mauro Manotas	HOU at LA	10.6
15	Josef Martinez	ATL v. DAL	9.3
16	Darren Mattocks	FCC v. RSL	6.8	Mattocks has been causing a decent amount of trouble this year, even against quality opponents.
17	Bradley Wright-Phillips	NYRB at NE	9.0	I can see BWP getting rested on turf at this point in his career, but even more than that, he's just been underwhelming to start the year.
18	Nemanja Nikolic	CHI v. COL	8.2	Either Chicago forward could be ranked a handful of spots higher given the matchup, but there's a lot of competition this week.
19	C.J. Sapong	CHI v. COL	8.5
20	Kei Kamara	COL at CHI	9.3

Midfielders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Mark-Anthony Kaye	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	9.3	More of a rotation risk than Atuesta but the better goal threat and still gets bonus points. I expect to shy away from LAFC midfielders this week largely because the rest of the midfield is stacked and LAFC have great options at other positions.
2	Eduard Atuesta	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	8.7	Leads the league in touches, but only 3/644 have been inside the opponent's box. He's far more a play at safe bonus points than Kaye, and I think a better bet for 180 minutes too.
3	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR v. MIN	11.5	Already a star, Pozuelo is a lock for the top five midfield spots on a normal week.
4	Hwang In-beom	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	7.4	While the talent suggests he could get us more than 6-8 points over two starts, the production hasn't followed so far in his debut MLS season. I'm beginning to doubt he will start both matches (along with most other Whitecaps) which would drop him to the 17-20 range.
5	Yordy Reyna	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	8.1	I'm more inclined to go for safer Vancouver points this week. Not only is it a gamble to bet on Reyna getting two starts, or 120+ minutes, it's then a second gamble that he will actually produce.
6	Jon Erice	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	6.4	The anti-Reyna in that he should be a safe bet for 7-8 points over the two matches, and he comes at a really good price.
7	Felipe Martins	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	6.7	I think MdS may now view him as a crucial piece to the team, but the vetern should get rested once this week.
8	Johnny Russell	SKC at SJ	10.8	He doesn't earn many bonus points which makes this price, on the road, tough to swallow. I'm still trying to squeeze him into my lineup though.
9	Nicolas Lodeiro	SEA at LAFC	11.9
10	Nani	ORL v. VAN	9.8	With uncertain playing time and a distinct lack of bonus point production, it's tough to rank Nani much higher even with the favorable fixture.
11	Romain Alessandrini	LA v. HOU	9.3
12	Kenny Saief	FCC v. RSL	8.0	Justin Glad's return should help RSL shore up the back line, but FCC's playmaker will find some opportunities regardless.
13	Julian Gressel	ATL v. DAL	9.4
14	Luciano Acosta	DCU v. NYC	10.4
15	Federico Higuain	CLB v. POR	8.5
16	Saphir Taider	MTL at PHI	11.2
17	Daniel Royer	NYRB at NE	7.9	I know he's on the road, but at this price and with a likely price rise, I'm going to try and get Royer into my 4th or 5th midfield spot. Three of New England's four home games have ended in 2-0 losses.
18	Carles Gil	NE v. NYRB	10.7
19	Nicolas Gaitan	CHI v. COL	8.7	The potential price drop isn't appealing, but I do think there's a good chance this is Gaitan's breakout game.
20	Albert Rusnak	RSL at FCC	10.0

Defenders
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Walker Zimmerman	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	9.3	Left the last match late with what sounds like muscle tightness. Assuming there's nothing serious there, he's the week's top defender.
2	Eddie Segura	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	7.2	Also got a knock last match but finished the game. I'm probably rolling with Segura over Zimmerman once we factor in salary since there are too many other players I want to squeeze into my team this week.
3	Steven Beitashour	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	7.2	With El-Munir and Hamalainen deserving of some minutes, it's entirely possible that Bob Bradley rotates the fullbacks, but he also might want to keep this great form rolling with the same 11.
4	Jordan Harvey	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	6.4
5	Ali Adnan	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	5.2	All Whitecaps will be a gamble since a Wednesday start against a tough team will mean a good chance of not playing on Saturday in Orlando. Adnan is one of the few 'Caps worth gambling on.
6	Erik Godoy	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	7.6	The upside may not be worth the risk with Vancouver centerbacks, but I think Godoy is less likely to be spelled by Derek Cornelius.
7	Doneil Henry	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	6.8
8	Graham Zusi	SKC at SJ	8.0	I know they're away, but Sporting still strike me as one of the week's better clean sheet chances.
9	Matt Besler	SKC at SJ	8.0
10	Nick DeLeon	TOR v. MIN	7.5
11	Andreu Fontas	SKC at SJ	6.2	With Fontas clicking, not much need to pay up for Besler.
12	Leandro Gonzalez Pirez	ATL v. DAL	7.2
13	Jack Elliott	PHI v. MTL	6.3	Montreal sans Piatti are one of the league's worst attacks. The Union continue to fly under the radar in terms of their defensive strength.
14	Aaron Long	NYRB at NE	6.6
15	Rolf Feltscher	LA v. HOU	6.6	As long as he's at home and floating balls into Zlatan, he'll be solid fantasy pick. With Giancarlo Gonzalez returning to MLS, the Galaxy immediately jump up a tier or two defensively as well and should find more clean sheets.
16	Nick Hagglund	FCC v. RSL	6.9	Hagglund and Waston are interchangeable with both providing a goalscoring threat in a defender spot, but Waston is the more likely one to knock us back a point or more with cards.
17	Miles Robinson	ATL v. DAL	6.4
18	Jonathan Mensah	CLB v. POR	8.5
19	Zakaria Diallo	MTL at PHI	6.7
20	Marcelo	CHI v. COL	5.9

Goalkeepers
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Tyler Miller	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	7.0	If you don't use Rossi or Blessing, I think Miller needs to be in your lineup this week with the third LAFC spot.
2	Maxime Crepeau	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	5.5
3	Zack Steffen	CLB v. POR	8.7
4	David Ousted	CHI v. COL	5.6	Chicago haven't had a terribly tough schedule but the defense is looking better than I initially thought. For his part, Ousted is having a good bounce back year after returning from a backup role.
5	Andre Blake	PHI v. MTL	6.7
6	Alex Bono	TOR v. MIN	6.2
7	Evan Bush	MTL at PHI	6.1	What Montreal lack offensively, they have been making up for defensively. With Marco Fabian missing this match, I'd be ok rolling Bush out as he seeks a a fourth straight clean sheet.
8	Tim Melia	SKC at SJ	6.6
9	Brian Rowe	ORL v. VAN	5.2	Like Ousted, Rowe is a good cheap option if Miller puts up a dud in the first LAFC match.
10	Luis Robles	NYRB at NE	5.5	Red Bulls haven't won in their three road matches, but they've also only conceded a combined four goals. We already talked above about New England's putrid home record.

Value Rankings
(forwards and midfielders under $7.5, defenders under $6.0; not ranked above)
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Gerso Fernandes	SKC at SJ	7.4	Much like Elis last week, Gerso is built to shred San Jose's system. The Earthquakes would be best suited to take a page out of Monterrey's book from the Champion's League clash, and given Almeyda's Liga MX background, he just might.
2	Sam Johnson	RSL at FCC	6.1
3	Brenden Aaronson	PHI v. MTL	6.4	With Marco Fabian likely to miss the next match at least, Aaronson could reprise his role as the starting #10.
4	Ismael Tajouri-Shradi	NYC at DCU	7.2	Castellanos could also slot in here after both players had very good matches in Minnesota. Keep an eye on the lineup at Mitrita and Heber came on from the bench last match but project to be marquee players once NYCFC are rolling.
5	Lass Bangoura	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	6.0
6	Ruan	ORL v. VAN	5.1	A tired Whitecaps team means Ruan could thrive at both ends of the field.
7	Joaquin Ardaiz	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	5.0	I'd strongly consider a 100 minute Ardaiz at this price, but I'd prefer the start be against Orlando and we just can't know that by Wednesday's kickoff.
8	Scott Sutter	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	4.2	With Vancouver likely to rotate their right back spot, I'm wary of using any of them, but Sutter should at least be afforded the chance to play his former team in the easier of the two fixtures.
9	PC	VAN v. LAFC, at ORL	4.9	Revenge game for PC when the Caps travel to Orlando!
10	Greg Garza	FCC v. RSL	5.3

Captain Rankings
Rank	Player	Matchup	Price	Notes
1	Carlos Vela	LAFC at VAN, v. SEA	13.8	The easiest captain pick I can remember since I've been playing MLS fantasy. It won't be useful if I just list all LAFC guys here, so I won't, but note that I consider Rossi, Blessing, Zimmerman, and even Miller to all be reasonable captain's picks over single game week players if you for some reason want to fade Vela.
2	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	LA v. HOU	12.7	Zlatan's goalscoring track record makes him the top choice for the #FadeVela team trying to make a big move in the standings.
3	Alejandro Pozuelo	TOR v. MIN	11.5	Pozuelo and Jozy could be a pair we roster on a weekly basis. For now I'll prefer the midfielder that can get points more different ways.
4	Johnny Russell	SKC at SJ	10.8
5	Jozy Altidore	TOR v. MIN	11.1