After a bit of a lull, we return to the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) price list analysis with a rundown of the best £4.5m defenders.
There are over 100 defensive options at this price point, so it’s a bit of a daunting task.
The remaining pre-season friendlies could also alter the landscape, with new targets emerging and existing bandwagons derailed.
With those caveats ringing in your ears, let’s crack on.
THE BEST OF THE (MOSTLY) NAILED £4.5M DEFENDERS
SVEN BOTMAN
One of the biggest surprises when the FPL price list was released was the availability of Sven Botman for just £4.5m.
Newcastle United were ranked joint-first for fewest goals conceded and joint-second for most clean sheets recorded in the Premier League last season.
Botman, although he didn’t score, was also a threat from set plays, racking up 22 shots in the box – only six FPL defenders had more.
A tricky opening fixture run is a bit of a deterrent but as a longer-term hold, the matches look a lot more appealing from Gameweek 6 onwards.
Botman has started the last 31 league matches in a row for the Magpies, navigating three games in a week on a number of occasions – which hopefully bodes well for when the UEFA Champions League starts.
JAMES TARKOWSKI
Everton don’t have the same ‘problem’ with European commitments. They are only just a Premier League club, indeed, having avoided the drop in Gameweek 38.
There is little expected from the limited Toffees in 2023/24 as a result but in Sean Dyche, they do have a head coach who loves a clean sheet.
In four of Dyche’s last five full seasons as Burnley boss, the Clarets hit double figures for shut-outs:
DYCHE AT BURNLEY
| Season | Clean sheets (rank v other PL clubs) |
| 2016/17 | 10 (=11th) |
| 2017/18 | 12 (7th) |
| 2018/19 | 8 (=12th) |
| 2019/20 | 15 (3rd) |
| 2020/21 | 11 (=11th) |
James Tarkowski began the Dyche era with a bang, registering a 15-pointer in the 1-0 win over Arsenal.
And Everton’s increasing reliance on, and strength, at free-kicks and corners should be good news for the former Burnley centre-half.
The Toffees’ initial run of fixtures may not look that good at first glance.
But aside from the visit of Arsenal, who the Toffees beat at Goodison Park last season, their opening run of home matches looks favourable: Fulham, Wolves, Luton and Bournemouth all visit Merseyside before we reach Gameweek 9.
There were four home wins to nil after the former Burnley boss’s appointment earlier in late-January, so a cheap Everton goalkeeper/defender could be playable in a handful of matches and benched in between.
Ashley Young (£4.5m) is one to watch at the same price point, having been deployed ‘out of position’ on the left wing against Wigan Athletic last weekend.
RICO HENRY
Mark Flekken (£4.5m) might well end up being Brentford’s first-choice goalkeeper this season but there are other budget routes into the Bees’ defence.
Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m), who scored three goals in 2022/23, is one option but he and Ben Mee (£5.0m) now have Nathan Collins (£4.5m) breathing down their necks in the medium term.
Rico Henry (£4.5m) has little competition. He’s started 70 of the 71 Premier League matchday squads he’s made, the only benching coming off the back of an injury.
Among the current crop of £4.5m defenders, he trailed only Tarkowski for expected goal involvement (xGI) last season:
He’s also got two assists to his name already this summer, for what pre-season form is worth.
Brentford ranked fifth for fewest goals conceded in 2022/23, while they sit third on our Season Ticker for favourable fixtures in Gameweeks 1-9.
KEEP AN EYE ON IN PRE-SEASON…
DESTINY UDOGIE/LEVI COLWILL/AARON WAN-BISSAKA
There are a handful of defenders who are on the radar and may present themselves as legitimate targets in the coming fortnight – but they’re ‘watch and wait’ for now.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Destiny Udogie (£4.5m) is one of them: the left-back is fresh from a loan spell at Udinese in which he registered seven attacking returns in 33 Serie A appearances.
Last season’s total of 34 key passes in the Italian top flight was trumped by only six Premier League defenders.
He also had 27 shots on goal, a tally only beaten by Tarkowski among £4.5m options in this article.
Levi Colwill (£4.5m) is similarly back from a loan spell, with Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino saying the stopper can become “one of the greatest centre-backs in England”.
And Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.5m) has caught the eye over the summer, ‘inverting’ from right-back into midfield against Arsenal.
Wan-Bissaka especially comes with a rotation risk tag, however – and not a great deal of historic attacking upside. Positional rival Diogo Dalot (£5.0m) could well eat in his game-time, as he was doing last season.
Colwill at least doesn’t have to contend with the injured Benoit Badiashile (£4.5m) and Wesley Fofana (£4.5m) for a while.
The great hope is probably the attack-minded Udogie, with ticker-topping favourable fixtures to come in Gameweeks 3-12.
The signs are positive so far, as he’s been named in the last two Spurs pre-season friendly line-ups (one of which was postponed).
ASTON VILLA
Three of the five most-owned £4.5m defenders in FPL right now are on Aston Villa’s books.
Tyrone Mings, Pau Torres and Matty Cash are the players in question – but are any of them nailed to start in Gameweek 1?
Unai Emery stuck with the old guard of Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) and Mings at centre-half in the recent friendly against Newcastle United but big-money signings Pau and Diego Carlos (£4.5m) got the nod in the following game.
The situation at the back is one to continually monitor in pre-season, with Emery delivering on his hint that he could even start with a third centre-back by doing exactly that in Wednesday’s friendly against the Cottagers.
A WHISTLE-STOP ROUND-UP
Adam Webster (£4.5m) and Joel Veltman (£4.5m) rank highly in our Rate My Team projections for Gameweeks 1-6 at present but there’s every chance that their ‘expected minutes’ are rounded down the closer we get to mid-August.
Neither players nailed down their respective roles last season: Colwill ate into Webster’s game-time, while Roberto De Zerbi occasionally preferred Pascal Gross (£6.5m) at right-back over Veltman. Colwill may have gone now but Brighton have just signed Igor Tulio, who will present a fresh challenge to Webster’s starts.
Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) has a case of being the best of the rest, should he stay in south London.
Palace’s expected goals conceded (xGC) tally was very impressive last season, the fourth-best in the league.
The Dane also had more shots (22) than any of the other Palace defenders.
The Eagles have good fixtures in Gameweeks 1, 4 and 8, covering trickier fixtures for Liverpool or Arsenal should you own the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.0m) and Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.0m).
Each promoted club offers a £4.5m-rated defender with a bit of attacking potential: there’s the goal threat of Sheffield United’s Anel Ahmedhodžić (£4.5m), the creativity of Luton Town’s Alfie Doughty (£4.5m) and the occasional ‘inverting’ of Burnley’s Connor Roberts (£4.5m).
But the availabilty of (probable) starting £4.0m alternatives from each side really kills the appeal of these options; for the amount of time that we’ll actually play these bench-fodder bargains, is the extra £0.5m outlay really worth it?
Wolves, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and West Ham loiter at the wrong end of the Season Ticker in Gameweeks 1-8 to make their defenders off-putting purchases.
Vladimir Coufal (£4.5m) is one to monitor for the Hammers, having finished second among current £4.5m defenders for chances created in the Premier League last season. Aaron Cresswell (£4.5m) was above him but is reportedly on his way out of West Ham.
Wolves kept an excelent 10 clean sheets at Molineux last season but their first favourable home game of 2023/24 doesn’t come till Gameweek 15!
WHAT RATE MY TEAM THINKS
Our Fantasy Premier League points projections for 2023/24 are now live for Premium Members of Fantasy Football Scout (not a member yet? Sign up here!)
These figures will be fine-tuned closer to the Gameweek 1 deadline as we learn more information.
Below, Premium Members can see the estimated highest-scoring players until Gameweek 8 – but you can get the complete picture here.
READ MORE:
- Best £4.5m-and-under FPL goalkeepers for 2023/24
- Best £5.0m+ FPL goalkeepers for 2023/24
- Best £4.0m FPL defenders for 2023/24
- Best £5.0m+ FPL defenders for 2023/24
- Best £4.5m FPL midfielders and forwards for 2023/24
- Best £6.0m-£7.5m FPL midfielders for 2023/24
- Best £8.0m+ FPL midfielders for 2023/24
- Best £5.0m-£6.5m FPL forwards for 2023/24
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