UCL Fantasy Football Matchday 3: What the numbers say

Predicting which Fantasy players are going to perform on a given matchday is a difficult task. Through crunching the numbers, a projected points total for each player has been calculated based on the player's historical performance in the UEFA Champions League. Goals, assists, clean sheets and the likelihood of playing are the major parameters used in our projections.

The top projected players for each position for Matchday 3 are given below. As ever, check the team news and predicted line-ups before making your final selection.

GOALKEEPERS

Edouard Mendy and Yassine Bounou are the only two goalkeepers to have kept clean sheets on both matchdays so far and that puts them in the top two positions in terms of projected points for Matchday 3, with Chelsea and Sevilla taking on Rennes and Krasnodar respectively.

Two other Premier League goalkeepers – Ederson and David de Gea – also feature, while Juventus’ Wojciech Szczęsny is tipped to perform well as his side aim for a second away clean sheet of the competition.

DEFENDERS

For the second week running, Joshua Kimmich leads the way when it comes to projected defenders. The Bayern man has returned ten points in each of his first two matchdays thanks to several different avenues; a goal (from outside the box), assist, clean sheet and ten ball recoveries. The likes of Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos and Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold also offer attacking threat, as does Dortmund's generously-priced Thomas Meunier for the return to his form side Club Brugge.

Elsewhere, Kurt Zouma makes the list ahead of Chelsea’s Matchday 3 fixture against Rennes at Stamford Bridge. Frank Lampard’s side have kept five clean sheets in their last six games in all competitions, while Zouma has shown an eye for goal this season having already found the net three times in the Premier League.

MIDFIELDERS

Plenty of Matchday 2 performers are projected to bring in the #UCLfantasy points once again this week, with their domestic performances also being factored into the algorithm. Mohamed Salah, Hakim Ziyech, Joaquín Correa, João Félix and Kevin De Bruyne all either scored or provided an assist for their respective sides over the weekend and are showing excellent Fantasy form heading into Matchday 3.

Marcus Rashford’s hat-trick from the bench on Matchday 2 certainly didn’t go unnoticed, while another notable occurrence last week was the fact that Jadon Sancho took Dortmund’s penalty against Zenit, rather than Erling Braut Haaland. If Sancho is to assume regular spot-kick duties, then that only increases the Englishman’s #UCLfantasy appeal.

FORWARDS

Despite still having not scored from open play this season, Lionel Messi is still finding ways to pick up #UCLfantasy points and he tops the projected forwards list just ahead of in-form Atalanta forward Duván Zapata, with both players having seen their price rise on account of their performances so far.

Matchday 3 heralds the UEFA Champions League return of Cristiano Ronaldo, who will be hoping to make up for lost time when Juventus travel to Ferencváros on Wednesday. Ronaldo wasted no time in getting up to speed in Serie A over the weekend, scoring twice after coming off the bench against Spezia.

Robert Lewandowski may have slipped down the list due to low returns over the first two matchdays, but the Bayern man can certainly not be discounted. Rested over the weekend, Lewandowski will be itching to open his UEFA Champions League account for the season when the reigning champions face Salzburg.