The case for a cheap FPL defence as premium assets continue to disappoint

Price Change Predictions

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Haaland	MCI	A, Vs
Up	Thiago	BRE	A
Down	Mateta	CRY	C
No Change	Welbeck	BHA	C, Rest
No Change	Woltemade	NEW	B

Risers

Fallers

Player	Team	Price	Progress	Tonight
Foden	MCI	8.5m	96.3%	Likely
Rogers	AVL	6.9m	100.1%	Very Likely
Wilson	FUL	5.2m	89.4%	Likely
Casemiro	MUN	5.5m	96.7%	Maybe
Burn	NEW	5.1m	89.9%	Unlikely
Roefs	SUN	4.7m	88.8%	Unlikely
Sánchez	CHE	4.8m	80.8%	Unlikely
Szoboszlai	LIV	6.6m	80.2%	Unlikely
Truffert	BOU	4.5m	79.4%	Unlikely
Matheus N.	MCI	5.3m	77.6%	Unlikely
Mitchell	CRY	5.0m	77.8%	Unlikely
O.Dango	BRE	6.0m	75.9%	Unlikely
Cullen	BUR	5.0m	73.6%	Unlikely
Tavernier	BOU	5.5m	71.6%	Unlikely
Lacroix	CRY	5.1m	69.6%	Unlikely
Thiago	BRE	6.9m	62.3%	Unlikely
Verbruggen	BHA	4.4m	68.5%	Unlikely
Livramento	NEW	4.9m	66.7%	Unlikely
Petrović	BOU	4.5m	65.9%	Unlikely
Dúbravka	BUR	4.0m	62.2%	Unlikely
Tarkowski	EVE	5.4m	58.1%	Unlikely
J.Palhinha	TOT	5.5m	61.7%	Unlikely
Merino	ARS	6.0m	57.8%	Unlikely
Andersen	FUL	4.5m	56.1%	Unlikely
Gordon	NEW	7.2m	54.5%	Unlikely
Amad	MUN	6.3m	55.4%	Unlikely
Bruno G.	NEW	6.9m	48.2%	Unlikely
Ballard	SUN	4.6m	53.2%	Unlikely
King	FUL	4.5m	47.7%	Unlikely
Gusto	CHE	4.9m	45.2%	Unlikely
Sessegnon	FUL	5.4m	44.2%	Unlikely
Anderson	NFO	5.4m	42.2%	Unlikely
De Ligt	MUN	5.0m	41.7%	Unlikely
Wilson	WHU	5.8m	39.9%	Unlikely
Igor Jesus	NFO	5.8m	39.5%	Unlikely
Barnes	NEW	6.4m	40.9%	Unlikely
Schade	BRE	7.0m	40.2%	Unlikely
Chukwueze	FUL	5.3m	36.6%	Unlikely
Hall	NEW	5.2m	35.9%	Unlikely
Ekitiké	LIV	8.4m	31.7%	Unlikely

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Player	Team	Price	Progress	Tonight
Anthony	BUR	5.4m	106.4%	Very Likely
Botman	NEW	4.9m	104.4%	Very Likely
Maguire	MUN	4.4m	103.5%	Very Likely
Arrizabalaga	ARS	4.2m	102.4%	Very Likely
Ndoye	NFO	5.6m	100.4%	Very Likely
Knight	BHA	4.5m	100.0%	Very Likely
Akinmboni	BOU	3.9m	99.9%	Likely
Spence	TOT	4.4m	98.5%	Maybe
Travers	EVE	4.4m	99.9%	Maybe
Gannon-Doak	BOU	4.9m	97.5%	Maybe
Pinnock	BRE	4.3m	97.3%	Maybe
McGill	BHA	4.0m	97.0%	Maybe
Sonne	BUR	3.9m	97.5%	Maybe
Cox	BRE	4.0m	95.7%	Maybe
Sarr	CRY	6.5m	93.8%	Maybe
Elliott	AVL	5.3m	94.3%	Maybe
Hato	CHE	4.7m	94.0%	Maybe
M.Bizot	AVL	4.3m	94.1%	Unlikely
Neave	NEW	4.4m	94.7%	Unlikely
Okafor	LEE	5.5m	94.4%	Unlikely
Gruev	LEE	4.8m	95.3%	Unlikely
Agbinone	CRY	4.4m	93.6%	Unlikely
Abbott	NFO	3.9m	91.7%	Unlikely
Carvalho	BRE	4.8m	91.2%	Unlikely
Jordan	BUR	4.0m	90.6%	Unlikely
Colwill	CHE	4.8m	90.1%	Unlikely
Patterson	SUN	4.3m	88.4%	Unlikely
José Sá	WOL	4.3m	88.4%	Unlikely
Fitzgerald	MUN	4.4m	87.1%	Unlikely
Aznou	EVE	4.3m	87.9%	Unlikely
Hoever	WOL	3.9m	87.2%	Unlikely
Kelleher	BRE	4.5m	87.3%	Unlikely
Saliba	ARS	6.0m	85.3%	Unlikely
Nørgaard	ARS	5.2m	86.5%	Unlikely
Johnson	TOT	6.6m	85.5%	Unlikely
Morgan	BRE	4.4m	85.7%	Unlikely
Toti	WOL	4.3m	85.5%	Unlikely
H.Jones	SUN	4.4m	83.6%	Unlikely
Bergvall	TOT	5.4m	81.9%	Unlikely
Robinson	FUL	4.9m	82.5%	Unlikely

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FPL Fixture Ticker

Watchlists

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Raya Martin	ARS	C
No Change	Alisson	LIV	C, Vs
No Change	Donnarumma	MCI	C, Vs, Sus
No Change	Ramsdale	NEW	C
No Change	Sels	NFO	B
No Change	Dubravka	BUR	C, £

Last updated: 6 Dec, 2025 12:36am

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	van Dijk	LIV	B, Vs
No Change	Muñoz	CRY	A, Sus
No Change	Jurriën Timber	ARS	C
No Change	O’Reilly	MCI	B, Vs
No Change	de Ligt	MUN	B, Inj
No Change	Thiaw	NEW	A
No Change	Andersen	FUL	B
No Change	Milenkovic	NFO	B
No Change	van Hecke	BHA	A, £
No Change	Mukiele	SUN	C, £

Last updated: 6 Dec, 2025 12:41am

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Saka	ARS	A
No Change	Bruno Fernandes	MUN	B
No Change	Foden	MCI	A, Vs
No Change	Semenyo	BOU	C
No Change	Gakpo	LIV	B, Vs, Rest
No Change	Minteh	BHA	B
No Change	Bruno Guimarães	NEW	A
Up	Schade	BRE	C
No Change	Anderson	NFO	A, £
Down	Fernández	CHE	B

Last updated: 6 Dec, 2025 12:48am

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Haaland	MCI	A, Vs
Up	Thiago	BRE	A
Down	Mateta	CRY	C
No Change	Welbeck	BHA	C, Rest
No Change	Woltemade	NEW	B

Fantasy Premier League managers could find value in spending as little money on defenders as possible in the coming weeks.

With Liverpool conceding for the fourth consecutive match in Gameweek 7, and the injury to Fabinho (£5.5m) exacerbating the loss of Virgil van Dijk (£6.4m), Trent Alexander Arnold (£7.4m) and Andrew Robertson’s (£7.1m) certainly offer less Fantasy value than before.

It’s not just Liverpool who are letting the premium defenders union down though. Last season’s top six have kept just seven clean sheets combined over the first six Gameweeks (Liverpool 1, Manchester City 1, Manchester United 1, Chelsea 2, Spurs 1, Arsenal 1) so justifying ownership of their expensive defenders is proving harder and harder each week.

Using some underlying statistics in the Fantasy Football Scout Premium Members Area, I want to analyse if teams with defenders at the more budget end of the spectrum (say, up to £5.0m) can possibly provide similar returns to their more expensive counterparts at the bigger clubs.

For the purpose of this analysis, I have used data from the last four Gameweeks:

This content is restricted to Chief Scout Members. Click here to register and get access to industry-leading stats from Opta and StatsBomb including Defensive Contributions data, the Rate My Team tool, Points Projections, 150+ Member-only articles, exclusive Team Reveals, a customisable Season Ticker, two Transfer Planners... and more!

The Complete Guide to FPL Gameweek 7

Hart-ake

5 years, 1 month ago

Which one as a Trossard replacement (with 2.6 itb):

a) Rodriguez
b) Pulisic
c) Bowen (and bank the 2mil+)

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Wag the Drog
5 years, 1 month ago
I’d go b
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sirmorbach

Lads, hit needed or GTG?

Ryan / Walton
TAA / Lamptey / KWP / Dallas / Mitchell
Salah / Son / James Rodríguez / Grealish / Harrison
Kane / DCL / Bamford

£0.7 in the bank, WC available

Tanaka'd
5 years, 1 month ago
Looks good to me.
Bench Lamptey, Mitchell, Harrison?
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1. sirmorbach
  5 years, 1 month ago
  Thanks, mate!
  
  Bench, yeah, exactly, only Harrison ahead of Lamptey as first sub.
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  1. Tanaka'd
    5 years, 1 month ago
    Nice
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aardvark22

Martinez
Robbo, James, Saiss
Salah, Son, Foden, Podence
Kane, Jimi, DCL

Soucek, Lamptey, Mitchell, Steer

2FT and 1.3 ITB

Reluctant to burn FT but not much inspired

James to Chilwell too sideways?
Mitchell to ??

Any suggestions appreciated

EL_FENOMENO

From GW9 onwards:
a) Bowen/Foden
b) C. Wilson

karljkadak

Really struggling here. Any advice or save FT?

Martinez McCarthy
Dallas Robertson Semedo Sakho KWP
Salah Son Foden Barkley Traore
Kane DCL Brewster
1FT 0,8ITB

Lexi2014

Vinagre -> KWP
ASM -> Foden

For free.

Makes a lot of sense right?!

Ryan
TAA / Ayling / Justin
James Rodriguez / Son / Salah / ASM
Werner / Ings / Brewster

McCarthy / Mitchell / Soucek / Vinagre

dillydally1982

I have a transfer to burn, best way to fund Grealish to Zaha next week - TAA to Chilwell/Robbo, OR Watkins to Adams/Batshuayi?

potatoace
5 years, 1 month ago
TAA to Chilwell
Good fixtures. Just as likely to keep with TAA next 3gw at the least.
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1. dillydally1982
  5 years, 1 month ago
  Yeah, that's what I was leaning towards...thanks!
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Feed tha Sheep

Need to sell Davies..was thinking Coufal but obviously a poor fixture this week.
A. wait until next week and hope Mitchell plays
B. Do Davies > Coufal this week
C. Another player in

Feanor

Anyone else with Digne just keeping him? I can start Chilwell, Juston and Gabriel or Mitchell in defense.

InterUranus

Get rid of Trent and upgrade Jimenez/Ings to Kane?

villa_til_i_die

Could I just say R.I.P Nobby stiles...Legend, v sad news.

FC Hakkebøf

Got 2 FT. My plan was to do Maupay to Mitrovic as a one week punt before getting Antonio. But with the uncertainty regarding the duration of Antonio's injury, I am now considering Bamford instead. Thoughts?

King Kohli

Who should be first in the bench to come on for JRod?

A. Mitchell
B. Anguissa

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