Best-laid plans and all that: Ezri Konsa‘s (£4.5m) red card on Saturday not only virtually wiped out his clean sheet points but also deprived his owners in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) of a player for Gameweek 2.
Konsa was the sixth-most-owned FPL defender, so plenty of Fantasy managers are shopping for a replacement.
Below, we’ve picked out a few contenders in the £4.5m price rung – but first…
THINK ABOUT KEEPING!
Villa have some very good fixtures coming up beyond the Brentford match, which is the only one that Konsa misses.
The visit of Crystal Palace follows less than 72 hours after the Eagles contest a UEFA Europa League Conference play-off game. Who knows, Palace may be without Eberechi Eze (£7.5m) by then, too.
Thereafter, three very good clean sheet opportunities from Gameweeks 4-7. First up is Everton, the lowest scorers of the surviving clubs from 2024/25, and newly promoted Sunderland and Burnley. The Mackems may have just hit West Ham United for three but they did it all from an xG of just 0.68.
So, if you’ve got a stand-in on your bench who can cover for one week only, it’s worth saving a transfer. It’s a good week to play a Burnley or Sunderland defender, for instance, as those two face each other.
Last season, Konsa was the most nailed pick – if not completely secure – from the Villa defence, starting 33 of the 35 matches he was fit for.
BEST KONSA REPLACEMENTS
If you are intent on ditching Konsa, however, here are some names to consider:
BAFODE DIAKITE (£4.5m)
One of the Premier League’s newest additions, the Bournemouth centre-half was thrown straight into the deep end at Anfield on Friday.
Luckily, easier tests await.
Wolverhampton Wanderers at home are next, with Leeds United and some decent games to come beyond that.
We’re entering into the unknown a bit with Bournemouth. Will their new-look defence be as solid as they were last season, when they conceded the same number of goals as the much-vaunted Nottingham Forest backline (46)? We can’t really judge them on Gameweek 1’s defeat – remember that Zabarnyi, Huijsen et al fell to a 3-0 loss at Anfield last season, too.
The reasons for Diakite, beyond the okay-ish fixtures, are threefold.
One, Bournemouth centre-halves were monsters for defensive contribution (DC) points last season:
We saw it again on Friday, with Marcos Senesi (£4.5m) bagging DC points and Diakite just one clearance, block, interception or tackle (CBIT) away from doing likewise. The personnel might change but Andoni Iraola’s set-up does not.
The second reason: goal threat. Diakite scored 12 goals across the last three league seasons with Lille. While he has played at right-back in the past, he’s plundered six goals in his last 33 starts at centre-half – obviously mostly from set plays.
Finally, why Diakite over Senesi? If we were sure about the latter’s place in the team, he’d be our go-to guy. Senesi himself offers aerial threat, as seen in 2023/24, while the left-sided centre-back spot seems to offer more DC points than the right.
But the Cherries continue to be linked with more centre-halves. In reality, they haven’t yet replaced Huijsen, who was keeping Senesi out of the side as the left-sided centre-back last season. The latter did look like the weak link on Merseyside, and you’d be surprised if Iraola doesn’t bring in at least one more body at the back.
Adrien Truffert (£4.5m) is a decent alternative from the Cherries’ backline – he had a very solid debut on Friday and was pretty good going forward from left-back.
PATRICK DORGU (£4.5m)
Manchester United may have fallen to a defeat against Arsenal on Sunday but they limited the Gunners to relatively few clear chances. In fact, the Gunners had the third-lowest open-play xG tally of the weekend.
Greater clean sheet opportunities lie in wait, too, with two newly promoted visiting Old Trafford in Gameweeks 3 and 7.
A trip to Fulham is next: United kept shut-outs against the Cottagers both home and away last season.
The Red Devils will also be hoping that a new-look Brentford attack aren’t as potent as last year’s incarnation. They certainly laboured to create much at Forest on Sunday.
Dorgu is no DC machine: he wouldn’t have gained a single point last season.
What he does offer is a bit of attacking threat, as evidenced by his pre-season display against Bournemouth in which he banked a goal and an assist.
And in Gameweek 1, against Arsenal, the left wing-back struck the post, had another shot, picked up three penalty box touches and registered more final-third touches than any United player bar Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m).
With Sunday’s starting £4.5m centre-backs injury prone and not historically offering that much DC potential – Leny Yoro (£4.5m) did meet the threshold against the Gunners – it’s maybe worth considering the more attacking Dorgu in this instance.
DAN BALLARD (£4.5m)
Kneejerk!
Dan Ballard (£4.5m) wasn’t on many radars before Gameweek 1, what with many of us reluctant to shell out more than £4.0m on a newly promoted defender.
As discussed in Saturday’s Scout Notes, Ballard’s goal threat and DC potential are the reasons for his elevated price tag.
He scored three goals in the Championship last season, despite only starting 15 games of an injury-affected campaign.
Ballard also averaged over 10 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles (CBITs) per 90 minutes in the second tier. That figure will surely rise in the Premier League (as it did in Gameweek 1) with more off-the-ball work to do.
It all came together on Saturday. Ballard scored, snaffled DC points, scooped maximum bonus and kept a clean sheet to emerge from the Stadium of Light with a 17-pointer. His goal was one of four attempts; no defender could better that in the opening Gameweek.
More favourable fixtures are ahead, too, with fellow new boys Burnley up next. With a cauldron atmosphere behind them, the Black Cats will keenly eye home games against Brentford, Wolves and Everton.
The Mackems have invested big over the summer, in both defence and in central midfield. We can’t make a reliable assessment yet but they looked fairly solid against West Ham United, restricting their visitors to the joint-second-lowest xG tally of Gameweek 1 (0.46).
If Ballard is too rich for your blood, there’s always Reinildo (£4.0m) at left-back. With Omar Alderete (£4.0m) potentially set to be joined at the club by Jhon Lucumi, it’s maybe worth staying away from the left-sided centre-half spot for now.
EMMANUEL AGBADOU (£4.5m)
Agbadou was a revelation when he arrived in the winter transfer window, helping to shore up the Wolves defence.
In the Vitor Pereira era last season, Wolves managed the same number of clean sheets in 22 games (seven) as Arsenal did.
Agbadou has, it has to be said, looked rusty in pre-season, while Saturday’s spanking at the hands of Manchester City wasn’t a great advert for him or the backline.
But there are easier tests ahead.
Wolves are the first club to meet all three newly promoted clubs this season, doing so by Gameweek 9. Based on Monday’s evidence (and indeed the last few years…), Everton at home should offer a good clean sheet opportunity.
And there is DC/DefCon potential. Agbadou succeeded in seven of 16 starts (43.8%) last season, averaging 9.21 actions per 90 minutes.
Above: Wolves players sorted by % of 2024/25 league games in which they would have qualified for FPL defensive contribution points
Let’s hope the early-season ring-rust is just that and not some regression.
CHRIS RICHARDS (£4.5M)
Most Fantasy attention has been on the attack-minded Daniel Munoz (£5.5m) and the DC-accumulating Maxence Lacroix (£5.0m) but if they’re too expensive for your sides, Chris Richards (£4.5m) is a nice cheaper alternative.
There are some good fixtures coming up, too, with Forest not a particularly potent attack (despite Sunday’s result), and West Ham United and Everton carrying on last season’s meek offensive play in Gameweek 1.
Sunderland at home in Gameweek 4 is also a standout.
While not at Lacroix levels, Richards was the second-best Palace defender for DC contributions last season, delivering them in eight of his 22 starts (36.4%). There’s some modest attacking threat from the 6’3″ centre-back, too: he averaged a shot from a set play every other game last season.
An inferior option to Lacroix and Munoz, for sure, but also significantly cheaper.
OTHER NAMES
If you’re selling Konsa with a view to playing his replacement in Gameweek 2, you’re probably after someone with a good initial fixture.
That’s not Micky van de Ven (£4.5m), who is away at Man City. There are some favourable fixtures beyond that for the Dutchman, who had two close-range set-piece efforts for the ‘new Brentford’ (ie Spurs) on Saturday, but then there are for Konsa too.
Similarly, El Hadji Malick Diouf (£4.5m) has Chelsea at home this weekend. He looked dangerous despite the Hammers’ defeat, racking up three shots (one cleared from Ballard when it had beaten the Sunderland ‘keeper) and taking a corner. Again, though, the entry point isn’t great.
A sideways move to Matty Cash (£4.5m) is one idea: that gets you the Gameweek 2 fixture and Villa’s subsequent good run. Other Villa defenders haven’t been as nailed as Konsa, however, and you wonder whether the Villans will swoop for another right-back before the end of the transfer window given how short they are in that position.
Finally, the corner-taking Quilindschy Hartman (£4.0m) frees up £0.5m and gets you a good Gameweek 2 fixture. He’s one to be parked on the bench thereafter, however, with the fixtures tricky.
