We’re in the final week so it’s time to start getting serious about looking at your fantasy team if you have been putting it off, and what better place to start than my previous Preseason Picks articles: Keeper Pairings, Defender Picks, and Midfielder Picks.

Forwards

Here’s a preview of what’s to come.

• Game Predictions
• Captain Poll
• 11^th hour roundup

But right now, there’s still one thing we need to talk about.

Returning Players

Each of the top tier forwards performed well last season, though I seemed to never be able to catch Henry at his peak form, but only one is worth the $11.0 price.  Robbie Keane has the PP90 that make him the clear winner. If he had a better starting schedule, I’d have him in my team. Some people are going to punt with his for week 1, I can’t fault that, but I think the saved money can better be spent in other places.

The $10.5-$10 price range has several productive forwards from the 2013 season, including the currently highest owned forward. Federico Higuain is my top choice from this tier and has been in and out of my team several times. Even with an away game, Higuain is a bonus point machine that only a forward playing OOP in midfield can generate (almost double the KP of every other forward). Alvaro Saborio is another player that I think is promising.  His numbers are low because he missed a lot of last season due to injury, but he ended this Preseason with 3 goals in 2 games. He’ll be one to keep an eye on around week 3. I have to mention Mike Magee, who is owned by over 25% of teams currently. Chicago does play Chivas in week 1, but it’s a road game and Magee only played in 1 preseason game. This just makes me too nervous to select him. As for the rest, Marco Di Vaio is on a red card for the first 3 games and Eddie Johnson has a little to prove before I believe that he’s worth this price.

The $9.5-$9.0 has two other forwards that I think are reasonably priced and have been considering for my own team. Obafemi Martins and Blas Perez both have nice starting schedules, had a good preseason (3 goals and 6 goals), and have the highest PP90 in their price ranges. Chris Wondolowski is someone who I will look at more around week 6 and Domonic Oduro starts the season with a 1 game suspension.

In the $8.5 -$8.0 range, it’s really the $8.0 players who stand out the most. Brown and McInerney bother had good preseasons  (3 goals each) but they don’t have the best starting schedules, but every forward in the $8.0 range is worth adding to your watch list.  A couple of the standouts are Torres who scored 3 preseason goals and has two opening home games and Beiler who had 3 assists and 2 goals during preseason but could be a rotation risk due to CCL games.

The $7.5-$7.0 range is where forward options start to dry up. Cooper, Mattocks, and Sapong are the best options for a $7.5 starter, but they had limited success during preseason.  In the $7.0 range I think Luyindula, Plata, Arrieta, and Urruti are worth keeping an eye on.

New and Slightly Used

Of the 9 players listed below 8 of them saw playtime during the preseason and had varying levels of success.  I know many love Manneh, but he has not done anything yet to make me want him in my team. Cummings is actually the most appealing $6.5 forward. He seems set to be a sub again, but he earned 2 assists and scored 3 goals during preseason. The best potential value is Fondy. He played in 6 of Chivas’ preseason games (4 starts) and scored 2 goals. He still may not be in the starting XI, but he has the best chance of any $4.0 player. As for Defoe, that’s a lot of money to spend on a guy with no previous data to look at. To risky for me.

Conclusion

Overall, I’m being conservative when it comes to forwards. My main reason is because they do not generate as many bonus points as other positions. So if you load up on players who do not end up getting a goal or assist, you could be in for a low point total. My goal is to try to transfer in forwards with promising games and only have 1 or 2 in my lineup and then try to find some low coast bench players IF needed. My favorite forwards for week 1 are either good bonus point generators or have several home games.

Obafemi Martins $9.5m – Seattle has a great schedule and Oba will be a target just as he was last year. He has the best PP90 in this price range and it could have been higher is he had not been sidelined with injuries. A healthy Oba is someone I’m willing to take a chance on.

Blas Perez $9.0m – Dallas also has a very attractive starting schedule and Perez’s preseason performance and price are hard to ignore.

Federico Higuain $10.5m – Columbus has a bye  in week 2, but Higuain’s ability to generate bonus points is unmatched by any other forward. It’s also not clear how solid DC’s defense will be. In my opinion, he is the most promising Away forward for week 1.

Erick Torres $8.0M – I know that Chivas was and is the team we loved to hate for fantasy last season, but they did start out strong in 2013 and have a completely new look this season. With two home games and a solid preseason, Torres could be worth gambling on.

These are my picks, how do they match up with yours? Feel free to join the discussion about this article at /r/FantasyMLS or send a message to me on Twitter to @MLSFantasyBoss.

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