Week four is upon us and draft fantasy soccer ranks are slowly beginning to round into shape. Bournemouth and Watford are fighting for European spots while West Ham is in 20th just how we predicted right? But the story of the season so far has been Ryan Fraser.
Who's the most impressive player to start the Premier League season and why is it Ryan Fraser?
— Chuck Booth ✊🏾 (@ChuckBoothSport) August 27, 2018
Every year, there is a breakout player in draft fantasy soccer and this year it’s looking like the pint-sized-producer is taking the next step. Ryan Fraser has picked up a goal and an assist as he is averaging an eye-popping 17.5 points per game this year. He’s always been on draft fantasy soccer owner’s radars but this year Fraser is beginning to shed his goal and assist dependency to become a well rounded player. Props to you if you own him, and if you don’t, you may be one of the lucky 13 percent of leagues that can still add him and if you are, do it.
Now, let’s get ranking
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Week 4 Draft Fantasy Soccer Ranks
Forwards
[table “253” not found /]It’s a dark, dark world for forwards this week in draft fantasy soccer. Oddly, we’re going to start off by chatting about an unranked forward in Adama Traore. Owned in a paltry 46 percent of leagues, Traore is likely to get his first start versus West Ham which should also coincide with draft fantasy soccer managers starting him in their teams because he doesn’t need points to score. In only 45 minutes of action, Traore completed six dribbles and served up two accurate crosses versus Manchester city to the tune of 11 points. While this isn’t to say that he’ll double his numbers, it’s great to have members of your lineup that can essentially be guaranteed double digit points on a bad day.
Also, sorry for doubting Sharko, please remove Chicharito and replace him with one half of West Ham’s startable fantasy assets.
Is Marko Arnautovic OK?
Marko has a small problem behind his knee, he was not comfortable playing the last few minutes against Arsenal but he passed all the examinations with the doctor and has worked the whole week.#WHUFC https://t.co/wNYHoZnQqH
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) August 30, 2018
I’m a little bullish on Arsenal this week because while Cardiff has nothing going forward, their defense is better than average and draft fantasy managers should take note. This is a team that has two points in the league without scoring a single goal. Pretty damn impressive and also why I went ahead and picked up Callum Paterson for the sweet clean sheets ahead.
After about 19 take note that there is a drop off in quality and if you have a top 25 midfielder or defender that you can play, I’d favor them over these strikers.
Midfielders
[table “254” not found /]In the midfield, Christian Eriksen is ready to pop off after finally registering an assist versus Manchester United. Feeding Kane and Co versus Watford away is a tasty fixture as the Spurs engine will have acres of space to work with. I also goofed in not ranking Lucas who would slot in at 11th dropping Kovatic from the top 25.
Another week, another week not ranking Mesut Ozil even though he has returned to training. The Arsenal man has draft fantasy soccer managers sweating due to his ineffectiveness this season and with a match versus Cardiff City, I’m not expecting it to get any easier. While Arsenal should win, it won’t be a massive route and Ozil won’t respond well to being kicked by defenders.
Crystal Palace has a great match up hosting Southampton which bodes well for midfield machine Andros Townsend. If Max Myer also gets his first run out in that game, i’d expect for him to build upon his first assist of the season. West Ham versus Wolves has intriguing fantasy upside with the match up of the other half of West Ham’s attack (Felipe Anderson) versus Wolves stalwart João Moutinho. Moutinho has come in and put the clamps down on the value of Ruben Neves making him the Wolves central midfielder to own.
Defenders
[table “255” not found /]Any defender playing Cardiff becomes a top ten starting option until they score a goal. Who knows when that will be but I doubt it will be this weekend. Due to that Mustafi, Bellerin and Monreal are all top 15 defenders and I can’t rank Sokratis until he has a performance that doesn’t end in negative points (sorry, not sorry).
Given how slow they’ve started the season, this is the final chance for Coleman and Baines to show me that they deserve to be ranked. Everton hasn’t played a tough schedule and they’re playing a Huddersfield side lacking confidence. This is the week to put up or shut up. Let’s also talk about Chelsea for a second. The narrow press is wonderful for Alonso attacking but it hurts two things. Azpilicueta’s attacking returns and any hope of keeping a clean sheet with David Luiz being David Luiz.
This sucks because Antonio Rudinger is a good defender and with the simple change of Luiz to Christensen, Sarri could employ a semi-competent defense and Kepa can stop screaming at Luiz and other defenders for not doing their jobs. It would help if he did his job too but such is life.
Goalkeepers
[table “256” not found /]Speaking of Kepa, I’m not ranking him at this moment. Cech getss the number one spot because Cardiff, Lossl gets the nod too but if Hamer starts Everton might score five. Realistically, I’d start the top eight and the others are a crapshoot so pick your poison.
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