Last week, we reviewed the best premium defenders in Fantasy Premier League for the 2024/25 season. In this blog post we will deep-dive into the stats and performances of some of the top mid-priced FPL defenders of last season to determine the best picks for a fast start.
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FPL managers have a plethora of options in the £5.0m - £5.5m defender bracket and as the above image from our Opta Stats Sandbox feature shows, Porro was clear of the rest for both 'Expected FPL points' (xFPL) and FPL points (136). Branthwaite was also a great FPL asset at the heart of Everton's defence, the 22-year-old racked up 12 clean sheets while only Schär, Senesi (four each) and Romero (five) scored more goals than his three. Mitchell featured in 37 games for Palace and thrived under new manager Glasner playing as a wingback, he found the back of the net twice and was fifth for FPL points (119) amongst defenders in this price bracket. Their rightback Muñoz is also one to keep an eye on, the Colombian international racked up four assists in just 16 appearances and was ninth for 'Expected Assists' (xA) (2.59) in this price bracket.
Three of Spurs' defensive assets, Romero (3.25), Porro (2.77) and Udogie (2.27) find themselves in the top five for 'Expected Goals' (xG) with Tarkowski (2.49) and Schär (2.41) also featuring. Porro's shot volume (53) is significantly higher than the rest but a lot of these were speculative, low xG attempts. Romero (seven) and Udogie (five) were top for 'big chances' but it is interesting to see Mitchell in third (four) with a large chunk of these arriving when he switched to a wingback under Glasner. Dalot could be an interesting option if Ten Hag can shore up his defence, the Portugal international took 21 shots from open play and landed seven shots on target (SoT).
Porro notched eight FPL assists in 2023/24 with only Trippier (10) managing more amongst defenders. He is top of the comparison in this bracket for attempted assists (51), with Dalot (38), Gusto (32), Zinchenko (29) and Estupiñan (26) making up the top-five. Walker is just outside with 25 and could be a good pick in one of the league's best defences. Dalot's credentials are further exemplified by his creativity numbers, the rightback is one of the few assets to offer both creativity and goal threat. Estupiñan is likely to miss the start of the season while Gusto and Zinchenko's gametime is uncertain. Mitchell is in seventh with 24 attempted assists while Muñoz (21) is in 11th with just 16 appearances.
As the above image from our Fixture Difficulty ratings feature shows, amongst the aforementioned players, only Palace (sixth), Newcastle (ninth) and Everton (ten) make the top ten for the first six Gameweeks of the 2024/25 campaign. Spurs find themselves in 13th with games against Newcastle, Arsenal and Man. Utd. in the first six Gameweeks.
As the above image from our Player Points Projection feature shows, Schär (20.8) tops the projections with Walker (19.2) in second. The latter could potentially miss the start of the campaign due to his participation in the Euros with England and is one to keep an eye on. Branthwaite (18.2) and Maguire (18.2) are also currently managing injuries. Mitchell (16.5) and Romero (16.3) are both ranked ahead of Porro (15.3).
Based on the above analysis, the Palace wingbacks look like great picks while the Everton defence could also be worth backing early doors. Spurs have a decent opening two fixtures but the run toughens up after, so FPL managers investing in Porro are going to be relying largely on attacking returns.
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