Champions League Fantasy Football: What the numbers say

Predicting which Fantasy players are going to perform on any 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 for #UCLfantasy, presented by Playstation.

The top projected players for each position for Matchday 4 are given below. As ever, check latest injury news and possible line-ups before making your final selection.

GOALKEEPERS

Manuel Neuer and Edouard Mendy were the top two projected goalkeepers prior to Matchday 3 and they lived up to their billing with clean sheets for Bayern and Chelsea respectively. Naturally, the premium-priced duo are heavily fancied once more in the reverse fixtures on Matchday 4, with Neuer having yet to concede in the UEFA Champions League this season and Mendy having been beaten just once.

#UCLfantasy managers looking for cheaper alternatives may consider one or both of Yassine Bounou and Remko Pasveer. Sevilla's Bounou kept LOSC at bay last time out and now faces the same opponent on home turf, while Pasveer's Ajax have conceded just two goals in their last 11 games in all competitions.

DEFENDERS

Andreas Christensen heads up the projected defenders, the Dane's Matchday 3 strike against Malmö making him the highest-scoring #UCLfantasy defender in Chelsea's ranks with 26 points. There are plenty of other Blues defenders who look tempting for the return fixture against the Swedish champions, with Antonio Rüdiger and Ben Chilwell also capable of significant returns.

With three clean sheets from three, Bayern defenders are certainly worth investment but given that Joshua Kimmich has yet to secure any attacking returns, the more budget-friendly Niklas Süle has so far offered the superior value for money. Stefan de Vrij, meanwhile, has quietly been racking up the Fantasy points for Inter thanks to a goal, clean sheet and 21 ball recoveries so far.

If you're looking for lightning to strike twice as Ajax travel to Borussia Dortmund then Daley Blind is your man. The centre-back defender produced a mammoth score of 22 points for the Dutch side last time out – this highest single matchday score of any player this season – although #UCLfantasy managers may also be swayed by the more consistent returns of his Ajax team-mate Noussair Mazraoui.

MIDFIELDERS

With scores of seven, 16 and 18 points over the course of the first three matchdays, Bayern's Leroy Sané is once again top of the projected midfielders list. After such a devastating display against Benfica in Portugal, Sané's owners will be counting upon the winger to repeat his heroics in Munich, while those with Mohamed Salah in their squads know that they possess one of the most in-form players around right now.

Bruno Fernandes has more assists than any other player at this stage of the competition having set up four of Manchester United's six goals to date, while fellow Kai Havertz scored his first UEFA Champions League goal since getting the winner in last season's final when he found the net against Malmö on Matchday 3.

Club Brugge's Hans Vanaken is one of five players to have scored on every matchday so far and is reasonably priced at €7.3m, yet he can't match the value offered by Noah Okafor. The Salzburg man has been used a striker so far and justified his manager's faith with two goals against Wolfsburg on Matchday 3 – good enough for 15 #UCLfantasy points when combined with his Player of the Match award.

FORWARDS

It took a while for Robert Lewandowski to find net against Benfica last time out but he duly came up with the goods to continue his streak of scoring on every matchday, as did UEFA Champions League top scorer Sébastien Haller. Both are heavily fancied by the algorithm to continue their success and Haller's Ajax team-mates Antony and Dušan Tadić are likewise tipped to perform on Matchday 4.

The inclusion of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the top ten projected forwards warrants little explanation, but Paulinho is an interesting new face on the list. The Sporting CP striker has three attacking returns to his name in the competition and will be hoping to continue where he left off against Beşiktaş having provided both a goal and an assist on Matchday 3.