Who to invest in from the Liverpool defence
Liverpool were tied top for clean sheets in the Premier League last season. Their 21 clean sheets has made the Liverpool defenders popular picks in FPL. However, do managers need to find the budget for Trent Alexander-Arnold or is there a cheaper option? We assess who to invest in from the Liverpool defence.
The Liverpool defence was one of the key investment areas for FPL managers in the 2021/22 season. Many FPL managers looked to double up on the Reds with many owning Alexander-Arnold and Robertson. However how is best to invest in Liverpool ahead of the 2022/23 season.
Defensively Matip was one of the best value assets in the game last season.
Matip’s ownership last season always made him a differential for his FPL owners. However, with Konate’s quality could Matip’s minutes could be at risk? During the 2021/22 Champions League campaign Konate played the majority of minutes over Matip. It remains to be seen how Klopp will manage the Liverpool minutes this season.
The potential rotation here likely means FPL managers will not invest in Konate or Matip for the opening weeks of the season. So who are the best Liverpool defenders to invest in ahead of Gameweek 1?
2021/22 Season
You can see below from the underlying defensive stats from last season that Liverpool were one of the best. Liverpool kept the joint most clean sheets and conceded the joint fewest goals in the league. They were also the second best for shots conceded and dominated a lot of the other key stats.
With that in mind the Liverpool defence becomes a must for FPL managers. Experienced Fantasy managers won’t just be looking for defenders though. Managers will be looking at those defenders who hold goal threat for attacking returns.
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Trent was the highest scoring defender in FPL last season. He returned 208 points for his FPL managers. The right-back also came in the top three for highest scoring players in the game, only Mo Salah and Son Heung-Min returned more FPL points.
He also dominated a lot of the underlying stats offensively.Amongst defenders Trent created the most assists in the league with 12. He also created the most chances and the most big chances. Indeed he returned double the amount of big chances than the second placed defender. He also put in the most crosses and successful crosses and was second for goal attempts.
Trent is currently the most popular defender in the game owned by 55.9% of the game.
Andrew Robertson
Robertson is another option that FPL managers should consider. The attacking left-back comes in at £7m, £0.5m cheaper than Alexander-Arnold.
Robertson returned 186 points last season making him the third highest scoring defender in the game. Encouragingly the defender also played far fewer minutes than Cancelo and Trent who finished above him. This increases his likelihood of improved returns next season.
Amongst defenders Robertson was joint second for assists last season with 11. He also created the second most chances and was joint second for the most big chances created with Reece James. His stats from 2021/22 were impressive and could even warrant a Liverpool defensive double up at the start of the season.
Robertson’s ownership currently sits at just 10% of the game. This makes him a good differential for FPL managers who chose to start the season with the Scot.
Virgil Van Dijk
At time of writing Van Dijk is owned by 10.7% of FPL managers, just slightly higher than Robertson. His £6.5m price tag means many managers see him as a cheaper route to the Liverpool triple up. However, whilst Van Dijk does not have the same attacking threat as Alexander-Arnold or Robertson his underlying stats are still good.
As FPL Ferrell and FPL Pub discuss Van Dijk’s FPL points returns in this last four seasons have been very similar to Robertson. The centre-back is also far less likely to fall fail of an early substation with the new five sub rule.
Overall
Most FPL managers will likely start the season with Alexander-Arnold. However, for managers who want to triple up on Liverpool they will likely be choosing between an extra attacker, likely Luis Diaz or another defender.
Robertson will probably be managers go to, however managers should not rule out than Van Dijk. Van Dijk is cheaper than both Luis Diaz and Robertson and his proviso seasons points are promising. The Liverpool defence proved a great option for the double up in 2021/22 and this looks likely to be replicated in the 2022/23 season.
Wondering whether to triple up on Liverpool with an extra defender or attacker? Check out our recent article.
