The Champions League is back this week with the third round of group fixtures. FantasyBet are hosting a number of UCL fantasy competitions for you to get involved in, including £1,000.00 contests on both Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Clarke returns with his player tips to help you build a squad for Daily Fantasy or else make changes to your season-long team.

Best Goalkeepers For UCL Fantasy Matchday 3

Following Hugo Lloris’ horrendous elbow injury, Paulo Gazzaniga (4.5m) has filled the gap between the sticks. During his time managing Spurs, Mauricio Pochettino has not rotated his goalkeeper for European fixtures, instead preferring to play his second choice in domestic cup competitions. Gazzaniga is now ‘number 1’ and in line to start in a very attractive fixture vs. Crvena Zvezda (H).

When the UCL game was released to the public, there was a lot of interest in Buffon, rather than Wojciech Szczęsny (5.5m). The Italian was considered to be the Champions League starter, with the ex-Arsenal man playing the majority of league minutes. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, Buffon started the last league fixture and Szczesny has taken the mantle for both UCL fixtures. Juventus have kept a clean sheet in two of their last three home matches.

Best Defenders for UCL Fantasy Matchday 3

Napoli’s goalkeeper Alex Meret (4.5m) is excellent value having kept back-to-back clean sheets in the Champions League, the first coming against Liverpool. Though it’s his outfield teammate, Giovanni Di Lorenzo (5.0m), who I’d be looking at with 17 points over this period. The marauding fullback earned a call up to the Italy squad this month and, along with recording six goals and three assists since Round 20 of Serie A last season, he has also benefited from the UCL scoring system with 16 ball recoveries – which equates to five fantasy points.

Renan Lodi (4.0m) remains unrivalled in the budget bracket. An Atletico defender at this price is ridiculous and he will be in just about every wildcard squad heading into Round 3. The well-drilled Spanish defence plays Bayer Leverkusen home and away in their next two fixtures. Both are good shouts for a clean sheet.

Left-back Lodi featured from the bench in his last La Liga fixture, but will return to the starting line-up on Tuesday.

Best Midfielders For UCL Fantasy Matchday 3

Staying with Atletico, I have seen a lot of wildcard drafts with Joao Felix (8.0m). Just as a reminder, he is expected to miss the next three weeks at least through injury. One player who might benefit from this is Thomas Lemar (8.5m). The winger has struggled in La Liga this season and, having played most of his time in short cameos, will be desperate to make the most of the increase in minutes.

I’m very optimistic about Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (6.5m) this week. He was thrown on for half an hour versus Man United on Sunday and made an immediate impact, as well as having two efforts sail just wide of the post. There is no guarantee, but he is expected to start on Wednesday and at this price, the opportunity could be too good to miss. Genk are performing terribly in the Belgium Jupiler League and Liverpool need to catch Napoli in Group E.

Best Forwards For UCL Fantasy Matchday 3

There are some great value forwards alongside the obvious captaincy candidates in Lionel Messi (11.5m) vs. Slavia Paraha (a) and Cristiano Ronaldo (11.5m) vs. Lokomotiv Moskva (H).

Sergio Aguero (10.5m) was included in the matchday squad for Man City’s trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday, but didn’t feature as his strike partner, Gabriel Jesus, opened the scoring. The Argentine, who has found the net every 81 minutes in the Premier League this season, is odds on to start against Atalanta. There have been 10 goals in the Serie A club’s last two matches and more are forecasted in this one.

Away from the premium price bracket, have a look at Victor Osimhen (6.5m) if you’re after a cheap striker in the form of his life. Since trading Belgium’s top division for Lille in August, the 20 year-old has 10 attacking returns (eight goals & two assists) in 12 appearances in all competitions. In a group with Valencia, who he faces in Round 3 and 4, Ajax and Chelsea, he will have plenty of opportunities to add to this impressive tally.