Here’s our FPL gameweek 4 defenders article where we give our Defender and Goalkeeper player rankings GW4. There’s a table of information and commentary on key teams.
FPL gameweek 4 defenders – player rankings for Defenders and Goalkeepers
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Important note before reading!
Recent results don’t shine a light on the rankings which are based on last season.
However, the season is only 3 gameweeks old so to rank teams on the basis of 3 games data is obviously nonsensical. Remember the schedule is ranked on the basis of defensive strength of the team only. After that look at fixture ease and clean sheet odds to assess your player pick. I have kept the rankings from 19/20 as well as the 19/20 PPM but adjusted the information for the best player from that team as well after GW3 as well as the GW4 fixture ease ranking and the GW4 clean sheet odds.
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 19/20 season defenders attacking ranking in this article
A few transfer suggestions
Here I’ve looked for the best combination of defensive strength, next fixture clean sheet odds and fixture ease ranking.
There ‘s 4 team suggestions this week and that’s Wolves, Liverpool, Chelsea and Everton
Wolves
The best run of games and the best entry point at home to Fulham. I’m still sticking with Saiss as the best option for his attacking ability and price. A lower risk option would be £5.0m Coady. I think Vinagre at £4.5m may only last until Marcal is fit. At the moment that is uncertain but it doesn’t seem long term.
Liverpool
Aston Villa had the 16th best xG attack last season so despite the Villa result v Fulham they are still a good entry point for a Liverpool transfer. The fixtures are a little mixed but both £7.5m Alexander Arnold and £7.0m Robertson having an attacking ability which gives them a hedge against clean sheets
Chelsea
Chelsea had the 5th lowest xG against last season and the 2nd lowest shots per game against. However those stats were consistently ruined by Kepa and with Mendy in hopefully the Chelsea defence can now reap what they sow rather than letting Kepa spoil the whole crop. £5.1m James is the best option here for me although Mendy at £5.0m is good value. I’m thinking he will start GW4 as he played in the EFL Cup.
Everton
Despite only the 1 clean sheet in the first 3 matches Everton have conceded less than 1 expected goal in each game which does hint at better future returns. Unfortunately Everton have the English version of Kepa in Pickford and it’s always hard to have confidence in a defence with such a keeper. Digne at £6.1m gives you an attacking hedge against the Pickford factor but £5.0m Keane is the safer bet.
£4.5m and £4.0m defs
If your FPL team is playing 3-4-3 then you can have 2 £4.5m/£4.0m defs. How they rotate is less of an issue if you’re looking at them as bench cover.
£4.1m Mitchell’s time maybe coming to an end with Van Aanholt back in training. I would still hold but be wary of adding him to your team.
The best £4.5ms for me are Justin who should have more time as it seems Pereira won’t be back until the end of November. At that time I think new signing Castagne will play LB rather than Justin. GW4 home to West Ham looks a good entry point.
Charlie Taylor of Burnley is another option and GW4 at Newcastle is the best entry pointpossible. Walker Peters of Southampton is another with a good entry point of GW4 home to WBA.
Lamptey has looked a promising attacking option for Brighton. GW5 v Palace is a good entry point.
I have little faith in Newcastle as a defensive team but £4.5m Lewis looks like he could give them an attacking option.
£4.5m Holding of Arsenal is currently keeping his place. Great entry point home to Sheffield although after that the fixtures are terrible though.
£4.0m Dunne has started for Burnley but he will lose his place I expect when Tarkowski is back which seems soon. Similar for Johnson of West Ham as Fredericks could be back for GW5.
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 19/20 PPM next to them
The Clean Sheets obtained in 19/20 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 GW4
A fixture ease schedule for defensive players
Here’s a graphic where the teams are ranked by the ease of the attacking teams they face over the next 6 gameweeks.
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
Goalkeeper save for 19/20%
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
Analysing the teams of 10 top FPL managers
Early thoughts on the FFGeek teams
FFGeek Contributors GW4 teams part 1
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