The Scout's panel of experts rank their favourite defenders in Fantasy Premier League in the premium, mid-price and budget brackets.
FPL experts' defensive picks
| Expert | Premium player | Mid-priced player | Budget player |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Bonfield | Cucurella | Lacroix | Van de Ven |
| Ben Crabtree | Porro | - | Dorgu |
| Nick Harris | Cucurella | Chalobah | Van de Ven |
| Gianni Buttice | Munoz | Williams | Dorgu |
| Az Phillips | Munoz | Lacroix | Van de Ven |
| Sam Bonfield | Tarkowski | Lacroix | Van de Ven |
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Lee Bonfield (@FPLFamily): I owned Marc Cucurella (£6.1m) for a chunk of last season and he brought points galore at both ends of the pitch. Chelsea's fixtures continue to look good and so long as you have £0.1m in the bank he looks like a good option to invest in.
Ben Crabtree (@FC_CrabDogg): My favourite option is Pedro Porro (£5.5m) given Tottenham Hotspur's defensive start to the season, the positions he's taking up, he frees up 0.5m and has good fixtures. If I was planning on using my Wildcard chip very soon, I'd probably take a punt on Patrick Dorgu (£4.5m) for this week.
Nick Harris (@WGTA_Nick): Cucurella has started strongly for Chelsea with a clean sheet, two bonus points and an assist to his name in their first two league matches. He has already risen by £0.1m however, so may be now out of a budget. A mid-priced alternative therefore may be his team-mate Trevoh Chalobah (£5.0m) who appears to be nailed on for now with the likes of Levi Colwill (£4.9m) ruled out for most the season.
An alternative budget pick would be Spurs' Micky van de Ven (£4.5m). The Spurs defence looks a lot more solid this season with two clean sheets and Van de Ven has been a critical element of that backline.
Gianni Buttice (@GianniButtice): Daniel Munoz (£5.5m) might not be £6.0m but he's still my best premium defender. He was a short-term option in my Gameweek 1 team and the attacking upside he offers is unrivalled in my opinion. Palace have some great fixtures on the horizon and I expect clean sheets too.
Neco Williams (£5.0m) won't be considered by many as Nottingham Forest haven't kept a clean sheet yet but their underlying defensive numbers have been pretty good and we know from last season they're a top-tier defence. The fixtures are good for them and I expect Williams to start delivering.
Patrick Dorgu is a high upside £4.5m option and he's always high and wide. He's hit the post already this season and he often gets into shooting positions, playing effectively as a left-winger!
Az Phillips (@FPLBlackbox_Az): Munoz seems the standout pick, with good fixtures on the horizon and bags of attacking potential as demonstrated in Gameweek 2 where he picked up an assist for Ismaila Sarr's (£6.5m) strike.
Sam Bonfield (@FPLFamily): If you don't have a Spurs defender, I would look there first, with Van de Ven my favourite for the incredible value he offers. I've been impressed by Crystal Palace at the start of the season as well and especially by Maxence Lacroix (£5.0m), who usually picks up defensive contribution points. If you want another budget pick from Palace, then Chris Richards (£4.5m) is a good option.