Fantasy Premier League

FPL experts' lessons: Look to Man City and Chelsea defences

By The Scout 5 Oct 2021

The Scout’s panel of experts reckon explosive picks Cancelo and Alonso are worth rotation risk

The Scout’s panel of experts discuss the key lessons they have learned across the first seven Gameweeks of 2021/22 Fantasy Premier League.

Defence

What the experts say

Pranil Sheth (@Lateriser12)

To keep telling myself fixtures don't matter as much when it comes to elite defences like Manchester City and Chelsea. I must remember that next season.

Holly Shand (@HollyShand)

Man City are the defence kings but there is also plenty of value emerging elsewhere - the Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford backlines stand out.

Utkarsh Dalmia (@zophar666)

There are some fantastic, explosive defender options this season with the likes of Joao Cancelo (£6.2m), Reece James (£5.5m) and Marcos Alonso (£6.0m), but rotation can often be a concern.

However, we are also blessed with budget defenders such as Shane Duffy (£4.3m), Ben White (£4.4m) and Tino Livramento (£4.2m) who can come in for them if they don’t feature. Going with these explosive, albeit rotation prone defenders, is definitely an option.

Tom Cantle (@WGTA_FPL)

Clean sheets have mostly reverted to being more predictable due to home advantage. Take note of Man City and Chelsea's upcoming strong fixtures if you have defensive moves to make.

Sam Bonfield (@FPLFamily)

During pre-season a lot of managers, myself included, were hoping to find even one playing £4.0m defender, but we have ended up with a lot of great value picks in the £4.0m to £4.5m defender bracket.

As we have seen in these opening Gameweeks of the season, owning a couple of them as well as Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) and a Man City or Chelsea defender looks ideal for not only good returns but also for budget distribution.