Saturday's DraftKings soccer slate is a single-game showdown, MCI at NFO, with a captain slot that scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary under the $50,000 cap. Lock is 12:30 p.m. ET (9:30 a.m. PT).
Erling Haaland (MCI) tops our model's ranking at $11,200, with a ceiling of 24.9 and a DraftKings average of 16.8. That ceiling is the highest on the board by a wide margin, which is why he anchors the captain spot in our lineup. Morgan Gibbs-White (NFO) is the best of the NFO options at $10,400, with a ceiling of 20.1 and an average of 12.9. Rayan Cherki (MCI) sits between them on ceiling at 20.6 while costing $9,400. Jeremy Doku (MCI) at $9,800 has a ceiling of 19.4.
For savings, start with Neco Williams (NFO) at $7,200, who carries a ceiling of 14.7 and a DraftKings average of 11.4, strong production for the price. Iliman Ndiaye (MCI) at $8,000 and Enzo Fernandez (MCI) at $8,400 round out the middle tier, with ceilings of 15.4 and 16.0. Note that Antoine Semenyo (MCI), Nicolas Dominguez (NFO) and Nicolo Savona (NFO) all carry an OUT tag on DraftKings.
The crowd will pile onto the obvious names. Haaland is projected at 42% ownership, Gibbs-White at 39% and Doku at 36%. Cherki and Foden both come in at 34%, so fading a popular piece or two could help separate a lineup in a one-game contest.
Our model's top lineup uses the full $50,000. It puts Haaland at captain for $16,800, then fills the FLEX spots with Gianluigi Donnarumma at $6,400, Williams at $7,200, Cherki at $9,400, Josko Gvardiol at $5,800 and Marc Guehi at $4,400. Lock is 12:30 p.m. ET, so set your lineups before then.
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