This season we are spoilt for choice when it comes to premium attackers.
The likes of Tottenham striker Harry Kane, Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez and Manchester City duo Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero are all understandably attracting attention. There is also Sanchez’s team mate Alexandre Lacazette, in addition to Romelu Lukaku, formerly of Everton and now of Manchester United, to compete for a place in our sides.
But with each commanding a hefty price tag precious funds will need to be freed up, which is where wingbacks and other premium defenders could come in handy. This group of pricey rearguard options offer the potential to keep pace with mid price midfielders but at a fraction of the cost – with between £1-3m savings to be made.
This article aims to look at the value offered by premium defenders to see if they really can compete with mid-price midfielders and offer Fantasy managers the chance to free up money for those enticing premium forwards.
Methodology
For this analysis I’ve looked at how many points were returned last season from players whose prices this time around would categorise them as either (a) premium defenders or (b) mid-price mids.
I removed the outliers, of players who had played only a few games, and ensured that each set of price ranges had a good sample of players. Here are the results:
The Results
| Position | Price | Average Points |
| DEF | £6m – £7m | 127 |
| DEF | £5.5m – £7m | 109 |
| MID | £6m – £8m | 104 |
| MID | £5.5m – £7.5m | 89 |
It would seem that investing more in defence and ignoring the age-old Fantasy Football instinct to unearth bargain defenders may be the way to go this season.
Like for like defenders who cost between £5.5m to £7.5m outscore midfielders in the same price bracket by 22%. This suggests that, not only can this group of defenders cover the points of the midfielders – they can actually exceed them.
If you’re willing to really splash the cash in defence and go for £6m plus players in your back line, then they can really outperform the mid-price mids (by a huge 43%). Even when you compare this with midfielders who cost £6 to £8m, which should weed out all the defensive midfielders, you’re still left with 22% more points.
This also impacts on formation and shows that a better way to maximise returns could be through opting for four, or even five at the back.
Could this consign the more popular 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 formations to the history books?
According to Firetog‘s recent analysis of formation there is already mounting evidence to suggest that investment in quality and quantity at the back could reap significant rewards.
2017/18’s Midfield Mimics
So who should you get in if you are looking to replace a midfielder with a defender?
It makes sense to minimise the risk by opting for a defender who mimics a midfielder as much as possible – by offering goal and assist potential as well as the chance of clean sheets.
Chelsea left wing-back Marcos Alonso (7.0) is a prime example.
While listed as a defender his forays up the flank mimicked the attributes of a traditional midfield winger last season. We can expect the same again this season.
It makes sense to invest in such defenders, who essentially offer the chance to field an extra midfielder, but one who grabs more points for clean sheets and goals.
Here are my top choices among these ‘midfield mimics’. They all cost between £5.5m to £7m and judging by what happened last season, three to five of these players should comfortably outscore similarly priced and more expensive midfielders during 2017/18.
- Marcos Alonso (Chelsea)
- Victor Moses (Chelsea)
- James Milner (Liverpool)
- Kieran Trippier (Tottenham)
- Danny Rose (Tottenham)
- Hector Bellerin (Arsenal)
- Sead Kolasinac (Arsenal)
- Kyle Walker (Manchester City)
- Antonio Valencia (Manchester United
6 years, 9 months agoThanks for posting. There's certainly a strong case for investing more in defence this season.