Here’s my fantasy premier league “ones to watch” for the top 4 challenging teams goalkeepers and defenders for GW3. I’ll look at the cheaper rotation options and the bargain basement players in the next article. This article will be from a team basis and give you the attacking and the value options as well as a view on the viabilty of the GK within that team. We’ll also give you the next 6 fixtures and project the number of clean sheets in the 6 fixtures. Lastly we’ll tell you how many of the top FPL managers I follow have the teams defensive assets in their FPL team. I’ll put the link below to the article.
The 3 man defence seems to be the vogue these days given the attacking nature of the premier league. You’ll notice that 9/10 FPL managers played a 3 man defence. Then the choice comes as to whether you play 1 or 2 elite defenders and then rotate the cheap defenders next. I’ll put the link below for my team structure article.
fantasy premier league gameweek 3 – “ones to watch” best defenders
Top 4 Challenging teams
The top 4 challenging teams for this article are Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Everton and Man Utd
Chelsea
Chelsea got their first clean sheet in GW2 against Leicester although they should be thanking Leicester striker David Nugent for it. They may not be the most convincing of defensive teams at the moment but they’re still my number 1 defensive option. Interestingly Mourinho played the same team as GW1 so were starting to see the real defence. Rotation will occur at some stage and it’s just a matter of trying to pick the one that will be rotated the least.
18 (1st) clean sheets last season. 1 this season
GK option: Courtois at £6.0m is the first choice. a £4.5m back up maybe required though given Mourinhos words about Cech not being finished.
Value defender: None. Cahill or Terry at £6.5m
Attacking option: Ivanovic at £7.1m. A goal and assist in first 2 games and 2 rampaging attacking performances. Very few attacking players can get assists from crosses and headers from set pieces
Next 6 fixtures:
Everton (A)
Swansea (H)
Man City (A)
Aston Villa (H)
Arsenal (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Projected clean sheets in the next 6: 3
5 of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Chelsea GKs/Defs in their team
Man Utd
No clean sheets yet but statistically they haven’t been too bad. Rojo should improve them and they still have good fixtures remaining.
It’s hard to say who will be in the back 3 or even if it will be a back 3 when De Maria joins and United go to 4-3-3 potentially. This makes selection difficult especially as Rojo is £6.0m. De Gea becomes an even safer choice at £5.5m
GK option: £5.5m De Gea is good value and is solid enough to gamble on a non playing reserve
Value option: Jones probably the best option at £5.5m but selection is tricky as I mentioned above
Attacking option: Rojo scored 6 goals in 28 matches last season for Sporting Lisbon although he did manage 11 yellow cards and 3 reds in those games.
13 (8th) clean sheets last season: 0 clean sheets this season
Next 6 fixtures:
Burnley (A)
QPR (H)
Leicester (A)
West Ham (H)
Everton (H)
West Brom (A)
Projected clean sheets in the next 6 fixtures: 2 to 3
5 of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Man Utd GKs/Defs in their team
Arsenal
No clean sheets so far this year but the performances haven’t been that bad defensively although the Everton game was no masterclass thats for sure.
The defence seems relatively predictable when all fit with Debuchy and Gibbs the RB/LB choices and Koscielny and Mertesacker the CBs. Chambers is likely to lose his spot soon.
17 (2nd) clean sheets last season. 0 this season
GK option: £5.5m Szczesny will have competition from Ospina soon
Value defender: £5.5m Debuchy is good value and a good attacking option. Monreal short term at £5.0m while Gibbs is injured with no return date at the moment
Attacking defender: £6.0m CBs Koscielny and Mertesacker both have attacking potential
Next 6 fixtures:
Leicester (A)
Man City (H)
Aston Villa (A)
Spurs (H)
Chelsea (A)
Hull (H)
Predicted clean sheets in the next 6: 2 clean sheets
9 of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Arsenal GKs/Defs in their team
Man City
Haven’t been that convincing in either game so far and with 2 players for each position difficult to predict who will play at the moment. That will get more difficult with the European and domestic cups starting soon.
16 (3rd) clean sheets last season. 1 this season
GK Option: £6.0m Hart is probably the safest selection option out of all the defensive options
value option: No one until selection policy is clear. Unsure if it will ever be
Attacking option: Kompany with 4 goals last season but no one else evenly remotely gametime secure to stand for comparison
Next 6 fixtures:
Stoke (H)
Arsenal (A)
Chelsea (H)
Hull (A)
Aston Villa (A)
Spurs (H)
Predicted clean sheets in the next 6: 2
None of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Man City GKs/Defs in their team
Tottenham
Only Spurs and amazingly Aston Villa have 2 clean sheets. The West Ham game was distorted by the sendings off but although Spurs were nothing short of devestating in attack the high pressing game did give QPR chances and Spurs defensive stats overall aren’t that convincing. However 2 clean sheets is 2 clean sheets. Selection is the other issue. Spurs also have 2 players for each position and secure gametime is difficult to predict. At the moment Dier and Rose are RB/LB but there are 2 other players for both positions and you have to think that Walker will be the first choice RB. Vertonghen seems assured as CB which leaves Kaboul, Chiriches and Dier to fight out the remaining position.
14 (6th equal) clean sheets last season. 2 this season
GK option: £5.5m Lloris looks secure but there £5.0m defenders available if gametime security can be established
Value option; £5.0m Rose looks the most secure at the moment but no where near guaranteed
Attacking option: £6.0m Vertonghen although £5.2m Dier is 2 goals in 2 games if he can nail a spot long term
Next 6 fixtures:
Liverpool (H)
Sunderland (A)
West Brom (H)
Arsenal (A)
Southampton (H)
Man City (A)
Predicted clean sheets in the next 6 games: 2 clean sheets
1 of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Spurs GKs/Defs in their team
Everton
Everton haven’t looked particularly secure defensively in either of the first 2 fixtures but they at least seem to have a secure selection. There’s also a clear demarcation between the attacking defenders and the others. The back 4 seems to be from left to right Baines Distin Jagielka and Coleman
15 (4th equal) clean sheets last season: 0 this season
GK option: £5.5m Howard is a similar price to Jagielka who is gametime secure and a good bonus option
Value Def: £5.5m Jagielka but for that price Everton need to look more solid
Attacking Def: Both Coleman and Baines are options although very expensive at £7.0m. Baines has pens and direct and indirect free kicks plus a share of corners
Next 6 fixtures:
Chelsea (H)
West Brom (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Liverpool (A)
Man Utd (A)
Aston Villa (H)
Predicted clean sheets in the next 6 fixtures: 2
None of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Everton GKs/Defs in their team
Liverpool
2 pretty dire defensive performances despite the purchase of Moreno and Lovren have seemingly not helped Liverpool. With Johnson, Moreno and Skrtel all injured with no return date there is value there but will the injuries see any clean sheets. Assuming all are injured we could see a back 4 from right to left of Manquillo, Lovren, Sakho and Enrique/Toure
10 (12th equal) clean sheets last season. 0 this season
GK option; Mignolet at £5.5m isn’t great value compared to Lovren at the same price. Given the defensive performance of Liverpool and the injuries £5.5m seems expensive for any representation
Value option: Manquillo at £5.0m while Johnson is injured
Attacking option; Skrtel at £6.0m with 7 goals last season
Next 6 fixtures:
Spurs (A)
Aston Villa (H)
West Ham (A)
Everton (H)
West Brom (H)
QPR (A)
Predicted clean sheets in the next 6 fixtures: 2
2 of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Liverpool GKs/Defs in their team
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fantasy premier league gameweek 3
fantasy premier league gameweek 3
