UCL Fantasy is back with MD7 this January, bringing excitement to fans earlier than usual – nearly a month ahead of its typical return! So the last two rounds of the Fantasy Champions League league phase are here. Only a few options on how to boost your ranking before the beginning of the knockout rounds.
So we prepared for you UCL Fantasy tips for Matchday 7 in order to help you find opportunities to climb up the ranking before the play off rounds begin.
We will focus on the best captain, best picks, fixtures to target, balls recovered, and our own scout team selection.
Let’s quickly dive in.
1. Strategy and tips for UCL Fantasy Matchday
Your fantasy football strategy for MD7 will depend on the number of chips you have available and when you plan to use them.
a) You used all your chips
If you already used your wildcard and the limitless wildcard, you need to keep an eye on MD8 fixtures when doing transfers, and even perhaps save one free transfer. Then you will have 3 free transfers in MD8, where we expect a lot of rotation as it is the last group stage match. But the great news is that in MD8 all games are played on the same day – so you will know all lineups before the deadline.
So try to bring in players that have good fixtures in both, MD7 and MD8 as well.
b) Why is limitless better in MD7 rather than MD8
Avoid limitless in MD8 as you cannot use your subs in MD8 (all games are played on the same time, so basically no point in using limitless as 4 heavy hitters would stay on your bench anyway).
c) If you have BOTH chips available, limitless and classic wildcard as well
If you have both chips available, we prefer using them both in the group stage, basically creating two free-hit teams in a row.
However, you could consider leaving the classic wildcard to the elimination round, but it might not have a big effect there, as we all have unlimited transfers after MD8, MD10, and then 3,5,3,5,3, etc free transfers before each round.
But definitely use limitless in the group stage. In the group stage, we have fixtures where strong teams play against whipping boys = a great source of fantasy points.
We also get a budget increased by 5m from R16, which makes the limitless chip less effective in the elimination rounds too.
Our preferred strategy in this scenario would be:
- Matchday 7: Limitless
- Matchday 8: Classic wildcard (you will know all lineups, and could have the cheapest bench possible as you do not use subs in MD8)
d) Strategy for everyone
- Keep an eye on potential transfers during the transfer windows. You do not want to buy a player who will be transferred out from their team during January transfer window.
- Target easy fixtures. Focus on premium players who are likely to haul and who play against very easy oppositions and how good fixtures run in the next 2 fixtures
- Alongside these few heavy hitters focus on cheap players who have stable output in balls recovered or have good fixtures or are talismans for their teams.
- Pick defenders that have a high chance of a clean sheet
- Make sure you have 2 great captaincy options, one for each day
- Make sure your goalkeepers play on different days so you can use subs on them
- Have around 8 players for Tuesday and around 7 players for Wednesday to use subs efficiently
e) Notes
- If you are looking for cheap goalkeeper combo, you could go Majecki + Israel, they rotate in MD7, and in MD8 you would play just 1GK anyway as you would not make subs as all games are played on the same day
2. Transfer Targets and key players to own in Matchday 7
Key players to own
- Salah – your Tuesday captain
- Wirtz – has amazing form
- Frimpong/Grimaldo – Leverkusen wingbacks could be an amazing source of points, fixture does not matter, you want one of them until the end of the league phase. But Frimpong is on 2 yellow cards.
- Gyokeres – it is almost impossible to sell a player in this form
- Raphinha/Yamal/Lewandowski – Barcelona is scoring goals for fun, you should aim to have their attacking coverage
- Kuhn – best value player in the game
Transfer targets
- Vinicius/Mbappe/Bellingham – Real with the best fixture of the matchday
- Lookman/Bellanova/Retegui – Atalanta with great fixture, one week punts
- Celtic players, Kuhn – Celtic have a good fixture run up to MD8
- Kim – good at balls recovered, you just need Bayern coverage mainly in MD8
- TAA, VVD – Liverpool defensive coverage
- Gabriel, Odegaard, Timber – Arsenal could do well in the upcoming fixtures
- Undav/Millot/Mittelstadt – one week punts against Slovan
3. Fixtures to target in UCL Fantasy MD7
Now let’s use our Odds to probability calculator to find out which fixtures we should target in Matchday 7 according to bookies odds.
Tuesday fixtures
- Atalanta vs. Sturm Graz: Atalanta 82 % to win, 51 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Slovan Bratislava vs. VfB Stuttgart: Stuttgart 76 % to win, 49 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Liverpool vs. Lille: Liverpool 74 % to win, 50 % to score 2.5+ goals
- CZ Beograd vs. PSV Eindhoven: Eindhoven 54 % to win, 31 % to score 2.5+ goals
Wednesday fixtures
- Real Madrid vs. Salzburg: Real 91 % to win, 64 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Arsenal vs. Dinamo Zagreb: Arsenal 87 % to win, 57 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Celtic vs. YB Bern: Celtic 72 % to win, 45 % to score 2.5+ goals
- Feyenoord vs. Bayern: Bayern 68 % to win, 42 % to score 2.5+ goals
Find 2.5+ goals odds for all teams in our article: Champions League Over 2.5 Goals Odds.
4. Best players to pick in MD7 from all positions
We look at key players to pick in Fantasy Champions League MD7. We examine each position and each price bracket. You can check our separate articles here:
- Best Goalkeeper to pick in UCL Fantasy Matchday 7
- Best Defenders to pick in UCL Fantasy Matchday 7
- Best Midfielders to pick in UCL Fantasy Matchday 7
- Best Forwards to pick in UCL Fantasy Matchday 7
5. Best captain for Matchday 7
Let’s look at who do we consider to be the best captain for UCL Fantasy Matchday 7.
Tuesday captain pick: Salah (LIL (H))
As it stands, we will captain Salah as we think he is the best captain option for UCL Fantasy Matchday 7.
Other captain picks for Tuesday: Lewandowski, Raphinha, Lookman
Wednesday captain pick: Mbappe (SAL (H))
There is a wider captaincy range for our backup captain. A lot of good options and good fixtures to choose a player from.
We have a tough decision to make, but in the end, we chose Mbappe as our Wednesday captain, if Salah fails to deliver at least 9 points (you can read our rules for switching the captaincy here).
Other captain picks for Wednesday: Vinicius, Odegaard, Kuhn, Dumfries, Kane
6. Bookies odds
As usual, we looked at what bookies think about the Matchday 7 of UCL Fantasy.
We checked the clean sheet odds to determine which teams are most likely to keep a clean sheet in the MD7 and goalscoring odds to determine which players are most likely to score a goal in MD7.
It can be very helpful when selecting the defense of your UCL Fantasy team or choosing your UCL Fantasy captain.
We used our Odds to probability calculator for converting bookies’ odds into probabilities.
Clean sheet odds for MD7
Bookies favor Arsenal to keep a clean sheet with 59 % probability. Real Madrid (57 %) and Atalanta (50 %) follow. Bookies expect 8.69 clean sheets in Matchday 7. You can find the full Champions League clean sheet odds table here.
Goalscoring odds for MD7
Mbappe leads the odds…. Check Any Time Goalscorer odds in our article Champions League Goalscoring Odds.
7. UCL Fantasy Team Selection Matchday 7
Let’s finish our preview for the Matchday 7 of UCL Fantasy with our scout seclection. This is a good inspiration for managers on their wildcard (regular one). If you plan to use your limitless wildcard in MD7, check our limitless squad here.
8. Fantasy Champions League Tips
Find more tips, strategies, and picks for UCL Fantasy in these articles:
- Beginner? Read our guide: How to play UCL Fantasy?
- Confused about the rules? Read the Official guidelines of the game
- Do you want to get better at UCL Fantasy? Read our article about Essential Tips for UCL Fantasy Success.
Good luck in UCL Fantasy Matchday 7.
