fantasy premier league GW21 – “ones to watch” best defenders/GKs

Here’s my gameweek 21 “ones to watch” article ranking the best defenders. It also gives a table of stats for you to make your own decision.  There’s also some narrative on each player and the next 6 fixtures 

fantasy premier league GW21  – “ones to watch” best defenders/GKs

I’ve tried to balance out attacking potential vs the premium price you pay for that player rather than just going for the attacking player automatically.  The attack vs value decision is really a matter of personal choice so in the narrative I talk about both options.   I’ve put together a table of stats with a key below it to rank the 10 best defenders.  Below that I’ve put some narrative on each player plus their next 6 fixtures.   I’ll also try and talk about the GK option.

Key:

Team ownership:  The total defence and GK ownership to give you an idea of how many FPL teams have a GK or Def from that team

Mins per FPL point:  How long it takes a player to earn an FPL point.  The lower the better obviously

Goals/Assist;  Goals/Assists so far in the season

CS – H/A:  The clean sheets so far this season.  Home/Away

Fixture ease:  The easiness of the next 6/(3) fixtures.  Done from an attacking point of view but does give an indication of fixture ease

Top 10 FPL managers own:  How many of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have the player in the team

Overall defensive strategy

In terms of defensive structure personally I believe that you either play 1 or 2 players from the elite teams which defensively are Chelsea, Man City, Southampton and I also believe Arsenal and then rotate the rest.  I also believe in looking for value (Chambers of Arsenal an extreme example) among those teams and investing elsewhere as well although paying for attacking premiums is a matter of personal choice.  When Aguero becomes fit funds will be at a premium again and I prefer investing in other areas than defence.  You will see that the top 10 FPL managers generally follow a similar structure although they tend to pay for attacking premiums unless there is a bargain instead.  Having played 1 or 2 elite teams defenders the you may want to look at home and away rotation pairs for the cheapie defenders

You will see that the top 10 FPL managers are split over whether to rotate GKs or just have a cheap GK and his reserve.  You may have read stuff which proves the rotation theory.  I think the tricky thing especially this season is to predict which game to play them in.  A good example is the perfect rotation of Villa/WBA and Newcastle/Sunderland.  All those sides except Newcastle have got more clean sheets away than at home so if you follwed the natural rotation you would have been worse off.

Terry

Chelsea despite the Spurs debacle are the best defensive side bar none and have 6 clean sheets in the last 9.  No one has more clean sheets.  Although Southampton have conceded less goals Chelsea’s 8 goals in 2 games conceded against Everton and Spurs have distorted the goals conceded column.  The underlying defensive stats are dominated by Chelsea.  Picking the right defender is tricky.  Azpilicueta now looks rotatable and Ivanovic is just too pricey for my money.  That leaves Terry and Cahill.  Terry has shown the attacking intent and I would probably go with him at the moment despite the age related rotation risk that comes with him for that reason and a couple of dubious Cahill performances.  The GK Courtois is a reasonably secure option but does have rotation potential with Cech and is quite pricey for a GK with little save points.

Next 6 fixtures:

Newcastle (H)
Swansea (A)
Man City (H)
Aston Villa (A)
Everton (H)
Burnley (H)

Zabaleta

Although City have some underlying stats to suggest that they will improve on their clean sheet tally and they got 16 clean sheets last year they come with alot of questions.  There is too much uncertainty over selection even down to the GK Hart.  The only player you could say is certain to start is Kompany and he’s injury prone.  However they have been a total mess defensively with no clean sheets in the last 3 games without Kompany.  So I’ve chosen Zabaleta even though he’s missed 2 games through rotation recently.  If you want a cheaper price then Kolarov and Clichy at LB are cheaper at least.  Kolarov especially has alot of attacking menace but to add to the risk is often a sub giving additional 1 point problems.  The immediate fixtures are also tricky

Everton (A)
Arsenal (H)
Chelsea (A)
Hull (H)
Stoke (A)
Newcastle (H)

Alderweireld

After a period of tricky fixtures Southampton have looked back to their defensive best with 2 clean sheets in their last 4.  They’ve got as many clean sheets as anyone else, no one has conceded less goals and have great underlying stats.  I’ve gone for Alderweireld for value although Bertrand and Clyne definitely have the attacking edge if you’ve got the funds.  The GK isn’t badly priced at £5.4m

Man Utd (A)
Newcastle (A)
Swansea (H)
QPR (A)
West Ham (H)
Liverpool (H)

Debuchy

Arsenal despite all the criticism in the press are a team that last year got 17 clean sheets. Only Chelsea got more.  This year it hasn’t gone so well with only 5 so far.  Koscielny back from injury should improve the defense and their also the year on year hope that Wenger brings in defensive reinforcements.  They also have some underlying stats which point them in the right direction.  The value of Debuchy is definitely the best choice.  GK Szczesny is a rotation risk after some ordinary performances and not good value.

Stoke (H)
Man City (A)
Aston Villa (H)
Spurs (A)
Leicester (H)
Crystal Palace (A)

Wisdom

4 games without a clean sheet followed 2 consecutive clean sheets.  The choice of WBA is a mixture of good fixtures and the Tony Pulis effect after his brilliant defensive “water into wine” transformation of Palace last year.  Some of their underlying defensive stats aren’t too bad but too often they have been error riddled and far too soft.  It’s hard to know at this stage who will be in the team for a couple of games until we see his selections.  Wisdom and Pocognoli are the best value.  GK Foster is also good value at £4.6m and has a £4.0m back up in Myhill.  Dawson , McAuley both are CB’s with good attacking potential if they get in the side but Lescott also has that but at a price of £4.9m

Hull (H)
Everton (A)
Spurs (H)
Burnley (A)
Swansea (H)
Sunderland (A)

Cameron

The Stoke RB is a good value pick at the moment.  Stoke have been fairly unpredicatble defensively although it is 2 clean sheets in the last 3 but have some underlying stats which give some hope.  Of the other options Shawcross is the premium option but too expensive at £4.9m.  The GK Begovic at £4.9m isn’t that great value compared to Cameron.

Arsenal (A)
Leicester (A)
QPR (H)
Newcastle (A)
Man City (H)
Aston Villa (A)

Van Aanholt

The Sunderland team have a real ability to get clean sheets with 5 clean sheets in the last 9 and this is especially the case away.  Without a great attacking ability have set out to keep a clean sheet first and foremost.  There’s little difference in value between the 4 defenders but Van Aanholt has more attacking potential in my mind.

The GKs of Pantimilion and Mannone both have good save point records and are an option for a Sunderland only GK strategy.  Next 2 fixtures are tricky though

Liverpool (H)
Spurs (A)
Burnley (H)
Swansea (A)
QPR (H)
West Brom (H)

Hutton

Villa are another side that have shown an ability to keep clean sheets unexpectedly have 2 clean sheets in the last 2 gameweeks despite no real underlying stats and like Sunderland that’s related to a lack of goal scoring ability forcing a defensive mindset.  No real attacking premium player but Vlaar has bonus potenial if he could stay injury free.  Guzan at £4.7m with Given as a back up is a good single team GK option.  Very difficult fixtures coming up but they are a filler/rotation defensive side.

Leicester (A)
Liverpool (H)
Arsenal (A)
Chelsea (H)
Hull (A)
Stoke (H)

N Taylor

Swansea are another side who have been strong defensively and are able to get clean sheets especially at home.  Don’t really show up in underlying stats terms though and the fixtures are difficult over the short and long term.  No real premium offer and the GK Fabianski is reasonable value in comparison at £5.2m

West Ham (H)
Chelsea (H)
Southampton (A)
Sunderland (H)
West Brom (A)
Man Utd (H)

Trippier

This is about good fixtures in the sort term although we haven’t  seen a clean sheet in 4 matches.  Trippier is the attacking option who has been unlucky to not get more attacking returns.  With Duff injured there’s no value option.  GK Heaton is a similar value to the rest of the defence at £4.6m.  No real underlying defensive stats.

QPR (H)
Crystal Palace (H)
Sunderland (A)
West Brom (H)
Man Utd (A)
Chelsea (A)

Follow us on twitter @fantasyfoot20 or facebook at www.facebook.com/fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk

This website is free. If you find it useful please support us via the donate button on the site

fantasy premier league league code: 11254-4258
Telegraph fantasy football: Code 8000919 league name: fantasy football geek
Sky Sports fantasy football: League name: FANTASY FOOTBALL GEEK PIN 8026353
Sun Dream Team: PIN 8295737
Fox Sports EPL fantasy: Classic 3195-609 H2H 3195-610
Fox Sports fantasy A League 8318-1626

fantasy premier league GW21

fantasy premier league GW21