In this article, we will look at the best defenders to pick for your Fantasy Premier League team for Gameweek 1 in the 2024/25 season. Which FPL defenders to buy, hold/keep, or sell?
Let’s dive in. IHere are the FPL defenders to pick from, with our comments and ratings of each.
Read more about GW1 in our guide: FPL Gameweek 1: Tips, Captain, Transfer Targets & Team Selection
Contents
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Best Defenders For Gameweek 1: Our Watchlist
We will look at defenders from every price point: budget enablers, midpriced picks, and premium options. Here is our watchlist of defenders (with our ratings) that we consider before Gameweek 1 in FPL.
Budget defenders for Gameweek 1 (4m – 4.5m)
First, let’s start with the best 4m and 4.5m defenders, who will likely be just on the bench of our FPL teams.
Harwood-Bellis (4m, Southampton) – 1.5/10
Verdict: Buy as a budget enabler
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Wout Faes (4m, Leicester) – 2/10
Verdict: Buy as a budget enabler
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Barco (4m, Brighton) – 1.5/10
Verdict: Monitor whether Brighton will sign a new left-back or not. If the do not, Barco could be budget enabler for the start of the season. But we are avoiding him for now.
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Dan Burn (4.5m, Newcastle) – 2.5/10
Verdict: Buy if you are trusting Newcastle defence to improve
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Joachim Andersen (4.5m, Crystal Palace) – 6/10
Verdict: Buy, could be not just a budget enabler but a regular starter for your team
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Ezri Konsa (4.5m, Aston Villa) – 5.5/10
Verdict: Buy
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Ola Aina (4.5m, Nottingham) – 3/10
Verdict: Buy if you trust Nottingham defensively
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Antonee Robinson (4.5m, Fulham) – 4/10
Verdict: Buy
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Mid-priced FPL defenders for Gameweek 1 (5m – 5.5m)
Romero (5.0m, Tottenham) – 5/10
Verdict: Buy if you believe Tottenham can improve defensively
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Maatsen (5.0m, Aston Villa) – 3/10
Verdict: Wait and see
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Senesi (5.0m, Bournemouth) – 4/10
Verdict: Buy if you have trust in Bournemouth’s defence
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Pedro Porro (5.5m, Tottenham) – 5/10
Verdict: Buy if you believe Tottenham’s defense can improve
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Premium FPL defenders beyond Gameweek 1 (6m – 7m)
Gabriel (6m, Arsenal) – 7.5/10
Verdict: Buy
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Van Dijk (6m, Liverpool) – 7/10
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Gvardiol (6m, Manchester City) – 9.5/10
Verdict: Buy
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TAA (7m, Liverpool) – 7.5/10
Verdict: Buy, if it doesnot disrupt the balance of your FPL team
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Tips for picking the best defenders for your FPL team
- With defenders, you always want a defender that has a very high chance of a clean sheet. You can use our Premier League Clean Sheets Odds to find goalkeepers, who are most likely to keep a clean sheet in the next gameweek of FPL.
- Also, when considering defenders for your fantasy team, you always have to take a look at fixtures and asses whether a certain defender has the potential for a clean sheet. Does he have a tough or easy fixture? And as we mentioned, our clean sheet odds will help you with that.
- Check FDR to find defenders with the great fixture run that could be good for clean sheets and attacking returns as well
- Also, asses the attacking potential of defenders – attacking full-backs, attacking wing-backs, and center back who are good at headers after corners can offer high points output as you do not have to rely solely on clean sheet points
FPL Defenders with stable points output in the previous 3 seasons
Read more in our article: Best long-term FPL picks for 2024/25 season
How many points should you expect from your defender in Fantasy Premier League?
Do not have unrealistic expectations from your FPL defenders.
- At best, the top teams can keep around 14-20 clean sheets per season. So, when you select a premium defender, expect you will get a clean sheet in every second match at the best.
- Mid-table teams tend to keep around 8-13 clean sheets per season. So, with mid-priced defenders, expect a clean sheet in every fourth match
- Bottom table teams usually keep around 0-7 clean sheets per season. So when picking budget enablers from bottom-table teams, do not really expect more than a clean sheet in every 6th match.
- attacking full-backs (like TAA, James, Cancelo, Chilwell) can get around 10 attacking returns in a season – so 1 attacking return every 4th match is an excellent return from your defenders
- few center backs (who are good at headers) might get around 3-5 goals per season, so a goal every 10th match from your centre back is an excellent rate of attacking returns
- So, usually, top-scoring FPL defenders can get around 170-210 points per season.
- But usually 140-160 points is the amount of points you should aim to get from you defenders during the whole FPL season – that is a more realistic goal
How are defenders awarded points in FPL?
The majority of FPL points for defenders go through clean sheets – 4 points – that’s their main source of points.
Then attacking returns can earn them extra points as well – 6 points for a goal and 3 for an assist. And usually, when a defender keeps a clean sheet and gets an attacking return there is a potential that he will get awarded a few bonus points.
Further resources
