Fantasy Premier League: Ranking the best bargain defenders in FPL (2024)

Fantasy Premier League is all about finding that edge over your mini-league, and getting the best bargain defenders is one way to do just that.

With so many premium-priced midfielders and forwards in FPL this season, the need to find cheap defensive assets is as great as it has ever been.

That’s why we’ve put together a list of the best ones on the market ahead of next week’s deadline and ranked them accordingly. You can bicker about the placements in the comments, we won’t mind.

Fantasy Premier League: The best bargain defenders in FPL

10. Taylor Harwood-Bellis (£4.0m) – Southampton

A Southampton-supporting friend of mine warned me to avoid the Saints defence at all costs this season, yet I still have Taylor Harwood-Bellis in my FPL squad. He’s as cheap as they come, isn’t a rotation risk and will likely just occupy the last spot on my bench anyway.

Newcastle United away is not the kindest welcome back to the Premier League, but their opening six fixtures look otherwise good.

9. Leif Davis (£4.5m) – Ipswich Town

Picking defenders from relegation candidates is, admittedly, a good way to haemorrhage points in FPL, but Leif Davis is nonetheless an enticing differential to consider.

The full-back was essential to Ipswich Town’s back-to-back promotion campaigns, providing two goals and 18 assists last season as they finished second in the Championship. It remains to be seen if he can make the jump to the Premier League, but he had no problem going from League One to the second tier.

Ipswich are expected to struggle though, so this might be a wait-and-see transfer for the future.

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8. Micky van de Ven (£4.5m) – Spurs

Micky van de Ven is a solid pick at his price who will start just about every game, but can we trust the Tottenham defence? That’s the question that needs to be answered before we can thrust the Dutchman into our starting lineups.

Spurs, who conceded 61 goals from 64.6 expected goals against (xGA) last season, sell out their defence in the hope it pays off in attack. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it results in four goals in your own net.

7. Dan Burn (£4.5m) – Newcastle Utd

One of the most popular picks in the game at the moment, Dan Burn is owned by over a fifth of FPL managers. The Magpies have good fixtures to start with, and he looks nailed on to start, but this could suddenly look like a very poor pick if the club brings in defensive reinforcements before the window closes.

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6. Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) – Aston Villa

We expect Aston Villa to be defensively solid this season, and they start the campaign with a nice run of fixtures all the way to GW9. Ezri Konsa could be an excellent pick at his price, but with Champions League football he runs the risk of rotation. The group stage, or rather ‘league phase’, starts earlier this year too, thanks to the expanded format. Will that stretch them too thin?

There’s also the fact that Ian Maatsen (£5.0m) is a more exciting pick, albeit at a slightly higher price. That half a million could go a long way elsewhere in your team, though.

5. Valentin Barco (£4.0m) – Brighton

I did not expect to have a basem*nt bargain defender so high up on this list, but Valentin Barco appears more attractive every time you look at him (no, not like that).

The ginger Argentine just turned 20, but looks set to play a lot of minutes at left-back for Brighton this season. In pre-season he has been on a lot of the team’s set pieces, an area of the game new manager Fabian Hürzeler likes to focus on.

The youngster is still a rotation risk, but with Pervis Estupinan recovering from injury he should be in line to start plenty of games. However, he did miss their most recent game with a muscle injury, although he’s expected back in training before the new season kicks off.

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4. Vitaliy Mykolenko (£4.5m) – Everton

In Sean Dyche we trust. That should be the mantra we repeat to ourselves when looking for defensive assets every season, because the man knows how to set up a staunch backline.

Everton’s James Tarkowski (£5.0m) is a fine shout as he offers a goal threat from the air, but if you’re just looking for someone dirt cheap who will start every week, then Vitaliy Mykolenko is your man. You won’t get many, if any, attacking returns from the Ukrainian, but he’s a perfectly cromulent enabler if you need to fit in more expensive players elsewhere in your FPL squad.

3. Murillo (£4.5m) – Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest just about avoided relegation last season, but they have a really nice run of fixtures to start the season and a manager fixated on defensive solidity.

Murillo was one of their standout players last year and it’s a huge boost to the Tricky Trees that he isn’t jumping ship this summer. You definitely won’t have to worry about rotation with the Brazilian in your side, and he’s only in one percent of FPL teams at the time of writing. Big differential potential.

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2. Antonee Robinson (£4.5m) – Fulham

One of the most overlooked defenders in FPL is Antonee Robinson, who is owned by just 5.7 percent of managers right now. He’s cheap, an automatic starter and gets forward at every opportunity.

Joao Palhinha’s exit does leave question marks hanging over Fulham’s defensive capabilities, but their fixture schedule up to GW6 looks really good. Man United away on the opening weekend isn’t the kindest fixture, but the Cottagers have outplayed them every time they’ve faced each other over the past two years.

1. Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) – Crystal Palace

Joachim Andersen is easily the best pick in this bracket and, at 23 percent ownership, evidently a lot of FPL managers agree. Provided Marc Guehi (£4.5) stays, Crystal Palace should be solid at the back and the great Dane offers a goal threat at set pieces.

For my money, Daniel Muñoz (£5.0m) is the more fun pick, as he constantly gets into the opposition box for attacking opportunities. That said, the Colombian only came away with four assists in the second half of last season. We’d like to see him be a bit more clinical with his chances.

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