In this article, we will look at the best defenders to pick for your Fantasy Premier League team for Gameweek 37 in the 2023/24 season. Which FPL defenders to buy, hold/keep, or sell?
Let’s dive in. If you are aiming to use a wildcardt in GW37, here are the FPL defenders to pick from, with our comments and ratings of each.
Read more about GW37 in our guide: FPL Gameweek 37: Tips, Captain, Transfer Targets & Team Selection
Best Defenders For Gameweek 37: 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 36 in FPL.
Budget defenders for Gameweek 37 (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.
Maguire (4.3m, Manchester United) – 2/10
Verdict: Buy if you are looking for a very cheap budget enabler
- Manchetser United are 6th worst for xG conceded this season, so we would go this route only and only then if you really really need to save that 0.3m over Dan Burn and do not have Onana (as double up on Man. United defence would be too much)
Emerson Royal (4.3m, Tottenham) – 2/10
Verdict: Buy if you are looking for very cheap differential
- with Ben Davies out, it should be Emerson Royal playing left back for Spurs
- offer slight attacking threat, last season he registered 2G + 2A during the whole Premier League season
Burn (4.6m, Newcastle) – 4/10
Verdict: Buy
- another budget enabler for our wildcards and GW37 bench boost
- nice run of fixtures + DGW37
- also has an attacking threat as he registered 2G + 2A this season
- But Newcastle pretty shaky at the back in 2024
Mid-priced FPL defenders for Gameweek 37 (5m – 5.5m)
Gabriel (5.4m, Arsenal) – 7/10
Verdict: Hold – you can easily hold your Arsenal defenders until the end of the season
- Arenal has the lowest xG conceded this season and the most clean sheets
- Goal threat, 3.33 attacking returns per season on average over the last 3 seasons
- But if budget is no issue, we would go for White
Romero (5.1m, Tottenham) – 4/10
Verdict: Buy
- do not expect clean sheets from Spurs, but he has 5 goals this season and offer better attacking threat than Van de Ven
Gvardiol (5.1m, Manchester City) – 9/10
- we want Manchester City defensive coverage in our team untill the end of the season, and it will be either Gvardiol or Ederson
- Despite that City have “just” 10 clean sheets this season, they are 2nd best for xG conceded and fixtures are pretty good until GW38
- very good attacking form with 2G + 2A in last 4 starts
Pedro Porro (5.8m, Tottenham) – 5/10
Verdict: Buy
- Top for xGI among defenders this season, good at bonus points as well
- Good fixtures ahead for Spurs
- 1 goal and 8 assists this season so far from 7.7 xGI
Saliba (5.9m, Arsenal) – 7/10
Verdict: Hold
- the most nailed Arsenal defender
- better at bonus points than Gabriel, but lower goal threat
Premium FPL defenders beyond Gameweek 37 (6m – 8m)
Ben White (6m, Arsenal) – 7.5/10
Verdict: Hold
- offers attacking threat 4G + 5A this season in Premier League, and similarly 2G + 5A last PL season
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 4 seasons
Read more in our article: Best long-term FPL picks for 2023/24 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
