Two tough rounds are now behind us. And now we have time to prepare for matchday 3 of UEFA Champions League Fantasy.
Here are our UCL Fantasy tips regarding the best captain, cheap picks with good fixtures, balls recovered, and our own scout team selection.
Hopefully, our tips will help you to make a good decision about your fantasy squad before the first kick-off of the MD3 of Champions League.
Let’s dive in.
Tips for Matchday 3 of UCL Fantasy
Do you want to get better at UCL Fantasy? Read our article about 4 Essential Tips for UCL Fantasy Success.
1. Best captain for Matchday 3
Let’s look at who do we consider to be the best captain for UCL Fantasy Matchday 3.
Tuesday captain pick: De Bruyne (BRU (A))
For Tuesday, the most appealing fixtures for captaincy are Club Brugge vs. Manchester City, Sachtar vs. Real Madrid and PSG vs. Leipzig. Picking a captain from Man City game could be very rewarding. However, we cannot really know right now, who will start for citizens.
BUT, we will know the City lineup before the deadline of MD3! That is going to be great advantage for UCL Fantasy mangers on wildcard or on limitless wildcard. They can bring in City player they want just before the deadline after they know whether he starts. Kevin de Bruyne would be our pick, if he starts.
Other captain picks for Tuesday: Mahrez, Benzema, Mbappe, Salah, Haaland
Wednesday captain pick: Lewandowski (BEN (A))
The standout fixtures for the captaincy on Wednesday are Barcelona vs. Kyjev, Benfica vs. Bayern, and Chelsea vs. Malmo.
A lot of players from those games could do very well.
We picked Robert Lewandowski from them as our captain for Wednesday. He is proven UCL fantasy asset, a talisman for Bayern, and he has already managed to score two double-digit hauls in the first two rounds.
It is a boring captain pick, but we do not try to shoot for the moon with our captaincy picks – that strategy does not work. We like the stability Lewandowski offers as our backup captain if De Bruyne fails to deliver.
Other captain picks for Wednesday: Lukaku, Ronaldo, Depay
2. Strategy for MD3 & MD4
In Matchday 4 of UCL Fantasy, we are going to see the same fixtures as in Matchday 3 (but reverse).
So, what is the best strategy for the next two gameweeks? How can we exploit these reverse fixtures?
Well, basically, it is all about easy fixtures and balls recovered.
Let’s take a closer look.
- 1. At first, target easy fixtures. Focus on premium players that are likely to haul and who play against very easy oppositions in MD3 and MD4 (Lewandowski, Benzema, Lukaku…)
- 2. Alongside these few heavy hitters focus on cheap players who have stable output in balls recovered. They will score extra 2-3 points for you every weak (like Barrios)
- 3. Pick defenders that have a high chance of clean sheet in MD3 & MD4 (Chelsea, Man City, Inter…)
- 4. At the end, pick your squad players from weaker teams that have now two good fixtures in a row. For example, players from Sporting, Lille, Sevilla, Salzburg, Wolfsburg, Villareal.. Now, the important question. Which players from those teams are worth a look?
Fixtures to target
Which fixtures you should target? We always use bookies odds to help us determine that. Let’s look at which teams have the highest chance of winning their match in Matchday 3 and to score a lot of goals in that game:
- Chelsea – 87 % to win, 54 % to score more than 2.5 goals in MD3
- Inter Milan – 82 % to win, 58 % to score more than 2.5 goals
- Barcelona – 76 % to win, 49 % to score more than 2.5 goals
- Man City – 72 % to win, 43 % to score more than 2.5 goals
- PSG – 70 % to win, 44 % to score more than 2.5 goals
- Bayern Munich – 68 % to win, 40 % to score more than 2.5 goals
Budget picks for MD3 & MD4
Let’s show some cheap players (under 7.1 million) we prefer from the “weaker” teams for Matchday 3 & 4:
- Sučič (5.5, Mid, Salzburg) – attacking threat, good form
- Adeyemi (7.1, Mid, Salzburg) – attacking threat, good form
- D. Carlos (4.5, Def, Sevilla) – balls recovered magnet, clean sheet potential
- Palhinha (5, Mid, Sporting) – attacking threat
- Roussillon (4.1, Def, Wolfsburg) – very cheap, clean sheet potential, good at balls recovered
3. Players great at recovering balls
After two matchdays we have a better picture about players that are good at balls recovered. Players who can consistently do the job and score extra 2-3 points for you matchday after matchday.
If you are interested to know, which players did well in balls recovered during the last two seasons, check our article about Balls Recovering Heroes.
These players have the most balls recovered this season after two matchdays:
⚽ Most balls recovered in MD1 & MD2 of #UCLFantasy
— FPL Reports (@FplReports) October 9, 2021
23 - Nsoki
21 - Botman, D. Carlos
20 - Lauper
19 - André
18 - Christensen, Meunier, María
17 - Goretzka, Upamecano, Akanji, Barrios, Fernando
4. Bookies odds
As usual, we looked at what bookies think about the Matchday 3 of UCL Fantasy.
We checked the clean sheet odds to determine which teams are most likely to keep a clean sheet in the MD3 and goalscoring odds to determine which players are most likely to score a goal in MD3.
It can be very helpful when selecting the defense of your UCL Fantasy team or choosing your captain.
We used our Odds to probability calculator for converting bookies’ odds into probabilities.
Clean sheet odds for MD3
Bookies favor Chelsea to keep a clean sheet with 64 % probability. Inter Milan (49 %) and Manchester City (46 %) follow. Bookies expect 8.05 clean sheets in Matchday 3. You can find the full Champions League clean sheet odds table here.
Goalscoring odds for MD3
According to bookies goalscoring odds, Lukaku is most likely to score a goal in Matchday 3. Check Any Time Goalscorer, 2 + goals, and hattrick odds in our article Champions League Goalscoring Odds.
5. UCL Fantasy Team Matchday 3
Let’s finish our preview for the Matchday 3 of UCL Fantasy with our scout picks. This is a good inspiration for managers on their wildcard (regular one). If you plan to use your limitless wildcard in MD3, check our limitless squad here.
We will likely make 1 or 2 changes to our team before the deadline. We will post our final team on our Twitter @FplReports one hour before the first kickoff.
Conclusion
The third Matchday of the Fantasy Champions League campaign starts in just a few days. Make an informed decision about your UCL Fantasy team and prepare it for success.
Good luck!
JOIN our UCL fantasy league by clicking this link or use league code 82C8X1QX01, we are looking forward to compete with you!
