The season's best value goalkeepers and defenders on Fantasy Premier League
We are remarkably now only five days out from the start of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign and if you are reading this then you have most likely already changed your Fantasy Football squad five times over.
In the build up to the new season we have invested time trying to come up with the best team possible. Think you have what it takes to take down the WhoScored Tipster then join our private league on Premier League Fantasy Football with great prizes to be won.
Finding the perfect balance between big hitters and squad players is always the biggest challenge at this stage. How can you get Kevin De Bruyne, Mo Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in your team without running out of money?
It's what makes Fantasy Football so addictive. One moment you think you've cracked it and the next you drop 4,000 places in the worldwide leaderboard.
But don't worry, we have picked out value players worth considering from top to bottom. Saving £0.5m on a player could be the difference between you getting a Team of the Season contender or a dud. Starting from the back, it's time to reveal our value tips in goal and in defence.
Goalkeeper - Alex McCarthy (Southampton) - £4.5m
Lockdown was obviously a difficult period for everyone but Southampton really utilisied the time off to work hard and come back better than ever. Only Manchester City (24) and Manchester United (21) claimed more points than Southampton (18) in the Premier League post-lockdown and there is a buzz around St. Mary's ahead of the new campaign under Ralph Hasenhuttl. It's commonplace in Fantasy Football to sacrifice a star goalkeeper in order to free up funds elsewhere and with that in mind we have backed the Southampton horse to continue in fine form heading into 2020/21. In fact, five of their first eight league games come against bottom-half or newly promoted teams from last season.
Defender - Joe Gomez (Liverpool) - £5.5m
Another common tactic used when finalising your Fantasy Football squads is selecting the cheapest defenders from teams that are guaranteed clean sheets. Liverpool ranked second for clean sheets in the Premier League last season and are expected to be tight at the back once again this term when they defend their title. Unsurprisingly, Liverpool's defenders this season come at a price. Trent Alexander-Arnold is the most expensive defender on the game at £7.5m, followed by full-back partner Andrew Robertson (£7m) and then centre-back king Virgil van Dijk (6.5m). Ideally, you'd like at least one of those players in your team but Joe Gomez is great value at £5.5m. He was involved in 11 of the 15 clean sheets Liverpool kept last season, which represents a haul of 44 points alone, as many as Hector Bellerin got in total.
Defender - James Justin (Leicester) - £4.5m
Unless injuries force your hand, players like Aubameyang and De Bruyne will stay in your squad all season. For others, however, they may only be drafted in for a few games. Preparations for this season more than any other have been far from ideal for all teams who are finding the best way to cope with the global pandemic with reduced or no pre-season. Coming back from injury may take longer with treatment prolonged and fewer opportunities to build match sharpness and that is where James Justin comes in. With Ricardo Pereira nearing a return from a serious knee injury, Justin is expected to at least start Leicester's first few games. After a difficult end to last season, Leicester open up with two very favourable matches (away to West Brom and home to Burnley). Justin is set to start both games and Leicester will expect six points on the board.
Defender - Ben White (Brighton) - £4.5m
Following a thoroughly impressive season on loan at Leeds, Ben White will form the bedrock of Brighton's defence this season after ending speculation about his future to sign a new long-term deal with the club earlier this summer. Brighton took points from Leicester and Arsenal post-lockdown and ended the season unbeaten in their last three to beat the drop and now there is a wave of optimism ahead of the new campaign following their dealings this summer. Things are moving along nicely for Graham Potter at Brighton and they could be darkhorses for a top half finish this season.
Defender - Kyle Walker-Peters (Southampton) - £4.5m
After a fairly underwhelming start to the 2019/20 campaign, Kyle Walker-Peters ended the season as a top performer for Southampton to earn a permanent move in the summer. Walker-Peters, who is one of only five players to register a hat-trick of assists in a single Premier League game over the last two seasons, is expected to kick on again for Saints this season as the club's first-choice right-back. As already mentioned, Southampton were flying at the end of last season and five of their first eight league games of 2020/21 are against bottom-half or newly promoted teams from last term.
