Who were the best 2022/23 FPL defenders?

With the Premier League season over, let’s use points and underlying data to pick out the best FPL defenders.

At Fantasy Football Scout, you can take part in the end-of-season awards by voting for up to five outstanding defenders. CLICK HERE to do so.

The list of candidates takes several things into account, such as overall score, value and points per match. It also considers those who excelled in the second half of 2022/23, following the World Cup break.

Here are the nominees.

Best FPL defenders

Kieran Trippier / Fabian Schar

TRIPPIER: 198 points, start cost £5.0m, end cost £6.0m
SCHAR: 139 points, start cost £4.5m, end cost £5.1m

It says a lot about Newcastle’s early-season clean sheet machine that Trippier still ended far in front as FPL’s top-scoring defender despite a late run of 13 blanks in 15 matches. The right-back dominated underlying creativity stats, ranking number one across all positions for crosses (393), successful crosses (135) and corners (216).

Furthermore, Trippier was the leading defender for returns (26) and expected goal involvement (xGI, 12.59). Only Man United playmaker Bruno Fernandes created more chances than his 110.

This bonus points magnet has been so embedded in the FPL template that owners haven’t been able to gain much from him. Also frustrating was Schar, the sixth-best defender who only netted once. He’s position-leading for shots (56), big chances (9) and shots on target (14) with an expected goal (xG) tally of 4.95. A massive underachiever but still a top FPL asset.

Ben White / Gabriel

WHITE: 156 points, start cost £4.5m, end cost £5.0m
GABRIEL: 146 points, start cost £5.0m, end cost £5.2m

Their title challenge ended badly but let’s not forget how brilliant Arsenal’s cheap FPL players have been. Seven clean sheets arrived in their first 14 outings, ending the season with the most away shut-outs (10) but the fourth-fewest at home (4).

Yet the attacking threats of White and Gabriel allowed them to finish second and fourth in their position. Whilst White scored twice and assisted five others, Gabriel was one of six defenders to reach three goals. His xG of 5.08 was the best.

Ben Mee

143 points, start cost £4.5m, end cost £4.8m

The Brentford man was another to bag three goals, starting with a Gameweek 2 header versus Man United. His xG ended third behind Gabriel and Schar, as the Bees kept 12 clean sheets even though they conceded the second-most shots on target (197).

Trent Alexander-Arnold

156 points, start cost £7.5m, end cost £7.8m

A late entry is FPL all-timer Alexander-Arnold, thanks to an eight-match streak of consecutive returns between Gameweeks 30 and 36. The first five of these brought an assist, contributing to an 11 that ranks best of all defenders.

Heading into the World Cup, a lacklustre start had him all the way down as the 25th-best defender. But a springtime instruction to start inverting into central midfield inspired his return to form and eventually placed him joint-second.

Under the hood, we can see that Trent was the best defender for big chances created (25) and had a great xGI. It’s been a strange defensive campaign for Liverpool though, finishing as the third-worst for conceding big chances but second-best for keeping clean sheets.

Luke Shaw

124 points, start cost £5.0m, end cost £5.3m

Since the Gameweek 17 restart, Shaw has collected the sixth-most points of all defenders. Clean sheets escalated in this time, with 12 from 24 ensuring Man United ended the season with the league’s most.

Although low on goal attempts (14) and xGI (3.98), Shaw created a respectable 34 chances and was a bonus points magnet. His total of 20 comes third in the position.

Tyrone Mings

130 points, start cost £4.5m, end cost £4.7m

In the 15 closing matches from Gameweek 25, a rejuvenated Aston Villa allowed the fewest goals (8) and kept the joint-most clean sheets (7). Not once did Unai Emery’s side concede multiple times.

It began with seven shut-outs from ten outings and, for a spell, Mings could’ve been bought for just £4.3m. Not a bad season considering he was dropped and stripped of club captaincy beforehand by then-manager Steven Gerrard.

Pervis Estupinan

128 points, start cost £4.5m, end cost £5.0m

Brighton are transfer market maestros, proved once again when replacing Marc Cucurella with Estupinan. Gameweek 20 saw the attacking left-back explode onto the FPL scene with half a dozen successive returns of at least six points.

No defender tallied more penalty area touches (56) or clean sheets (9) since that January day, peaking with a late 17-point haul at Arsenal that brought a goal, assist and successful shut-out. A great addition to the league.

Other FPL defenders

Elsewhere, champions Man City conceded the fewest goals (33), attempts (294) and shots on target (92). But their backline was infuriating to FPL managers. 11 matches saw them concede despite an expected goals conceded (xGC) of under 0.50. Not only that, no defender started more than 24 times.
Ben Chilwell felt almost essential for a few weeks until succumbing to another injury.
Fellow sufferer William Saliba was the third-best defender at the time of his problem.
Usually brilliant Andrew Robertson had his lowest-scoring FPL season by far since 2017/18. Although he was still able to rank third of defenders for chances created (52) and fourth for xGI (7.81).

So who do you think were the best FPL defenders of this 2022/23 campaign? Remember to cast your vote over at Fantasy Football Scout.