Here’s our fantasy premier league GW31 defender tips article where we give our defender and GK player rankings for GW31. There’s a comprehensive table of stats and player suggestions to help you make a transfer choice. We also discuss in detail the 8 teams with fixtures this week
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE GW31 DEFENDER TIPS – PLAYER RANKINGS FOR DEFS AND GKS
STAT DEFINITIONS
I’ve firstly ordered the teams by what I think is their defensive strength based on this season’s stats. The stats after that are their:
fixture ease ranking so you can see who has the best fixtures over a 2 and 4 gameweek spell. See our fixture ease article
best cheap secure gametime option and an attacking option so you can compare price.
even potentially cheaper player who needs further explanation which is below the schedule
GK price in as a comparison.
bookies odds for a clean sheet for GW31 which have come from Genting
Expected goal information is from the excellent free site understat.com. See our underlying stats article and Joseph Crilleys GW29 review
GW31 FIXTURES
THE SCHEDULE
Here’s the schedule in it’s normal format . It maybe difficult to make out especially on a phone so if you’d rather have access to the original google spreadsheet click on the link. It should be set up so anyone can view but not alter. So just copy and paste it into your own spreadsheet if you want to mess about with it
The GW31 Defenders
Liverpool
The value option here is undoubtedly £4.9m left back Robertson who is also a decent attacking option. He does have competition from Moreno but looks to be the number 1 for the position. The only risk at the moment is rest related rotation but that seems unlikely this week. £5.6m CB Van Dijk is also a good attacking option with good underlying stats at set pieces who has yet to see that translated into any attacking returns. He is the number 1 CB but again everyone is potentially subject to rest related rotation
Watford (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Everton (A)
Watford
Hard to see any rationale for a transfer this week even though the fixtures afterwards are good if your aren’t wildcarding straight after. The situation is complicated by a long list of injuries making the number 1 options unsure so if you are going down this road I would go with £4.8m left back Holebas
Liverpool (A)
Bournemouth (H)
Burnley (H)
Stoke
Alot has been made of the defensive improvement under Lambert but it has been via some good fixtures and I personally don’t believe the fundamentals of a terrible defence have changed. However GW31 is a good fixture but after that it all turns sour. For me then it’s just if you’re using your wildcard straight after. £4.5m RB Bauer or the £5.0m GK Butland are the best choices
Everton (H)
Arsenal (A)
Spurs (H)
Everton
Personally I’m not a fan of the Everton defence. However if you are a believer or using your wildcard afterwards I would go with the attacking options of £6.4m Coleman or £5.6m Baines but in the longer term the Everton defence doesn’t justify that price. GK Pickford is slightly cheaper at £4.9m but still questionable value
Stoke (A)
Man City (H)
Liverpool (H)
Huddersfield
3 good fixtures next. Either go for the slight attacking edge of Zanka at £4.5m or the BPS edge of Schindler at £4.7m
Crystal Palace (H)
Newcastle (A)
Brighton (A)
C Palace
While a game vs Huddersfield always has some prospect of a clean sheet the Palace defence has a fairly mixed record. Here is a straight choice between the value of £4.4m Tomkins or the £4.3m GK Hennessey or do you go for the more expensive attacking potential of Van Aanholt at £5.1m. If you’re wildcarding soon after then definitely go for Van Aanholt.
Huddersfield (A)
Liverpool (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Bournemouth
I personally have no faith in the Bournemouth defence but if you’re ever going to get a clean sheet against WBA is it. £4.3m Francis is the value pick and £4.7m Charlie Daniels is the attacking option although his underlying stats don’t particularly back this up.
West Brom (H)
Watford (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
WBA
The once much vaunted Tony Pulis defence has struggled recently but although I haven’t mentioned him above there is some attacking potential in £4.8m Dawson. I personally think there is little chance of a clean sheet v Bournemouth however if you’re looking to fill that gap and not wildcarding then at least the next 2 fixtures are good.
Bournemouth (A)
Burnley (H)
Swansea (H)
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