Another crucial week is upon us in our fantasy league season. This week features four teams with double-headers: Portland Timbers, FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA.
It's obvious you'll want to stack your starting 11 with players from those teams in order to accumulate as much points as possible, but the real question is who? To help make your decision a little easier, we've selected our top forward, midfielder, defender and keeper for the round.
Forward:
Erick Torres ($7.1m), Chivas USA
– Torres is one of the newer players on Chivas' roster. In the last four games since his debut, he's scored twice and assisted once. While Chivas are last place in the West and appear to always be a liability in any given game, Torres still proves he can perform regardless. If anyone is going to do the scoring for this team there's a strong chance that Torres will be involved in the play.
Midfielder
Diego Valeri ($7.6m) & Darlington Nagbe ($8.0m)
– The Timbers are having a solid year and it's the midfield who appear to be the heart and soul of the team. Both Valeri and Nagbe have led the charge and with Will Johnson ($8.2m) listed as questionable for this round, it's even more reason why we're doubling down with these two players.
Defender
Matt Hedges ($5.8m), FC Dallas
– Any success Dallas has this weekend will be reliant on the tall centre-back. They've struggled for quite sometime posting only one shutout in the last six rounds and winless in twelve. That being said, with some favourable opponents in Chivas USA and San Jose Earthquakes, Hedges could prove one of the difference makers that helps Dallas through their rough patch.
Goalkeeper
Nick Rimando ($6.3m), Real Salt Lake
– While Rimando stands at just 5'10" he performs as if he's 6'10". The Salt Lake shot stopper is our pick for #1 keeper this round, facing Portland and Columbus we feel confident he'll come away with at least one clean sheet and his typical two bonus points for each game.
Finally, don't forget that the next double-header in Round 29 is just around the corner so as always... plan ahead!
