fantasy premier league gameweek 8 tips – “ones to watch” best elite defenders/GKs

Fantasy Premier League, Player Rankings

The high ownership midfield and Costa up front has suddenly made the defence one of the areas that you can actually advance your ranking with.  So suddenly the defence is something to focus on rather than just set it and leave it.  So with that in mind here’s here’s my fantasy premier league “ones to watch” for the top 4 challenging teams GKs and defenders for GW8.   This article will continue  from a team basis and give you the value options and the attacking 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 those fixtures.  Lastly we’ll tell you how many of the top FPL managers I follow have the teams defensive assets in their FPL team.  

fantasy premier league gameweek 8 tips – “ones to watch” best elite defenders/GKs

As you would have seen from the top 10 FPL amanagers I follow, the 3 man defence continues to be the most used.  10/10 of the top FPL managers I follow played a 3 man defence in GW7.  Then the choice comes as to whether you play 1 or 2 elite defenders and then rotate the cheap defenders next.  8/10 of the top 10 FPL managers play 1 or more of the defenders from what I define as the top 4 challenging teams.  However as you will see now is the time when the elite defenders are possibly at an all time low in terms of performance.

Top 4 Challenging teams

The top 4 challenging teams for this article are Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton, Spurs and Man Utd.

Chelsea

The Chelsea defence has finally got into gear with 2 consecutive clean sheets.  They join 6 other teams with the most clean sheets at 3.  Only Southampton have conceded less goals. They also have the  best overall defensive underlying stats.  A couple of tricky fixtures in the next 6 but it could be worse.

18 (1st) clean sheets last season. 3 this season

GK option: Courtois at £6.0m is reasonable value comparitively.

Value defender: Azpilicueta is the cheapest at £6.0m.  He is potentially rotatable with Luis although to date Azpili has played every minute so far.

Attacking option: Ivanovic at £7.3m. With Baines the best attacking defender at the moment.  Great scoring and assist potential

Next 6 fixtures:

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

Projected clean sheets in the next 6:  3

Chelsea players  appear 4 times in the top 10 FPL managers I follow.  Terry 1 Ivanovic 2 Courtois 1

Arsenal

1 clean sheet is pretty disappointing considering the defensive form of last year.  However now they have the fixtures to jump aboard on.  They also have Chambers covering for Debuchy’s long term injury and he’s outstanding value at £4.6m even if suspended for the next game.

17 (2nd) clean sheets last season. 1 this season

GK option: £5.4m Szczesny isn’t great value compared to Chambers.

Value defender: £4.6m Chambers is outstanding value although he’s suspended this gameweek

Attacking defender: £6.1m CBs Koscielny and £6.0m  Mertesacker both have attacking potential.

Next 6 fixtures:

Hull (H)
Sunderland (A)
Burnley (H)
Swansea (A)
Man Utd (H)
West Brom (A)

Predicted clean sheets in the next 6: 2 clean sheets

4 of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Arsenal GKs/Defs in their team (Chambers 4)

Man City

Havn’t looked that defensively solid and the underlying stats don’t suggest it’s just been bad luck.  Add to that little gametime security for anyone and expensive prices and it’s no surprise that only 1 of the top 10 FPL managers I follow have a Man City player in their team

16 (3rd) clean sheets last season. 2 this season

GK Option: £6.0m Hart isn’t bad value but he can be rotated as we saw for the Hull game.

value option: No one with any gametime security

Attacking option: Kompany with 4 goals last season but no one else evenly remotely gametime secure to stand for comparison.  Injury needs monitoring

Next 6 fixtures:

Spurs (H)
West Ham (A)
Man Utd (H)
QPR (A)
Swansea (H)
Southampton (A)

Predicted clean sheets in the next 6: 2

1 of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Man City GKs/Defs in their team (Kompany 1)

Everton

Everton are a team defensively like no other.  After a great defensive season last season they’ve conceding more goals than any other team incredibly so far this season.  The game against Chelsea was one of the worst collective defensive displays that you could have ever seen.  However what they do have is 2 of the best attacking defenders in the league in Baines and Coleman.  If ever there was a time to gamble now is it as the next 3 games have clean sheet prospects all over them.  It’s whether you want to make the sacrifices elsewhere to take the gamble

15 (4th equal) clean sheets last season: 1 this season

GK option: £5.4m Howard is the same price as Jagielka who is gametime secure

Value Def: £5.4m Jagielka but for that price Everton need to improve the defence rapidly

Attacking Def: Both Coleman (£6.9m) and Baines (£7.0m) are good attacking options.   Baines has pens and direct and indirect free kicks plus a share of corners and has returned a goal or an assis in 4 of his last 5 games.  Coleman has got a goal and assist returning in 2 of his 3 starts.  For those prices though you want some clean sheet prospects.

Aston Villa (H)
Burnley (A)
Swansea (H)
Sunderland (A)
West Ham (H)
Spurs (A)

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

Tottenham

Hard to believe there’s 3 clean sheets as the performances and the underlying stats haven’t really shown thats deserved.  Pochettino has got a great defensive record though from Southampton last season so there is hope.  The good news is that the fixtures after the City game are good and value wise they’re not too expensive

14 (6th equal) clean sheets last season. 3 this season

GK option: £5.6m Lloris looks secure but  not great value compartively

Value option; £5.0m Rose and £5.0m Kaboul

Attacking option: £5.4m Dier has 2 goals and also the best goal related attacking stats.  Kaboul also has good attacking stats.

Man City (A)
Newcastle (H)
Aston Villa (A)
Stoke (H)
Hull (A)
Everton (H)

Predicted clean sheets in the next 6 games: 2

1 of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Spurs GKs/Defs in their team (Dier 1)

Liverpool

It’s one thing conceding when you’ve got Suarez and Sturridge up front helping you to over 100 goals in the saeson, another when you’ve got Balotelli strolling around.  Unfortunately £40m odd doesn’t seem to have helped the defence at all.  The hope is that the underlying stats are better than the results so there is scope for improvement.  The return to fitness of Johnson now leaves Manquillo probably back on the bench.  While £5.0m for Manquillo is a gamble that you would think about, £5.4m for Lovren needs alot more thought.

10 (12th equal) clean sheets last season. 1 this season

GK option; Mignolet at £5.5m isn’t great value compared to Lovren at a similar price

Value option: Lovren at £5.4m is good value compartively.  Whether it is for the clean sheet potential is another question.  Johnson looks back to replace Manquillo

Attacking option; Skrtel at £5.9m with 7 goals last season although this season the stats aren’t good so far

Next 6 fixtures:

QPR (A)
Hull (H)
Newcastle (A)
Chelsea (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Stoke (H)

Predicted clean sheets in the next 6 fixtures: 2

5 of the 10 top FPL managers I follow have Liverpool GKs/Defs in their team (Moreno 3, Manquillo 1, )

Man Utd

Another game, another defensive performance that could be described as shaky at best against Everton.  With both FBs and Rojo as a CB and Blind as a CDM there really are no excuses.  Sure Jones should help if he’s back as expected for GW8 but McNair hasn’t played badly.  It’s hard to be posititve.  The underlying stats give no cause for optimism as theyre pretty ordinary.  Apart from WBA next the fixtures are generally horrible

13 (8th) clean sheets last season: 2 clean sheet this season

GK option: £5.4m De Gea is reasonable  value comparitively and is solid enough to gamble on a non playing reserve

Value option: Rafael at £5.3m has started the last 4 since coming back from injury.

Attacking option: Luke Shaw at £5.8m  and Rafael  at £5.3m look to be the best attacking options through assists.  Shaw is an injury doubt which needs monitoring

Next 6 fixtures:

West Brom (A)
Chelsea (H)
Man City (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Arsenal (A)
Hull (H)

Projected clean sheets:  1

4 Man Utd GKs/Defs appear in the top 10 FPL managers teams (Evans 1 De Gea 3)

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fantasy premier league gameweek 8 tips

fantasy premier league gameweek 8 tips

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