A glorious summer of football is finally upon us, with the World Cup taking place in Russia from the 14th of June to the 15th of July. Here at Fantasybet, we are celebrating the event by running a monster £25,000 GTD fantasy tournament for the first round. We will also provide you with analysis from the World Cup clean sheet and anytime goalscorer betting markets to help you with your squad selection, transfer and captaincy decisions.

A few notes; we are changing our captaincy and vice-captaincy criteria, which will now be the highest percentage chance across all positions (as opposed to just midfielders and strikers), whilst percentages will also help decide formation – you’ll see we are captaining a defender and playing a 4-3-3 in Gameweek 1. Controversial? Yes. But the bookies often know best…

Clean Sheet Odds

Team Best clean sheet odds Implied chance of a clean sheet Belgium 1.44 69% France 1.53 65% Argentina 1.62 62% Russia 1.64 61% England 1.67 60% Brazil 1.83 55% Uruguay 1.83 55% Germany 2.02 50% Colombia 2.05 49% Croatia 2.05 49% Serbia 2.2 45% Spain 2.2 45% Morocco 2.3 43% Sweden 2.3 43% Poland 2.7 37% Denmark 2.8 36% Iran 3 33% Peru 3.4 29% Senegal 3.5 29% South Korea 3.6 28% Costa Rica 3.75 27% Portugal 4.1 24% Egypt 4.5 22% Nigeria 4.5 22% Japan 4.55 22% Iceland 6.5 15% Saudi Arabia 6.5 15% Tunisia 6.5 15% Mexico 7 14% Switzerland 7 14% Australia 10 10% Panama 12 8%

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Belgium top the bookies’ defensive rankings with a 69% chance of keeping a clean sheet courtesy of an opening game against expected whipping boys Panama. Thomas Meunier is a well-known attacking asset from right back for club and country, and takes our captain’s armband for Gameweek 1.

The Red Devils are closely followed by France (65%), who kick off their quest for glory against Australia. As with Belgium, we opt for an attacking full-back in the shape of Monaco’s Djibril Sidibe.

Argentina (62%), Russia (61%) and England (60%) are all deemed to have favourable openers, facing Iceland, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia respectively. Russian captain Igor Afinkeev starts between the sticks for our side, whilst two more full-backs with the potential for attacking returns complete our defence – Nicolas Tagliafico and Kieran Trippier.

On the bench, Panama’s Jaime Penedo looks like the only secure £4.0m starting keeper in the opening round, whilst Johnny Acosta of Costa Rica looks assured of his place in Los Ticos’ defence and comes in at the same price. The pair face Belgium and Serbia respectively as they kick off their World Cup campaigns.

Attacking odds

Player Best anytime goalscorer odds Implied chance of scoring Romelu Lukaku 1.83 55% Harry Kane 1.86 54% Lionel Messi 1.91 52% Neymar 1.95 51% Fedor Smolov 2 50% Gabriel Jesus 2.12 47% Robert Lewandowski 2.2 45% Michy Batshuayi 2.2 45% Antoine Griezmann 2.2 45% Olivier Giroud 2.2 45% Luis Suarez 2.2 45% Edinson Cavani 2.25 44% Jamie Vardy 2.38 42% Sergio Aguero 2.38 42% Timo Werner 2.4 42% Mario Gomez 2.4 42% Gonzalo Higuain 2.4 42% Eden Hazard 2.5 40% Kylian Mbappe 2.5 40% Radamel Falcao 2.6 38% Roberto Firmino 2.62 38% Thomas Muller 2.65 38% Marcus Rashford 2.7 37% Diego Costa 2.7 37% Aleksandar Mitrovic 2.8 36% Paulo Dybala 2.8 36% Nabil Fekir 2.8 36% Danny Welbeck 2.87 35% Maximiliano Gomez 2.88 35% Artem Dzyuba 2.88 35% Raheem Sterling 2.9 34% Dries Mertens 3 33% Marco Reus 3 33% Mario Mandzukic 3 33% Rodrigo 3 33% Marcus Berg 3.1 32% Nikola Kalinic 3.1 32% Florian Thauvin 3.1 32% Ousmane Dembele 3.1 32% Aleksei Miranchuk 3.1 32% Kamil Wilczek 3.25 31% Christian Stuani 3.25 31% Carlos Bacca 3.3 30% Philippe Coutinho 3.3 30% Cristiano Ronaldo 3.3 30% Aleksandar Prijovic 3.4 29% Andrej Kramaric 3.4 29% Dele Alli 3.45 29% Jesse Lingard 3.45 29% Nikola Maksimovic 3.5 29% Jose Paolo Guerrero 3.5 29% Thomas Lemar 3.5 29% Iago Aspas 3.5 29% Youssef En-Nesyri 3.5 29% Luka Jovic 3.55 28% Kasper Dolberg 3.55 28% Nicolai Jorgensen 3.55 28% James Rodriguez 3.6 28% Arkadiusz Milik 3.6 28% Sadio Mane 3.6 28% Paulinho 3.6 28% Isco 3.6 28% Ayoub El Kaabi 3.6 28% Nacer Chadli 3.65 27% Youssef Ennesyri 3.7 27% Lukasz Teodorczyk 3.75 27% Thorgan Hazard 3.75 27% Julian Brandt 3.75 27% Ivan Perisic 3.75 27% Paul Pogba 3.75 27% Andreas Cornelius 3.8 26% Aleksandr Samedov 4 25%

A pair of Premier League superstars from Group G headline our attack, as Romelu Lukaku (55% chance of scoring) and Harry Kane (54%) prepare to take on Panama and Tunisia respectively, having both scored over 30 goals for club and country this season.

Lionel Messi and Neymar rank highly in the bookies’ estimations, but their high prices prevent us from acquiring either for the first round of fixtures. As a result, Fedor Smolov (50%), who costs just £7m and hosts Saudi Arabia in the opening game of the tournament this Thursday, makes our starting XI.

In midfield, we double up on the potent Belgian attack by selecting Eden Hazard (40%). The mercurial Chelsea man suffered an injury scare against Costa Rica last night, but is expected to be fit to line up against the Panamanians this Monday.

Liverpool target Nabil Fekir (36%) joins Hazard in the middle of the park for our side. The Lyon schemer hit 18 goals and provided 8 assists in 30 games in Ligue 1 this season, standing him in good stead ahead of France’s opener against Australia on Saturday.

Aleksandr Samedov (25%), who scored in Russia’s final pre-tournament friendly against Turkey, completes our starting XI as we also double up on Stanislav Cherchesov’s men against the Saudis.

A pair of budget midfielders complete our bench, with David Guzman of Costa Rica and Emil Hallfredsson of Iceland looking like two secure starters in the £4.5m bracket, even if they may not provide huge hauls.

Bookies Dream Team

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Good luck with your World Cup fantasy teams this weekend!

May the odds be with you 🙏

Daniel Victory is a Fantasy football and anytime goalscorer betting enthusiast. Enjoys SSS – statistics, strategizing and spreadsheets. Follow his great tips on Twitter.