Best Rotations for Gameweeks 1-8 in Fantasy Premier League 2024/25

Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is LIVE for the 2024/25 season! In this blog post, we'll explore the best £4.5m defender rotating pairings for Gameweeks 1-8. These budget-friendly choices can help FPL managers save funds to invest in top players like Palmer, who has had a record-breaking price increase, or Haaland, who could be a surprising differential this season.

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1 - 2 FPL Player Rotation Strategy

This strategy involves playing one of two defenders every week and as the below image from our AI Rotation Optimizer shows, Brentford and Southampton offer a perfect Home/Away rotation for the first eight gameweeks with only a game against Man. Utd. against from last season's top eight sides. Southampton have options available at the low price of £4.0m in Harwood-Bellis while no Brentford defender costs more than £4.5m.

Brentford and Southampton Rotation Gameweek 1-8 in Fantasy Premier League

2 - 4 FPL Player Rotation Strategy

This strategy has often been a popular one amongst FPL managers with a premium defender such as Alexander-Arnold or Gvardiol playing every week and picking the remaining two from a pool of four budget defenders. As the below image shows, Fulham and Everton are added to the combination above to give two defenders playing at home every week till Gameweek 8.

Brentford, Southampton, Everton and Fulham Rotation Gameweek 1-8 in Fantasy Premier League

Both Everton and Fulham offer attacking options at £4.5m in Mykolenko and Robinson and were solid defences especially at home. As the below image from our Opta Stats Sandbox feature shows, Everton were ranked first for home clean sheets (nine) while Fulham were ranked fourth (six)

Fantasy Premier League 2023/24 home defensive statistics

1 - 3 FPL Player Rotation Strategy

FPL managers opting for two permaplay defenders can opt for a strong rotation from their remaining three defenders. As the below image from the AI Rotation Optimiser shows, a rotation of defenders from Brentford, Palace and Southampton avoids any game against last season's top eight and provides four home games against promoted sides. Palace defence can be played at home to West Ham in Gameweek 2 instead of Southampton which means that FPL managers would need to rely on their £4.0 budget defender only against Ipswich and Leicester.

Brentford, Palace and Southampton Rotation Gameweek 1-8 in Fantasy Premier League

3 - 5 FPL Player Rotation Strategy

FPL managers looking to spend big in attack often opt to go with a cheap backline and as the below image shows, a rotation with Everton, Villa, Palace, Fulham and Southampton defenders provides a run of games without any fixtures against last season's top six all the way to Gameweek 8. The two games against Man. Utd. in Gameweek 5 and 8 are at home for Palace and Villa so even those look manageable.

Villa, Palace, Southampton, Everton and Fulham Rotation Gameweek 1-8 in Fantasy Premier League

What do the Points Projections Say?

£4.5m defender Fantasy Premier League projections

As the above image from our Player Points Projections feature shows, Robinson,Andersen,C. Richards andPau all feature in the top six projected £4.5m defenders and three of them feature in the 3 - 5 rotation strategy mentioned above. Brentford and Everton defenders are also highly ranked.

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