While all our energy this week will predominantly be focused on midfielders, we still have to field three players in the defense. Fantasy Premier League managers, for some, the defense may be a far more pressing and urgent concern that needs attention with the injury to the likes of Stones, James, and Shaw. We are going to pretend Gabriel does not exist.
There are combinations present that will have a roll-on on effect the rest of the squad. The lack of defenders traditionally popular and dependable at the moment will mean, a double of Chelsea’s defense with Gusto and Chilwell, is to miss out on either Sterling or Jackson.
Similarly, a double-up of City defense, with Dias and Gvardiol, will mean missing out on either Foden or Alvarez. Brighton’s tough run of fixtures will be starting from the coming week, and they have already shown signs of weakness in defense.
Liverpool is anything but solid defensively and Arsenal have conceded at home in the opening minute for the third time in the last nine games. Luke Shaw is injured, and buying Manchester United’s defense is certainly going to carry the hallmarks of a calamity.
Newcastle United, last season, greatly overperformed their defensive numbers in the middle part of last season. Things took a turn towards the end of the season, with the Magpies, one of the primary underperformers failing to keep a clean sheet in the last nine games.
This season, Botman priced at four and a half million was touted as the season keeper in that budget category.
Yes, Newcastle has failed to start the season on an over-emphatic note. The two defeats have come against City at Etihad, and Liverpool at home.
Their next fixtures include Brighton away, Brentford at home, Sheffield United away, Burnley at home, West Ham away, Crystal Palace at home, and Wolves away, till game week ten. There are not many better fixtures than Newcastle’s in this period.
Even barring Botman’s injury against Liverpool, there are still players like Schar, with all the promise of providing excellent value for money. The double-up on Newcastle’s defense is an extremely viable idea, particularly with the new arrival of Tonali.
Eddie Howe’s men after a tough start will look to further solidify in defense. Therefore, Tripper comes in as the primary personnel to target in Newcastle’s defense. In a season dominated by Haaland last campaign, Trippier for some time owing to his consistency of attacking returns and clean sheets had presented himself as a viable alternate captaincy option.
At six and a half million with the fixtures, he can be a source of excellent differential for the coming period. Particularly as it will be hard for many managers to directly buy him in one transfer given his price point. Which is unlike the case for many other players.
There are some talks of Livramento, the former Southampton man, rotating with Trippier when Europe starts, but the former Saints defender is yet to play a game for Newcastle and is unlikely to play a massive part at the start of the campaign.
