Here’s my Barclays fantasy premier league defensive ”ones to watch” article for GW33 complete with table so you can see the stats side by side. I’ve also made the narrative simpler by identifying the best attacking defender and the best cheapie defender. I’ve then put some further comments around it
The first part of the table deals with the best overall defences. The next with the budget home rotation defences.
| Rank | Team | Home rank | Away rank | Goals Conceded | Clean Sheets | CS in last 5 games | In top FPL teams | Predicted CS to end of season |
| 1. | Man City | 3 | 5 | 28 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 1 | 1 | 24 | 14 | 2 | 9 | 4 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 2 | 9 | 37 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | Man Utd | 10 | 4 | 38 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | Everton | 6 | 2 | 31 | 11 | 2 | 14 | 2 |
| 6 | Liverpool | 5 | 13 | 39 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Southampton | 11 | 6 | 40 | 12 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| Rank | Team | Home rank | Away rank | Home GC | Home CS | Home CS in last 5 | In top FPL teams | Predicted Home CS |
| 1 | Stoke | 7 | 17 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Norwich | 4 | 19 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | Swansea | 15 | 11 | 23 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Sunderland | 17 | 14 | 23 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 1 |
| 5 | WBA | 13 | 16 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Key: Home and Away rank: My ranking of the defences. See my rating the defences article from the last gameweek
GC Goals conceded
CS Clean sheets
In Top FPL teams: See my article on following 10 top fantasy premier league teams. The amount the teams are represented.
Predicted clean sheets: Predicted clean sheets in next 6 gameweeks or in home games to end of season for the budget defences
The best overall fantasy premier league defences
1. Manchester City
Best attacking defender: Kolarov £5.1m but with little gametime security. Zabaleta and Kompany at £6.2m/£6.3m have potential with more security.
Best budget defender; Kolarov £5.1m but with rotation with Clichy
The defence has finally starting to return what the underlying stats pointed to. Good fixtures and DGWs is good timing
Fantasy premier league fixtures to the end of the season:
Southampton (H)
Liverpool (A) DGW34
Sunderland (H) DGW34
West Brom (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Everton (A) DGW37
Aston Villa (H) DGW37
West Ham (H)
2. Chelsea
Best attacking defender: Terry £6.9m
Best budget defender: Azpilicueta £5.6m
Still the best defence despite the hiccups at Villa and Palace.
Potential for 4 clean sheets to the end of the season.
Fantasy premier league fixtures to the end of the season:
Stoke City (H)
Swansea (A)
Sunderland (H)
Liverpool (A)
Norwich (H)
Cardiff City (A)
3. Arsenal
Best attacking defender: Mertesacker £6.2m
Best budget defender; Sagna £5.4m
This is about good fixtures and not recent form. The loss of Koscielny is certainly not helpful but the fixtures are the key
West Ham (H)
Hull City (A)
Newcastle (H)
West Brom (H)
Norwich (A)
4. Man Utd
– Gameweek 34 –
Everton (A)
Norwich (H)
Sunderland (H) DGW37
Hull City (H) DGW37
Southampton (A)
5. Everton
Best attacking defender: either Coleman £6.8m or Baines £7.4m. Baines has pens and direct free kicks.
Best budget defender; Distin £5.4m
The DGW34 has seen alot of investment but again without Jagielka it was a pretty ordinary defensive effort against Fulham. Stones offers value but no longevity and I’m certain the leadership and organisation of Jagielka will help clean sheets. Still no certainty about a return date.
Potential for 2 clean sheets to the end of the season DGW34
Fantasy premier league fixtures to the end of the season:
Arsenal (H)
Sunderland (A) DGW34
Crystal Palace (H) DGW34
Man Utd (H)
Southampton (A)
Man City (H)
Hull City (A)
6. Liverpool
Best attacking defender: Skrtel £5.9m
Best Budget defender: Flanagan £4.4m
A good clean sheet against Spurs although it was a mixed defensive performance. Had Adebayor been playing rather than Soldado it could have been a different story. Still a good run of form with 3 clean sheets in the last 5. I’ve been quite conservative with the clean sheet estimate. Potential for more
Fantasy premier league fixtures to the end of the season:
West Ham (A)
Man City (H)
Norwich (A)
Chelsea (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Newcastle (H)
7. Southampton
Best attacking defender: Fonte £5.5m
Best budget defender: Chambers £3.9m Gametime risk though as Clyne is injured with no return date
Good clean sheet against the hapless Newcastle side. Clean sheet performance has been pretty mixed recently though
Fantasy premier league fixtures to the end of the season:
Man City (A)
Cardiff City (H)
Aston Villa (A)
Everton (H)
Swansea (A)
Man Utd (H)
The best fantasy premier league budget home defences
1. Stoke
Best attacking option: Shawcross £5.4m
Best budget option: Wilson £4.3m
Excellent clean sheet home to Hull. 2 good fixtures for clean sheets left.
Tottenham (H)
Fulham (H)
2. Norwich
Best attacking defender: Olsson £4.2m
Best budget defender: Olsson £4.2m
Only the WBA game offers any chance of a clean sheet for the rest of the season although Norwich have surprised some including Man City.
Liverpool (H)
Arsenal (H)
3. Swansea
Best attacking option: Chico £4.9m
Best budget option: Chico £4.9 as very little price difference
3 clean sheets in the last 5 has shown an ability to keep clean sheets in certain games. Good clean sheet against Norwich.
Aston Villa (H)
Southampton (H)
4. Sunderland
Cardiff City (H)
Swansea (H)
5. WBA
Best attacking defender: McAuley £5.1m
Best budget defender: Ridgewell £4.8m
Terrible defensive performance against Cardiff means a bit of a re rating.
West Ham (H)
Stoke City (H)
