FPL gameweek 1 defenders – player rankings for Defenders and Goalkeepers  – UPDATED

Fantasy Premier League, Player Rankings

Here’s our FPL gameweek 1 defenders article where we give our Defender and Goalkeeper player rankings GW1. There’s a table of information and commentary on each team

FPL gameweek 1 defenders – player rankings for Defenders and Goalkeepers  – updated

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The Schedule

Note at the bottom of the article is the explanatory notes and methodolgy

If you want access to copy and paste the schedule here’s the google spreadsheet link which I’ve set out differently if you want to sort different columns. Just go File> make a copy to get your own version

The teams are ranked by defensive strength only.  You can also see defenders attacking ranking in this article




fpl gameweek 1 defenders

Individual team summaries

Man City

An outfield defender is too hard to pick for me.  £6.0m Laporte is the obvious target here but given the importance to the defence and his injury history he maybe treated with kid gloves and rotated alot.  Also whether he will be fit to play in GW2 after his Covid 19 self isolation is another question.  The FBs will definitely rotate making them difficult choices and the GK may get clean sheets but just doesn’t make enough saves to warrant the value.    Transfer interest in Koulibaly may also scupper the potential bargain of whoever Laportes CB partner is.

Man Utd

£5.5m Wan Bissaka is the safe pick who hopefully improves his attacking skills for this season.  The defence in the short term may be hindered if Maguire isn’t fit enough to start after having a longer break.  Lindelof and Shaw have potential for £5.0m value but the interest in Alex Telles makes that difficult for Shaw. That makes Brandon Williams at £4.5m even further away and again the GW1 blank isn’t helpful.

Liverpool

It’s hard for me to look past £7.5m Alexander Arnold.   4 goals and 15 assists is an insane number.  £7.0m Robertson looks good for the double up with 2 goals and 12 assists.  Remember that Alisson’s injury early season and a fairly laxidasical attitude to defending post lockdown with the league won meant that potentially there is more than last seasons 15 clean sheets available.

Wolves

It’s hard to know what’s going on with Vinagre who at £4.5m offers incredible value as Jonny looks like he could be out injured for sometime.  There have been rumours of a sale of Vinagre have been ongoing and now seemingly halted and Wolves have bought in a cheap LB/LCB in Marcal who muddies the waters. £5.0m Saiss is also good value and should be more more secure even with the Marcal transfer.

Leicester

The injury to Ricardo Pereira should have given us a few weeks with cheapie £4.5m Justin.  The transfer of Castagne seems to have muddied the waters.  In theory he’s a RB but can play LB as well so is he could play there.  To make it even more interesting Justin can also play LB as can £4.5m Thomas.  The defence has a problem anyway given that 3 of the regular back 4 aren’t available  so maybe it’s all just irrelevant anyway in the short term.

Chelsea

It’s hard to pick out anyone apart from incredibly expensive £6.0m Azpilicueta who has a secure spot especially with Chilwell not fit..  A new GK would have been be a massive boost.  £5.0m RB James is the value if he looks secure but who knows whether he will play or not.

Everton 

£5.0m CBs Keane and Holgate finished the season.  Holgate now seems like he’s not fit for GW1.  Mina at £5.0m is a great attacking option but it’s just whether he can hold the spot.   £6.0m Digne is the secure attacking option.  £4.0m Branthwaite would be the real value but it seems unlikely he could hold a regular spot.

Sheffield Utd

The Sheffield defence fell apart at the end of last season with injuries and suspension.  The loss of Henderson will be a big loss and I feel the defence is a £5.0m one at best.  That’s why I would go Egan over £5.5m attacking option Stevens.

Spurs

£5.5m GK Lloris is my premium GK of choice here with an excellent save %.  Doherty has been a great attacking option for Wolves especially being able to get into the box while Traore stays wide.  Will he have that far reaching role under Mourinho.  £5.0m Dier and Davies are the more sensible options but with little attacking potential

Burnley

Unfortunately they miss GW1 which makes selection tricky.  £4.5m Charlie Taylor is my pick here.  I think £5.5m GK Pope is too expensive




C Palace

A team decimated by defensive injuries at the moment.  That gives £4.0m Mitchell a starting chance although only until Van Aanholt is back which seems an unanswered question.  Ward should start at RB although Ferguson will challenge for his position quite seriously but he again is injured.

Southampton 

For me McCarthy is the best of the £4.5m GKs.  The defence it feels like £4.5m is the right price but there is a bit of uncertainty of over the 2nd CB. It should be £4.5m Bednarek.  There seems to be a consensus that £4.5m Walker Peters will be a starter over Valery at RB.

Arsenal

£5.0m Bellerin should be the RB of choice.  £4.5m Saliba should now start with the injury to Luiz and the likely desire to play 3-4-3

£4.5m GK Martinez would be good value but the consensus seems to be that Leno at £5.0m will get the nod.

West Ham

£4.5m Diop seems the safest best.  There is some theory that £4.0m Johnson could be the RB but he isn’t nailed by any stretch.

Brighton

A £4.5m defence for me with GK Ryan and CB’s White or Webster the best option

Leeds 

Impossible to rank the promoted teams at the moment.  £4.5m Ayling is probably the safest bet.  Whether the defence will be as strong after star performer Ben White went back to Brighton is the question

Newcastle

£4.5m Lascelles is the best choice here.

WBA

Difficult to pick the lineup apart from the GK

Villa

£4.5m Targett seems the best defender and has attacking potential.  £4.0m GK Nyland should be the back up but £4.0 Steer can’t be ruled out.

Fulham

Were a defensive disaster last time out.  Rodak seems to be the number 1 GK despite Areola joining on loan. Hector is the £4.5m CB choice.

Stats definitions:

I’ve firstly ordered the teams by what I think is their defensive strength based their goals conceded, xG conceded and the shots per game conceded. I’ve also now added their last 10 gameweek form.  You can see the rank of each stat mentioned above in the first 4 columns.

The stats after that are their:

My suggested defender for that team. I’ve tried to take into account what I think is an appropriate price for the team as well as their attacking and points potential. The table then shows their value and current 19/20 PPM.

The likely starting GK for the team with the same price and PPM next to them

The Clean Sheets obtained and then the ranking of them.  Equal number of clean sheets will give an equal ranking

I’ve added in their fixture ease schedule for defensive teams.

There’s also the Clean Sheet odds for GW1

Fixture ease schedule for defenders

fantasy premier league GW1 team selection

 

 

 

The clean sheet schedule for 19/20

I know it’s now in the schedule but I though worth repeating as a standalone schedule.

My schedule generally tries to focus on the stats that will lead to clean sheets rather than clean sheets themselves but anyway here’s clean sheet schedule from the premier league site

fantasy premier league season end defenders

fantasy premier league season end defenders

Goalkeeper save %

Here’s another schedule which shows you a goalkeeper save %. It’s not a ranking in itself as you can see there’s no correlation between % and clean sheets but does give you some idea of GKs who are good shot stoppers. It’s from the free stats site fbref.com

 Other posts

 The GW1 FFGeek podcast

The latest FFGeek team

FPL New player profiles

FFGeek Contributors teams

FPL Captain Poll

More FFGeek Contributors teams

 

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