Here’s our best FPL defenders 2022 article where we give our Defender and Goalkeeper player rankings. There’s a table of stats, commentary and player suggestions for GW1.
Best FPL Defenders 2022 – Defender And Goalkeeper Rankings Plus Player Suggestions GW1
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The schedule
The schedule ranks the teams by averaging their Goals against and their expected goals against for the 21/22. It is not adjusted for upcoming fixtures. There’s also a ranking from the 31 January onwards so you can see how the teams finished the season. From the excellent free site understat
Fixture ease ranks the ease are for defenders for the first 6 gameweeks
CS odds are the bookies odds for a clean sheet given a £1 bet.
CSs is the number of clean sheets in 21/22
For the moment I’ve just put the promoted teams at the bottom in the order they conceded the least goals.
You can see our article on the key players from promoted teams as well as the article on the best attacking defenders
You can get the link to the spreadsheet on the FFGeek Patreon version of the article
Key defences to start with
Man City
The best defence of last season with good fixtures to start. Cancelo is unquestionably the best option but comes at a hefty price. He was unlucky with his finishing last season so I can see an even bigger points total this season. There are 2 watchouts. If they sign a left back and Cancelo moves to right back that position and the signing of Haaland could turn him into a crosser rather than an inverted left sided shooter.
Hard to say at this stage how it will work out. After that it’s £6.0m Dias for me. Doesn’t have the same attacking potential but cheaper.
£5.0m Kyle Waker should start but would be affected as above if a new LB signing is made. He has even less attacking potential than Dias.
Liverpool
Great fixtures again. £7.5m Alexander Arnold is the best option for me followed by £7.0m Robertson. A cheap option isn’t clear with £5.0m Konate an injury doubt and missed the Community Shield and £6.0m Matip just being too expensive for my liking.
Spurs
Firstly, let’s start with some facts about Perisic. In 20/21 when Conte was manager he did the following:
Started as an LM in 3-4-3 14 times, Started as an LM and played less than 60 mins 4 times. Came on as sub 9 times. Stayed on the bench 4 times. It’s worth noting he played other positions. In the LM position he got 3 goals and 5 assists in 18 starts plus 9 as sub. So how much he plays and how long he plays is still to be resolved. However he made it past 60 minutes and was very attacking v Roma in the last friendly but there is an unknown element.
Mat Doherty becomes at the RB position for £5.0m is the alternative. He is a more known factor but has competition from Emerson and even Moura after Conte said he could play as an RWB.
There are questions on both players match fitness but it’s difficult to know what that means.
Either have the upside and defensive improvement to be worth the risk for me. Shame Bissouma is injured though. I wouldn’t go anywhere else with Spurs.
Chelsea
They did fade defensively after 31 Jan although the club uncertainty can’t have helped everyone’s focus. They have also lost Rudiger, Christensen and likely to lose Azpilicueta if he’s not mentally gone already. So we are entering a bit of an unknown area for them.
They have signed Koulibaly and hopefully Cucurella who can play LCB. There’s also a bid for Fofana.
Hopefully these signings if they happen should allow £6.0m Reece James to play RWB but who knows what could happen with him in the short term.
£5.0m GK Mendy is good value.
Arsenal
A reasonable defensive performance and good fixtures. Whether they are worth the £5.0m investment for the attacking potential of Gabriel is questionable.
The £4.5m Defender situation isn’t clear. With Tomiyasu an injury doubt £4.5m Ben White will play RB. It means that in preseason we have yet to see who is the first choice CB partner for Gabriel between White and £4.5m Saliba. The consensus seems to be that Gabriel is first choice of the 3.
£5.0m Ramsdale is a GK option
Newcastle
Amazingly considering who their manager is, Newcastle finished the season very strongly defensively. What’s more they have strengthened the team with the addition of Botman and Pope and also have Trippier back fit. For me £5.0m Trippier is the best pick.
The fixtures aren’t great and away from home they have been less strong but if you have a strong enough squad and can bench Trippier occasionally then that should mitigate that. Botman is the £4.5m cheapie with little attacking potential. Unfortunately they rotate naturally home and away with Southampton which is a waste of time given their lack of defensive ability.
£4.0m Defs
The one confirmed £4.0m Liverpool RB Neco Williams has signed with Nottingham Forest. He should be first choice.
Everton’s £4.0m RB Patterson should start GW1 but whether he will hold the position when Coleman returns potentially in a few weeks remains to be seen
Fixture Ease Schedule
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Andrew Whitfield’s latest team
Preseason update and every PL teams potential lineups
Joseph Crilley’s Transfer Planner and Points Projection Tool
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