With many managers facing issues across their defence in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) squads, the Chelsea wingback duo of Chilwell and R. James are popular options going into FPL Gameweek 2. In this blog, their numbers from last season and Gameweek 1 are compared.

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As the above image from our Fix Heatmaps feature shows, Chilwell outscored R. James with an assist and two bonus points with the left-back going up in price already by £0.1m. If he’s not already owned, it is now going to require some more money in the bank for managers to upgrade to him from the likes of Stones/Gabriel, but a straight swap to R. James is still on the cards. The left-back averaged a marginally higher 3.0 FPL points per game compared to 2.8 for R. James during the 2022/23 season but both played limited minutes due to various injury problems. Given Chelsea's issues in the second half of the season, not much can be taken from last year's data with respect to the duo.

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Taking a look at the season opener for the 2023/24 season, the above touch map shows that while both fullbacks were extremely attacking, Chilwell got into better attacking spaces more often and had more penalty box touches than R. James. The right-back was tasked with keeping the width on the right side and mostly relied on crosses for FPL output. It is worth mentioning that Chelsea played with a back three which was a departure from their usual shape in preseason, the system allowed the wingbacks more license to get forward than usual so these touchmaps may not be as advanced if they revert to a back four.

As the above image shows, Chilwell took two shots, one of which was a 'big chance' and notched an Expected goals (xG) tally of 0.31 vs just 0.01 for R. James. However, in terms of creativity, R. James was marginally ahead with two attempted assists and two' big chances' created, compared to one each for Chilwell.

If budget allows, Chilwell appears to be the superior pick for now, but if managers are finding that £0.1m price rise troublesome, R. James is also an excellent pick.

Why go for a Chelsea defender?

Analyse team’s upcoming fixtures.

As the above image from our Fixture analyser shows, Chelsea have the best fixtures over the next six Gameweeks with home games against Luton, Forest and Villa. The London club also have favourable away trips to West Ham, Bournemouth and Fulham. Combined with their recruitment in midfield and their impressive display against Liverpool, investment in the Blues back line appears to be essential going forward. Both wingbacks along with N. Jackson are probably the best options from the Blues' for the time being, given the lack of investible FPL options in their midfield at this current moment in time. All that could change over the few Gameweeks, and a midfield option like Gallagher, Sterling or Mudryk could present themselves as an option. Certainly an area to keep an eye on.

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