Last Thursday saw the release of the 2018/19 Fantasy Premier League game and Fantasy managers will no doubt be scanning the price list for potential bargains in the offing.
We began our look at this season’s player prices with an assessment of the value for money offered by various goalkeepers and we continue our analysis with an appraisal of the budget defenders on offer.
The £4.0m Enablers
The fifth defensive spot in FPL squads is, for a fair proportion of Fantasy managers, either written off as unplayable bench fodder or as a stopper to call upon in absolute times of crises. Either way, the position is a routine method of liberating some of the £100m budget to spend elsewhere on premium assets.
Whatever the approach, there are one or two viable £4.0m-rated defensive assets that have presented themselves in the price list for 2018/19.
As we have seen in recent seasons, it is rare for any defender in this bracket to be guaranteed playing time. However, full-back Lee Peltier featured regularly for Cardiff City in the Championship last season and, barring any further transfer activity in the summer, would seem set to play a prominent role in the Bluebirds’ Premier League campaign this time around.
Sean Morrison is the more attractive route into the Cardiff backline – who had the joint-best defensive record in the Championship last season – but his obvious goal threat has seen him priced at £5.0m, which will be too steep for many Fantasy managers to swallow.
Ryan Bennett was a semi-regular feature of the Wolverhampton Wanderers’ back three last season, although it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if the free-spending West Midlands club bolstered their backline further between now and the start of the season. Bennett’s place would seem the most likely at risk.
Team-mates Roderick Miranda and Danny Batth would seem even more unlikely to feature in the Wolves first team next year.
Chancel Mbemba was a staple of many FPL benches last season and the Newcastle United defender is once again priced up at £4.0m. His time in the north-east looks likely to come to an end this summer though, with a move to Porto mooted.
Martin Kelly, Jan Bednarek and Craig Cathcart are among the other familiar names in the bargain bin of defensive assets.
The £4.5m Candidates
That extra £0.5m will, more often than not, get Fantasy managers the guarantee of starts from their budget defenders and has the potential to return considerable points hauls for little extra investment.
The likes of Shane Duffy, Jamaal Lascelles, Ahmed Hegazi, Kyle Naughton, James Tarkowski, Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen, Stephen Ward and Christopher Schindler all began last season priced at £4.5m and went on to break the 100-point barrier in FPL.
Duffy and his centre-half partner, Lewis Dunk, are again priced up at £4.5m this season. The Brighton and Hove Albion pair had some of the best Clearance, Block and Interception (CBI) statistics in 2017/18 and were desperately unfortunate not to convert their combined 55 chances into more than the one goal.
Team-mates Bruno, Gaetan Bong and new signing Leon Balogun are also in this price bracket. Albion kept ten clean sheets last season; only the sides who finished in the top seven registered more.
READ MORE: Our guide to the best Brighton assets for 2018/19
Schindler and Zanka, the Huddersfield Town centre-back pairing, are also unchanged at £4.5m. Florent Hadergjonaj, who had one of the best minutes-per-chance-created averages among defenders last season, and Terence Kongolo are among the other Terriers at this price.
Possibly the stand-out candidate at £4.5m is Charlie Daniels, who started last season £0.5m higher. Bournemouth’s leaky defence kept only a joint-worst six clean sheets last season and is no doubt the key reason why Daniels, along with club colleagues Simon Francis, Steve Cook and Adam Smith, is available at a reduced price. Only five defenders had more touches in the final third than Daniels last season, however.
Just one of Bournemouth’s opening ten fixtures is against the “Big Six”, which adds to Daniels’ appeal.
READ MORE: Our guide to the best Bournemouth assets for 2018/19
Burnley’s impressive defensive record last season (39 goals conceded and 12 clean sheets) means that only back-ups Kevin Long, Phil Bardsley and Charlie Taylor are available for under £5.0m this time around.
Jamaal Lascelles’ excellent performances for Newcastle United last season have been “rewarded” with a price hike to £5.0m, although the Magpies’ DeAndre Yedlin, Paul Dummett and Florian Lejeune are available for £0.5m cheaper.
Rafael Benitez’s side had the best defensive record outside of the top seven last year.
Though both Newcastle and Brighton have tricky fixtures to start with, their schedules improve from October. A Dunk or Duffy double-up with, say, Lejeune would give a very favourable run of fixtures (WHU, BHA, WLV, WAT, BOU, LEI, WHU, CRY, WLV) from Gameweek 8 onwards.
Like Charlie Daniels, Cedric Soares will surely tempt Fantasy managers after dropping down from the £5.0m mark. The Portuguese full-back, who ended last season playing in an advanced role in Mark Hughes’ 3-4-2-1, recorded three assists in his last seven fixtures for Southampton.
Maya Yoshida, Jack Stephens and Wesley Hoedt are available for the same price.
The Saints’ first five fixtures (BUR, eve, LEI, cry, BHA) look particularly appealing and the south coast side’s matches interchange perfectly with West Ham United this season, offering an unbroken run of home matches if assets from both clubs are used in rotation.
Speaking of the Hammers, Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna and new signing Issa Diop are the stand-out candidates available at £4.5m. Arthur Masuaku, who attempted more than twice as many take-ons as any other Premier League defender last season en route to collecting three assists, has been reclassified as a midfielder.
New signing Lukasz Fabianski, perhaps surprisingly available at just £4.5m, will though likely be the more popular route into that West Ham backline. It should be noted, however, that the Hammers had the joint-worst defensive record in the Premier League last season.
Rob Holding and Calum Chambers featured prominently in the Arsenal team towards the end of last season as Arsene Wenger prioritised the Europa League, though it remains doubtful whether the pair will be in Unai Emery’s plans for next season.
As one would expect, there is a raft of options available at this price for the newly promoted clubs.
Joe Bennett, Sol Bamba and Bruno Ecuele Manga split Cardiff’s £4.0m and £5.0m-rated defensive assets, while Tim Ream is a near-certain starter for Fulham next season.
Willy Boly, Conor Coady and Matt Doherty are £4.5m-rated options for Wolves, as is Romain Saiss. Although the Moroccan international featured at centre-back for his country at this summer’s World Cup, Saiss was largely deployed alongside Ruben Neves in the centre of midfield last season and has the potential to be an “out of position” asset. Before any Fantasy manager gets too excited, however, Saiss’ duties in the centre of the park are generally restricted to defensive ones.
READ MORE: Our analysis of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ promotion-winning season
READ MORE: Our analysis of Cardiff City’s promotion-winning season
READ MORE: Our analysis of Fulham’s promotion-winning season
Jose Holebas, who attempted more crosses than any other Premier League defender last season, appeals after dropping back to the £4.5m mark. Ten other Watford defenders, including the attack-minded Kiko Femenia, are also available at this price.
Wes Morgan, Christian Fuchs and Danny Simpson, staples of Leicester City’s title-winning side, will be expected to play more peripheral roles next season following the arrivals of Jonny Evans and Ricardo Pereira and the emergence of Ben Chilwell.
Bench duty surely awaits Ragnar Klavan at Liverpool too, although there are potential bargains (albeit ageing, unconvincing ones) to be had in the blue half of Merseyside: Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams are among five Evertonians available at £4.5m.
James Tomkins, who scored on three occasions last season and was Crystal Palace’s highest-scoring defender in FPL, is £1.0m cheaper than Patrick van Aanholt, meanwhile.
World Cup Data
We’re delighted to offer World Cup data as an early addition to our regular season offering to help those playing Fantasy games over the summer.
We’ve secured Opta data, not only for the tournament itself, but also from the Qualifying Rounds for Europe and South America and for international friendlies involving the participating nations. This includes all the matches played right up to the tournament kick-off.
Just to stress, this World Cup offering comes packaged with the regular Fantasy Football Scout membership.
Check out this new trailer detailing the World Cup content below…
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Fantasy iTeam
Fantasy Football Scout is supporting Fantasy iTeam, a free World Cup game available on a number of mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPodTouch and Android. We have an official Fantasy Football Scout League open to UK users only, with a £1000 of Amazon vouchers to give out, split between the top three performers. There’s also the small matter of £10k worth of prizes available in the main competitions: Overall World Championship and Manager of the Gameround.
Click here for details and here to sign up.
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