With the international break almost over, we have taken the time to update the defenders on our Watchlist.

There hasn’t been a great deal of change since our post-Gameweek 7 refresh, though there is one returning name that leaps out: Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy (£6.2m).

Mendy takes the place of the unfortunate Aymeric Laporte (£5.7m) in fifth place, who has recorded four straight clean sheets for the reigning champions and is likely a safer route into the City backline than the fit-again full-back.

We can’t ignore the explosive potential of Mendy, however, particularly with Pep Guardiola’s troops next up against a Burnley side who have conceded more chances than any Premier League club this season, including a league-worst 24 opportunities from their right flank.

Southampton also visit the Etihad in Gameweek 11, but we’ve stopped short of a “favourable fixtures” tag for Mendy with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United also to come over the next month.

A Fabian Delph (£5.3m)/Leroy Sane (£9.2m) partnership on the left flank remains an alternative option for Guardiola in the future, but since Mendy walked straight back into the team against Liverpool after recovering from injury and was an ever-present before getting sidelined, we don’t believe he warrants a “rotation risk” flag – yet.

Andrew Robertson (£6.3m) moves up to the top of our Watchlist for defence and now has a “favourable fixtures” tag to his name, given that Huddersfield Town, Cardiff City and Fulham are to face Liverpool before the November international break. No club has a better pairing of fixtures over the next two Gameweeks than Jurgen Klopp’s side.

The four highest-scoring defenders in FPL, indeed, rather unsurprisingly make up our top four on the Watchlist.

Marcos Alonso (£7.0m) hasn’t delivered an attacking return since Gameweek 4 but has compensated with clean sheets in two of those matches, so just about clings on to his “A” form rating.

Alonso and Chelsea have three home league fixtures in their next four outings, though with Manchester United the visitors to Stamford Bridge this weekend the Spanish left-back hasn’t been handed a positive or negative fixture tag.

Alonso’s underlying attacking numbers have unquestionably deteriorated over the last month, but the Chelsea man has been written off before and still retains the canny knack to deliver a monster haul after a period of dormancy. The next four fixtures will hopefully tell us if the drop-off in KPIs was merely a lull and not as a result of specific instruction from Maurizio Sarri.

Faith in the Fantasy community hasn’t wavered, either – Alonso’s ownership has increased after every round of fixtures this season and the Spanish international in fact rose in price again this week.

No player quite warrants an “A” form rating as much as Matt Doherty (£4.7m), who has delivered three double-digit hauls in the last four Gameweeks. We’ve elevated the newly capped Irish international up to third on our Watchlist, with four enticing-looking fixtures to come in the next half-dozen matches.

Doherty might be a season-keeper for a large percentage of Fantasy managers and would appear set to feature on our Watchlist for some time given the value he is providing at a still-reasonable £4.7m: no FPL defender has registered as many penalty box touches as the Wolves wing-back in 2018/19.

The return to fitness of Serge Aurier (£5.8m) means there is sufficient doubt to leave the “rotation risk” flag on Kieran Trippier (£6.3m), even if the Spurs right-back has started the last seven Premier League matches for the Lilywhites – the longest sequence of successive league starts that Trippier has managed in his three years in north London.

Trippier’s form rating remains unchanged after 22 FPL points in three Gameweeks.

The remaining five defenders in our top ten are all familiar names as they retain their places from the pre-Gameweek 8 Watchlist.

Shane Duffy (£4.5m), Ben Chilwell (£5.0m) and DeAndre Yedlin (£4.5m) all have “favourable fixtures” to come in the coming weeks and months, with their respective clubs sitting in the top three on our Season Ticker for the next Gameweeks.

The trio have contrasting forms, however, with Duffy very much the pick of the three with a clean sheet and three goal involvements in his last four Gameweeks.

Chilwell has yet to record a goal or assist in 2018/19 but only three defenders (Holebas, Trippier and Robertson) have created more chances than the Leicester full-back this campaign.

Yedlin gets an “up” arrow as Newcastle’s fixtures have taken a huge turn for the better: the Magpies now don’t face one member of the “big six” until Boxing Day. The American full-back has created more chances for his team-mates than the rest of the Magpies’ backline combined and is available at an attractive price, though Jamaal Lascelles’ (£4.8m) price is heading in the right direction from a bargain-lover’s point of view and he may soon enter our thinking.

Were it not for Everton’s inability to regularly keep clean sheets and some awful away fixtures ahead, Lucas Digne (£4.8m) would be higher than ninth on our Watchlist. Only Harry Maguire (£5.5m) has had more shots among defenders over the last four Gameweeks, with the French full-back also registering six key passes during that period.

Digne’s game is well rewarded on the Bonus Points System, with the former Barcelona defender impressively registering a Baseline BPS every 5.4 minutes.

Jose Holebas (£4.9m) is suspended for Gameweek 9 and has amassed only one point over the last four matches but just about makes it into tenth place with some enticing fixtures against Huddersfield, Newcastle and Southampton to enjoy upon his return from a one-match ban.

Having averaged only 2.2 points over the last five Gameweeks and with an away trip to Chelsea to come in Gameweek 9, Luke Shaw (£5.1m) drops out of our thinking for the time being.

Our summary of the movers and shakers on the midfielders’ and forwards’ Watchlists will follow later in the week.

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