The 2018/19 season was the year of the defender from a Fantasy Premier League perspective, with the three best value-for-money FPL assets all belonging to Liverpool’s backline.
The Reds and Manchester City racked up 41 clean sheets between them (no team had recorded 20 shut-outs in a single campaign since 2011/12; last season we had two clubs achieving that) and six defenders hit double figures for attacking returns.
There was a lot of talk of FPL managers going ‘five at the back’ in pre-season, although the momentum behind that strategy stalled as we approached Gameweek 1 and lost further traction once 2019/20 begun.
Everton are the only club to have registered clean sheets in both of their top-flight fixtures, with Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs among the ten teams yet to record a single shut-out.
Clean sheets are just one route to points, of course, and we Fantasy managers love an FPL defender who can pick up the odd attacking return at the other end of the pitch.
With that in mind, our latest Members’ article takes a look at the defenders who have demonstrated an offensive threat in Gameweeks 1 and 2.
It is still very early days in the 2019/20 campaign, it should be said, and there has to be a big disclaimer about any findings in this article.
Certainly, we’ll get a better picture of the lay of the land once we’re a month or two into the new season and there is a bigger data sample to analyse.
Nevertheless, any early patterns can help us steal a march on other Fantasy managers and identity which defenders could chip in with a goal or assist over the coming Gameweeks – and possibly compensate for any loss of clean sheets.
Members can read on for this analysis, while those wishing to subscribe can do so by clicking here.
4 years, 8 months agoThe adopted wisdom is that the wildcard should contain as few risks as possible; after all, you don’t have another wildcard to correct it. I just want to present an alternative view not only on the merits of early wildcarding, but how you can steel a Solly on others.
+ We’ve seen 2 gameweeks of information. Sure, it’s not 5 or 8, but early price rises can prevent the ‘ideal’ team by that stage.
+ We’ve seen how teams line up both home and away. We’re able to judge the defensive minded teams (e.g. Wolves, Sheff Utd) from the attack minded teams (e.g. Norwich, Brighton) and those that fall in between.
+ Already we’ve identified budget starters (Lundstram, Cantwell, McGinn), that enable an extra big hitter.
+ Crucially, we’ve had a couple of major incidents that present an opportunity: Liverpool losing Alison for an extended period, Martial playing as striker in the absence of Lukaku, and Pukki’s explosion.
I’m moving quickly on:
+ Otamendi (5.4m) - Stones out for 10 days with a rectus femoris strain.
+ Ceballos (5.6m) - in the Ramsey role and picking up the creative duties for Aubameyang, Lacazette and Pepe.
+ Adrian (4.5m) - partner with Pope and you benefit from any clean sheets that Robbo, TAA and VVD earn you, while spending 2-2.5m elsewhere to outscore their attacking threat.
+ Kane (11m) - while he was fortunate to score a brace against Villa, NEW(h) and ARS(a) are two excellent fixtures to see if he’s a captaincy option. Possible switch to an Arsenal striker as a get out option.
+ Availability of Son / Firmino’s new found goal threat.
Not everyone’s cup of tea, I know, but an aggressive strategy nonetheless.