In the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game bonus points are allocated according to the bonus point system (BPS) which awards points for goals, clean sheets and assists as well as actions such as creating chances and good defending.
Something I did on several occasions last season was find the baseline BPS/per min scores for defenders. I work this out by taking a player’s total BPS score and then subtracting any attacking (goal/assist) BPS points and clean sheet BPS points. I then divide this by the total number of minutes played by the player, so cameos don’t affect the data. This gives me a handy baseline BPS/min score for each player. To put it simply, a high baseline BPS/min score means a higher chance of that player getting FPL bonus points in a match, providing none of the other defenders in their team got any attacking returns.
As we are only four Gameweeks into the season the following data can be taken with a pinch of salt as the sample size is obviously very small. However, it does give a useful indication of the defenders who are more likely to be favoured in terms of BPS through their all round play.
Best BPS/Min
Arsenal:
Gabriel 0.217
Koscielny 0.215
Monreal 0.214
Mertesacker 0.200
Bellerin 0.170
Aston Villa:
Amavi 0.219
Richards 0.175
Clark 0.161
Bacuna 0.125
Bournemouth:
Francis 0.225
Daniels 0.175
Cook 0.156
Elphick 0.147
Chelsea:
Azpilicueta 0.181
Zouma 0.142
Ivanovic 0.133
Cahill 0.128
Terry 0.096
Palace:
Ward 0.172
Delaney 0.144
Dann 0.142
Souare 0.139
Everton:
Stones 0.194
Jagielka 0.164
Coleman 0.131
Galloway 0.119
Leicester:
De Laet 0.179
Schlupp 0.150
Morgan 0.133
Huth 0.125
Liverpool:
Skrtel 0.178
Lovren 0.167
Gomez 0.138
Clyne 0.133
Manchester City:
Kolarov 0.214
Sagna 0.200
Mangala 0.158
Kompany 0.131
Manchester United:
Smalling 0.203
Shaw 0.200
Darmian 0.167
Newcastle:
Mbemba 0.189
Haidara 0.175
Coloccini 0.147
Janmaat 0.059
Norwich:
Bassong 0.150
Martin 0.131
Whittaker 0.077
Southampton:
Cedric 0.209
Fonte 0.172
Yoshida 0.169
Targett 0.161
Spurs:
Vertonghen 0.206
Walker 0.169
Alderweireld 0.153
Davies: 0.133
Dier 0.130
Stoke:
Cameron 0.183
Muniesa 0.167
Pieters 0.149
Johnson 0.133
Sunderland:
Kaboul 0.185
Van Aanholt0.178
Coates 0.156
O’Shea 0.117
Jones 0.115
Swansea:
Williams 0.206
Naughton 0.189
Fernandez 0.158
Taylor 0.150
Watford:
Holebas 0.213
Nyom 0.181
Cathcart 0.175
Prodl 0.153
West Brom:
Olsson 0.137
Dawson 0.131
McAuley 0.100
West Ham:
Ogbonna & Oxford 0.174
Reid 0.161
Cresswell 0.122
Jenkinson 0.036
N.B. The very low scores for Terry, Janmaat, Whittaker and Jenkinson can be put down to their red cards.
Points to note
- Most attack-minded full-backs have high baseline BPS/min scores. The likes of Amavi, Francis, Naughton, Shaw, Ward, Kolarov, Holebas, Nyom, De Laet, Cedric and Van Aanholt are all attacking full-backs and this reflects positively in their scores.
- Just like last season, Williams (SWA), Stones (EVE), Skrtel (LIV), Monreal & Koscielny (ARS) and Azpilicueta (CHE) all have very high baseline BPS/min scores compared with their team-mates.
- West Brom defenders have very low scores – this was a recurring theme last season as well. Pulis’ defensive approach clearly doesn’t help his defenders’ bonus point prospects.
I’ll stop the key points there as the season is still young and the sample size isn’t large enough to draw too many conclusions from. I will do the same thing again in December/January which will provide some more reliable figures.
