Fantasy premier league – “ones to watch” GKs/Defs GW29

The best overall fantasy premier league defences

1.  Chelsea

22 goals conceded and 12 clean sheets.   3 clean sheets in the last 5. Conceded more than 1 goal only 4 times.  How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams:  8

Although sloppy in conceding at Fulham they are still the best overall defence at the moment on season performance and current form.  Also no blank in GW29.  No DGW31

Terry at £6.8m and Ivanovic at £6.6m have the best attacking stats and are probably the most secure gametime wise although Terry still could be rested.     Terry however looks a better bonus prospect getting bonus points at close to double the rate of Ivanovic.  Azpilicueta is the budget option at £5.5m .  He’s fairly gametime secure having played 17 of the last 18 fantasy premier league games but has no attacking returns and only 2 bonus points so you make that sacrifice for the cheap price.

Potential for 5 clean sheets in the next 6

Next 6 fantasy premier league fixtures:

Tottenham (H)
Aston Villa (A)
Arsenal (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Stoke City (H)
Swansea (A)

2.  Everton

27 goals conceded and 10 clean sheets.  Conceded more than 1 goal 6 times.  1 clean sheets in their last 5 and 2 in last 13.  How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams:  9

DGW31.   Followed up their excellent but ultimately unlucky defensive performance against Chelsea with a clean sheet at home to West Ham. Jagielka’s injured but should be back for GW31 to strengthen the defence.

Coleman  at £6.6m  and Baines  at £7.4m are the attacking options.  Coleman has 5 goals and 1 assists but no attacking returns in his last 7 .  Baines has pens and a  share of set pieces.  In the 9 games since coming back from injury he’s scored a goal and 2 assists plus 9 bonus points.    Distin is the budget option with secure gametime at £5.2m.   However there’s only clean sheets at stake here.  No attacking returns and 1 bonus point since GW5.

Potential for 4 clean sheets plus an addition of the postponed home game to Crystal Palace.

Next 6 fantasy premier league fixtures:

Gameweek 29
Cardiff City (H)
Swansea (H) DGW31
Newcastle (A) DGW31
Fulham (A)
Arsenal (H)
Sunderland (A)

3.  Man Utd

31 goals conceded and 9 clean sheets in 27 games.  3 clean sheets in the last 5.  Conceded more than 1 goal 10 times.  How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams:  1

Have the advantage of being the only team with a  game in GW29 and a DGW in GW31. See my article this week on them for more detail.   9 clean sheets is a reasonable record given their defensive issues.

Man Utd in addition to their inconcistency  are pretty difficult to predict line up wise.  Again see my recent article on Man Utd recently for more detail.   Evra at £6.5m is the best bet. He’s pretty nailed on as his reserve Buttner has not produced when played.    Evra also has good attacking potential with a goal and 5 assists which has translated into an 18 point bonus haul as well.  De Gea is reasonable value at £5.7m and fairly certain of selection.  If you want to gamble to save funds then Evans at £4.8m and Smalling at £5.1m are the gambles.  Which will play at CB is difficult to predict.

Potential for 4 clean sheets in the next 7 fixtures

Next 6 fantasy premier league fixtures:

West Brom (A)
Liverpool (H)
West Ham (A) DGW31
Man City (H) DGW31
Aston Villa (H)
Newcastle (A)
Hull City (H)

4.  Manchester City

27 goals conceded and 10 clean sheets.  Conceded more than 1 goal 8 times. 2 clean sheets in the last 5 How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams:  2

DGW31.  No game in GW29.  Form especially away from home is mixed to say the least.  They have some strong underlying defensive stats to show they can improve though.  They also have 2 postponed games to go home to Sunderland and Villa.  These 2 have yet to have dates confirmed.  For more detail see my recent article on Man City and the DGWs.

Kolarov is the attacking and budget choice at £5.1m.  The best attacking defensive player in fantasy premier league in my view.  He is rotated though so it comes at some gametime risk.  Very good off the bench though anyway.  Kompany at £6.3m has more gametime security and reasonable attacking potential.  He’s not performed bonus wise at all though with only 5.  Zabaleta offers a halfway house at £6.0m

There’s 3 clean sheets in the next 6 for me.

Next 6 fantasy premier league fixtures:

Gameweek 29
Hull City (A)
Fulham (H)
Man Utd (A)
Arsenal (A)
Southampton (H)
Liverpool (A)

5.  Southampton

32 goals conceded and 10 clean sheets.  Conceded more than 1 goal 11 times.   1 clean sheets in their last 5 games.  How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams:  11

Not such a great recent record though and 3 goals conceded now in 2 consecutive games.   Chambers at £3.9m seems to have nailed his spot having played 12 out of 14 and is the budget option.  He’s yet to show any attacking returns and has only 2 bonus points.  Shaw has some middle ground at £5.0m before Lovren and Fonte at £5.4m and £5.5m who offer more bonus and attacking potential.  Fonte probably has the marginally better attacking returns and underlying stats and bonus stats. Boruc and Davis offer a cheap GK double at £4.8m and £3.9m respectively.

Potential for 3 clean sheets in the next 6.  No blank in GW29 but no DGW31

Next 6 fantasy premier league fixtures:

Crystal Palace (A)
Norwich (H)
Tottenham (A)
Newcastle (H)
Man City (A)
Cardiff City (H)

6.  Arsenal

28 goals conceded and 12 clean sheets.  Conceded more than 1 goal 4 times.  2 clean sheets in their last 5.  How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams:  9

DGW31.  Koscielny at £5.7m  is the best all round pick for my money.   12 bonus points in his last 10 games show his bonus potential.   Mertesacker is a lot more expensive at £6.5m.  He has better attacking underlying stats and  looks more dangerous at set pieces than Koscielny.  However,  no attacking returns since GW16 and the bonus points have suffered as well

The fixtures now get tougher with only 2  clean sheets possibly in the next 6. DGW31

Next 6 fantasy premier league fixtures:

Gameweek 29
Tottenham (A)
Chelsea (A) DGW31
Swansea (H) DGW31
Man City (H)
Everton (A)
West Ham (H)

7.  Liverpool

35 goals conceded and 8 clean sheets.  Conceded more than 1 goal 11 times.  1 clean sheets in their last 5.  How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams:  1

Hard to believe given the defensive shambles they’ve been this year that they have got 8 clean sheets.

Personally I don’t think the defence warrants more investment than the cheapie £4.3m Flanagan.  However if you have more faith than me and are willing to spend more then Skrtel is your man at £5.6m.  For that you get excellent attacking potential with 4 goals this season and 13 bonus points

Excellent DGW31 fixtures but with only 3 fantasy premier league players that can be selected do you really want to lose 1 player to the defence?

2/3 clean sheets in the next 6 fixtures

Next 6 fantasy premier league fixtures:

Gameweek 29
Man Utd (A)
Cardiff City (A)
Sunderland (H)
Tottenham (H)
West Ham (A)
Man City (H)

The best fantasy premier league budget home defences

1.  Sunderland

21 goals conceded and 3 clean sheets at home in 13 home games.  Conceded more than 1 goal 7 times at home.  2 clean sheets in the last 5 home games.  How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams: 4

7 clean sheets in 19 games since Poyet joined.   Bardsley is my best choice at £4.3m for his attacking potential with 2 goals and an assist plus 7 bonus points in the 19 games he’s played.  GK Mannone offers value in rotation at £4.5m.  With the 3 DGWs coming up he offers excellent potential for save points if nothing else in these DGWs

DGW in GW31 plus postponed games away to Man City and home to WBA yet to be scheduled.

4 Potential clean sheets at home to the end of the season

Next  home fantasy premier league fixtures plus the DGW31  until the end of the season:

Crystal Palace (H)

Norwich (A)  Liverpool (A) DGW31
West Ham (H)
Everton (H)
Cardiff City (H)
Swansea (H)

2.  Swansea

21 goals conceded and 5 clean sheets at home in 14 games.  1 clean sheets in their last 5 home games.  Conceded more than 1 at home 7 times.  How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams:  1

DGW31.  Didn’t really show the defensive mettle required to get a clean sheet against Palace which isn’t a great sign for the future.  They definitely aren’t one of the best defensive teams at home but the remaning fixtures at home are strong which is the reason for their selection.  There’s clean sheet potential in every game apart from the Chelsea game giving a total potential  clean sheets of 4.  Chico at £5.0m is  my best choice although he is suspended for 1 game after being sent off but will be back for DGW31.  2 goals in 5 games shows his attacking potential.   He’s also priced similarly to everyone else.

4 potential home clean sheets to the end of the season.  DGW31 is hopeless as it’s 2 very difficult fixtures

Next  home fantasy premier league fixtures plus DGW31 fixtures until the end of the season:

Gameweek 29
West Brom (H)
Everton (A) Arsenal (A) DGW31
Norwich (H)
Chelsea (H)
Aston Villa (H)
Southampton (H)

3.  Norwich

11 goals conceded and 3 clean sheets at home in 14 home games.  Conceded more than 1 goal 3 times at home.  4 clean sheets in the last 5 home games. How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams: 3

The home defence has really come right as you can see from the 4 clean sheets in the last 5 home games.  The away defence is far from strong.  Only Man City and Arsenal have more home clean sheets.  They play in GW29 but no DGW31.

Olsson is now injured with no return date.   Bassong at £4.7m is my best choices here.  Bassong has been unlucky at set pieces and should at some stage get some attacking returns which are zero at the moment.  He’s also the best bet on bonus.

3 potential clean sheets at home out of the 5 games to go.

Next  home fantasy premier league fixtures until the end of the season:  No blanks in GW29.  No DGW31

Stoke City (H)
Sunderland (H)
West Brom (H)
Liverpool (H)
Arsenal (H)

4.  Hull

14 goals conceded and 6 clean sheets at home.  Conceded more than 1 goal at home 3 times.  1 clean sheet in his last 5 home games.  How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams:  3

4 goals at home to Newcastle and 1 clean sheet in the last 5 home games is maybe pointing to the budget home defence bubble bursting.   Injuries and some fiddling on selection and formation has made it hard to predict the defensive line up.    I would probably go for Rosenior at £3.9m at the moment at the budget level.  He seems to be able to move between formations .  After that its Davies at £4.7m who is the best attacking prospect with 2 goals this season.  Figueroa offers a medium with gametime security at £4.4m

Potentially 3 clean sheets before the end of the season at home.  Blank in GW29.  DGW in GW31 with some prospect of 2 clean sheets

Next  home fantasy premier league fixtures until the end of the season:

Man City (H)
West Brom (H)
Swansea (H) West Ham (A) GW31
Arsenal (H)
Everton (H)

5.  WBA

16 goals conceded and 3 clean sheets at home in 14 games.  Conceded more than 1 goal at home 4 times.  0 clean sheets in last 5 home games.  How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams:  0

This is about 3 good home fixtures to the end of the season and good underlying stats to suggest that they should improve the current stats. They have a GW29 fixture but no DGW31 though.   McAuley at £5.2m is the best bet.  He’s a similar price to the others but has good attacking potential.  2 goals and 1 assist this season but nothing simce GW11 again isn’t a great recommendation but he’s looks dangerous at set pieces and his underlying attacking stats are very good.

3 potential home clean sheets to the end of the season.

Next  home fantasy premier league fixtures until the end of the season:

Man Utd (H)
Cardiff City (H)
Tottenham (H)
West Ham (H)
Stoke City (H)

6.  West Ham

20 goals conceded and 6 clean sheets at home in 14 home games.  Conceded more than 1 goal 6 times at home.  2 clean sheets in the last 5 home games. How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams: 3

West Ham are also strong away from home.  Demel at £4.5m is my best choice as Reid could return against one of the CBs.  There are a number of LBs to challenge McCartney so just Demel at RB as the only gametime secure player.  The GK Adrian is also a reasonable option at £4.5M

2 maybe 3 clean sheets to the end of the season.  Blank in GW29.  DGW31

Next home fantasy premier league fixtures to the end of the season:

Man Utd (H) GW31
Hull City (H) GW31
Liverpool (H)
Crystal Palace (H)
Tottenham (H)

7.  Newcastle

19 goals conceded and 4 clean sheets at home in 14 home games.  Conceded more than 1 goal 5 times at home.  1 clean sheets in the last 5 home games. How many times  do they feature in the top 10 fantasy premier league managers teams: 0

Could their 4-1 win at Hull be the corner turned.  Very inconsistent but have a DGW31 although a blank in GW29.

Williamson at £4.3m is the budget choice and seems to have gametime security.  Very little bonus or attacking potential though so it’s about whether you think he will get more clean sheets.  Debuchy at £5.0m has the better attacking potential with a goal and 4 assists this season.  Those attacking returns have mainly contributed to the 8 bonus points recieved.  £5.0m for a Newcastle defender is quite pricey to me though.

3 potential home clean sheets to the end of the season.  DGW31 fixtures could be worse

Next home fixtures to the end of the season plus DGW31

Crystal Palace (H) DGW31
Everton (H) DGW31
Man Utd (H)
Swansea (H)
Cardiff City (H)
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