FPL tips: Managers ditch established defenders for experimental options

Fantasy Premier League managers are ditching established defenders for new options ahead of gameweek 24.

With stars from Chelsea, Southampton and Tottenham shown the door, defensive prospects at Aston Villa, Manchester United and Manchester City are ushered in.

Here’s a look at why the market is shifting at the back.

Digne to Dalot

Steven Gerrard is not the only manager adding Lucas Digne to his squad – the Aston Villa new signing has seen his ownership increase by around 100,000 ahead of GW24.

The Frenchman had registered 17 FPL assists in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, but had zero to his name this term ahead of his move to Villa.

In his second league game for his new club, the £5.1m player created the winning goal against Everton and claimed 12 FPL points as a result.

Villa’s upcoming fixture list will not harm his appeal either – they face Leeds, Newcastle and Watford next, all rated two out of five by the FPL’s Fixture Difficulty Rating system.

Elsewhere Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot has seen an ownership bump too after becoming a regular in his team’s defence.

Dalot went on loan to AC Milan last season and managed only a smattering of minutes in the early stages of 2021-22, but has now played 90 in seven of United’s last nine games.

A clean sheet and three bonus points helped him to a nine-point return in GW23, and his low value of £4.5m has piqued the interest of thousands of FPL bosses.

Last but not least, Man City’s Aymeric Laporte has seen an ownership increase of more than 60,000 ahead of GW24 thanks to a fine run of personal form.

The Spain defender has registered two goals, two assists and two clean sheets in his last five games, claiming 39 FPL points in that period.

At £5.7m, a goalscoring, creative defender in a Pep Guardiola side is almost too good to ignore – furthermore, City face Brentford and Norwich next.

Former favourites

What goes up must come down however, and three defensive favourites have seen their popularity start to slip as others gain owners.

Reece James is the biggest casualty among them ahead of GW24 – the Chelsea defender has seen his ownership drop by around 60,000 having missed four games with a hamstring problem.

The England right-back peaked at 3.3 million owners in GW19 thanks to a handy knack for scoring and creating goals with the Blues.

However, with his chances of playing in Chelsea’s next league game rated at 50 per cent by the FPL, and Thomas Tuchel’s side on a run of one win in four, James’ appeal has suffered.

Elsewhere, Tottenham’s Sergio Reguilon is also seeing an ownership dip after missing his side’s game against Chelsea.

The Spurs left-back’s ownership actually peaked as recently as GW22 with more than 1.75 million owners backing him, but a combination of weak points returns and more sporadic appearances has not helped.

Finally, Southampton’s Tino Livramento has been dropped by tens of thousands of bosses having missed four games with a knee injury.

The Saints defender was one of the bargains of the season thanks to his £4m price at the start of the campaign, with one goal, one assist and five clean sheets in the first 11 weeks of the season coming at great value.

However, his injury follows a period in which he failed to return many points, while the FPL website describes his potential return date as “unknown.”