Here’s our Fantasy Football Tips article where we give our Defender and Goalkeeper player rankings as of preseason. There’s a table of stats and player suggestions. Plus we discuss £4.0m Defs.
Fantasy Football Tips – Preseason Defender And Goalkeeper Rankings Plus Player Suggestions
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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 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. After that it’s £6.0m Dias for me. Doesn’t have the same attacking potential but cheaper.
There is potential for a £5.0m starting defender either through Kyle Waker or if Brighton LB Cucurella joins. Preseason and the Com Shield will be helpful.
Liverpool
Great fixtures again. £7.5m Alexander Arnold is the best option for me followed by £7.0m Robertson. The value play will be if £5.0m Konate can nail the place next to Van Dijk.
Spurs
Firstly there’s been alot of chat about Conte and Perisic and how he was played. Here are the facts. 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 and I doubt that it will before GW1. However unless Mat Doherty becomes nailed at the RB position for £5.0m then he is worth the risk for me given the improvement in the defence under Conte and his attacking potential.
Chelsea
They did fade defensively after 31 Jan although the club uncertainty can’t have helped everyones focus. They have also lost Rudiger, Christensen and likely to lose Azpilicueta. So we are entering a bit of an unknown area for them.
The reverse of this though is they have 2 of the best attacking FBs in Chilwell and James and an exceptionally good value GK in Mendy.
However we need to see new defensive signings at CB for the clean sheet part of the equation. They have been linked with many players from Ake to De Ligt and Kounde. What’s for certain is the risk level heightens if either Chalobah or Sarr have to start GW1.
Arsenal
A reasonable defensive performance and good fixtures. Whether they are worth the £5.0m investment for the attacking potential of Gabriel and Tierney though is questionable for me. You could just go for Tomiyasu at £4.5m as a compromise. The CBs also have to resolve the Gabriel, White and Saliba issue for potentially 2 spots.
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 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 given Spence was on loan and looks unlikely to go back.
The other potential move is also a Liverpool Def in £4.0m Nat Phillips who could go to Bournemouth.
Other potential loans/transfers not mentioned too heavily though are R Williams Liverpool and Tanganga Spurs. Also if Walker Peters were to leave Southampton given the interest in him that would open the door potentially for Valery. Although it has to be said that the manager doesn’t seem to rate him.
Also B Williams of Man Utd as a possible loan out.
Fixture Ease Schedule
Other Posts
Improvements for the 22/23 season
The FFGeek Fixture Ease Schedule
Assessing the 3 Promoted Teams
New Player Profiles – Haaland and Nunez
New Player Profiles – Vieira, Awoniyi and Botman
The FPL site is open plus a first draft FFGeek team
4 FFGeek Contributors First Draft Teams
New FFGeek Contributor Pete Allaway
2 more FFGeek Contributor Teams
3 more FFGeek Contributor Teams
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