Here’s our 50 best FPL attacking defenders schedule for the 20/21 season ranked by their underlying attacking stats. This will help you pick defenders for your current FPL drafts. We also discuss some key players for your FPL team
Best FPL Attacking Defenders For The 20/21 Season
A reminder of the additional Patreon content
£2 plus Vat per calendar month
* Weekly podcasts with myself and the FFGeek Contributors
* All the articles on www.fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk advert free
£2.50 plus Vat per Calender month (plus the above)
* access to the FFGeek Contributor tracker team incl live transfers (OR 8k 20/21)
*access to Joseph Crilleys transfer planner and points projection tool
* Imaginary wildcard articles
*Bandwagon and Sinking Ships articles
*Slack Channel access
*access to private FPL leagues
*Match analysis
No Commitment beyond 1 Calender month
https://www.patreon.com/fantasyfootballgeek
Methodology
I’ve taken the FPL defenders expected goals and assists per 90 minutes (xG90 and xA 90) from the entire 20/21 season and translated those in to expected FPL attacking points. The minimum minutes played was 900 to qualify and the figures were adjusted for their average minutes played.
The defenders were ranked by the highest to lowest 50 in terms of those expected attacking points. There’s no allowance for appearance, bonus or clean sheet points in the ranking. Purely points resulting from expected goals and assists.
Being on the schedule is not an indication that I think that player will start GW1
Information on the 2 schedules
The 2 schedules have the same ranking based on a players underlying stats converted to FPL attacking points. However they give different information.
The first schedule (Basic info) has basic information like price, starts and sub appearances, goals and assists and minutes per goals and assists
The second schedule (Underlying stats info) has their average minutes played plus their xG90, xA90 and their shots per 90 minutes and key passes per 90 minutes
The Schedules
Basic info schedule
The Underlying stats schedule
Best attacking defender for each team ranked by last seasons clean sheets
Man City – 19 clean sheets
£6.0m Cancelo is still the premium attacking defender here ranked 6th overall. Like everyone in the City team he is subject to rotation. £5.5m Stones is 14th and again subject to rotation. Neither came on as a sub significant times for those annoying 1 pointers. £6.0m Dias in the early part of the season could be the most secure but he didn’t make the top 50 and is ranked 56th.
Chelsea – 18 clean sheets
£5.5m Alonso maybe top and a great price but he’s a big gametime gamble so for me 5th ranked £6.0m Chilwell is the best option. £5.5m James would save you money but had an annoying habit of coming on as sub. Last season showed £5.5m Rudiger as the safest gametime option. He is ranked 37th though for attacking underlying stats
Aston Villa – 15 clean sheets
47th ranked £5.0m Mings is the only Villa option on the schedule and is very gametime secure. £5.0m Targett is 70th on the schedule and has good volumes but low on quality
Man Utd – 13 clean sheets
£5.5m Luke Shaw is head and shoulers above everyone else in the United team and is 13th ranked. No defender in the schedule from any club comes close to his volume of key passes
Arsenal – 12 clean sheets
21st ranked £5.0m Tierney is the best option here particularly if he plays as a wing back. If he plays LCB in a back 3 though it’s a different more negative story. Bellerin and Gabriel are also lower down in the schedule but the makeup of the Arsenal defence is unknown at the moment
Brighton – 12 clean sheets
£5.0m 20th ranked Lewis Dunk is the best option here. £4.5m Veltman is on the schedule but faces competition from the returning £4.5m Lamptey. £4.5m Burn also is uncertain of his place
Everton – 12 clean sheets
15th ranked £5.5m Digne is the best option here by some distance for me.
Leeds – 12 clean sheets
Incredibly there are 5 Leeds players on the schedule. Alioski has yet to sign a renewal but if he does and looks like he will hold his place then I would gamble on him. £4.5m Ayling is the safest gametime bet of all 5 I suspect though and not far off everyone elses level.
Liverpool – 12 clean sheets
£7.5m Alexander Arnold is worth every penny for me. He’s not that far off underlying stats wise of his 15 assist level of 19/20 even if he finished well short with 8 last season.
Needs monitoring after leaving the Euros with an injury. £6.5m Van Dijk didn’t make the schedule due to lack of minutes
Expect Liverpool to be significantly better defensively with the return of Van Dijk and the Purchase of Konate
Spurs – 12 clean sheets
3rd ranked £5.0m Aurier is great value. However there’s an unknown new manager scenario with Doherty as competition. He along with 30th ranked £5.0m Reguilon both need to be wing backs to thrive in an attacking sense.
You can get the link to the google spreadsheet in the subscription site version of the article
Other posts
Attacking players fixture difficulty Schedule
Kev and Rob’s first draft teams
Follow us on Social Media and auto join the FFGeek League
Auto join the FFGeek League or use the league code mcuqbo
Follow FFGeek on twitter and facebook and instagram for article updates and news