Fantasy Premier League Draft Rankings: Defenders
Defence is often an afterthought in Fantasy Premier League but we have found from playing other Premier League Draft games in ten past that it is a very important draft position to cover. Our draft strategy would be to concentrate on defenders early on in the draft as soon as the big hitters we want in midfield and attack are spoken for.
You can do very little about limiting a rival's points when their player scores or assists a goal, however by ensuring that you have your bases covered in defence you can block the damage a fellow manager's defence can cause you by 'blocking' their clean sheets. A clear example of this would be in our top two draft picks, if your rival owns Cahill we would look to snap up another Chelsea defender to match the potential clean sheet points for the week's we are facing them. We put together a list of who we'd would put in our top 50 defenders in the Premier League to prepare for a ten team draft.
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1. Gary Cahill (Chelsea)
Top of our defender rankings for the Draft Premier League is Chelsea captain Gary Cahill. Cahill was credited with 17 clean sheets last term and was a constant goal threat from set pieces scoring six times.
2. James Milner (Liverpool) (UP 2 Places)
If Milner is back fit and playing for Liverpool. Deployed at left back for Klopp's side last season where he scored seven goals and provided four assists along with 12 clean sheets. New signing Robertson may cause Milner to move back into a more familiar midfield role this season coupled with the fact that he was also Liverpool's penalty taker last term makes him one of the best defensive prospects in the League.
3. Marcos Alonso (Chelsea) (DOWN 1 Place)
Second in our defender rankings is Cahill's teammate Marcos Alonso, who broke into the Chelsea team early last season, playing in an out of position role as a left wing back, where he contributed six goals and five assists in addition to 15 clean sheets. Should he continue in this role for the coming season he will be an invaluable asset to Fantasy Premier League managers. Chelsea's transfer activity will need to be monitored before the transfer window closes as there has been talk that Conte is unhappy with Alonso, having been taken off early in the recent preseason defeat to Inter Milan after a disastrous performance.
4. Toby Alderweireld (Spurs) (DOWN 1 Place)
Alderweireld recorded 14 clean sheets and scored once in an excellent season for Spurs. The club have a good opening run of games this season making Alderweireld a sound early draft pick in defence.
5. Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal)
Koscielny is our fifth choice draft pick in defence. Playing centre back for an Arsenal team without the extra games in the Champions League and a probable second string being used in the Europa League, we expect an improvement on his scores last year where he scored twice, provided one assist and kept 10 clean sheets.
6. Antonio Valencia (Man Utd)
Valenica is our next pick, Man Utd have an excellent opening run of fixtures this season, and last season contributed one goal, three assists as well as 12 clean sheets in Jose Mourinho's side.
7. David Luiz (Chelsea)
At number seven is our third pick from Premier League Champions Chelsea. Our reasons for choosing Luiz are; his goal threat, clean sheet potential and his great hair. Last season Luiz contributed one goal, one assist and 15 clean sheets having rejoined Chelsea on August 31st 2016.
8. Jan Vertonghen (Spurs)
Our reasoning for picking Vertonghen is the same as why we picked Alderweireld. If we miss out on Toby in the draft, Vertonghen would be our second choice for a Spurs defensive cover.
9. Eric Bailly (Man Utd)
Bailly would be our second pick in the Man Utd defence, in his opening campaign in the league he kept 13 clean sheets and was a mainstay in the side.
10. Ryan Bertrand (Southampton)
Southampton's excellent opening fixtures makes a Southampton defender a solid choice early on when forming a defence in the draft. Bertrand is our pick form Southampton's backline. Last season along with securing 12 clean sheets in 28 games, Bertrand was a constant attacking threat, scoring twice and providing five assists.
Top 11-50:
11. Kyle Walker (Man City)
12. Nacho Monreal (Arsenal)
13. Danilo (Man City)
14. Maya Yoshida (Southampton)
15. John Stones (Man City)
16. Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea)
17. Kieran Trippier (Spurs)
18. Hector Bellerin (Arsenal)
19. Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea)
20. Joel Matip (Liverpool)
21. Leighton Baines (Everton)
22. Jack Stephens (Southampton)
23. Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal)
24. Ashley Williams (Everton)
25. Michael Keane (Everton
26. Chris Smalling (Man Utd)
27. Ben Davies (Spurs)
28. Ben Mee (Burnley)
29. Craig Dawson (West Brom)
30. Matteo Darmian (Man Utd)
31. Christian Fuchs (Leicester)
32. Jonny Evans (West Brom)
33. Ryan Shawcross (Stoke)
34. Kurt Zouma (Stoke)
35. Nathan Ake (Bournemouth)
36. Harry Maguire (Leicester)
37. Jose Holebas (Watford)
38. Charlie Daniels (Bournemouth)
39. Aaron Cresswell (West Ham)
40. Alfie Mawson (Swansea)
41. Erik Pieters (Stoke)
42. Patrick Van Aanholt (Crystal Palace)
43. Virgil Van Dijk (Southampton)
44. Cedric (Southampton)
45. Stephen Ward (Burnley)
46. Scott Dann (Crystal Palace)
47. Gareth McAuley (West Brom)
48. Ciaran Clark (Newcastle)
49. Kyle Naughton (Swansea)
50. Wes Morgan (Leicester)
